On the second floor at Oak Park and River Forest High School behind a nondescript door is a room painted black from floor to ceiling. The room is set up in what the students and their teacher call a “hallway” stage, so the middle of the room is wide open for performers, with desks, couches, a piano and other props taking up the rest of the space. Ten students are scattered throughout the room, sans shoes, and binders are open to the students’ scripts on the floor.
This is Studio 200, and it’s home to four student-directed productions each year. The director, in turn, “hires” stage managers, assistant directors, and crew members. The students control every aspect of the play from beginning to end.
Every year since Studio 200 began in 1968, at least four senior-level students are chosen through an application process to direct a play. It is competitive, with some 15 students applying this year alone. Annie Slivinski, the faculty co-director of Studio 200 (with Tracy Stimple) and a speech pathologist at OPRF, is there at almost every rehearsal. However, she is almost completely hands-off, saying, “I want [the students] to own their shows.”
Julia Locascio owns this production-Gone, written by Charles Mee. Locascio says, she sifted through “hundreds” of other plays before choosing this one. Directors have to take into account getting permission from the playwright, and they need to make sure OPRF administration finds the play acceptable. It’s not an easy process, but students are granted a lot of “creative freedom,” says Slivinski.
The three other students chosen to direct plays this year are Maggie McDowell, Rebecca Spooner, and Dan Turcza.
According to Locascio, Gone is a compilation of numerous literary pieces. She selected three actors and three actresses for the play, noting that playwright Mee allows a certain degree of independence for directors of his plays. The music played in certain scenes, for instance, was mostly chosen by Locascio.
Each director gets $75 to work with for their production. Slivinski, who has been the faculty director of Studio 200 for six years, says she pushed for the budget (which didn’t exist before) so students “had something to work with, but we try to utilize what we have here in the building.”
Most of the actors already have plenty of experience onstage. Junior Jim Nardulli, for example, has been involved in theater with his family since he was about five years old, but not everyone can say the same. Senior Zane Ranney had never acted before but “always wanted to.” Senior Ren Taige was in one scene in one act of OPRF’s “Macbeth” last semester and thought it “was so much fun,” and “the feeling of being on stage was so great,” he decided to audition and got the part.
Senior Carling FitzSimmons says Gone “is a lot like life. I knew it would push my boundaries.” Freshman Elise Kibler agrees, “It really pushes my personal limits.”
Freshman Hannah Zeller rounds out the cast. Assistant director is junior Noby Edwards, and the stage manager is Graham Tunniclif. Some of the students knew one another beforehand, but it seems Gone has really brought them closer together. “No one is allowed to have an ego here because we all sometimes feel equally ridiculous,” says FitzSimmons.
Props for the play are minimal, and Locascio wants her cast to wear all white. Each person will wield a prism to represent the many pieces of literature Mee incorporates in his play.
Nothing is quite done yet, and the cast at times struggle with their lines. But that doesn’t seem to phase the cast, crew or Slivinski because they have a lot of faith in Locascio.
“She makes everyone in this room as important as the next,” Slivinski says.
Locascio is excited about the show and is equally excited about her chance to direct. “I just love it,” she says. “Studio [200] is wonderful. It’s like a blank canvas for my theatrical paintbrush.”
Gone will debut on April 10 at 4 p.m., followed by two performances, April 11 at 7 p.m. and April 12 at 4 p.m., all in Studio 200. Cost to view the show is $6 at the door. The crew and cast ask people to come “with an open heart and open mind.”