South Side High School’s auditorium transformed into a training ground for young theatre professionals, when students presented a pair of student-directed one-act plays in both a matinee and an evening performance.
The Jan. 10 showcase, titled “A Peek Behind the Curtain,” featured “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors” by Ian McWethy and “The Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang. All four directors — Charlotte Rocafort, Reagan Zelles, James Herard and Alice Hoyos — are seniors enrolled in South Side’s International Baccalaureate Theatre IV class, where students take on advanced leadership roles both onstage and behind the scenes.
Rocafort and Zelles directed “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors,” while Herard and Hoyos handled “The Actor’s Nightmare.”
Rockville Centre is Nassau County’s only public school district to offer IB theatre courses, giving students the opportunity to explore directing, stage management and production at a pre-professional level.
McWethy’s “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors” follows a beleaguered casting director attempting to cast “Romeo and Juliet” while facing a parade of wildly unprepared and eccentric performers, including extreme method actors and one actress convinced she is a cat. The fast-paced comedy highlights the chaos and humor of the audition process.
Durang’s “The Actor’s Nightmare” places an ordinary man, George, into an unsettling theatrical dreamscape when he is suddenly asked to replace an injured actor without knowing the play or his lines. The absurdist comedy reflects Durang’s signature style and satirizes the anxieties of performance and identity.
