A Service of The Arrow           Friday May 12, 2000 2:26 PM

By: AMBER ARVIDSON

All in a day’s work for cast of

The Man Who Came to Dinner

For the humorously disordered play The Man Who Came to Dinner, the chaos that marked the first few weeks of practice is humorously fitting — unless, of course, you’re the director.

"Our class has had a lot of challenges in the beginning, but now it’s getting better," said director BG Istre. "When our class first started out we chose a play that nobody heard of and we chose a new drama student as the assistant director. The same day we picked him (to be) the director (he) came and told me he quit. I read the play and realized it was about fifth or sixth grade level."

After overcoming both disappointments the class started over. They picked a new play and Istre chose a new assistant director.

"It started out as a struggle," said Istre. "But now we have a classic play that’s really, really funny and I have an assistant director that goes beyond anything I could ever hope for."

Even though most major challenges have been taken care of, not all of the wrinkles have been ironed out.

"I have the busiest class in the world," said Istre. "It’s really hard to schedule around all their conflicts and find time to practice."

But experience is on Istre’s side. This is the third play she has directed and she has learned ways to make actors come to practice. Senior Guthrie Quist, for example, will be buying dinner or a treat for the entire cast.

"The deal was I had a track meet one night and we were having (play) practice at 5:30 in the morning," said Quist. "I didn’t want to be a wreck for the meet so I made the deal with BG."

The deal was Quist wouldn’t miss another practice or class or else he would have to treat the class to something and … well, he is going to have to treat the class. But luckily for Istre, other things are going well. She’s directing her younger sister, sophomore Sheena Istre, and according to BG there haven’t been any problems.

"So far it’s going really well," said BG. "We have a class personality and a sister personality. I’m not allowed to talk to her about the play at home — that’s the rule she made."

However, according to Sheena the rule is not always followed.

"It’s kind of weird," said Sheena. "I not only get to hear her comments at practice but also at home. I will have a very well-developed character."

The Istre sisters aren’t the only ones experiencing firsts; this is the first play for several of the performers. Junior Sky Boggs, as the expressman, is enjoying her first production and is already aspiring to do bigger and better things.

"I’m figuring this is a launching pad for my future career," said Boggs. "I’m sure they’ll see me as an expressman and they’ll be wowed. Hopefully there will be agents who will see me."

By putting on a student-directed performance, the students in Advanced Acting have learned how much work is involved in producing a play.

"It’s great," said Boggs. "It’s interesting to see how it’s all put together, the little stuff such as painting the set and building it."

Despite the frustration and 5:30 a.m. practice the cast is having a lot of fun.

"I love any form of acting," said Sheena. "But the student directing is a cool experience. I really like being able to do everything ourselves."

Through hard work and lots of practice, second period Advanced Acting is bringing The Man Who Came To Dinner to the Black Box May 15 and 16. And as BG said: "if nothing else, people should come to the play to hear the sound of mating cockroaches."

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