Day in the Life of a Play Director
Rae Malik
Copy Editor

Virginia Enfield is a math teacher at Orono High School and a play director for this year’s fall play Little Women. After a long day of teaching math at the high school, she goes to play practice. As the director, there are many responsibilities that need to be handled, such as picking a show. To pick a fall play, Enfield looks at many different scripts starting in December so she is able to have one chosen by May. The process for choosing a fall play is mainly looking at and reading the different scripts.

The reason Enfield chose Little Women is because she considers it to be a familiar story that is well known. Older generations have likely heard of the play. This year she had many girls in the theatre department. She was trying to find a show that had a strong female cast. Another reason is that there is a new Little Women movie coming out soon so it was good timing. Lastly, the music for the show was another factor that made it Enfield’s first choice.

Ideally, a script is selected by May, so over the summer, prep work can begin. Her responsibilities also include setting a schedule, finding a music and pit director. This year she was able to find a set designer and figure out the schedule for them. She is able to meet with these people to work out schedules since there are plenty of logistics that go into planning the fall play.

According to John Urice, Professor of Theatre Education at Illinois State University, theatre is immensely impactful. He states that it helps people who are athletically gifted to be able to contribute something in high school. It also helps students gain knowledge about the theatre and how it functions

Planning begins in summer for Enfield because there is a good amount of prep work that goes into the organization of the play. Currently, she is the choreographer of the play as well and weeks before the play, she is in the blocking stage. Any spare second she has, she is working on the play for example by calling parents to see if they can help volunteer. Furthermore, she can be seen working with the costume designer Jennifer Fossen, a teacher at Orono Intermediate School, in trying to reach out to other theatres to see what they can borrow from them.

According to Mike Levin, who has taught theatre at Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Community for twelve years, believes that having a good drama director is significant. He states that teachers especially those involved in drama have a vast effect on their students. They set up their leadership as an example for their students to follow.

“She’s amazing. She really cares about everyone involved in the show. She’s very good at what she does and very well organized. She is beloved by all, undoubtedly” senior Aislinn Mobley said.

Lightning is also another important aspect that Enfield is in charge of. She talks with the lighting and microphone people on a daily basis due to their major role in the showcase. One of the main concerns this year is the type of lights and microphone to rent this year which leads to the cost. Enfield only has twelve crew members, but most of the time they get together during the end of September to work on sets.

Rehearsals are every day after school from 2:45 till 5:30 for cast and crew. However, Enfield usually stays after help clean up and sometimes meet with costume designer Jennifer Fossin or pit director Samantha Lauman, voice teacher of Enfield. There is a great amount of planning that goes on behind the scenes. Many aspects of the play have to come together for it to become whole. Much of credit of the play coming together goes to Enfield.

Enfield has a cat called Fibonacci named after the Italian mathematician. Her husband is a radio DJ and works with radio stations such as KDWB.

Enfield decided to become a play director because she had always loved theatre. She did technical theatre in high school and college. After college, she did many performances. Before Orono, she had directed three shows, in Orono she has directed four plays. In addition, she was a speech coach her first year.