Danielle Reynolds
Contributing Writer
North Central College has put on many amazing student directed productions such as “Cynics,” “The Importance of Being Earnest,” and “Speech and Debate.”
This term Erik Burke stepped up to the plate to direct “True West” by Sam Shepard. Perhaps, the reason Burke decided upon “True West” is because he has always been attracted to the writings of playwright Shepard. “In the simplest words, it’s a story about two brothers trying to find their identities and come into their own as human beings in a society that doesn’t always let that happen. It’s a story about overcoming the challenges of growing up, being recognized as an artist, and ultimately, about the curse of falling into a destructive pattern that will linger on throughout life,” stated Burke.
Burke has profited from both the courses he has enrolled in and his active participation in the shows here on campus. Furthermore, it was his directing class that inspired him to take on the role of a student director. However, he is thankful for his years of acting when it came to speaking and collaborating with the cast.
“You have to work with actors, designers and technicians in order to bring a show to life,” stated Burke. His advice to future student directors is to keep an open mind to all the possibilities and remain calm. Actors will know a show better than you do by the end of it, so remember that, and use it to your advantage.
Since Erik Burke is still a student, there is a struggle between directing and maintaining school work. Since he’s a senior, Burke has had four plus years of balancing homework with learning lines and blocking, but directing was a new challenge. He describes this new trial as being in charge of a group project and facilitating the needs of everyone involved.
He loves being able to talk to everyone and get their inputs about what needs to be accoomplished, but it does get in the way of schoolwork at times.
Burke is taking his experiences of working as a director to help him in his senior thesis; how performing artists approach situations similar to those situations found in “True West.” Like in most plays or books there are a lot of blank spaces in the back-stories of many characters, which at times are referred to yet never explained. However, it may not be important for the audience to know all the details, and arguably, even better for them not to. Our imaginations will fill in these blanks better than the writings sometimes.
Erik Burke hopes to explore these gaps in his thesis writings. Dr. Kelly Howe, Erik’s thesis advisor, and overseer of the Student Directed Series, has been a resource in the development of his thesis and in giving advice for his directing. After Burke completes his thesis and remaining terms at North Central he will be moving to Chicago to start auditioning for theater projects and to find an agent to represent him.
