This first Hot House event brought an artistic director and seven professional actors from the New Ottawa Repertory Theatre to bring stories written by scriptwriting students to life in a stage-reading Monday night, Feb. 3.
A stage-reading is a form of theatre without sets or full costumes while actors read from their scripts. For the Hot House, actors attempted to use stage movement wherever possible to allow the scriptwriting students to see how their work looked when acted out on a stage.
The actors had two days to rehearse and prepare for the event. The first rehearsal was for the actors to understand the characters and provide any input where they feel is necessary.
“I liked how the actors did on my play,” said scriptwriting student Glen Ilnicki, 25, “But I wouldn’t have minded if they were a bit more serious at certain parts.”
His play, Act II, required actors to play the role of actors. According to Hot House artistic director Doug Phillips, probably the hardest thing an actor can do is play an actor which makes up a majority of Act II.
The second rehearsal, a technical rehearsal, was for going over the scenes with actions and preparing the appropriate lighting which is taken care of by a theatre arts student.
“I’m a little nervous since it’s my first time working the lighting,” said theatre arts student and Hot House booth technician Kara-Lynn Weaver, 22.
“It’s hard sometimes. You have to keep yourself from getting drawn in to the plays since they tend to be pretty funny,” said theatre arts alumni Sam McCarthy, 21, who had been the booth technician for previous Hot House events and returned to help teach Weaver the ropes during rehearsals.
Since the event occurred in the theatre arts studio, the set was already prepared for the theatre arts students’ classes. Whether the set benefits or hinders the scriptwriting students’ plays depends on their story. Regardless, the actors did what they could to make the play work. Even with a few mistakes here and there, the audience and actors both just laughed it off and the shows continued.
“I liked how the actors came in and brought their own flare into it,” said scriptwriting student Ashley Newton, 22, “It was fun to have what I saw in my head turned into something by Doug’s own vision.”
Halfway through the night, there was a brief intermission with time for the audience and actors to ask questions or comment on the plays. During the intermission very few audience members voiced any problems they may have had. Instead the time was replaced with a majority of compliments on the plays and acknowledgements of the difficulties the scriptwriting students might have faced.
“I was very thoroughly impressed by the actors and playwrights. It was a very high-quality performance,” said introduction to music industry arts student Alex Thoms, 19.
Professional actors Doug Phillips, Hannah Gibson-Frasier, Jennifer Vallance and Dan DeMarbre practice action scenes and lighting at a tech rehersal.
By Erich Engert
This first Hot House event brought an artistic director and seven professional actors from the New Ottawa Repertory Theatre to bring stories written by scriptwriting students to life in a stage-reading Monday night, Feb. 3.
A stage-reading is a form of theatre without sets or full costumes while actors read from their scripts. For the Hot House, actors attempted to use stage movement wherever possible to allow the scriptwriting students to see how their work looked when acted out on a stage.
The actors had two days to rehearse and prepare for the event. The first rehearsal was for the actors to understand the characters and provide any input where they feel is necessary.
“I liked how the actors did on my play,” said scriptwriting student Glen Ilnicki, 25, “But I wouldn’t have minded if they were a bit more serious at certain parts.”
His play, Act II, required actors to play the role of actors. According to Hot House artistic director Doug Phillips, probably the hardest thing an actor can do is play an actor which makes up a majority of Act II.
The second rehearsal, a technical rehearsal, was for going over the scenes with actions and preparing the appropriate lighting which is taken care of by a theatre arts student.
“I’m a little nervous since it’s my first time working the lighting,” said theatre arts student and Hot House booth technician Kara-Lynn Weaver, 22.
“It’s hard sometimes. You have to keep yourself from getting drawn in to the plays since they tend to be pretty funny,” said theatre arts alumni Sam McCarthy, 21, who had been the booth technician for previous Hot House events and returned to help teach Weaver the ropes during rehearsals.
Since the event occurred in the theatre arts studio, the set was already prepared for the theatre arts students’ classes. Whether the set benefits or hinders the scriptwriting students’ plays depends on their story. Regardless, the actors did what they could to make the play work. Even with a few mistakes here and there, the audience and actors both just laughed it off and the shows continued.
“I liked how the actors came in and brought their own flare into it,” said scriptwriting student Ashley Newton, 22, “It was fun to have what I saw in my head turned into something by Doug’s own vision.”
Halfway through the night, there was a brief intermission with time for the audience and actors to ask questions or comment on the plays. During the intermission very few audience members voiced any problems they may have had. Instead the time was replaced with a majority of compliments on the plays and acknowledgements of the difficulties the scriptwriting students might have faced.
“I was very thoroughly impressed by the actors and playwrights. It was a very high-quality performance,” said introduction to music industry arts student Alex Thoms, 19.
