Three students direct separate casts in fall production 

The directors were Halle Smith of Wheatland, Wyoming, Olivia Freeze of Bridgeport, Nebraska, and Josie Fritz of Rapid City, South Dakota. 

Smith said she thought every performance would be pretty much the same since all the directors were using the same script. 

“But watching the other two directors, I was surprised how different each production was. People think about it so differently in their interpretation,” Smith said. “I love that Scott gave us the opportunity to do this.” 

Fritz said it was intimidating being expected to direct other students the same age or older. 

“It was really scary,” Fritz said. “I wondered what did Scott mean, ‘We each need to make a unique vision for this show.’ I thought, ‘It’s the same show, how can it be different?’” 

Smith said leaning into the comedic aspects of the show differentiated her production from the other two. 

“I wanted to have a lot of funny moments,” Smith said. “My cast did a good job carrying through with all my ideas.” 

Smith said she had a happy accident casting two freshmen and a sophomore from the same town, Box Elder, South Dakota. 

“They had all worked together before, which made my life a lot easier,” Smith said. 

Fritz had a different experience. She cast a student who works with technical aspects of theatre, a freshman from outside the theatre department, and a third who had done a couple shows at CSC. 

“It was kind of fun getting to work with people who didn’t know what to do either,” Fritz said. 

Freeze had acted before with each of her cast members, but never directed them. 

“We needed guys because we don’t have any in the department. So I went with an alumnus, Sam LaRive. This role is totally him. I told him, ‘I want you to just be you.’ He did an amazing job,” Freeze said. “I knew he was funny. I just didn’t know how funny.” 

Fritz said she was terrified in the beginning. 

“This is not the show to be well-received in this town. It doesn't really fit what you would expect to see in this area. But, one night I was watching the show and there was a woman sitting across from me and I got to see her relate to the text and feel emotional. That was a really cool moment for me,” Fritz said. 

Smith said she enjoyed watching parents react to their children's performances. 

“There was an incident where a couple walked out of my performance because they didn’t agree with what was being said. But I also had a really awesome experience with a guy who comes to all of our shows when he pulled me aside and asked if I was in it. I said I wasn’t but I directed it. He was excited to see a different part of my skill set. It was amazing to talk to him after the show and get his feedback,” Smith said. 

Freeze said, like Fritz, she was convinced her parents were going to hate it, because of the content. 

“But they were like, ‘This was good.’ That made me feel good because even though you don’t agree with everything that is said, you can still appreciate the work. Theatre is supposed to make you feel, and if it makes people feel upset because they don’t agree, well, then it’s doing its job. I was surprised and enthused about how well audiences received the show,” Freeze said. 

Fritz said getting the opportunity to direct the show was especially good for her and Freeze since they are theatre education majors. 

“Getting to experiment with this a bit before we go do it in the real world was kind of fun, even though it was a little terrifying,” Fritz said. 

Freeze said she had never directed before so it felt a bit overwhelming. 

“Having worked with enough directors, I knew what works and what doesn’t from observing. We made it through and I think we did a good job,” Freeze said.