For more than two decades, Newton South High School has offered seniors the chance to try their hand at directing in the annual Student Directing Festival. Students apply with a proposal for a short play they would like to direct, and if chosen, they become responsible for all aspects of the production. They hold auditions, select cast members, and conduct rehearsals over a ten-week period. “It’s a great way for students to take safe risks,” said Jeff Knoedler, who heads up the school’s South Stage theater program. “The faculty is here for support if they need us,” he explained, “but we mostly watch from afar.” This year, Newton audiences can see the results of the process on February 9, 10, and 11 at 7:30PM.
This year’s Student Directing Festival program contains two one-act plays, both by female playwrights:
- The first is Horse Girls, by Jenny Rachel Weiner. A tale of intrigue among adolescent girls in a horseback riding club, it has been described as a “dark comedy of middle school deception and lies.”
- The second is a condensed version of Annie Baker’s Obie Award-winning Circle Mirror Transformation, which centers on the poignant and sometimes funny relationships that develop among participants in a community theater class.
Reflecting the efforts that South Stage has been making to support female representation and leadership, both plays have majority female or transgender stage crews and design teams, and female directors as well. Horse Girls is directed by Naomi Metcalf, while Willa Foster and Audrey Yung co-direct Circle Mirror Transformation. Both plays are presented on every evening of the festival. Horse Girls has seven actors and Circle Mirror Transformation has a cast of five. In working with the actors, said Knoedler, the student directors have honed valuable skills in “leadership, collaboration, and critical thinking.” They have also created dramatic art, as a capstone to their high school theatre careers. Newton residents who wish to support them can look forward to an evening of absorbing entertainment. Tickets are available here.
