Jacob Price, Guest Contributor
I sat down with Allen to discuss her life in the theatre, and how she got to this moment of directing a big scale E&H musical. “As a big introvert, theatre became a great way for me to channel my creativity and introduced me to several amazing friends,” she says. “Theatre soon became my safe space throughout elementary and high school. By the time I began high school, I couldn't imagine my life without theatre in it and knew that I wanted to pursue it for a living.” Although this is Allen’s first time directing a musical, she has directed many times before, including one-act festivals in high school, directing scene work for the Acting II and III courses and last year’s production of Jean Paul Sartre’s “No Exit.” Allen described how these two processes have differed, saying, “The process for ‘No Exit’ was very different than the current process for ‘State Fair.’ For ‘No Exit,’ I worked with a cast of four students, no budget and a time frame of just over a month. As ‘No Exit’ revolved around several abstract themes such as existentialism, ‘hell is other people’ and freedom. I took a more experimental approach to directing the play.” Allen went on to explain that her process for “State Fair” is almost quite the opposite of “No Exit,” with a larger cast, a larger budget and a slightly longer rehearsal period. Both of the processes have been drastically different, with Allen expressing both of them being completely rewarding.
“State Fair” opens Feb. 21, 2019 and runs through Feb. 24, 2019 on the Kennedy-Reedy Theatre mainstage.
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