Schuler writes melodrama
Staff writer
Every promo you see on television plugging a reality show always tells viewers to watch for the "twist" — the surprise which catches the players off-guard.
Janet Killough, director of the Marion High School spring play, "It's Greek to Me," brought her own twist to the production when she announced the author was sitting in the audience. And that author was a person well-known to many who follow Marion drama productions.
During the curtain call on opening night (March 19), Killough, MHS language arts/forensics/drama instructor, was called to the stage. She then surprised both audience and cast alike.
"I said this was the Kansas debut of this melodrama and because of that the author was in the audience," Killough recalled with a laugh. "And you could hear this audible gasp throughout the auditorium."
Killough then introduced the author of the play, Marion native Matt Schuler.
"Except for Matt's brother, Tim, no one in the play knew Matt had written it," Killough explained. "His brother kept quiet."
Killough and Schuler went to great lengths to keep Schuler's authorship quiet. He used a pen name, Jeffrey Peterson, which was printed on the play books (scripts) distributed to cast members.
They also worked to ensure the books looked just those produced by a theater publishing company.
"I printed them all out on my printer and bound them myself," Schuler said.
Matt's parents, Gary and Mary Schuler, MHS principal Ken Arnhold and his wife, Teri, also were in on the secret.
A 2001 graduate of Marion High School, Schuler was active in drama and forensics during his high school career. He attended Oklahoma State University and Kansas State University majoring in speech and drama. Currently, he's taking a semester off.
Schuler said he took a play-writing class in college and wrote a one-act play. Killough suggested he write a play for MHS.
"Janet always has a heck of a time trying to find a play," Schuler said. "She said 'you write a play so I won't have to look'."
Schuler said melodramas are something of a tradition at MHS, but he wanted to stretch it a bit.
"I knew at the beginning I didn't want it to be a western," he said. Pondering the possibilities, Schuler debated whether to use a Greek setting, pirates, or even super heroes.
"With the Greeks there's multiple gods and goddesses, beasts and creatures, with sword fighting. The possibilities were wide open," he said.
Also, costuming would be much simpler. "With Greeks you can just do bed sheets."
Schuler said he started the process in July 2003, and spent "quite a bit of time" working on plot line and characters.
"It took me about a month and a half to get Act I together. Act II took about two weeks," he said with a laugh. "That's because it was getting down to deadline. I worked day and night on it."
Killough and Tim Schuler also were directly involved in the process.
"I read it over and made some revisions. He rewrote and we added characters," Killough said.
"I ran almost everything by Tim to get his reaction," Schuler said.
Schuler said he tried not to write the play specifically for the city building stage used for MHS productions nor for specific MHS actors. He purposely omitted stage directions so the actors would feel free to come up with their own movement.
"Janet has always told the kids to 'make it work,'" Schuler recalled.
Unlike most directors who have no interest in having the original author "on the set," Killough asked Schuler to be her assistant director.
"I was there for tryouts. Casting it was so hard. We had so many good people that we added a few more characters. I think it came out better," Schuler said.
Although some writers might get a little defensive about having others re-write their work, Schuler said it didn't bother him — for the most part.
"We were changing lines right and left. That was one reason I didn't want anyone to know I wrote it. I knew there'd be some tension," Schuler said. "But the kids really thought over their parts. I think it turned out well. I was satisfied."
Schuler said he probably will write another play and said it was easier to write drama than comedy.
When Schuler isn't busy writing plays, he keeps himself occupied with his video business, Roshambo Productions. The business is a partnership between Schuler and another Marion native, Mark Hanson, his high school acting and forensics partner and lifelong friend.
Killough said she and Schuler hoped to get the play published — for real. Schuler said it needs some revision first.
"A few things didn't work. I'd like to pull in the cast and get their feelings on what they didn't like," Schuler said. "I'd like to see a couple of other schools try it out and see how it goes."
