The FC drama class sent four students to California State University, Fresno, to finish the semester off performing in front of a college-aged audience on Dec. 11.
“This was a great experience and I loved the setting we acted the skit in,” Scott Orcutt, ’09, said. “It was different than the Ground Zero stage. The skit the director, Mrs. (Lacy) Bartlett, had us do was a lot of fun. She gave us lots of room for creativity and encouraged us to make the characters our own.”
FSU student and FC alumna, Lacy Bartlett, ’02, selected senior Sammie Krikorian, juniors Scott Orcutt and Anthony Johnson, and freshman Ricky Lopez from Tom McEntee?s drama class to take part in her final project for her CSUF college class: Theatre For Young Audiences.
“I got the opportunity to act in a scene directed by one of Fresno State’s theater students, (Lacey Barltett),” Krikorian said. “It was great to have a student director, and I learned some beneficial acting techniques.”
The field trip also allowed to drama students to become better acquainted with each other as well as tips from another director.
“It was a lot of fun working with other drama kids who I haven’t really performed with before,” Krikorian said. “They are really fun to work with. All in all, if I was asked to do this again, I definitely would.”
Her assignment was to select a 10-minute scene from a children?s play and direct it.
“During the skit, we took fairy-tale characters and changed them to modern day personalities,” Johnson said. “I was prince Christopher who appearance was something like an emo. rocker. The skit was appropriate for a teenage audience as we could relate to the characters. This acting workshop helped me improve on making my actions on stage bigger and more believable.”
The piece Bartlett directed was a fairy tale about three people who feel like social outcasts and climb the ?suicide mountains? to jump off from and end their life.
?Clearly it?s not written for six-year-olds,” Bartlett said. “The story is kind of heartbreaking and shows how cruel people can be to one another. On the cliff?s edge the trio meets the six-fingered man. Through their loneliness they find a family and security in one another.?
After the performance, given in front of the professor and the class, Lacy announced her belief that the FC actors were natural and fresh. They only needed blocking and backstory from her and felt the actors had fun with scene.
?It was a great opportunity for them,” McEntee said. “I think Lacy?s choice of students to work with was very good too. She chose four hardworking and creative people.?
The student actors appreciated Bartlett for letting them particpate in the project to learn new ideas or tips to improve.
?It was different from other stuff I?ve done,” Lopez said. “We only had a little time to rehearse. There was more pressure to do well because we were performing in front of professional acting teachers. All in all it was a success.”
Drama will next present Romeo and Juliet in February.
