Victoria Bresnahan – General Assignment Reporter
Brenna Ross, sophomore theatre major, has been involved with theatre since she attended a stage crew meeting for one her middle school plays. It was there Ross said she learned about stage lighting and began to engage in it throughout her education.
“What I always joke about is when I was really young I went to go see a show at my high school and my mom pointed out the people on the catwalk,” said Ross. “‘[She said] maybe you could be doing that one day.’ I was like, ‘That’s silly mom’ but then it actually just kind of happened.”
As a part of the upcoming student led One Acts Ross will be directing “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” in collaboration with her Directing II course requirements. The one act, written by Celeste Raspanti, is based off the book of the same title, which consists of artwork from children who lived in a Holocaust ghetto.
“Basically, it’s a memory play,” said Ross. “The main character Raja goes through her different memories and there’s like flashbacks every so often back and forth to tell her story and the story of her friends and teacher in the camp ghetto.”
Ross said she decided to direct this play after reading the beginnings of about 100 different one acts. After a friend recommended “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” to her, Ross said she knew she wanted to direct it.
“I just think it is a really important story,” said Ross. “I like the way it is written and the dialogue. When I read it, I could really see it in my head—more so than the other shows I was looking at. It felt like the show I was supposed to do.”
As a transfer student, Ross said this has been her favorite show to be a part of thus far. Since enrolling at Southern, Ross has tried to branch out and attempt different entities of theatre besides lighting. Although she said stage lighting a show is “exciting, really high [in] energy, and an adrenaline rush.”
Her experience in directing started after she registered in Directing I since it was one of the only classes with seats open.
“I ended up in there and I had a lot of fun,” said Ross. “When it came time to decide if I was going to do Directing II I was like ‘yeah totally.’ So, a few of us from that class last semester ended up directing this semester.”
Although Ross is a sophomore, she said she would love to work in theatre after she graduates. However, since she is interested in different aspects of it she said she is not sure which part of it she would like to make a career out of.
“I like lights, I like technical aspects, I like running shows,” said Ross. “Stage managing is a lot of fun even though it is a lot of work. It is intense. I also like construction and design, every aspect. I’m still figuring out what to do, I have time.”
Photo Credit: Victoria Bresnahan
