Musical Theater Major Faith Moran Orchestrates an Incredible Show with Please Stand By
Image Courtesy of Luis Zonenberg
By Luis Zonenberg
As midterms are now underway, students across campus are growing more tired with the amount of studying they have to endure for their classes. This is a daunting season for everyone, with many students desperately needing a break from the overwhelming exams coming their way. Luckily, one musical theater major decided to craft an entertaining experience for students to escape and immerse themselves in a more intimate, theatrical environment.
Sophomore musical theater and history major Faith Moran orchestrated a slick 75-minute production simply titled Please Stand By. This is a play set during WWII, detailing the hard work and dedication people experienced on both sides of the war. Moran wrote the play in just three weeks during Christmas break last year, mostly out of boredom, crafting an experience that reflected current issues facing society today.
The story followed several characters, either serving on the front lines or struggling to grapple with the war efforts back home. From radio announcers grappling with the harrowing news to announce to nurses looking for their loved ones on the front lines, Moran expertly crafted an emotional journey that immerses the audience in that specific moment in time. The cast masterfully reflected this, going above and beyond with their performances on stage.
Moran received an incredible amount of support from her fellow colleagues, eventually deciding to make this play a reality and perform it at the Hartke Theater for all students to see. The production only lasted for a week and a half, with a lot of focus on staging the cast and lighting for the play. “There’s just a lot of little things that people don’t think about that go into producing a show,” Moran explained. “Even down to getting glow tape or like organizing tickets… there’s just a lot of little things that definitely add up.”
The cast in general was an eclectic mix of students with vastly different majors, with one of the leads, Ryan Corey, being a senior philosophy major. Moran even commented,“The cast was just awesome… we had a lot of non-majors doing it, a lot of different grades doing it and just very different people from different walks of life. But it was just awesome to see everyone come together to do this and I think that… I was and still am so impressed by everyone.”
The show only ran for one weekend, with tickets even being offered to students free of charge. Students could register on SignUpGenius and show it at the front door, with the play being shown in the small black box theater at Hartke. The small intimate setting allowed for the story to feel more raw and emotional, encouraging people to come together as a community to watch this humanist story unfold.
Moran felt that plays like this can offer something for everyone, since so many timeless themes and messages the theater can offer still resonate with many people today. Morean explained how “There’s something really innate in theater that, like, it reflects humanity and human emotion… and I think that’s something everyone can tap into, whether you’re a musical theater major or not.”
Despite having only two weeks of production in her directorial debut, Moran created a wonderful diversion for students on campus. The incredible amount of support and hard work greatly paid off, allowing for students to come together and break away from all the studying for midterms. Hopefully, more students will take note and be willing to share beautiful stories like this in the future.
