On the very last day of school in May 2024, Junior Greta Preuss found out she had been chosen as the director for the student-directed play the theater department was going to undertake in the upcoming school year.
“As soon as we found out, we immediately went into Kohart’s room and we were looking at scripts for me to read over the summer,” Preuss said.
“The Bookstore” is the first student-directed play to appear at Blue Valley Northwest. Theater teacher Sydeny Kohart said she has been wanting to take on a student-directed play for a couple of years and had been waiting until she felt the theater program was ready to handle such a production.
“I felt like this year was the year that all the students were ready to take on this challenge,” Kohart said. “So I put a sign up for applications for interested student directors and Greta Preuss was the one selected for student-director.”
Preuss was given the opportunity on the final day of school last May to be able to direct a play of her choice. Preuss looked over the summer on different websites for a one-act play by different playwrights for a show that would fit the length requirements, 30-90 minutes.
“[Kohart] gave me a couple [suggestions] and it ended up being ‘The Bookstore,’” Preuss said.
She said being the first student to direct a main-stage play, meaning the whole school can audition, at Northwest feels like a huge honor.
“I feel super special. It feels very rewarding,” Preuss said.
According to Kohart, there was an interview alongside past experiences which influenced her selection of the student who would direct the play. Preuss’s background in theater– taking advanced acting twice, directing a show in the class and being stage manager for main stage plays twice –was one of the reasons Kohart said she chose Preuss for the role of student director.
“All of these are the stepping stones to being a student director for one of our plays,” Kohart said.
With previous experience from Advanced Acting class in her freshman and sophomore years directing smaller productions, Preuss said she has “a certain eye for the stage.” According to Preuss, her experience directing has also led her to experience theater from a whole new perspective.
“[It] gave me a lot of background knowledge into the tech world that I kind of never delved into before, because I’ve always been an actor,” Preuss said.
Junior Helen Conner, cast as Rachel who is the lead character of the Bookstore, thinks Preuss acts very professionally.
“I don’t think there is one thing she has done wrong, she handles everything very well,” Conner said.
Along with directing the actors, Preuss said the behind-the-scenes work of a play comes to light during the process of putting a show together. She said she has worked with set design and has had to come up with plans for lighting and costuming.
“I’m definitely diving into a more creative part of myself that I haven’t really looked at before,” Preuss said.
Throughout the process of creating the show, Kohart said she has served the role of a mentor, helping Preuss choose the play, preparing audition materials and working out the rehearsal calendar.
Assisting Preuss with the process, Kohart and Conner have witnessed her handle everything admirably.
“I don’t think having a student direct the play is a challenge for the play itself, I think it would be a challenge if a person who didn’t have the same work ethic as Greta was [directing],” Connor said.
The show dates for “The Bookstore” are April 11 and 12 at 7 p.m. in the BVNW Little Theatre with tickets for sale through GoFan.
