The One Acts Play Festival is where student talents converge: writing, performing and designing. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to talk with the person who puts all the show elements together—Nate Olson.

Nhi Cao: Can you share about your job as a production team member of One Acts Play Festival?

Nate Olson: I am the production manager. My job is to ensure that we have 3 different shows to get presented as a part of One Acts Play Festival. The chosen scripts are drawn from the submissions to the committee and then production begins. I built the production team, made sure that we got the auditions, etc.

NC: This is your first time being production manager, and you’ve done great to pull this together. What motivated you?

NO: I have been a stage manager for One Acts Play Festival before in my sophomore year. The department faculty will meet at the beginning of each year and offer a student, any interested students, what they think they might enjoy, so I put my name in the hat of the main season for the production manager position.  And I was offered to be the production manager. It’s very different, you know, with all the fun and challenges included. As a stage manager, I managed the visuals, made sure that the rehearsal and actual process play smoothly. Now as a production manager, I am in charge of the whole process. My most favorite thing about this is that it’s actually student-run. We have the department faculty advise us throughout the journey, but their hands are off of the work and everything was done by students.

NC: What’s your favorite part about being a production manager?

NO: Being able to step back for the show. I might not have acted in it, but I built the structure around it. That’s meaningful to me, being able to decide which direction it should go and feel accomplished after the shows.

NC: Being part of the great work in theater. What has changed for you compared to 2 years ago?

NO: The biggest difference is that my perspective shifted immensely. I’m no longer a small part of the bigger process. I’m now in charge of seeing the bigger picture.

NC: Were there any difficulties to overcome working with an all-student crew?

NO: I have never encountered a problem where a student is irresponsible or didn’t co-operate. We have people who are dedicated and know what their jobs entailed; they also get some help to get to where they need to be, in terms of their possibilities. Once they have an understanding of where they want to be and what they need to do to get there, they just jump at the opportunities. Every year we got a chance to put up 3 productions, and they all turned out to be high-quality shows.

NC: How did you get a team of all these dedicated members? Did they volunteer or were there any kinds of selection?

NO: A lot of people volunteered to design or go for the lines, and then I, as the production manager, for the sake of the show, tried to put together a team of people that I think will work well with one another. Everybody’s very co-operative. It’s pretty amazing. People got their own visions that aligned with the spirit of the whole process; they did their parts, in their own creativity, to make the final product look good.

That’s what we’re all striving for in theater. Thank you for this conversation!