Their plays may be conceived, written, and directed by just one person, but they’re anything but one-dimensional. Tyler Redlitz ’19 and Simi Sachdeva ’19 have been building their own plays, titled “The Doors Left Shut” and “Forty Minutes” since their junior springs; now, these two playwrights are preparing to present their work to the Choate community.
Redlitz designed his play as a Capstone project, for he had known for some time that he wanted to create something other than “the typical poster board.” He proposed his own project, but had not known what specific actions he was going to take. He had not known he wanted to direct or write his own project until junior winter when he directed for the Fringe Festival. He took a creative writing course during his freshman year, a playwriting and screenwriting course in his junior year, and a summer writing course the summer going into junior year.
On the other hand, Simi Sachdeva is an Arts Concentration student. She has been planning her ArtsCon final project since junior spring. She has acted for seven years, , at Choate, has directed for Student Directed Scenes and Fringe, and she’s produced her own One-Person Play. She has also studied creative writing as a student at Choate. “The PMAC has been home,” Sachdeva said when thinking about the road that led her to creating her own show. “I can’t imagine my life without theater.” Forty Minutes is a drama about a girl named Joy who, when the play begins, will graduate high school in forty minutes. In the play, Joy reflects on the art and self-expression, and how the people in her life have affected her.
Though their plays are very different, both Redlitz and Sachdeva stress the importance of artistic expression in their lives. “I do a lot of theorizing,” Redlitz said. The principle concept for The Doors Left Shut is part of a greater conversation about human irrationality, that is, how people attempt to rationalize the irrational.
“It deals with something that’s relatively serious,” Redlitz said. “It could be talked about in a scientific and serious tone, but there’s some ignorance and irony in that.” His opinions drove him to frame his play as a comedy.
The play was a way of combining his ideas with his writing experience. “I’m often consumed by thinking about stories — storylines that present themselves in everyday life.” Creative writing was a challenge that he loved, because it allowed him to dive into the introspective side of expression. “In theater, the introspective side of writing is played out in subtext or dialogue, and that’s a fantastic thing, that combination of challenge and enjoyment and the process of thinking about it kept me coming back to theater,” Redlitz said.
It is clear that both directors see their plays as extensions of themselves. “It’s a version of myself, and I don’t think I’ve created a piece of performance art that is more wholly me,” Sachdeva said. The girl in her show is derived from her experiences with herself, art, and what she’s learned. “This play is kind of like my child,” she said. Redlitz saw what he was presenting as a “vehicle to advance [his] own thinking.” He did not write his play for the advancement of anyone else’s thoughts or even for their entertainment. “I wrote this for me, and not for anyone else,” he said.
These plays are created, from start to finish, by one person. “I am the one leading it, but I am definitely not alone,” Sachdeva said, after thanking people that helped her: Director of the Arts Ms. Kalya Yannatos, Acting teacher Ms. Deighna DeRiu, and Acting teacher Ms. Tracy Ginder-Delventhal. Sachdeva also thanked her friends who auditioned for her play, as well as the general theater community at Choate.
For Redlitz, one of the limitations of not having an entire crew was having very little available to him in terms of props and costumes. However, Redlitz felt reassured once he realized he will be putting on the show in Gelb Theater, a theater with great setups like lighting and sound, for putting on a show.
The biggest parallel that exists between the two shows is their meditation on character. Sachdeva’s Forty Minutes encompasses everything she has learned as a student at Choate. Redlitz’s play examines how people react unconventional circumstances. The story is less driven by plot or narrative, but more by the character’s actions and how their actions decide the path the story takes. Redlitz linked this idea to the poem “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost. “The poem has to do with trying to cope with regret and the thought that we did not make the right decision,” said Redlitz.
Throughout the casting process, Sachdeva and Redlitz searched for actors and actresses that were patient, eager and engaged . Both Sachdeva and Redlitz have devoted their hearts and souls into their plays and hope the performances will reflect their hard work and bring their visions to life.
