New board members. New plays. New semester.
At the end of the 2010-11 year, LAB! Theatre is already looking forward to what the fall semester will bring.
The newly elected team of producing directors have been hard at work as this term winds down.
“There have been a huge number of great proposals,” said Jess Adams, a new producing director.
Adams has been highly involved with LAB! this year. She directed the premiere of Catya McMullen’s “The Collective,” among other performances.
Adams said that her role will change dramatically next year as she takes on a more managerial role with the group.
One of five producing directors, her tasks will involve choosing the plays to be performed, hiring people and facilitating the general management of the group.
“Our job is basically overseeing the whole LAB! season,” said Julia Howland-Myers, a sophomore who is also a new producing director.
Howland-Myers has been involved with LAB! Theatre since coming to UNC.
Amelia Sciandra, a previous prouducing director, helped shepherd Howland-Myers through the group.
“[Amelia] really took me under her wing,” she said. “I wouldn’t have known about it without her.”
Howland-Myers said the producing director job is already proving hectic, but she’s been putting any nervous energy to good use.
“It’s been taking up all of my spare time,” Howland-Myers said. “I’m nervous because I want to do a really good job”.
The discussion of the proposals for next semester’s line up is well under way, and the new team have had a lot of plays to choose from.
Howland-Myers said the board chooses people based upon their written proposal, their theatrical experience and their directorial competency.
But experience isn’t the only thing that matters when going through the selection process, she said.
The team examined how proposed ideas fit into the wider scheme of the season and how developed ideas are, rather than just looking at previous experience of the applicant, Howland-Meyers said.
Adams added that choosing the plays can be a very interesting process.
“We want enthusiasm, and passionate people,” Adams said.
Both new directors were very enthusiastic about the submissions they have received.
“We have had way more that we can actually do,” Howland-Myers said.
Out of around 20 submissions in total, there will only be around 10 that actually see the lights of the stage between the main stage and the smaller Laboratory productions.
The successful proposals for the main stage are to be announced on Thursday at 3:15pm in the lobby of the Center for Dramatic Arts.
Those successful Laboratory plays will be announced later in the summer.
Although the plays have not yet been announced, Howland-Myers said that they will come from various times and different playwrights, encompassing a wide dramatic variety.
“They are going to be really relevant to college students and our lives,” she said.
Mostly, Howland-Myers said that she excited to be in a position to help guide undergraduate drama students.
“I want people to be able to take risks, and to allow them to feel supported in taking those risks,” she said.
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