Theatre is important to me. That’s the easiest, most straightforward way of describing my passion for and love of drama. Usually, I can be found onstage or behind it in some capacity for every show produced at the Schuster Theatre.

This semester I have a unique opportunity. Every March, the Schuster presents a “Mini-Fringe” festival, modeled after the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world and presents any kind of show imaginable throughout the month of August. Here at Gannon, we’re not exactly on the same scale as the Edinburgh Fringe, but we put together a good group of shows. Students can apply to direct or produce published shows and their original work. Last semester, I applied to direct a show and was chosen!

The show I chose is titled “The Under-a-Minutemen Present: Literary Canon Fodder,” and it actually was first produced for the real Fringe Festival. It’s a very small cast. Edge’s own Matt Kridel and Conor Grey manage to condense some of the world’s most famous pieces of literature into very short – and very funny – skits. I’m biased, but I think that this show is going to be pretty good.

Acting as a director is something I didn’t think I’d ever do. However, I really like watching my vision for the show appear onstage. Since I’m a bit of a control freak – and maybe a little bossy – I like being able to tell people exactly what to do and how to do it. And they actually listen for once! We’re rehearsing pretty often and the show opens right after we come back from spring break. If you’re on campus March 13-14, you should definitely stop by Zurn 104 to see the show!

Talk to you soon!

Sarah