Senior Danielle Dyksterhouse made her directorial debut Thursday evening as “Proof” pulled back its curtains from the Hartmann Center stage.
Interim Chairperson of the Department of Theatre Arts Scott Kanoff said Dyksterhouse is the first-ever undergraduate student to direct a main-stage play.
“I chose Danielle to direct this show on the basis of her superior work as a theatre student, [as well as] her demonstrated skill as a leader in our department and the maturity and depth of her artistic skills,” Kanoff said.
Dyksterhouse, a theatre arts and business management and administration double major, said she has been involved with theatre since the age of seven when she was in her first play, a Kabuki version of the Ugly Duckling. From that moment, Dyksterhouse later went on to direct her first high school play, “Alice in Wonderland.”
Although Dyksterhouse has acted before, she said her true passion is directing.
She joined the Bradley theatre department as an actress and climbed the ranks to become the director of “Proof.”
The play revolves around Catherine, played by television arts major Meghan Grott, who has dropped out of college to take care of her mentally ill mathematical genius father. After he passes away, Catherine is left wondering how much of her father’s genius and insanity she inherited.
“I think [‘Proof’ is] really relatable for a lot of college students,” Dyksterhouse said. “It’s terrifying for us because we had the safety net of high school. College is like we’re growing up, [but the safety net] is still there. Now we just have to make the choice: where do we go from here?”
Despite her theatrical success, Dyksterhouse said her family wasn’t always as supportive of her career choice as they are now. However, that didn’t stop her from following her dreams.
“She is brilliant and fantastic,” Grott said. “She is especially bright, and she knows exactly what she wants.”
Showing exactly what she wants is what Dyksterhouse said was the hardest part. Also, according to Dyksterhouse, the theatre department students are all friends, and it was hard to draw the line between friend and director.
“Everyone has been really respectful of the whole thing,” Dyksterhouse said. “Even working with my professors, it’s like we’re working together as artists instead of a student and professor.”
Kanoff said a student directing a main-stage play isn’t a “regular perk for undergrads.”
“Danielle is astute, motivated and deeply passionate,” Kanoff said. “As a fifth-year double major at Bradley, she has really embraced her own education and maximized her opportunities here.”
“Proof” opened Nov. 13 and will run through Nov. 23 with shows starting at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinées starting at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 for students, $5 for freshmen, $12 for faculty and staff and $14 for the public.
