Students can write, direct, or star in live theatre at Moorpark College. Students were gathered in the Performing Arts Center on Aug. 27 to audition for the Fall semester One Act plays.

One Acts are a student driven theatre project. The theatre department holds open auditions at the beginning of every semester. Although the live show does not premiere until December, the students are eager to get prepared.

“The whole theme about the one acts is its student run, student written, student acted and student directed,” said Cody Hoffman, a 19-year-old former Moorpark student who participated in the One Acts last semester. “Staging, sets, blocking– it’s all choreographed by students and by the director who is a student.”

One Acts don’t just cater to acting. There are other student roles involved such as directing and writing. Students interested in directing can submit a screenplay the prior semester and a handful of them will be selected to direct the actors that are chosen from auditions the following semester. The actors auditioning this semester are auditioning in front of a panel of directors that were chosen months ago.

“The One Acts are a little different because you’re dealing with people who are not professionals,” added Hoffman. “Everybody’s learning.”

Interested actors just have to show up to auditions.

“Anyone in the community can audition,” said Nicholas Pappas, a faculty member of Theatre Arts here at Moorpark College. Pappas wrote his first play at Moorpark over a decade ago. “If you get [selected], you have to sign up for the class of course.”

There, they are given sides or “short bits from each play, and they call you up in a random order to act out the scene,” confirmed Hoffman.

“It’s good for beginners who are thinking of being an actor or something,” explained Hannah Reed, a freshman who has been acting for over five years. “It’s good experience for the newbies to test out the waters by doing a scene instead of a whole play.”

The One Acts are great for students who are curious about the arts without the added pressure of a huge play production. It’s simply an artistic community project meant to help students gain knowledge, heighten their creativity, and meet new people.

As Hoffman said, “it is probably the best experience you can have as a starting actor next to being in one of the main stage plays.”

The live show will be held inside the Performing Arts Center on Dec. 3-6 and 10-13 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and additional information regarding upcoming shows, please visit http://sunny.moorparkcollege.edu/theatre/.