The John Carroll acting class put on a play for students and faculty on Wednesday, April 5. They spent several months learning lines and preparing for this play.
The Nine Worst Breakups of All Time was written by Ian McWethy. The play focuses on a young woman who learns about the nine worst breakups in history. She goes back in time with a guardian angel to witness the different breakups.
Acting Instructor Julie Parrish has been directing at JC for several years. Her favorite part of teaching the acting classes is the fact that it is always different. The play changes because of the students, the play’s difficulty level, and the actors’ experience, which causes Mrs. Parrish to have a new approach to teaching the class each year.
It took around two to three months to prepare for this show. The classes spent time running through and perfecting each scene.
The play was selected through a class discussion. Mrs. Parrish said, “As a class, we spent about three to four classes going through and reading prose of plays that could fit our cast. We eventually narrowed it down to two and did a class vote.”
Mrs. Parrish didn’t hold auditions, but she cast the roles on character personality and people number. “The puzzle of casting is the thing I like most.”
Students did have a bit of input into their roles.
Junior Henry Coyner said, “Before we were cast, we had a ‘Part Wishlist’ assignment to insert who we wanted to play.”
Senior Sierra Simmons said, “I learned how to take a script and bring it to life. We learned when to emphasize words, when to feel certain emotions, and when to use body language to best portray our characters.”
The acting class provides students the opportunity to improve their performance skills and apply them to real, professional situations.
Henry said, “This class allows me to exercise my acting ability with a wide variety of characters and ways to perform. The class emphasizes improv a lot, and it’s very fun and refreshing to improve on performing ability with this.”
Senior Jonathan Hall thinks this class helps his performance because it teaches him new things, even if they aren’t easy. For Jonathan, it teaches him “how to put on a show” and the basics of acting.
Jonathan said, “The most difficult thing about the play is memorization. Not the dialogue, but the way you act about things.” Jonathan had several scenes in the play, but one stuck with him the most. He said, “My favorite scene had to be the ‘Teddy Breakup.’ I mean really? Using a prerecorded message to ditch someone? That’s wild.”
Henry had two favorite scenes. He said, “My favorite scene to do was probably the 1920s scene as Chesterfield, due to the scene letting me act as expressively 1920s or the musical breakup to the tunes of Grease.”
Sophomore Jenna Magness, an audience member, said, “My favorite scene was the caveman breakup.” She thought it brought a lot of humor and fun to the play.
Several faculty members brought their classes to see the show.