What would it be like to write the music, choreography or script of a play? Students normally act in school productions, but in the annual One Acts, they also directed and wrote the plays, including the student-written plays Español 3…the MUSICAL! and Mood Indigo.

Directing Español 3...the MUSICAL! was a learning experience for senior co-directors David Brown and Iris Latour. “At first, it was kind of scary having ten pairs of eyes staring up at us,” Brown said. “There were a couple of awkward rehearsals at the beginning where we had no idea what we were doing. But we eventually got a handle on how to effectively manage the cast.”

The words and lyrics for Español 3...the MUSICAL! were originally written by Gunn alumni Maggie Cole and Maria Cristina Lalonde, but Latour and Brown added music and choreography. “We’ve always wanted to write our own One Acts musical, but when that fell through, we had a back-up,” Brown said. “We thought it would be a shame if it never got shown,” Latour added.

Sonya Raymakers, the junior director and playwright of Mood Indigo, which relates to jazz music and relationships, said that writing a play was very different from directing one. “When you’re writing a play, you have to answer the question: ‘How do you create something that works on stage?’ You have to understand it fully,” Raymakers said. “Directing is purely how to relate to other people. You have to provide that creative spark.”

Writing the play showed more of Raymakers’s personality than directing or acting. “Writing the script depends on your own style,” she said. “But when you direct it, different actors will have their own interpretation of the words. They make that script real.”

Though senior director Gavin Morgan considers I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon the least comical One Act, he said he hoped that everyone would still enjoy it. “I want the audience to be slightly uncomfortable, but not like Batboy uncomfortable,” Morgan said. “I want them to feel guilty about laughing at the beginning.” I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon details the guilty thoughts of a man forced to relive his memories.

Ferris Wheel was about two strangers who meet on the Ferris wheel for a short interaction. Senior actor Michael Shomron enjoyed having a fellow student direct the play. “It’s very different having a student director, because you get a different perspective,” Shomron said. “Sometimes, it’s easier to relate to the choices they make.”

According to the director of For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, senior Sophie Schulman, directing was also a unique experience. “As an actor, you would never tell another actor how to do something,” Schulman said. “As a director, you have to look at the play as a whole.”