Senior theatre major Logan Kays has quite the undertaking this semester as she will be performing a one-woman show, “The Amish Project,” written by Jessica Dickey, for her senior seminar class.
When brought in by theatre department chair Robin Miller, Kays was given a choice among three different plays and Kays said she chose the “The Amish Project” for its compelling content.
“It’s a very emotional show for me and for the audience, but it has a really good message and it’s worth seeing and performing,” Kays said.
Miller said he chose a one-woman show for Kays because he knew she could handle this kind of material.
She has versatility and the ability to handle multiple characters in one show.
“The Amish Project” is a play about the shooting of an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa., in 2006.
The show includes the viewpoints of seven characters including the gunman, his widow, two of the victims, a professor who studies Amish culture, a woman responding to the news story and a Hispanic grocery clerk.
“It’s not your typical one-woman show where it’s just your one character telling a story,” Kays said. “It is telling one story, but it’s seen through the eyes of seven different people.”
Director senior Robert Yates is helping Kays perfect this project.
Yates, having directed a junior one-act before and been a part of many theater performances, said he is not intimidated by the one-woman aspect and finds the project interesting.
“It’s been an interesting experience, but trying to create seven different characters with Logan and trying to make them different, and different enough that she can perform them, and the audience can realize they’re different I think has really been the biggest challenge,” Yates said.
Lighting will help Kays tell the story, which she and Yates said audience members should not find hard to follow.
Harding graduate Kyle Wiehe has arranged the lighting setup for Kays and Yates.
“Normally with a show you have a lot more elements helping tell your story, but since we don’t, we have to use the ones that we do have as much as we can and lighting certainly is one of those,” Yates said.
According to Kays the message of the show can be quite controversial, but the audience should leave with the proper message of the play.
“If you’re paying attention and really listening to the characters you’re going to get it, and get it in more ways than one, and it is going to speak to you in a different way than it will speak to someone else in a different row in the auditorium,” Kays said.
The show is scheduled for Feb. 2, 3 and 4 at 7 p.m. in the Ulrey Performing Arts Center and will have a $5 admission fee.
