Communication sophomore Marcus Dowd performed in last year’s Dolphin Show. He has acted in Student Theatre Coalition plays. He minors in dance. And he just became a director.
Dowd was one of three new student directors in WAVE Productions’ Directors’ Festival, known as D-Fest. The event showcased three 30-minute plays from Dowd, Communication sophomore Ash Aranha and Communication freshman Abby Pierson over four Friday and Saturday shows in Shanley Pavilion.
While all three directors had acted in productions, they had little to no backstage experience. In high school, Aranha directed one play — a 15-minute act featuring just one freshman from his school.
His D-Fest play “Achilles and Patroclus” depicted the romantic relationship between the two heroes. It was twice as long as the high school production and included four actors playing the titular characters and their younger counterparts.
One of the biggest adjustments for Aranha was acclimating to working with actors his age and older. But with his prior acting and sound design experience, returning to directing form didn’t take long.
“By the third rehearsal, I was like, ‘I’m so back,’” Aranha said.
Although rehearsals only started in February, the production process began with petitions last fall. The directors also received advice from theatre faculty and graduate student mentors in D-Fest workshops. Prof. Erin Ortman taught Pierson about letting actors use their instincts.
This advice surprised Pierson, she said. Similar to Aranha, she acted alongside younger students in productions. She was used to strict instructions from her directors. However, Pierson soon realized her actors’ instincts usually matched her ideas without her telling them.
Pierson directed “Love Songs For Realists,” in which a band reunion reveals family secrets. She said this production is the play’s first performance.
“That is very exciting, to watch this script that I read on the plane home from winter break actually become a real life work of art,” Pierson said.
Dowd’s play was even newer than Pierson’s. The play, “meanwhile in the sun,” was written by communication junior Maggie Munday Odom and depicts poet Mary Oliver’s relationship with her partner.
The screenplay’s discussion of vulnerability, nature and a gay love story “checked every box that I didn’t even know that I had,” Dowd said. He met Odom before selecting the play, and they connected because they both had parents in the military.
This part of his history influenced his approach to directing. The workshops reminded him of his arts education, he said. Growing up as a military brat, he had new teachers everywhere he moved. With workshops, he only had four hours to learn from different people.
“That’s also how I’m used to learning,” Dowd said. “It really allowed me to create my own directing style rather than imitate and be a derivative of one of my mentors or teachers.”
Because D-Fest featured three consecutive plays, the crew had only 10 minutes between each to replace sets. But discussion of nature in “meanwhile the sun” inspired what remained for the entire show — over 60 origami birds hanging from the Shanley ceiling.
Communication freshman and scenic designer Seidy Pichardo said inspiration for the set came from the Japanese tradition of folding paper cranes to honor loved ones who had passed. To Pichardo, all three plays involved the theme of memory.
She and five other students folded the birds in a Kresge Hall classroom for four hours. In line with WAVE’s mission of sustainability, they used scrap paper, so some of the birds included drawings.
“It hasn’t been as elaborate as this in the past, but I think that this could be a new change for new student theater,” Pichardo said. “This is supposed to be a time for the underdogs to shine.”
Email: desireeluo2028@u.northwestern.edu
X: @desiree_luo
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