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Jessica comes from Essex, Iowa, where she was very much involved in her high
school drama department. "Theatre was one of the things I was really
interested in when I was in high school. I wanted to study theatre in
college because I figured that something I had that much passion for would
help excel at it in college."
Even though she's just completing her first year at Morningside, Jessica has been very much involved in theatre. She's a member of Alpha Psi Omega, and has worked on technical crews and acted in Everyman . Her favorite production experience so far has been running the light board for the children's musical Jack and the Beanstalk . "Our stage manager was wonderful. She knows what she is doing and she gets things done properly, but she also knows how to make things lots of fun to do."
Jessica's favorite classroom experience was in introduction to theatre, in which she had the opportunity to write her first one-act play as a final project. "I loved doing that!" Jessica says. But she also has gotten a lot out of her voice and phonetics class. "I've learned that I've got a much more powerful and expressive voice than I had ever realized." Asked about what she likes most about the department, Jessica says it's the individuals she's met, "the students and faculty here are really a good bunch of people; I've had such wonderful experiences with them."
"The more I did at Morningside, the more I liked it, and so I decided to get a minor in theatre. Josh's first job was as assistant stage manager for Hedda Gabler , but he's also been active as an actor. In fact, he's been in the acting company of Siouxland Shakespeare since it began. "My favorite part, so far, has been playing Flute/Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream . As Thisbe, I played a not-very-talented-actor who dresses up like a woman. It was so much fun to play such a crazy character, and the audience reaction was terrific. I really enjoyed making the audience laugh."
Josh says that the thing he appreciates most about the theatre department is its friendliness. "It's open to everyone--you don't have to be a major to get a part." Participating in theatre at Morningside has taught Josh a lot, but he says that the most important thing he's learned is the importance of hard work. "I found that if I keep at something, really work at it, then I can really do it. Last fall I played a lead role in Fools and it was much harder than I thought it would be. I didn't know if I could actually do it. But I really wanted to get it right, and eventually I did!"
He adds that the professors really push their students to do well. "One time in acting class, the instructor threatened to whack me with a stick if I didn't get this scene right. He was just joking, of course, but the professor really wanted me to do well, and I was impressed with that."
During his four years at Morningside, Kyle observed that he's learned the importance of patience: the patience to study, to keep auditioning, and to be patient with himself and others. Kyle observes, "there's no point in getting upset when things go wrong--the show will go on!" Kyle counts his role as the chairman in The Mystery of Edwin Drood as his favorite performance. His favorite theatre class was directing. "In directing my first production, Date with a Stranger , I was able to take what I had learned from the directing professor and all my other theatre courses, and apply it to this show. It was also very rewarding to help other people develop their characters and learn more about acting." In addition to Morningside productions, Kyle has also appeared in the first two seasons of Siouxland Shakespeare , playing the roles of Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Don John in Much Ado about Nothing.