From January 23 to 25, a two hour show will be hosted in the WNHS auditorium, made up of five miniature shows directed and put together by pairs of seniors. These one-act shows are directed by seniors in the WNHS theater program in order to provide them with more opportunities and raise funds for their senior scholarships that will be awarded at the end of the year.
One of this year’s senior directors is Abby Mclaughlin (‘25). She is co-directing the show ‘How to Get Away With a Murder Mystery’ with Delaney Ryan (‘25). Mclaughlin started in the WNHS theater program at the end of her sophomore year in 2023.
Ever since then, she has been very involved in the program. This year, she was motivated to become a director because she enjoyed acting in the senior-directed one acts last year. Her best friend and co-director was also very adamant about directing a show this year and the idea of directing with her was intriguing for Mclaughlin.
So far, the two of them have gotten along with directing regardless of the few disagreements that they have experienced in this process. They make sure to talk outside rehearsals to prevent disputes or disagreements from escalating.
The two of them, Mclaughlin and Ryan, read through almost 20 different scripts before settling on ‘How to Get Away With a Murder Mystery.’ They decided to choose it because “the humor can be for all ages. This show can appeal to everyone,” Mclaughlin said.
In addition to ‘How to Get Away With a Murder Mystery,’ there are four other one-act shows: ‘Good Cop Bad Cop’ directed by Keller Hyde (‘25) and Nicholas Rentschler (‘25), ‘6 Reasons to Stay Home From School?’ Written and directed by Kaelin Wheatley (‘25) and Kristin Zastudil (‘25), ‘Fast Food’ directed by Charlie Campbell (‘25) and Addison Saggio (‘25), and ‘The 8 Best/Worst Things About High School,’ directed by William Baumann (‘25) and Jack Lee (‘25). In Baumann and Lee’s one act, Jeannette Moriak (‘26) is an actor. According to Moriak, a big challenge that her one-act along with the others faced was having to cancel rehearsals due to the snow days and cast members being sick. They were able to overcome this by having later rehearsals to make up for the lost time.
As the seniors have worked to prepare these shows, they have experienced the same responsibilities as their previous directors. “The shift from being an actor to a director has been very eye-opening. I have realized how stressful it is,” Mclaughlin said, “there are many different responsibilities of an actor and a director.” Mclaughlin also expressed that she thinks that having experience with both of those responsibilities will improve her overall performance in the future.
“Come see one acts, January 23-25th in the Westerville North Auditorium,” Mclaughlin said.
