Featured Tigers is a series wherein the spotlight shines on a few students, alumni, faculty and staff from our Crete, Lincoln and Omaha campus locations. These individuals stand out in the best way — as talented and driven leaders.
View all Featured Tigers here.
We talked with Cody Lee Crist, a senior theatre major from Derby, Kansas. He's directing and leading the all-student mainstage production "Birthday Candles" for his senior project. You can catch "Birthday Candles" Feb. 26-28 on the Crete campus. Reserve tickets now!
Why did you decide to come to Doane?
I originally planned to attend another university closer to home. However, when I met some of the theatre faculty and came up to visit and saw a production of Reefer Madness I knew I had no choice but to come to Doane. The environment and opportunity I get to be in every day is unmatched anywhere else I ever visited. And it has been proven true many times again. By my sophomore year I was designing on the mainstage season and directing student productions. This was all leading to me directing now on the mainstage season!
What do you hope to do after completing your degree?
I was terrified for all of my four years as to what I was going to do post graduation. I know I wanted to work as a theatre designer but how do I get there? Thankfully, one of my advisors Jeff Stander helped me discover my desire for more education. So I am happy to announce that I have been offered a spot at Wayne State University [in Detroit, Michigan] to get my M.F.A. in Lighting Design. One thing that helped with this was my B.A. in Theatre and not a B.F.A. I stood out more as a candidate because I was so well versed in many different areas of theatre.
What is something you're proud of accomplishing or achieving at Doane?
In my time at Doane I have completed 12 fully realized lighting designs! Only five of which were at Doane. Through faculty connections I was able to get paid jobs doing what I love outside of Doane which provided me with an in-depth resume and the experience of working with many different directors in many different kind of spaces. Once again this is what helped me get my spot in grad school coming straight out of my undergrad.
Did you choose Birthday Candles and if so, why did it resonate with you?
I did choose Birthday Candles! I have known for awhile that I was directing on the mainstage season for my senior project. For awhile I didn't even know if I would get to select the show I directed. However, I had been laying out options in my head for two years leading up to this. A script that kept coming back to me was Birthday Candle's. I loved the story it captured of Ernestine's life and her trying to find her place in the universe. All of the joy, love and loss that is experienced throughout this show becomes the roller coaster of life we all live. I can't wait for audiences to get the chance to see this show and join us on this journey that is almost a century of life as Ernestine bakes her cake as she does every year on her Birthday.
What is something about directing a play that surprised you?
I have directed some student productions before this. Both at Doane and at Derby High School. What makes this process so different comes down to instead of doing a lot of the design aspects of a show myself props, costumes, lighting, etc. I have a wonderful all-student design team I am getting [to] work with in creating Ernestine's kitchen and the world of which she lives. Though I was also assigned to do Scenic Design I have had the opportunity to look at Birthday Candles through many different lens, all building up to now while I am directing the show! Birthday Candles as a play itself provided many challenges for me and the rest of the creative team to solve. When the play begins, Ernestine is 17 years old and by the end of the play Ernestine is an undisclosed age (but it's well over 95). The hardest part — Ernestine never leaves the stage so we can put make up on her or have any major costume changes. Working [with] the cast and creative team on solving this challenge given to us in the script has been exciting and I think we have come up with some pretty good solutions.
