UF students Emily Norcia and Jeremy Martinez are the directors of the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s dark three-act play, "The Pillowman."
But it’s not all dark.
"This show is thought-provoking, witty, and although it is dark, it’s actually very funny," said co-director Norcia, who is a 21-year-old theatre junior.
The student-run theatre company Florida Players will present the play this weekend at the Squitieri Studio Theatre at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, located at 3201 Hull Road.
The show opens at 7:30 p.m on Friday, with showings on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free and available at floridaplayers.org.
The play is centered on a writer living in a totalitarian world who gets taken into custody for the content of his stories.
The audience will witness the interrogation process play out over the course of a day and discover why he was taken into custody in the first place.
"It will leave you thinking," Norcia said, "and it shows you a world, not so unlike our own, where right and wrong often blend together in this sort of gray area."
This is Norcia’s second time directing a show, with her first time having been during her junior year of high school.
Now that she’s back to directing as a junior in college, she said she feels she’s "come full circle."
Although Norcia said there were a lot of surprises along the way and unforeseen obstacles they had to push through, it all came together in the end.
"Jeremy and I had such a great team of designers and stage managers working with us that we were able to just push through and bring everything together into this beautiful and somehow cohesive mess," she said.
Norcia and Martinez were chosen to direct the play after being interviewed by the board of Florida Players and explaining their vision and ideas for the show.
"I have only been an actor before, and I definitely think it affected how I directed," Martinez, 21, said.
Unlike Norcia, this is Martinez’s directorial debut.
"The hardest part for me was figuring out how to put all the crazy thoughts in my head into words," the theatre performance senior said. "It was definitely an exercise in patience and organization."
The cast and crew have been rehearsing for four hours a day and six days a week since Oct. 12. Every member of the show is a part of Florida Players.
Florida Players is a student-run organization that offers different theatre opportunities for students of any major — anyone can act, direct and design for a show, Martinez said.
Martinez joined the organization his freshman year, while Norcia joined this year when she transferred as a junior.
"Everyone was so welcoming from the start, and Jeremy had been a member since he was a freshman," she said. "So they sort of just took me in with open arms."
Both directors said they’ve enjoyed co-directing the play with each other.
"We spent numerous hours before and after rehearsal and on days off going over concepts and ideas for the show," Martinez said. "I think those brainstorming sessions were some of the most fun I’ve ever had."
Norcia said their separate strengths helped expand their vision and turn the play into what it is today. However, she also recognized the play is constantly evolving, even during its live performances.
"I think the best part about working on a script like this is that no matter what stage of the process we’re in, we are still learning and discovering new meaning in a line and new aspects to the characters," she said. "And I guarantee that when lights go up on Friday night, the actors will keep learning and keep making discoveries and I think that is the best part."
The actors in the play have been patient, creative and willing to work, Martinez said.
"(Audiences should leave) their preconceived notions at the door and come in with open minds," he said.
Norcia said the best part about her directing experience was sharing and discovering new things about a piece with an audience and letting them into whatever warped reality they decided to create. "That is what theatre is all about," she said.
