During the weekend of March 4, Staples Players put on their student-run studio performance, Rumors. After months of hard work by the whole cast, they delivered three sold-out shows.

Not only was the show popular for its comedy, but also for being the annual student-directed play. Gregg Bonti ’12 was the main director of the show and was helped by assistant director Alexandra Rappaport ’13 and producer Lauren Weinberger ’13.

Bonti originally got involved with directing this year’s show after directing a “One Act” play for his directing class. He was also in last year’s studio production, Once on this Island, and said that he knew he wanted to direct his own play.

“In directing class I found that I actually really enjoy directing in addition to acting because it gives me a great satisfaction whenever I see my final outcome,” Bonti said.

“There is so much talent at Staples,” he said. This talent does not always get to be showcased in the Players’ main productions and the student-directed shows give more students the opportunity to be onstage.

However, Bonti knew that he could not have directed the show by himself, so he asked Rappaport to be his assistant director.

“I knew it would be a fabulous opportunity for me to use my creativity and knowledge of theatre for directing, rather than acting,” Rappaport said. This was her first big directing project after directing a few small plays for a class at the Westport Country Playhouse.

Finally, Weinberger, another member of Players, got involved with the play as the producer.

Before the process of directing began for Bonti, he had to select what play to put on. After searching play databases, Bonti selected the comedy, Rumors.

“After reading its online description, it sounded like a hilarious show, so I read the script and fell in love. It is written by Neil Simon, which also contributed to my decision to direct the play because he is a fantastic and well-known playwright,” Bonti said.

Bonti explained that he especially loved the comedy in the script, which he described as “ridiculously funny.”

Once the directors were established and the script determined, the show really began to take shape. Bonti described the process of the studio show, starting back in December when auditions were held. The play was cast before winter break and then rehearsals began.

Bonti explained that throughout this whole process, the cast of 12 became very close. Weinberger seconded his sentiments.

“To say the cast got close over this process is an understatement. When you work with the same people for nearly five months every day, it’s hard to not bond,” she said.

Not only did the cast become very close and work hard together to put on the show, but the directors learned a lot from the whole experience. For them, it was a great chance to try something new and be very creative with something they love.

“It was so interesting for me to be a director because I’m used to being an actor and being on the other side of things. Now, I have such an incredible understanding of what it truly means to be a director,” Rappaport said.

Even though she was working with her peers, Rappaport explained learning from and teaching those she worked with. Being a director was hard but rewarding work for her. She said that through being a director, she learned to appreciate all the directors she has had and what they do.

“The absolute most rewarding thing is to look back and see how much these actors have grown and to think that I’ve helped them to do that. That’s crazy to me,” said Rappaport.

Bonti could not have agreed more. “The experience has been truly amazing,” he said. For him, he especially loved getting to know each person on the cast, especially because he didn’t know them all as well. He loved the opportunity to work with a lot of younger, very talented, actors.

Rappaport also learned that creating a play is a whole team effort; it is not only about having talented actors. “A great actor can’t go far without the right direction. The right direction and the great actor won’t look good without the right lights,” she said.

For Weinberger, the experience culminated in three sold-out shows, which she described as “incredible.”

“I had people come up to me begging if we could have more performances. It brought me such joy to know that the public appreciated and genuinely enjoyed all of the hard work everyone had put in,” she said.

All other things aside, creating an entire, student-run production was quite a feat for all the directors and producers. However, the experience was one that each member loved. “I wouldn’t trade the experience of directing this show for the world,” Rappaport said.