Haverford College’s Spotlight Theatre Company’s spring show, Amateurs, opened on April 24 and will run for three nights. The play, written by Tom Griffin in 1991, is Haverford sophomore Finn Nicoloi’s directorial debut.
When selecting the spring play, Nicoloi and the Spotlight board first considered Amateurs because it wouldn’t require a complicated set, but said they quickly fell in love with the comedy. Amateurs takes place at an afterparty for a community theater production. The drama is contained to one room, and focuses on the relationships between a cast of eccentric characters. The hosts of the party are Dorothy (Lucy Hirschfeld ’25) and Charlie (Grace Hashell ’25), and their hodge-podge group of guests are Nathan (Jane Saltz, ’28), Jennifer (Dani Plotnick ’25), Wayne (Phoebe Garfield ’25), Irene (Sawyer Fair ’27), Ernie (Sarah Keim ’25), and Mona (Maia Schwallie ’25). Paul, a famous theater critic working on a review of the show, further complicates the group dynamic. Due to a last minute change in casting, Nicoloi appears as Paul.
The themes dealt with in Amateurs have a lot of resonance for the cast. “It’s funny for the actors because there are a lot of stereotypes in it that you definitely see in theater,” said Nicoloi. “As someone who does theater, it’ll make you laugh.”
Nicoloi has acted in three prior Spotlight shows. Amateurs is his first as director and the process is quite different. He has been enjoying the new perspective that his directorial role gives him, saying, “I’m excited to go back to acting and take what I’ve learned from directing!”
Nicoloi likes to hold off on giving specific acting notes, to give his actors a chance to interpret the text independently. They often notice things he doesn’t. “It’s nice to have that collaborative space in directing,” he added.
Amateurs’ rehearsals are two or three times a week, with the third rehearsal taking place on Sundays when the cast agrees they need some extra time to polish what they’ve been working on. As a student theater company, Spotlight is able to run on a realistic schedule that fits with the member’s academic and work schedules.
I dropped by a Thursday night rehearsal on April 3, less than three weeks before opening night. The cast was almost entirely off-book, but their close friendships, the tone of the play, and several particularly comedic lines made for lots of laughter. It was a lively, comfortable atmosphere.
Nicoloi said Amateurs was also chosen with some of the cast in mind, especially seniors who have been part of Spotlight for years. He said, “We always want new people to come and audition, but we also know who’s probably going to.”
It was hard to narrow down the cast for such a small show, but working with a small group allowed the cast to build a unique dynamic together. Amateurs is a character-heavy show and as the actors rotate on and off stag; it’s clear that each combination of characters carries a complex (and usually hilarious) relationship.
After the rehearsal, Nicoloi gave notes on how to make the fast pace and quippy dialogue appear more naturalistic. He told the actors to come up with reasons for why their characters leave and enter the main room of the party, even when the text doesn’t supply one. The cast suggests bringing back the fake cigarettes they used in this fall’s production of Twelve Angry Jurors.
As for the set and props, Nicoloi said “We’re making due with what we have and we do have a good amount of things.” They are crowdsourcing items for set dressing, like a lamp from Nicoloi’s dorm room. During tech week, Spotlight installed walls in the Blackbox Theater in the Haverford Dining Center basement.
Amateurs opened Thursday April 24 and tickets are available through the link in the Spotlight Theatre Instagram bio.
