2008 Woodie Awards
Student races to get 'stranded'
UT theater student wins award at Milwaukee theater festival for interpretation of another's play
Patrick Thurber
Issue date: 1/28/08 Section: Arts & Life
Jeannette Turner knows what it feels like to procrastinate. In fact, she's worked on an entire play under this same kind of pressure. It was that "last minute paper" kind of circumstance that won the UT theatre major a Best Director award at the 40th-Annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Held on Jan. 14 in Milwaukee, Wis, the award was given as part of the 10-minute play competition.
As a director, Turner was paired randomly with a script and given less than a week to have a performance ready.
"We got to Milwaukee on Tuesday night, and the performance was for Saturday afternoon," she said. "I had downloaded the script they gave me and read it on the way there in the car. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do with it by the time we arrived."
Turner was one of six applicants selected to participate in the festival.
"I sent in a written statement, my 'philosophy' on theatre, and a recommendation from my professor at UT," she said. "I was really happy to just get in; I wasn't really thinking about it like a competition!"
In Milwaukee, Turner met with the author of the play she was to direct, Mike Honderich from Goshen College.
"I did work closely with Jeannette throughout the process with 'Stranded,'" Honderich said.
Though brief, the script for "Stranded" is a complete story about a married couple on a desert island.
"Normally, a director wouldn't work so closely with the writer," Turner said. "The competition was really a test of collaboration. The playwright had to be present at all times. I really tried to preserve his work - I know it was hard for him to just hand it over."
Turner noticed the similarities between the play and Honderich's life.
"I could kind of tell that it paralleled his own life," she said. "He had just gotten engaged. Plus, he and his fiancée were planning on staging the play together the following week, so he already had a vision for how he wanted everything."
Held on Jan. 14 in Milwaukee, Wis, the award was given as part of the 10-minute play competition.
As a director, Turner was paired randomly with a script and given less than a week to have a performance ready.
"We got to Milwaukee on Tuesday night, and the performance was for Saturday afternoon," she said. "I had downloaded the script they gave me and read it on the way there in the car. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do with it by the time we arrived."
Turner was one of six applicants selected to participate in the festival.
"I sent in a written statement, my 'philosophy' on theatre, and a recommendation from my professor at UT," she said. "I was really happy to just get in; I wasn't really thinking about it like a competition!"
In Milwaukee, Turner met with the author of the play she was to direct, Mike Honderich from Goshen College.
"I did work closely with Jeannette throughout the process with 'Stranded,'" Honderich said.
Though brief, the script for "Stranded" is a complete story about a married couple on a desert island.
"Normally, a director wouldn't work so closely with the writer," Turner said. "The competition was really a test of collaboration. The playwright had to be present at all times. I really tried to preserve his work - I know it was hard for him to just hand it over."
Turner noticed the similarities between the play and Honderich's life.
"I could kind of tell that it paralleled his own life," she said. "He had just gotten engaged. Plus, he and his fiancée were planning on staging the play together the following week, so he already had a vision for how he wanted everything."
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