Concord Students Take the Stage in Student-Directed Plays

Last week, October 26 and 27, Concord University hosted two Halloween-themed plays directed by Concord University students. The idea to direct scary plays came to student directors Kristen Osborne and Megan Perdue in their directing class when they decided that the best time to attract students for the show was October, before the Spooktacular.

    “We said we might as well do Halloween-themed plays”, says Kristen Osborn, who directed “You Do Love Me, Don’t you?” the second play shown. The play was about a girl who brought her new boyfriend to meet her family, but the boyfriend turned out to be a serial killer. The first play shown, “Starline 117,” directed by Megan Perdue, told a story of a man who mysteriously died in the airport. “We figured we have a serial killer, and we’ve got twilight zone, it is like the best combination we can get. It was a perfect mixture of two different plays with the same theme,” says Osborn.

    The cast of “Starline 117” included Blake Whitener, Brad Thompson, Brooklyn Clemons, Hatim Amri, Shanice Cook, Laya Gilpin, Kristen Osborn and Nathaniel George, who was the voice behind the stage. Megan Perdue, who directed the play, said, “The most difficult thing was getting everyone on the same page. I think it was weird to them to take orders from another college student and in some cases also someone younger! I loved being able to work with everyone and being in a position where I can help boost their acting talents and to also be able to make words on a page come to life in front of me.”

    The second play “You Do Love Me, Don’t You?” was performed by Nathaniel George, Kerri Watters, Katie Stowers, Jordan Tuck and Catherine Allen. The director, Kristen Osborne, says that the most interesting part of her experience directing the play was the fact that she has to deal with a lot of movement in it. “A lot of characters were walking around, and moving and exiting and sitting and standing, and pouring and all sorts of stuff,” said Osborne, “So, that was the most interesting part, because it was just figuring out the right ways to get people to move, so they don’t run into each other and it didn’t look awkward.” In addition to on-stage movement, the play also had several staged murders, which was a difficult part for Osborne to direct. “We had one girl falling on a floor, we had one person getting choked to death, and we had one person being stabbed. So I was very careful and concerned about doing it safely.” To make sure that everything would be safe, Kristen spoke to a professional director in Lewisburg who taught her how to stage combat in the best way. 

    The actors also enjoyed the experience of performing in the show. Katie Stowers, Concord University student who played in “You Do Love Me, Don’t You?” says, “It was an absolutely amazing experience! I loved being able to bring my character to life and becoming a completely different person for a short while. The best part though was making friends along the way that’ll last me a lifetime!” Blake Whitener, Concord University student who performed in “Starline 117” says, “I hadn’t been in a play or performed on stage in a long while, so it was really nice to get back into it. I enjoyed “Starline 117’s” Twilight Zone concept. It was an interesting plot that wasn’t predictable, which is always a good thing.”

    The show was favorably accepted by the audience. Abby Rector, a Concord University student, says, “I really enjoyed it; I thought it was a lot of fun, because they were student directed, and they were scary for Halloween.” 

    Summer Wilding, Bluefield College graduate, says that she liked the both plays. “They both were really good and they both were very different from what I have seen in this area, because they were both Halloween themed and they both had a kind of a twisted ending, and you don’t see it a lot, especially in this area.” Wilding says she enjoyed special effects and the use of food in the show. She liked seeing an actor spill food or drinks on himself purposefully, because “Part of you is thinking ‘Are they supposed to do that?’ And the other part is like, you know…they keep going in the scene and you are like ‘Oh my God, yeah, they were supposed to do that’.”

    Both directors are pleased with the results of their directing experience. Osborne says she is proud of her cast who worked so well together and she is happy how the play was accepted by the audience. “Everyone laughed when I wanted them to laugh and that was the most happiest about it [directing experience],” says Osborne. Perdue thinks, “the results were amazing. It really was everything I wanted to be! It would have been better to have a few more tech rehearsals but overall I think my cast and I did a fantastic job putting on the show."