Thursday, September 24, 2009 » EB Campbell (sr) always loved the theater.
“I loved performing – it was fun,” Campbell said. “It was fun to be with those people and develop that family.”
Campbell started acting in elementary school, performing in the local library’s presentation of the “American Girl” stories or musicals at the community theater. During these years, she began noticing the different responsibilities in the production process, beyond her own role, Campbell said.
For her senior project as a theater major, Campbell is directing the play, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
"Our senior project] should be something that challenges us, and directing is something that challenges me,” said Campbell. She also wanted her final project to be holistic, piecing everything she’s learned together, she said.
"I get to take my experience as an actor and a designer of costumes, lights, sets and props, and bring that all into focus as I look at a whole show,” said Campbell.
Dr. Greg Fiebig, Campbells’s advisor, suggested the play because it fits her preferred style of theater – short scenes compiled together. Each scene has its own moral.
In time, Campbell fell in love with the play.
“It’s a bigger broadcast of what I believe,” Campbell said.
Campbell and her crew have been working on “All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” since last April. Step one was casting – three girls and two guys. During the summer Campbell worked on blocking and communicating with those working on the set, she said. Rehearsals started when Indiana Wesleyan reopened, with only 24 days until opening night.
Campbell said the play is coming along well since rehearsals started. Everything is coming together well, she said.
When she started her senior project, Campbell asked some to join her crew and others approached her.
“I have people who are really talented at their different aspect of it, and I have people who are excited and passionate about the play as a whole,” said Campbell.
Campbell has about twenty people on her crew, including her five-person cast. Each member of her crew has a unique talent to bring to the team, she said.
“That’s one of the beautiful things about the theater: you get to create, you get to make something,” said Campbell. “We’re all coming together – the actors and crew – we’re making a beautiful piece of art.”