Every Tuesday and Thursday for about an hour a group of devoted students change identities. These students are part of the Blackbox theatre productions that will open to the public on September twenty-fourth, -fifth, and -sixth.

Performing in the blackbox is different from performing on a stage. The cast usually performs several one act plays in the Blackbox classroom whereas the mainstage production is one play with multiple acts performed in the auditorium. There also aren’t many sets, which makes the acting a lot less complicated.

“This is the first one act play I’ve ever been in, it’s only 25 minutes long.” Says Leslie Cunningham, sophmore. She performs in The Rules of Comedy, a play about trying to apply rules of comedy to Hamlet.

“Theatre has no gender.” says Holly Johnston, sophmore “my character was originally a man so I’ve we had to switch a few things around.” She plays Mrs. Whipplestick from the play Romeo To Go. Romeo To Go is a condensed version of the Shakespeare classic “Romeo and Juliet”, this production allows the drama to rise and fall in the course of ten minutes. The other play presented in this fall’s productions is Oedipus Rex. All three productions are directed by Mrs. Beilgard.

However the superstitions are the same in both settings. If an actor so much as whispers the word “Macbeth” backstage the other cast members are quick to dispel the cursed name. The most entertaining things are the same in any theatre, blackbox or stage.

“Watching everyone once people get the hang of their parts is one of my favorite part of the theatre,” says Johnston, “they start improvising–it gets really funny.”

“I love being around the people the most.” Says Cunningham. “It’s another excuse to hang out with my friends.”

Some of those who are involved in the blackbox plays now were also involved in SYT (Summer Youth Theater) over the summer. Some plan to try out for the musical this fall. Auditions for the musical, Pippin, are on September twenty-eighth.