Spring 2026 Student Directed One-Acts

Emily Tews and Hannah Hutton

4 days ago

Andy Hill – “Actors Nightmare” by Christopher Durang

Sarah Siddens (Olivia Olmanson) Judginingly staring at George Spelvin (Jack Gilbert) as he is being fed lines by Meg (Jenny Ostazeski) in “Actors Nightmare” by Christopher Durang.
Photo by Brendyn Otradovec | Promethean

Directed by Andy Hill was “Actors Nightmare.” Hill is a broadfield science education major with a theatre minor. He decided to direct a one-act to prepare him for the future. “I want to try directing high school theatre in the future, so this felt like the next natural step for that,” Hill said. Hill ultimately chose “Actors Nightmare” because he’d seen the play before and because of all the theatre references it had in it. “I really enjoyed watching it… [it’s] a very funny script, a ton of theatre references in it so kind of connected very closely with me in that regard.”

When asked if there was anything he enjoyed about the directing process he said, “It was a good challenge for me to look at a script and figuring out how it works with the space we have and creating something that looks interesting that benefits the story that this play is trying to tell and then relaying that story to the audience.” Like with most processes, there were challenges. “We wanted to have rip away pants but then the rip away pants don’t fit properly,” Hill said.

The one-acts took place Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. 20 at 7 p.m. and 21 at 2 p.m.

Cheyanne Warner – “Here We Are” by Dorthy Parker

Man (Gage Schmidgall) comforting his wife Woman (Hailey Bault) during a argument on a train in “Here We Are” by Dorothy Parker.
Photo by Brendyn Otradovec | Promethean

“Here We Are” is a one-act play written by Dorthy Parker and directed by Cheyenne Warner, a Theatre and Digital Filmmaking major, senior, and first-time director in the UW-Superior Theatre Department. The play follows a newlywed couple hours after their wedding, alone and married, bickering and arguing while on the way to their honeymoon in a train car.

Sean Naughton, a Professor of Theatre here at UWS, said, “Since I’ve been here, I don’t think we’ve had a two-person show that we have done, and that can feel like a real high-wire act because there is no one else on stage to rely on.” He expanded on that pride for his students by saying that, “Seeing those two really fine actors rise to that occasion, and Cheyenne helping them through it, was really exciting as well.”

Megan Petersen – “‘Denity Crisis” by Christopher Durang

“’Denity Crisis” is a one-act play written by Christopher Durang and directed on campus by Megan Peterson, who is a current senior, K-9 Education major, and first-time director in the UW-Superior Theatre Department. The play follows the story of a young girl, Jane, who is dealing with the aftermath of a nervous breakdown and works to understand the emotional state that she is in. The continually changing characters swap themselves into different places in Jane’s mind and force her to grapple with what identity is for herself and the people around her.

Robert (Vance Moench) supporting Edith (Catie McPherson) while she makes banana bread in the “‘Dentity Crisis” by Christopher Durang
Photo by Brendyn Otradovec | Promethean

Professor of Theatre here at UWS, Sean Naughton, spoke about his student directors and how they moved to make creative decisions. “It’s kind of like putting your banana in the bread, putting your steak in the ground,” said Naughton. The production itself deals with a lot of sensitive content; Naught said of his students that, “It was really enjoyable to see my students tackling some really challenging material and do so with such enthusiasm and talent and abandon.”

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