KDS - Story of Us
I had the pleasure of interviewing three KDS alumni - tutor and former Co-President Wilson Qin, former Co-Director Nathan Sharpe, and former Co-Director Matthew Holloway - to learn more about the modifications KDS has undergone in the last decade. When Wilson Qin was a Kirkland student, KDS was led by a Co-President who would sometimes direct the show but also had the option to appoint directors for a given show. Leaders were sometimes appointed by successors or nominated and elected by KDS members at the beginning of the semester. Over the years, the positions seems to have melded such that the President also serves as the Director, with the title "Director," and the election process has been constant as an appointment.
After Jacob Sherba led the KDS show through 2017 Fall, he appointed Nathan Sharpe to be the next Director, and Nathan invited his roommate and close friend Matthew Holloway to make the responsibilities more manageable. They spent the spring of 2018 shadowing Jacob, helping with various tasks along the way. Prior to Nathan and Matthew's tenure, the President/Director typically enlisted an individual or small group of Kirklanders to write the entire ~60-page script. Matthew reformed this structure by opening a writers' room to all Kirklanders who were interested in helping build the script.
Currently, the leadership structure involves two student co-directors and two Kirkland tutors. The tutors primarily help with lighting, sound, staging, communication with House administrators, and other logistical details that come up. In a complementary style, the co-directors oversee writing, directing, casting, producing, publicizing, and financing the play. The writing process takes about a month, which entails co-directors leading a writer’s room of about 10 Kirklanders, scheduling weekly meetings, and producing a 60-page script that includes as many characters as actors. During the writing process, the co-directors host no-cut auditions and modify the play if they need to add or subtract roles. The acting schedule is much more compact, involving one week of rehearsals leading up to two nights of the show.
One of the most unique parts about Kirkland Drama Society is that we are constantly surrounded by our castmates in the house. Unlike other productions where a play ends and people begin new chapters of their semester, KDS members get to run into each other in the dining halls, entryways, and laundry rooms, building a sense of continuity and family.
