Emily Stolfer, an RA in Dolan this year, doesn’t only take care of her residents. She also takes part in myriad activities across campus. Most recently, she was the director of the one act play, “The Charity Case,” which was actually written by one of the senior English majors at JCU, Julia Blanchard. Senior Carmen Rietta and freshman Dwight Venson starred in the show. The one act plays ran from February 20th through the 23rd, with four shows total.
Stolfer, already active in the JCU theater scene, decided to take Keith Nagy’s directing class. From there, she said, “He [Keith Nagy] asked me while I was on vacation. He needed someone, so he called me because I’d previously expressed interest.” Stolfer’s one act was about “a relationship between two young lovers who need to decide between getting married and living happily ever after, or the female leaving and moving to Ecuador to live her dream of helping people,” she said.
Stolfer was excited to have the opportunity to direct a play, but she said that she didn’t have any expectations as to what directing would be like before the experience. “I just knew what is needed for a good show: hard work and practice,” Stolfer said, “The hard part of directing is expecting the unexpected. One of my actors quit during rehearsals, and I needed to find someone to replace them. With directing, you need to handle the curve balls.”
When asked what the directing experience was like, Stolfer said that it was like “being a mom, because you have to make sure everyone is there on time, has what they need for success, and keep everyone’s schedules straight on top of it!” Stolfer also added that directing is a lot different from acting, and said that, “a director needs to make sure everything looks and sounds good, while actors only have to worry about themselves. An actor could perform really well, but the show might be terrible. Anything bad that happens on stage is a reflection of the director.”
Stolfer was pleased with the performances of her show, and said “I did not see all of the shows due to a debate tournament, but my actors were the most pleased with their performance on Sunday, which makes me happy. They went out with a bang!”
Overall, the experience of directing a one act at JCU was a positive one. Stolfer said that she would love to direct again if she had the opportunity, adding “I would probably rather do a comedy or a musical. If I did another one act, I would love for it to be Anton Chechov’s “The Bear” or the play “Venus in Fur”.
Stolfer is also involved in debate, student union, residence life, and Kappa Delta Sorority. Stolfer is a senior Communications and Political Science double major.
Stolfer also said that she “was honored to be thought about, let alone get picked as a Campus Celebrity!”