Einstein S.T.A.G.E.'s 2026 One Acts

By Luisa Farole

Einstein S.T.A.G.E put on their highly anticipated winter performance, the student-directed One Acts, Friday, Jan. 9th, and Saturday, Jan. 10th. The senior student directors, working to complete their VAPA capstone projects, produced 6 pieces, ranging from 15 to 40 minutes in length. 

Colbie Graves, Pauline Cole, and Julie Kessel wrote their own pieces for the show, “‘Tis the Season,” "Don't Let the Nightmares In,” and "Ghostlight," respectively. Additionally, “Sorry Wrong Number” was directed by Nola Bulthuis and Devyn McHargue, “Hard Candy” by Zain Qureshi and Cassidy Miller, and “The Trips” by Elsie Towne and Enrique Matos Hernandez, while Cole’s “Don’t Let the Nightmares In” was directed by Lena Fleschner. 

The One Acts was senior Nora Bridenbaugh’s S.T.A.G.E debut, where she starred as the telephone operator in “Sorry Wrong Number,” a character who progressively got more annoyed as she was frantically called over and over by the helpless Mrs. Stevenson, played by freshman Meirav Amster. She had a couple of impressive quick character changes, which involved her putting on different wigs and changing her accent.

As someone who hasn’t been involved in theater previously, she “thought it was so interesting to learn from the theater people already involved,” and she “had such a great time doing it.” With a short turnaround time between auditions and performances, “there was definitely a lot of pressure to get lines memorized.” Her favorite strategy to get them down was “just to repeat [herself]” and was motivated by the pressure that her fellow actors and directors, Bulthuis and McHargue, put on each other to perfect their piece. Bridenbaugh's experience as an actor was overwhelmingly positive, with her favorite part being “getting to talk to all the people involved and see all [her] friends and support them in their various productions.”

For Colbie Graves, despite many years of acting experience, it was her first time both writing and directing a piece, which “took a lot of time.” “‘Tis The Season” explores promposal season at a high school, excellently portraying how over-the-top promposals tend to be, complete with awkward rejections and newfound love. 

Having already acted in several Einstein productions, Graves said it “was definitely interesting to be on the other side,” as the director of a piece, and “it was nice to get that new experience of being more in charge and having a bigger role.” She learned to have patience with her actors as they worked on her one-act, and most importantly, came to understand that directing and putting on a show is “a process, and it will all turn out in the end,” no matter how stressful it might get.