The Mycenaean

Earlier this week, the Leesville Theatre Ensemble presented five scenes from various plays that were directed and performed by the students in the ensemble. These performances included scenes from the plays Blithe Spirit, A Raisin in the Sun, The Importance of Being Earnest, Of Mice and Men, and The Crucible.

The first scene performed was from the play Blithe Spirit, by Noël Coward. The scene was directed by Emily Sendall and featured the actors Maria Rodriguez Cardenas, Gretchen Bentley, Alexander Bruen, Daniela Plata, and Brandon Hirsh. The scene takes place in the 1940s and follows husband and wife Charles and Ruth who are busy dealing with Charles’ ex-wife Elvira, who happens to be a ghost whom only Charles can see. The scene contains lots of humor, as well as much chaos.

The second scene performed was from the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. The scene was directed by Ragine Griffin and featured the actors Jayden Lewis, Hannah Holder, and Adia Logan-Archer. The scene follows the characters Mama and Ruth who have a deep conversation about their family and what Ruth plans to do with her future. Mama’s daughter Beneatha doesn’t care much for their conversation and has a quick temper. The scene contains lots of well-written dialogue and a glimpse of life for African Americans during the 1950s.

Ragine Griffin, junior, was the director of this scene. “My favorite part about directing my scene was definitely getting to see it come to life… being able to see the entirety of what we did come to life on stage was truly beautiful,” said Griffin, over text. 

Griffin explained that directing her scene allowed her to fully understand all of the hard work that people who work backstage have to put in. 

“We began this process by creating a set with furniture pieces of our choosing and then we started adding props. We had to adjust some of the blocking… also having to figure out costumes for all the characters with just a script to work off of is pretty difficult… I believe that the challenges were all worth it in the end,” said Griffin. Griffin explained that the challenges of directing the scene were having to come up with different aspects of the scene without having the rest of the play to use as a reference.

“Being able to watch my scene on stage was surreal. After working on it for the past couple of months and putting so much hard work into it I was very anxious to see what the finishing product would turn out to be, but everything came out one hundred times better than I could have ever expected,” said Griffin.

The third scene performed was from the play The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. The scene was directed by Ellary Hileman and featured the actors Emily Gagan, Alexander Bruen, and Abby Coughlin. The scene takes place in the later Victorian period and follows Cecily and Gwendolen who, upon having some tea together, find out they are both engaged to be married to the same man. The scene contains lots of witty dialogue and jokes.

The fourth scene performed was from book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. The scene was directed by Blase Harriss and featured the actors Christian Rodriguez and Maximus Wellendorf. The scene takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression and follows friends George and Lennie who are on their way to their new job working on a ranch. The scene shows George’s growing frustration with Lennie, who has the demeanor of a child due to his autism.

“It was really fun. My favorite part was getting to… see how everybody progressed with their characters,” said Christian Rodriguez, senior, who played George. “Aside from the vision of the director… you’re allowed to make a lot of choices when it comes to your character, like their background, or how they carry themselves onstage, or their personality,” said Rodriguez.

The fifth scene performed was from the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. The scene was directed by Tanner Elmore and featured the actors Camryn Bugaj, Sophia Geroge, and Jacob Merrit. The scene takes place in 1692 during the Salem witch trials. Mary Warren, a member of the community, goes to the house of John and Elizabeth Proctor and informs them of the recent events going on with the different trials, including someone who was accused and killed due to the accusations. Mary Warren then explains that Elizabeth was accused of practicing witchcraft. The scene contains lots of direct references to real events and real people who were involved in the Salem witch trials.

Tanner Elmore, junior, was the director of this scene. “I really liked working with the actors. They were easy to work with and I liked being able to come up with blocking and having ideas about costumes and stuff like that,” said Elmore. Elmore explains that one of the challenges in directing the scene was that they only had a budget of $50, so it was difficult creating a scene with all of the materials they had.

 “I was really proud of [the scene], I think it came together really well in the end,” said Elmore.

Sophia George, senior who played Elizabeth Proctor, worked behind the scenes writing the script for the Underclassmen Show for Leesville’s fall play Crush, which she explained was a different experience than being onstage. “I’ve never really played a role like that. It was very dramatic and tense, so I had a lot of fun with that. And Tanner was a really good director,” said George.

“I think you have a lot more freedom and you can let more of your creativity flow, especially when writing [a script] because you are kind of crafting your own kind of world and it’s all your ideas and you’re kind of building something,” said George. 

“I kind of actually like doing more behind the scenes than acting,” said George. She explained her scene a lot of creative freedom in the way she acted and performed her lines.