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Kodachrome Q+A with Amanda Kingrey

Updated: Oct 6, 2022

by Paige Jensen-Rutter February 2, 2022


Welcome to the CHS Theatre Production of Kodachrome! In case you’re new here, Kodachrome is the second show our school’s theatre program has put on this year. Rehearsals for Kodachrome have been going on since we got back from break -- both the cast and understudy cast put in a lot of hard work.


Amanda Kingrey was kind enough to let me ask her some questions about her role as an Assistant Director for Kodachrome. Our conversation went as follows.


PJR: What do you do as assistant director?

AK: As assistant director, I help Mr. Hamen (our theatre director) and I direct the understudy class. So for rehearsals, what we usually do is we split up into the overstudy and understudy cast and then my fellow assistant director and I will go and direct the understudy cast. We’ll usually do a run through and then after we’ll give notes -- so if there’s a character thing we want to tell them to do or a note about a line, that sort of thing.

PJR: What’s your favorite part about being a student director?

AK: I really like the opportunity for leadership. I enjoy being in charge of things [laughs]. It’s just been really fun to be able to do. Whenever I’m in shows, I always think, “Oh, if only they could do that thing” or “Oh, if they could do this” but I can never share that as its not my place as an actor, but as a director it’s your job to do that and it’s been really fun to see that. It’s also been really fun to see people implement my notes. Like, I’ll tell an actor to do something and then they go and do it and it’s like “oh my gosh they listened to me and it sounds so good!” That’s been a really good thing.

PJR: What’s been your favorite part of Kodachrome, like the directing or a favorite part in the actual show?

AK: So, Kodachrome is such a new show, I’d never heard of it before, never seen it before, but I got a part in the show, so it’s been really cool to kinda see it develop. It’s-It’s one of those shows where–ah, how would I describe this–it’s one of those shows that’s almost metaphorical in a way. It’s like a deep show, it’s also like, really sad so it’s really hard. I would say it’s harder than like, a comedy because a comedy is just kinda fun and you don’t really have to think too hard about it, but with this one it’s really like, trying to find the meaning behind all the words and that’s just been a really interesting experience.

PJR: So it’s almost like you have to like, find how to portray everything with the actors and stuff as well as how to get the best emotion from the scene?

AK: Yeah, exactly.

PJR: So who is your favorite character in the actual show itself?

AK: I would have to say my favorite character is our lead, the photographer. Basically, the photographer goes around and narrates the story and takes pictures. That’s as much as I’ll say but there’s kinda a fun–not a fun–but there’s an interesting twist that happens with her. It’s a really interesting character to work with and figure out like, what makes her do the things that she does.

PJR: What would you say to those looking to join the theatre community here at CHS?

AK: I would say get involved in any way you can. So if you want to audition for a show, and you know a lot of shows are pretty small so you might not get in, but if you don’t get in do set build or run crew or costuming. Just be involved somehow and the more that you’re there and you show how hard you work and how much effort you’re going to put in, that’s something they notice. It’s just super fun and the more friends you have there the more fun it is. So yeah, just getting involved.

PJR: What’s been the best thing about rehearsing for the upcoming show?

AK: So the first show we did this year (Clue!) we had a really long rehearsal process and this one’s been really short. It’s been kinda fun to jump in headfirst and get everything done and go super fast it’s also been pretty chaotic as a lot of people have been absent because of COVID and stuff, so we’ve kinda just had to deal with it as we go and figure it out. In some ways it’s been stressful but in other ways it’s kinda fun. Like, ‘okay what are we gonna do today?” And then we figure it out.

PJR: What’s been the worst thing so far?

AK: I would also say again it’s been all the absences. It’s really hard to direct show when the people that you are directing aren’t there. It makes it really hard. For a couple of rehearsals we just did not have an understudy cast at all so we’d have to like, mix the two casts in order to have one full cast… Very chaotic.



The CHS Theatre Production of Kodachrome ran from January 27th to the 29th.


For more information on how to get involved in the Theatre program here at CHS, as well as information on about the upcoming spring musical, (Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella) visit http://www.centervillehstheatre.com/.


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