Every winter, the Gelb Theater in St. John Chapel is bustling with activity. Towards the end of the term, audience members file into the cozy basement performance space to watch the works of directors, actors, writers, and production teams of the Fringe Festival, Student Directed Scenes (SDS), and One-Person Plays.
1. Fringe Festival
The Fringe Festival, which was held on February 9 and 10, presented a range of student-written, student-directed, and student-produced works. This year, four plays, three short films, a song, and a poetry performance were thoughtfully chosen from over a dozen submissions by the festival’s adviser, English and theater teacher Mrs. Kate Doak P’22, and the students on the Fringe board. Then, directors, chosen via application, ranked their preferences among the selected plays. Actors were cast in the winter and participated in the festival alongside the directors and the production crew during their afternoon activity slot.
Describe your work or experience in the Fringe Festival with one sentence.
“I usually let the directors interpret it however they want. They’re directing it with a good vision, and I trust them.’ – Audrey Lim ’23 (play: swim, lie, read)
“The only factor I needed to consider with creative decisions was, ‘Is this funny to me?’ and I really worked well under those guidelines. – John Freeman ’24 (short film: Absolute Power)
“Inspired by the mathematical thought experiment, my play imagines the antics and dilemmas that go on in an infinitely-growing hotel; I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have watched the words I put down on paper come alive and made tangible.” – Sunny Vo ’24 (play: Hilbert’s Paradox of the Grand Hotel)
2. Student Directed Scenes (SDS)
In SDS, students direct a play of their choice as the culminating project of their two-term Honors Directing course. In the fall, the students practiced directing in class to develop their skills. Then, they selected SDS play options and reviewed them as a class. After an open-call audition for Choate students interested in acting in the winter term, the directors considered how the different puzzle pieces – including the directors’ and actors’ availability and preference – would fall together before making casting decisions. Throughout the term, the seven directors held rehearsals outside of class time with their cast, leading up to the final performances on February 24 and 25.
Why did you choose the play you are directing?
“I chose an excerpt from the beginning of The Lover by Harold Pinter because I thought the premise and its themes were really interesting. Throughout the play, there are only two actors, and they each play different characters. The play itself experiments with casting characters and the constructs of that. Traditionally, one actor plays one character, but this play throws all that up in the air.” – Audrey Lim’23
“Bride on the Rocks by David Weiner] is funny and it challenges me in the sense that the actors don’t have much blocking, so I have to find ways to keep the audience engaged all throughout the show. – Eve Stanley ’24
3. One-Person Plays
In the Honors Acting 350 course, students are the playwrights, directors, designers, and actors in their or play – thus, the “One-Person Plays.” This year, five students wrote a 15-minute script on any topic, chose their own costumes, designed the lighting and sound, starred as the main character. Students wrote their pla and received feedback during in-class showings. Toward the end of the winter term, students moved to the Gelt Theater for longer rehearsals under the guidance of th teacher, Mr. Bari Robinson, in preparation for the February 27 evening premiere of their plays.
How does your character resonate with you?
“I play different versions of myself – myself today, and then my 3rd grade and 8th grade selves through my diary. Despite it being myself the whole play, I still see how I have outgrown certain aspects of myself when I was younger and see some other mannerisms influencing how I portray my present self.” – Sofia Muñoz’23
“I’m obsessed with murder mystery books, so I wrote a murder mystery. I did something not related to myself at all, so I get to have a lot more fun with the character; I can connect her to aspects of myself, but she’s not really like me. It’s a crazy setting and storyline, and it’s fun to play. – Andra Ionescu ’24
“I play two teenage girls. Their personalities are woven from bits of myself and other people that I’ve grown up with to create wholly new people. The process has required me to be incredibly vulnerable, which is scary, but the task also reminds me of what makes art so special in the first place. There’s something very human about artistic expression. – Chloe Jacobs ’23
