Fortnight offers students chance to write, act, direct

Despite what the name may imply, students had more than two weeks to prepare for the annual theater event, Fortnight.

Fortnight, based on similar small festivals around the country, will feature six different casts of two people each who will showcase their original work.

Students of all majors were invited to take part in their choice of writing, acting and/or directing in the student-created event. Performances will take place Oct. 13 at 10 p.m. at the Washington Street Arts Center, courtesy of the Vermillion Arts Council.

The shows will run one after another, not more than 10 minutes each, with a short intermission between the first three and last three. There is a $5 admission charge.

Senior Steve Schaeffer, Student Theatre Cooperative president, said the event is less of a commitment than other shows in the department but presents itself as an opportunity to do something they wouldn’t normally be able to.

“Sometimes you forget how much fun your job is when you’re on the road or you’re in rehearsals, crying every day for like two months, whereas you just get to come up with stuff,” Schaeffer said.

Junior Anna Robertson just transferred into the Theatre Department and is acting in “What Will It Be,” an abstract show written by senior Tony Garcia.

With little direction, the show takes the audience through a relationship roller coaster. Few words are spoken, as the actions say it all.

Robertson said the show has allowed her to broaden her acting platform.

“This show is definitely different for me and gets me a little bit out of my comfort zone, because it is a relationship,” Robertson said. “It is between two women and I’ve never had to act with anything, sort of, like that so I love it.”

Each show, written specifically for the two cast members by the writer, also has two students on makeup and costuming for a total of five students working on the performance.

Schaeffer said he hopes students involved grow as artists and understand themselves better through the event.

“I want to give people a venue for this creative scholarship so that these artists can show what they can do with other people without the producers and the production of the university,” Schaeffer said.

First-year Katie Meirose is directing two shows and acting in one for Fortnight, along with helping with the costuming and makeup department, all while juggling 19 credits this semester.

She said audience members can expect variations in the six shows at Fortnight — a little bit of humor, a little bit of drama.

Since the event was open to all majors, the audience can also see a variation in the talent, a chance for students to experience what the department has to offer.

“Maybe if they get a taste of Fortnight we’ll get some more talent auditioning for the shows, which, the more the merrier, I think,” Meirose said. “Someone might not be perfect for a part and someone not in the department may be perfect for it, you just never know.”

(Photo: First-year Katie Meirose and junior Jordan Mitchell practice their lines for junior Jackie Webb’s short production “Words” at the Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts on Monday in preparation for the upcoming Fortnight event. Malachi Petersen / The Volante)