My High-School Side-Quest: Writing (and Directing!) a One-Act-Play

The Gorgoneion today

Here are three things about me: 

• I was raised on Greek mythology.
• I love live theatrical performances.
• I write.

These bullets described very separate parts of my life until I was about 17. 

For as long as I can remember, my mom has read me Greek Mythology books (the Percy Jackson series and the D'Aulaires' Greek mythology book are still among my favorites).

I was a theater kid at school, although I didn't get cast most of the time. Most of my friends were theater kids, too, so landing a crew job instead of being cast wasn’t so bad. I got to spend time with my friends outside of school hours, which was certainly a plus. 

I also wrote for fun in my free time. It was mostly fanfiction until I was about 16, when I started writing my own fiction. 

My love of the theater runs pretty deep. I didn’t attend traditional, outdoorsy summer camp when I was a kid; instead, I participated in theater camp at the Guthrie. When I aged out of their summer camps, I really didn’t want it to be over, so I found a cool alternative: The Guthrie’s adult education classes. Because I was only 16 at the time, my mom had to sign a waiver stating that it was okay if my classmates wrote and discussed adult themes in front of me. I became their youngest adult-ed student and took both Playwriting I and II there. Thus, the second and third bullet points came together. 

Flash forward a few months to my senior year of high school. An idea occurred to me: why not ask my high school theater director if I could direct one of the winter one-act plays? I was pretty sure he was going to say no since he’d never cast me in an acting role in any of his productions, but hey. The worst he could say was no. And to my surprise, he said he thought it was a great idea. He suggested that I co-direct with one of the other teacher-directors, and she was delighted by the idea as well. All systems were go. But when I worried about my school’s small royalty budget, my theater director just looked at me and said, “Kivi, just write your own play.”

Well. OK then.

Thus, all three of the bullet points met. 

I have always been fascinated by how stories evolve over time and how they can be distorted to paint an inaccurate picture. When I wrote my play, I explored how victimhood can be distorted by gossip, using the Greek myth of Medusa to illustrate these ideas on stage. While I would do it very differently now that I'm an adult, I'm still profoundly grateful for the opportunity my high school theater directors gave me. Before this, I really had no claim to fame in my small town. My experience helped me win a small scholarship, which in turn helped fund my college education. 

Jordan Independent/swnewsmedia:
Jordan High School senior writes and directs school play