The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

Student director rehearses with cast for the Fine Arts Spectacular

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Claire Griswold, directer of This Is A Test. Rehearsals for the Fine Arts Spectacular, Sep. 25, 2018 in the Music Building. Photo credit: Mari Inagaki

A student directed one-act-play will be featured in the Fine Arts Spectacular, a variety show presented by the fine arts division on Sept. 28, at the Campus Theatre.

The Fine Arts Spectacular is a showcase of students’ artwork from the departments of art, communication studies, dance, film and video, music, photography, and theatre.

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Claire Griswold, theater major, directs the cast at the rehearsal of the Fine Arts Spectacular in the Music Building on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018. (Jack Kan / Union) Photo credit: Jack Kan

Berkeley Price, dean of fine arts, said it is intended to be a taste of each department the same way a street fair allows visitors to try different local food vendors.

“There is at least one thing, one presentation from each department within the division of fine arts,” Price said.

The event starts at 8p.m. and is designed to finish all of it’s performances within 2 hours with one intermission.

“It’s planned out to the minute,” Price said.

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Rehearsals for the Fine Arts Spectacular, Sep. 25, 2018 in the Music Building. Photo credit: Mari Inagaki

One of the performances will be an excerpt from “This Is A Test” which is a one-act play directed by Claire Griswold, 24, theatre major.

“This Is A Test” is a fun and relatable one-act play about a student going through test anxiety which is “everybody’s worst fear”, Griswold said.

A one-act play is a play that does not have an intermission in between the performance.

“The lead is a student that pulled his first all nighter to study for a test and sort of all the things that could possibly go wrong do go wrong,” Griswold said.

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Rehearsals for the Fine Arts Spectacular, Sep. 25, 2018 in the Music Building. Photo credit: Mari Inagaki

Griswold described the play as a farce which is a type of theatre.

“It just means that while the situation is grounded in reality, they take everything to like the utmost extreme,” Griswold said. “So it’s sort of an exaggeration and commentary of what that is.”

Griswold chose to direct “This Is A Test” because she had previous experience acting in the play in high school. She remembered how “fast” the play was and how much the audience enjoyed it.

Griswold also found a deeper appreciation for the play throughout the process of directing and interpreted it as an overall take on anxiety.

“That’s sort of what I really fell in love with was this commentary on anxiety,” Griswold said. “All of your problems are usually much worse inside your own head.”

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A rehearsal of the Fine Arts Spectacular takes place at the Campus Theater stage on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018. (Jack Kan / Union) Photo credit: Jack Kan

“This Is A Test” was originally published in 1988 and Griswold plans to modernize it for her audience.

Griswold said that the story is still relevant but there are references in the script that are “a little dated now.”

There was a reference to the show “Mork & Mindy” that many people probably would not understand, Griswold said. “So I updated that to Rick and Morty instead.”

Griswold was suggested by Theatre Professor Ronald Scarlata to feature her one-act play in the Fine Arts Spectacular due to it’s large cast which consist of 14 actors.

“He thought it would be a good way to feature our students,” Griswold said.

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Rehearsals for the Fine Arts Spectacular, Sep. 25, 2018 in the Music Building. Photo credit: Mari Inagaki

Price arranged the Fine Arts Spectacular to be both a showcase of their talent and as an outreach for the fine arts division.

“This is kind of designed to create an awareness in the community of all the interesting fabulous things that we do over here in this side of the campus,” Price said.

“We want to invite people to take our classes, to be a part of our ensembles that perform, to attend our concerts if they don’t want to be in the classes.”

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