Q. How did the idea to put on this production come about?

A. I originally had a different show slated, but the week before I made the announcement. I pivoted last minute because this is a bigger cast and I wanted a show that had more opportunities for students. The show we did during the first semester last year was kind of a small show and I didn’t want to do another super small show again.

Q. What was the most difficult part of this production and how did you overcome it?

A. A lot of the actors in this show play multiple characters. For instance, [senior] Blake [Jaycox] is playing nine people over the course of this show. Staging a show when you’ve got actors that are playing multiple people was hard. I had to make sure that while I was blocking it that I had the cast breakdown of all the characters beside me. That way, I knew where people were in the script. Even in moments they weren’t in, I could know if they were going to be available or not to be in a scene.

Q. As your third production at LHS, what has changed in your time here?

A. In the Odd Couple, starting with almost no baseline, it was all all new. At this point, I’ve now kind of got an idea of who we are likely to have audition, who we are likely to have on crew and what that will allow me to do as a director.

Q. What should people expect to feel watching the show? 

A. Hopefully nostalgia and joy. Those would be the two things that I probably feel most. As a big Harry Potter fan, this is just Harry Potter on a shoe-string budget. It’s ridiculous, silly, and leaning into all of the silly things about the wizarding world. For me it’s been an exercise in not taking anything too seriously because this show won’t not function if you take it too seriously. If you take any part of this show too seriously it falls apart, and that’s something we had at our wet tech rehearsal. Some of these actors are playing nine people and have a full costume change in between, and I’m like “no no no, this is not that kind of show.” It could just be a hat or wig change because if it’s a full costume change those actors are never gonna make it out on stage in time. That’s why if you take it like a literal show it falls apart, and a lot of this show is just leaning into the whimsy. One character is on stage as three different people, and she doesn’t ever leave the stage. She just pulls a hat off and puts a wig on. That’s the silly and fun part of this show that I really love.

Q. You started your career as an actor and then transitioned into directing. What differences have you noticed between the two roles?

A. As an actor, you’re responsible for creating a real, believable character that fits in a universe that you are collectively making with your castmates and production team. But as a director, you have to be worried about all of the cast and crew and all of the pieces. You get to a certain point as an actor where it’s like “okay I’m ready to go, my work is done,” and you can kind of relax a little bit. As a director, you don’t really get to relax until the end of opening night. Just because you got all of the pieces in place doesn’t mean that they are going to stick together. Until you see it put up and run successfully in front of an audience you can’t let it go, but then after opening night I’m completely done. The show is up, it’s running and it’s doing what it needs to do. My responsibility to it relaxes and my sense of ownership kind of falls away after the first performance. After that, we’ve given it to the audience and it isn’t ours anymore. It’s a part of everyone who sees it.

Q. What made you audition for the play?

A. Other people from LTC really wanted me to and I just like theater, this was a great outlet for that.

Q. How does Wayne relate to you, or is he different?

A. It was really hard to find a connection with the characters because [the show] takes place over seven years. Wayne changes a lot within just the two hours of the play, but he always kind of kept a child-like part of him, even throughout his very last year in the school, which is something I relate to. Keeping a childlike and imaginative quality with yourself while growing up.

Q. What has been your favorite part of being in this production so far?

A. Definitely the people, working together and making new friends.

Q. What type of person is Oliver?

A. Oliver is seen as sort of a nerdy, awkward person. He doesn’t exactly fit into the magic school because he was raised by muggles, so he starts out very antisocial but then kind of grows into himself and his confidence.

Q. What has been the most challenging part of playing this character?

A. I think the most challenging part is trying to discern what Oliver is trying to do in certain situations because Oliver is a very complex character. He is very awkward, but caring and can also be kind of clueless. Trying to figure out how he responds to something in a situation where he is surrounded by a bunch of energetic people was definitely challenging.

Q. What has been your favorite part of this production so far?

A. I think my favorite part has been the rest of the cast. I really like a lot of the other cast members, especially with the inner trio being Megan and Wayne, they’re really nice. Overall everyone is just incredibly kind.

Q. What is Megan like? 

A. She’s very moody, and she doesn’t want to be a puff. She does everything to not be the person she is but then eventually learns it’s okay to be herself. She tries to be mean but a part of her is really not.

Q. Without giving anything away, what is your favorite line of dialogue? 

A. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS. AHHHHH.” 

Q. What got you into acting? 

A. I have been doing theater for a long time, but I started getting into it my freshman year. I did crew for the play and then I was in the cast for the musical. I feel like that really introduced me to a lot of new people and I started to realize how much I actually enjoyed it. It was really fun and I loved the community.

Q. What should people expect to feel when watching this production?

A. It’s very funny, but it’s also fun until the end. You grow really fond of the characters the more you watch. It’s like a comedy and it has a very good message as well.

Q. What got you into building sets?

A. During freshman year, when [senior] Annie Jones introduced me to LTC. She was on set crew back then, [and] she said she enjoyed it, so I gave it a shot and now I have been here ever since.

Q. What is the hardest part about this production?

A. Definitely the doors. We have four doors that we had to make, and Mr. Swindle and I don’t really have that much experience with doors. They’re just hard to build in general, so he hired Ms. [Cindy] Kessler to help build these doors with us.

Q. What build are you most proud of and why? 

A. You know, something special was the revolving stage from 9 to 5. I loved that one. Well, no I didn’t. At times. Building it was a pain, but taking it apart was fun. Keeping it together was fun because I had never done anything like that before.