2008 Woodie Awards
The lights of Georgetown stage
Four students who have had a lasting impact on GU theater
Kelsey Shannon
Issue date: 4/30/03 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Chris Hajduk (COL ‘04) has acted in 12 plays, starring in such shows as Twelve Angry Jurors and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. He has also served as sound designer for a number of campus performances.
What has been your most rewarding experience in Georgetown theater?
I have always loved acting, but directing has had the most forceful personal impact on me; I directed a show in the Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival of 2002. It was incredibly hard, but I would say it was the most formative experience I have had here. It is one thing to get up on stage and listen to someone else shuffle you around, but it’s an entirely different ball game when you are the one sitting there trying to be both an audience member and a critic. More than a few times I thought, “Oh God — does it really look like that when I do that on stage?”
What is the best part about theater at Georgetown?
The people. Though [so-called] theater types have been accused of being clique-ish and inwardly-focused, the students who dedicate their time to Georgetown theater are some of the most intelligent, talented and loving people I have ever known. And when I say “dedicated,” I mean it; I have seen designers on their feet for 40 hours, of which 26 have been entirely at the stage. It is not that they are getting paid to do what they do — it is because their friends are up on stage or working behind the scenes, and the designers cannot help but make sure the job gets done.
What is the worst part about theater at Georgetown?
It hurts when I ask friends if they are coming to a show and they have no idea that one is going on; we try our hardest to publicize what is going on, but even still, the University is merciless in its removal of posters from public spaces around campus. I recently finished working on Twelfth Night, and though we were performing Shakespeare — certainly one of the more attention-grabbing names in the theater canon — it was frightening to see how few people knew that the show was going on.
What has been your most rewarding experience in Georgetown theater?
I have always loved acting, but directing has had the most forceful personal impact on me; I directed a show in the Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival of 2002. It was incredibly hard, but I would say it was the most formative experience I have had here. It is one thing to get up on stage and listen to someone else shuffle you around, but it’s an entirely different ball game when you are the one sitting there trying to be both an audience member and a critic. More than a few times I thought, “Oh God — does it really look like that when I do that on stage?”
What is the best part about theater at Georgetown?
The people. Though [so-called] theater types have been accused of being clique-ish and inwardly-focused, the students who dedicate their time to Georgetown theater are some of the most intelligent, talented and loving people I have ever known. And when I say “dedicated,” I mean it; I have seen designers on their feet for 40 hours, of which 26 have been entirely at the stage. It is not that they are getting paid to do what they do — it is because their friends are up on stage or working behind the scenes, and the designers cannot help but make sure the job gets done.
What is the worst part about theater at Georgetown?
It hurts when I ask friends if they are coming to a show and they have no idea that one is going on; we try our hardest to publicize what is going on, but even still, the University is merciless in its removal of posters from public spaces around campus. I recently finished working on Twelfth Night, and though we were performing Shakespeare — certainly one of the more attention-grabbing names in the theater canon — it was frightening to see how few people knew that the show was going on.