The University of North Alabama’s Cinematic Arts and Theatre Guild will be showing a special rendition of Pride and Prejudice on Apr. 28. This free, one-night-only event will take place at the Memorial Amphitheater in front of the Guillot University Center at 7 pm.
Students Laura Leigh Johnson, Lily Higginbotham and Star Smith have been tasked with directing this production for their theater class, Directing II–each in charge of their own acts. While this class is typically centered around film-based directing, they were all challenged by their professor to make a stage production, and in turn, they will flip the play on its head for their performance.
The presentation of this group of student directors’ unique takes on the two-century-old tale will take place across multiple timelines, with the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, finding herself in much more modern and relatable situations in search of true love.
Johnson, Higginbotham and Smith each come from different theater backgrounds, each with their own directorial experience, and they are excited to see how their production pans out for their audience of UNA students.
“It’s a huge, collaborative process between us and the actors, which has been just so amazing,” said Johnson.
While the play as a whole was directed by Johnson, Higginbotham and Smith, each director had their own act to display their artistic interpretation of the original script.
“I incorporated a few dance moments in my act, which will be really fun because of [the time period],” Smith said.
This is the first time the Cinematic Arts and Theatre Guild has put on a show run by three different directors, with the Spring season of production primarily consisting of one-act productions by the theater students. The play will consist of ten student actors from the Theatre Department, each taking different roles across the four-act performance.
“Working with these amazing people has proven to me that sometimes I stress a lot more than I think,” Higgenbotham said. “It’s been an amazing experience.”
Students are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket to view this event, as the benches at the amphitheater are first-come first-serve. The overall runtime of the performance is set to be one hour.
