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FacebookAn HJCT Theater Experience: Directing ‘Higher’
TheHWord.com this week features several posts related to a theatre production being presented by the Hastings Junior Community Theatre (HJCT). This group will be performing “Higher,” an original play written by Superior, Nebraska, native AP Andrews, as well as “Illinois Jane and the Pyramid of Peril.”
“Higher” addresses many of the issues facing teens today, while “Illinois Jane,” a spoof of the Indiana Jones movies, is a classic melodrama where audience members can “boo” the villain.
Both student directed one-acts will be performed this Friday and Saturday (June 4 and 5) at 7 pm at the Hastings Community Theatre in Good Samaritan Village. A special family matinee of “Illinois Jane” only is at 2 pm on Saturday.
As you change the theatre, the theatre changes you
By Tony Wheeler
At its heart, theatre is all about changing with grace. From show to show, actors and actresses are asked to portray radically different characters in wildly varying circumstances. Techs and crewmen spend painstaking hours perfecting their sets, lights and timing, only to tear it all down and start anew at the next show. The theatre is never static – it’s always moving, changing, growing.
I think anyone who has spent any time on a show can tell you that even as you do your part to change the theatre, it changes you too. There are of course the ubiquitous friendships, the learning that comes any time creative minds work together. But theatre also teaches what my mom refers to as “grace under pressure” – the ability to calmly and competently operate despite setbacks, tight schedules and pitfalls. In theatre, things going wrong are not an “if” but a “when,” and one of the truest tests of a good show is how well those involved handle the inevitable screw-ups.
This practice of grace under pressure has been invaluable to me.
As a first-time student director, I’m surprised at the flurry of responsibilities I have. I’d always looked at directors as somewhat akin to the manager in the Dilbert cartoons – an authority figure who never really did much. Now that I’m in the director’s shoes, I realize that I truly couldn’t have been more wrong.
The director is the lynchpin of the show – greasing the machinery, and coordinating crew, cast, lighting and audio technicians, concepts, designs and more. The director is the jack-of-all trades. He has a hand in everything that takes place in the show, so staying collected and focused is especially important for him.
One week into the show and I already feel slightly overwhelmed. In the coming days, things will get even busier, with crews and tech to coordinate and discussions with A.P. Andrews, the writer whose show I’m directing.
This is a summer of firsts for me. On May 8, I walked across a stage to receive my high school diploma. It’s a time of big changes for me, changes for the busier. On top of my work at theatre, I have a full-time job and preparations for college to take care of. I rather doubt things will be any less busy while I’m at UNL, so HJCT’s lessons in grace under pressure become an invaluable skill.
I love HJCT and I’m having a blast directing for the first time under Christine Cottam. I love its challenges, opportunities, lessons and chances to learn and grow. It’s taught me to change with grace, and that’s a lesson I’ll carry with me to college and beyond.
Tony Wheeler just graduated from Harvard High School and plans to attend UNL this fall. Besides theatre, he’s a fan of books, guitars, wolves, rain and serendipity. He’s an unabashed geek who aspires to travel the world and leave it a better place than he found it.
Tags: hastings junior community theatre, hjct
About the author: Christine Cottam
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