The Middle School Acting Scene Night took place in the Katzenberg Black Box Theater, on on Thursday, May 22
Six students that are a part of the Acting elective wrote and directed all of their own scenes, and acted in the other scenes.
“We have been working on these scenes for roughly two months now,” Tali Kann ’28 said.“First we had to create a concept, which was the idea for our scenes. From there, we wrote the scripts, found the sound cues, found costumes, ordered props, visualized the set, and taught our actors the blocking. Then we practiced and performed each other’s scenes.”
The Scene Night performances served as the final showcase of everything the students had worked on through the semester. From developing story ideas, to staging and performance, every step was guided by students themselves with some guidance from Performing Arts Teacher, Fredreka Irvine.
“My favorite part was hands-down writing the script and blocking,” Kann said. “It was especially nice because my mind was swimming with ideas as I was writing the concept so getting to put it all down and make sure it makes sense was a satisfying step. Plus, as an actress who is always learning the lines and blocking of other people’s scripts, it was interesting to see what it is like on the other side.”
While the experience was rewarding, it wasn’t without its difficulties. One of the most challenging parts came at the beginning: coming up with an idea that felt strong enough to build a scene around.
“My biggest obstacle was coming up with the idea for my dramalogue in the first place,” Kann said.” I had many different ideas (none of them were good) which made it very hard to commit to one and write the concept.”
The Acting Scene Night offered a unique opportunity for students to explore the creative process from many different angles. From writing scripts, to directing, to acting, they brought their visions to life onstage and were able to share them with the audience.
