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Senior Show Mania
By Laura McKenna '10
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As the class of 2007 concludes their time at Sweet Briar College, a select few are privileged to engage the SBC community with their various talents in the self-directed Senior Shows. The number of shows varies from year to year; typically there are only two senior shows allowed, one for each semester. This year is an exception; we have four productions to enjoy.

The senior shows are a way for the students to show off what they have learned over the past four years. The entire production is their responsibility. The senior project replaces a thesis and is proposed in a student's junior year. This is an in-depth process that includes many hours of paperwork and background research on the project the student wishes to do.

Every senior show varies. They carry no theme with each senior typically doing whatever the individual has a passion for.

First this year was Emily Olson ‘07, who presented her There’s a Futon in My Bathroom in December, an autobiographically themed, one-woman, show.

“I learned a lot about myself in terms of areas I need to improve; organizational skills, acting and performing skills…playing myself was tricky. I learned that this is fun. This is who I am,” Olson said in an interview.

It took many months to try and figure out just what Olson wanted her play to do, because she did not have a creative writing background. Being a theater major, she went through a trial and error phase with the play. When the production finally came to a place that pleased her three weeks before the show, it was rewarding. “It was nice to have the freedom, although tricky because I am a perfectionist.”

Olson will go on a mission for her church after graduation, then she plans to work with theater.

Following that was Rosanna Hawkins’ Star Struck Dinner Cabaret last weekend. Hawkins incorporated all of her talents as she self-directed her cabaret

“It is a good idea of what I would like to end up doing,” she said. She displayed her inter-disciplinary major of dance, theater and music in show with her cast of eight.

After graduating, Hawkins will be in au pair in Texas, where she will also be taking night classes to work towards her Masters. From there she hopes to work in Children's Theater.

Upon returning from spring break will be Caitlin Cashin's opera The Old Maid and the Thief. Cashin’s show will be a small opera composed of four people. This production will be in Babcock March 20-21.

The last show is Caitlin Ashley's A Night of Ives. Comic relief is just what students will need right before finals. Presented April 20-21 at Babcock theatre, the collection of comedic one-act plays by playwright David Ives is the basis for the play.

Ashley, who is majoring in International Affairs and Theatre, intends to go to graduate school or straight into the working world.

The last few days on campus are precious, and Ashley intends to enjoy spending them with her cast. She first started with theater at SBC during her freshman year when “[Professor Kershner] encouraged me to audition for the fall play, and then take some theatre classes for general education requirements. After that, I was hooked.”

The senior directors pull knowledge from all four years, using basic everyday skills to the most advanced techniques in order to make the production possible. “We don't hold anyone's hand,” department head Dr. William Kershner said.