This year’s Student Directed Showcase (SDS), featuring four plays directed by seniors Chetana Kalidindi, Emre Ezer, Sana Aladin and Kayvon Solaimanpour, invited members of the Harker community to the Blackford theater for its two shows last Friday and Saturday.

SDS cast members began selling tickets in Manzanita during lunch last Tuesday. Students were also encouraged to purchase passes through an online link.

“Chetana, Emre, Sana and Kayvon have been working all semester to craft their productions, and they absolutely can’t wait to show all of their hard work to the Harker community,” K-12 Performing Arts Director Laura Lang-Ree said in an email announcement to the upper school community.

SDS, an annual project for the upper school’s performing arts department, provides seniors with the opportunity to cast and direct their own production of a play of their choice. This year’s Showcase presents the four comedies “Grover,” “Removing the Glove,” “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “Dystopia!”

“I personally really enjoy watching funny shows, and I was really happy to hear that all of the plays would be comedies,” freshman Nellie Tonev, a member of the “Grover” cast, said. “I think especially because each play is relatively short, it is easier to have them be funny. I feel that comedies would help the audience to remain engaged, as the whole night goes on about three hours.”

In preparation for last week’s performances, directors held auditions in performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree’s room before casting their shows and working out a rehearsal schedule.

“The directors chose a few monologues from each of our shows and asked people to pick one for their audition. We had people come in in groups of five during lunch, [and] each person performed for about one minute,” Sana, the director of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” said about the auditions held earlier in October. “For me, I’m enthusiastic about people with a developed sense of comedic timing and a mature understanding of the text.”

Each director and their finalized casts then worked out rehearsal schedules for read-throughs and blockings of scenes. Because of the large number of students participating in each play, it was often difficult to coordinate meetings that would work for everyone during school days. As a result, some of the casts decided to meet more after final exams.

“We rehearsed a lot during winter break, about four to five days out of the week,” senior Mia Giammona, who played the role of Lady Bracknell in “The Importance of Being Earnest,” said. “We rehearsed occasionally at school, but the bulk was done at our director Sana’s house. We definitely practiced more as it got closer to the show.”

The SDS rehearsal process provided an outlet for novice and experienced performers alike to explore different roles and characters and to approach acting from a different perspective. For junior Markus Wong, who participated in the SDS play “The Internet is a distract- Oh Look a Kitten!” last year, being cast as the Gamemaster in “Dystopia!” was a valuable learning experience.

“One thing I’ve learned over this process was the importance of reading between the lines. When I first read the part of the Gamemaster, I was unsure because I had no reference to work off of,” junior Markus Wong, a member of the “Dystopia!” cast, said. “However, as I read the play more and familiarized myself with him, I figured out these hints between the lines. Along with my cast, [I was able to] create a character and play him.”

Tickets were $8 for students, $15 for adults and $25 for reserved seats.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Sharon Yan

Joel Morel (9), Nate Kelly (11) and Tamar Sasson (10) sit in a line of chairs and listen as an actor gives a speech on stage during "Dystopia!". The two SDS shows took place last Friday and Saturday.