“I definitely was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.”

Senior Maggie Fried never thought she would direct one of the annual upper school One Acts.

“I’ve been super into acting since middle school and throughout all of high school, so directing as something I could do just wasn’t on my radar,” she said. “Even as I acted in senior-directed acts as an underclassman, I never thought that [director] could be me.”

Then, in the fall of senior year, she took an advanced theater class that focused on directing.

“I definitely was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. It came a lot more naturally to me than I thought it would,” she said.

Fried found that she “…loved the process of blocking something in my head and then seeing what the actors could bring to it, and creating something really cool and meaningful together. After that, directing a one-act play just seemed like an opportunity too incredible to pass up.”

The One Acts have traditionally included student-directed pieces, a practice that began in the fall of 2003.

This year’s playbill on Jan. 27 contained three productions, two of them student-directed and each running for approximately 30 minutes.

Fried directed a shortened version of the French absurdist classic by Eugene Enesco, “The Bald Soprano,” which focuses on the interactions between two families.

“I was really drawn to it because it’s an anti-play; there’s no cohesive plot. The characters are very stereotypical,” she said. “That kind of drove my vision and how I approached the play.”

Fried was initially nervous about shouldering the responsibility that comes with directing.

“I was worried about a lot of things. Directing one scene with two people in class is very different from directing an entire play,” she said.

The limited rehearsal time also created some stress. Auditions took place before Winter Break, but rehearsals didn’t start until after; the entire production process took place over three weeks.

In spite of these worries, Fried found that aspects of the job were much easier than she initially expected.

Before the show, Fried said, “Everyone in the cast is super focused and committed. They’re doing a really great job learning all the blocking, reviewing lines outside of school, and coming in ready to go, which is making it really fun and easy for me.”

The other student-directed show performed was “WASP,” a satirical take on 1950s suburbia written by Steve Martin, and directed by senior Quenby Wilson. The act centers around a family whose behavior is strictly dictated by societal norms. However, when the members of the household are left to their own devices, they find ways to express themselves, rebelling against the roles that dictate their family life.

The competition one act chosen this year and that debuted at the One Acts is “Dogg’s Hamlet” by Tom Stoppard and is directed by US Theater Director Eric Severson.

The first half of the production is performed entirely in a language called Dogg, which uses ordinary English words but assigns them different definitions. The second half is a drastically shortened version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The play seeks to demystify Shakespearean language by forcing the audience to become accustomed to a gibberish language.

Senior Valerie Wick has been part of the One Acts since her freshman year. This year is her first time being in the competition act—she plays Baker in the first half and Hamlet in the second half of the production. Wick found this play to be particularly challenging due to the unusual language.

“None of it really makes sense on its own,” she said. “It was really difficult to memorize the lines because there was nothing to attach them to. You’re saying ‘cauliflower’ over and over and you have no clue what it means.”

“Dogg’s Hamlet” is SPA’s entry into the MSHSL One Act Play Competition. The top two teams from each subsection advance to the section competition. SPA will host both competitions. The former took place Jan. 28 and the latter will occur Feb. 9.

Severson appreciates the community and perspective that the competition brings.

“For me, one of the greatest things that it does is it allows our students as well as other students to see what other schools are doing,” he said. “We try really hard to build it as a supportive space where the students are encouraging and supporting each other, as opposed to trying to make it competitive.”

Both Severson and Wick mentioned the unique energy present in the One Acts.

“I think people who do the One Acts do it because they really enjoy theater and enjoy the process of making theater,” Wick said.

“There’s always this level of joy in the One Acts,” Severson added. “Not because the musical and the play don’t have that, but because the One Acts have student-directed pieces and people trying theater for the first time. To me, that is the exciting piece because you get different audience members showing up and the different students participating.”

Severson also appreciated the dedication of this year’s seniors.

“The thoughtfulness and the leadership that I have seen in this group of seniors is one that has won my heart,” he said. “They have taken it upon themselves to be supportive of everyone, they want to be inclusive, and they want to support students that are in the younger grades.”