MOORHEAD — “The Bald Soprano” gives Senior Caden Nestler an opportunity to hone his directorial skills in a collegiate mainstage production.
Concordia’s primary scene designer, Christian Boy, typically directs one show every year. But this year that responsibility has been passed on to Nestler, with Boy acting as his faculty advisor, Boy said.
Nestler is a senior majoring in Theater art and English Writing. He has worked on every Concordia theater production since his enrollment in a variety of capacities including light board, sound board, acting, stage managing and now directing.
“I started doing theater at tenth grade in high school, and then I just fell in love with it and did it for those 3 years,” Nestler said.
Theater art students at Concordia are trained through various courses where they learn to direct individual scenes and direct a one act play, Boy said.
“It’s rare that young directors here go past that,” Boy said. “This is a pretty high honor to get to direct a mainstage production, to get these kinds of financial resources and time on the stage. It means that Caden has proven himself. He has given to this department a lot of his time.”
Nestler’s responsibilities as director include leading rehearsals and weekly production meetings with lighting, sound and prop designers, Boy said. All decisions related to the production are run by Nestler.
“It’s interesting because as director, he’s kind of my boss,” Boy said. “It’s one of the ways that makes theater such an interesting department on college campuses, because we work so collegially with students.”
The process is not one sided by any means, Nestler said. During rehearsals, details of performances are often opened up to the actors to bring out new ideas, Nestler said.
Nestler also receives aid from Boy and others working behind the scenes to figure out how best to bring his ideas for sets, costumes and props to the stage, Nestler said.
“It’s obviously a lot of collaboration, especially in the rehearsal process,” Nestler said. “It’s just all around working with a lot of people. Asking questions, having questions answered, making decisions on the go.”
Nestler’s past experience with directing includes his courses at Concordia where he directed a 10 minute scene he wrote for class as well as directing a scene in last year’s production of “Almost Maine”. Outside of his main studies, he has directed three student films and a staged reading of a musical that he wrote, Nestler said.
Nestler approached Boy last summer to pitch the idea of directing “The Bald Soprano” himself. The show comes from the theater of the absurd, one of Nestlers favorite genres that he says does not get performed enough.
“It’s kind of like a combination of tragedy and comedy, with the comedy coming from kind of the absurdity of life, or the notion that life is meaningless and full of pain. So what is there to do except laugh about it?” Nestler said.
“The Bald Soprano” will be performed at the Frances Frazier Comstock Theatre, Feb. 15 through 17 at 8 p.m. and February 18 at 2 p.m.
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