Theater at Northwest Missouri State University opens this weekend with ‘The Fall Evening of One Acts.” A long-running series, the annual events offers a selection of theater shorts in a roughly 90-minute-program.
Directors and actors take a month or so to practice and perform one short story. Anna Verhoff, director of the one-act "Pillow Talk" said her show will be one of the longest offerings in recent memory.
“We’ve all worked very hard on this,” Verhoff said, “We would love to see you there.”
Directing a ‘one-act’ is somewhat of a rite of passage for theatre students at Northwest. The process works like this: two or three students bring their show ideas to some of the theatre faculty. If the faculty support the idea, they are allowed to go into the directing and casting phase. The show opens just a few weeks later.
The themes and stories on offer this year range from a heart-warming romance to a gripping family drama, to a comedy about two recent grads on a shared road trip.
Korbin Horton directed the romance. “The main theme we explore is: don’t judge a book by its cover,” he said. “We see the characters learn more about each other as the show progresses.”
At the same time, the audience learns about the characters as well, “so in a way the characters are in the same boat as the audience. They know just as much, and they are learning right alongside them,” Horton said.
Students from any major can audition for the one-acts, meaning they bring people together from across campus.
This is the fun of it, according to Remington Carter, director of "Down Came the Rain.”
“I’ve been an actor all of my life, and this is my very first time taking up the mantle of the director,” Carter said. “Being able to work with this amazing cast and crew has been just such a blessing, honestly. I’m so blessed to have people who want this just as much as I do.”
The shows play Sept. 18, 19, and 20th at 7:30 in the Ron Houston Performing Arts Center.
