Students from an upper-level theatre course had the opportunity to put their directing skills to practice in a Directing Showcase, which was presented on Tuesday, May 7 in the Vonnie Borden Theatre.  
Instructor James Winter helped students develop their directing capabilities over the semester.  Each student director personally chose a scene from a play to direct, and actors to play the character roles.
“I give them a lot of tips,” said Winter.  “One of the things I try to instill in them is to push themselves and their actors.  One thing I’ve learned as a director is it’s never at its best.  It can always keep getting better, so hopefully they’ve carried that message through to their cast.”
The student directors had a chance to either pick their actors right away or choose actors at open additions that were held.  Actors were cast about a month before the production, which allowed the director and actors the same amount of time to prepare.
“I love my director. She’s a good friend of mine already, and it was good to work under her instead of with her,” said Janna Baza, who played the part of Susan in Funeral Parlor. “To watch her work, it was just amazing to see what she can do as a director.”
Baza’s director and friend, Veronica Gutierrez, a junior theatre major, commented on enjoying working with such talented actors, but also noted the challenge of the project.
“It was really difficult, not so much because of my actors or anything.  They were great-easy to work with.  It was just having to find my own process because each director works differently,” said Gutierrez.  “I’ve learned basically everything you saw up there [on stage]. They teach us techniques on how to work, with in the case of our peers, how to set up a show and a whole new way to look at a script.  So instead of being the one performing the characters, you know how to lead the characters to produce the shows you saw tonight.”
Other student directors featured were Crystal Schayot, Shannon Roney, Katy Truluck, Roseanna Atwell, Jennifer Clesi, Santiago Rodriguez, Kayla Hill, Jaimee Rome, Blake Mallet, Rebecca Fife, Amber Silvers, Matthew Kozel and Joseph Matherne.
“I’m really proud of them,” said Winter.  “As their teacher I’ve went around to each scene somewhere in its rehearsal process. I got to watch them work and gave the directors a little bit of feedback, and everything I’ve seen tonight had come a long way from when I’d gone to visit them over the past few weeks.”
The night received a larger than expected audience and numerous laughs. The showcase proved to be a success.