By Grace Cardinal, Editor-in-Chief
Manhattan University Players announced their spring Student Slot production this past week with an original work, “How to Pull An All-Nighter (And Live to Tell the Tale),” written by senior Robert Nolan, who will direct the production.
A tradition within Players, each fall students in the program have the chance to submit their pick for the Student Slot production.
“The Student Slot is a production every year where it is entirely student run and it’s a full play,” Nolan said. “We do have our lovely director, Marty, who’s been great for our main stage, but Players is founded on its students, so it’s very important to have that production that’s entirely run by students. I’ve actually never done the Student Slot before, but they’ve always been some great shows.”
This year, Nolan broke the mold by submitting an original work.
“This is the first time in my experience here that a play written by the student has been the Student Slot,” Nolan said. “And I think getting chosen felt really great. I worked hard on this play because I wanted to do this for a while. I directed the fall cabaret last year, and I oversaw the One-Acts Festival last year. So I ran both of the other student-run productions specifically to get myself ready for this, because I do like directing a lot and it’s something I really enjoy.”
As for his inspiration behind the play, Nolan pulled from personal experience.
“The inspiration for this comes from last year, my junior year, fall semester, I pulled something around 50 all nighters,” Nolan said. “And that’s not an exaggeration. My classes were to the point where the only way for me to get by was by staying up all night. At the time, they were horrible, but in retrospect, they can be very funny. What I did for auditions was I pulled an all-nighter to get myself into the mindset of what it was like, and I entirely remembered why I hated all nighters enough to write a whole play about them.”
Assistant director of the Student Slot Kevin Cullen spoke about how he came to be the second-in-command for the production.
“Rob came up to me and asked me a couple weeks back if I wanted to assistant direct,” Cullen said. “It’s not something that you typically sign up for, it’s not that simple…I was already initially planning to act in it, and when I got offered to assistant direct, I was ecstatic…I feel greatly honored by Robert Nolan that he wanted me first. I’m excited to work with him to get the ideas across. It’s gonna be a great experience.”
Cullen spoke to The Quadrangle about what it takes to direct a play that’s entirely student-run.
“It’s a big undertaking for the director of it, but it’s very rewarding and a delight to see and watch,” Cullen said. “I love having the opportunity for us students to take a hold of this directing thing that you don’t normally get the chance to do. It’s harder to come by directing spots than acting spots.”
Nolan is excited about the opportunity to build a play from the ground up without preconceived notions about it.
“[What] I’m most excited for is that since this play has never been done before, we really have the opportunity to build this play from the ground up, and we can utilize the talent we have at Manhattan,” Nolan said. “I’m very excited that there is no standard yet. Any choice could possibly be a choice that comes to the play. I’m really excited to see how the people we get is going to shape this play.”
Cullen shared Nolan’s sentiment that the beauty of building a play from the ground up means starting from scratch in every area, including how the actors decide how to play their roles.
“Any actor who comes into the roles beyond them is going to have to deal with some people that are going to naturally [think about] two things, either they’re going to be thinking about other people’s performances when they do theirs, or people in the audience are going to be comparing them naturally,” Cullen said. “I think when you’re performing, you want to avoid that, and here we have the easiest scenario for that. This has never been done before. But that also means that everyone who’s in the show is going to have to push to make the characters their own. I really cannot wait for us to figure out what our cast is going to look like and then push them forward.”
Kristina Bopp, a freshman and the stage manager for the Student Slot, is excited to see Nolan’s directorial decisions for the production.
“I’m most excited to see directorial-wise, how they want everything blocked and how scene changes are gonna be,” Bopp said. “Especially with student-written productions, it’s hard to get a visual for everything before casting and how all the pieces will fall together. There’s no first impression yet, because it’s the first time the show is gonna be put on.”
Nolan shared with The Quadrangle his pitch to students on why they should reserve a ticket to the show this coming spring.
“You ever pull an all-nighter? You ever have a stressful night? You ever had that moment where you have a test the next day and you’re about to crash out? Well, this play is for you,” Nolan said.
Bopp stressed that students will resonate with the relatable storyline.
“I feel like the title in itself, ‘How To Pull An All-Nighter (And Live To Tell The Tale)’ is very funny and relatable,” Bopp said. “We’ve all pulled an all-nighter. I’ve pulled multiple and I’ve only been here for three months.”
As of now, “How to Pull An All-Nighter (And Live to Tell the Tale)” will take place from Feb. 28 to March 2. More details will become available as the show approaches.