Every semester, OMTA/OSTA (Oberlin’s student organizations for theater) does something even more insane than our usual antics-- and it’s called Quick!
Quick! is our version of the common 24-hour theater festival. Writers create a musical or play from scratch between the hours of 8pm and 8am on Saturday. Directors and actors receive the scripts 8am Sunday and have until 8pm that night to put together an entire show. Last semester, I partook as an audience member, and had the time of my life. There were some seriously incredible shows, made even more impressive by the production time frame. That night, participating in Quick! officially earned a spot on my Oberlin bucket list.
This semester, the weekend of Quick! fell at the same time as the Student Dance Showcase (which I was in). A sane person might have chosen to take that Sunday to recover from SDS show week. Instead, I signed up for Quick, but rather than take my usual route as an actor, I opted to direct.
I was assigned to direct a musical written by fellow blogger Naci Konar-Steinberg, Conrad Branch, and Clay Sinclair, which followed the rocky relationship between two very archetypically different vampires fighting over the same manor. For twelve hours, I worked with two of the loveliest actors in the world (hi, Kajal and Noah!) on this genius script. We spent about two hours blocking the show, then embarked on a dangerous journey into the OMTA props and costume closet (where we acquired many, many weapons which I did not know existed before that fateful day, in addition to a disturbing amount of bones and also a skull). After that, we took a break for lunch and for the actors to focus on memorizing their lines. When we came back, we ran the show and worked on music until it was time for the dress rehearsal.
Quick! takes place in a lecture hall, which presents some interesting challenges and advantages. It’s a big space with lots of opportunities for moving around the aisles, but the stage itself is miniscule. For about an hour we had a very chaotic mix of shows in and out of the space, which I spent running around getting some last-minute things ready. Around 7:30, King started to fill with anticipatory audience members and murmurs. We filled the entire lecture hall with theater-loving Obies. I love OMTA events because the attendees are usually familiar, friendly faces, and that’s the perfect audience to create a fun atmosphere.
Shows presented this semester included:
- Jane and Friend (Bobby Fasciano), a play wherein Timothee Chalamet gets crucified, literally
- Die Hard a Billion (Phin Samdperil), A Christmas Carol, except it’s Batman
- Ships in Bottles (Zeph Samdperil), a fever dream I cannot describe, but enjoyed immensely
- Rage (Cloude Fewkes), a play about the downfall of OMTAns courtesy of the suspicious mold in Wilder Main
- Bats of a Leather (Conrad Branch, Naci Konar-Steinberg, Clay Sinclair), a vampire musical
There’s always a running gag in all the shows, which is usually top secret business. In attempting to explain this year’s bit, I am now realizing it makes no sense out of context, as is the way with Quick!-- the shows tend to be very absurdist and also descend into madness by the end. It’s the definition of beautiful chaos.
In all, the Quick! performance lasted at least two hours-- it was a long one this semester. The usual adrenaline-rush-congratulatory-meet-and-greet situation followed, and my heart has never felt so buoyant and full. Between the wonderful organizers, actors, writers, and audience members, I couldn't have asked for a better first experience directing.
