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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Theater department debuts “One Acts” Thursday

A light-hearted collection of eight student-directed, one-act comedies, including “Just be Frank,” “Fit for Feet,” and “Slop Culture,” will open Thursday, May 11 at 8 p.m. in the Paly Haymarket Theater.

According to Paly Theater Director and event producer Kristen Lo, the ten-minute one-acts encompass themes relevant to students, such as growing up and deciding what to do with one’s life.

Written within the last thirty years, all of the one-acts premiered at a Humana Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, which CNN.com described on April 17, 2006 as “the top U.S. new play venue.” According to the Actors’ Theatre website, ‘“The Humana Festival of New American Plays is an annual site of pilgrimage where theatre lovers from around the world converge to get the first look at the future of American theatre.”’

“It’s new work,” Lo said. “It’s not boring, it’s funny.”

All of this year’s one-acts performed at Paly have small casts, which made casting challenging, according to “Just be Frank” student-director junior Amy Ackerman. Half of the 70 auditioning students had to be cut from this year’s 33-person cast, according to Ackerman.

“Usually, one acts give people a better shot [at acting] than normal Paly plays do,” Lo said. “It was a little disappointing not to cast all the talent, but still, there were a lot of new people with talent [who were cast].”

This year’s nine student directors welcome the challenge of working with the cast.

“I’m really interested in directing,” Ackerman said, who participated in a directing workshop last summer at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. “It’s a great opportunity to go through both the casting process and tech week. I do lots of shows, but this is really cool because it’s a whole other spectrum Kristin’s opening up to me.”

One advantage of student directing, according to Lo, is the benefit of casting from a student director’s perspective.

“I see and cast things one way, and they see and cast another,” Lo said.

This year’s one-acts differ from last year’s production, “Speed Limit 25”, which was student-written and included autobiographical elements.

According to Lo, it is beneficial to alternate annually between student-written and professional one-acts because this gives students perspective between student creativity and professional productions.

“It’s interesting to see which one-act plays make it,” Lo said.

This year’s “One Acts” will also include an improvisational act to start off the show, welcoming audience participation through games.

“Our main goal is to entertain and make sure the audience has a blast,” senior student-director Jon Morag said. “It’s completely improvisational. Everything comes from audience suggestions.”

According to Morag, “It’s never the same show, not only because it’s improv, but also because it’s never the same games.”

Despite his enthusiasm about the exciting unpredictability of improvisational acts, Morag also recognizes the uncertainty of them.

“Improv is one of the riskiest types of theater,” Morag said. “There’s always the chance you will fail. That can be very scary for improvisers, both for those who are starting and for those who have done it for many years.”

Between now and Thursday’s opening night, directors still need to finalize many light and sound cues.

“The magic of theater is going to come together as well,” Lo said.

With a talented and well-rehearsed cast, both Ackerman and sophomore “Slop Culture” student-director Yotam Dror agree that their main worry for opening night is regarding show-goers.

“I’m really scared of having a dead audience,” Ackerman said. “A dead audience definitely affects the performer.”

“The more the audience laughs and claps, the better it will be,” Dror added. “If the audience doesn’t participate, the morale of the actors is going to be pretty low.”

As in years past, Lo hopes that the student-selected one-acts will expose many new people to Paly theater.

“They’re really a diverse collection of plays and there are a lot of people working hard,” Ackerman said.

“I would bet that everybody in the school knows somebody involved,” either on stage, in tech, or directing, Lo said.

The Paly “One Acts” will be performed Thursday through Saturday, May 11-13 at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, May 17 at 4 p.m.; and again Thursday through Friday, May 18-19 at 8 p.m.

Tickets cost $7 for adults and $5 for students and are available at the door. Staff admission is free.

For more information, call theater director Kristen Lo at 329-3857.

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