Former university student returns to Gresham to hone skills

Student director Caitlynn Didlick does not know about fake cigarettes and she is horrible at making decisions but in her new role directing the spring production of  “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” she is learning about both, honing her skills at directing and making on-the-fly decisions.

Didlick graduated from Gresham High School in 2010, went to the University of Oregon for a term as a theater arts major, then “chickened out” and moved home to reassess, she said.

She transferred to Oregon State (OSU) spring term of that year to major in nursing because she felt it was more practical. After attending OSU through spring term of 2012 she enrolled in MHCC in the fall as a theater major. Didlick said she did fine at OSU, but then reconsidered: “I was like, I’m not fulfilling that artistic side of myself and I’ve always wanted to do acting, so I knew I’d just regret if I never gave it a shot.”

Didlick, who took acting classes at a young age, has not looked back since. “I’m really happy I’m doing it, I couldn’t have made a better choice then moving back home and doing it here.”

Her first musical and MHCC show was the winter production of RENT where, she was a member of the ensemble cast.

Didlick is enrolled in two theater classes while she juggles the responsibilities of directing the play. Next year, she plans to work and continue as a part time student at MHCC and try her hand at auditioning for Portland plays.

Based on the Ken Kesey novel of the same name, the play “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” takes place in a mental institution in Salem, Ore., in 1959. Didlick said it’s about the patients and “about this nurse, her name is Nurse Ratched. She’s very controlling, she’s very intimidating, she’s very manipulative.

“Then this one character, his name’s McMurphy, he comes in and kinda, just you know, throws wrenches in the machine she’s got going so perfectly. He kinda mixes it up and in the end this character finds himself and he finds his strength and so it points out all the mistreatment of the mental patients during the time and it is also about finding your own inner strength,” she said.

The main characters in “Cuckoo” are Nurse Ratched, played by Sydney Hope; Chief Bromden, played by Drew Pierce; and Matt Rowning, portraying Randall P. McMurphy. All three were most recently seen in MHCC’s winter production of RENT.

Didlick learned of the opportunity to direct “Cuckoo” last term when she enrolled in the directing class. She said the six people in the twice-weekly independent study class, herself included, applied to be the director of the play.

“To tell the truth, I originally didn’t really want it. I knew that a couple of the other people in the class wanted it more, but when I got it offered to me it changed my whole idea with it,” she said. “I’d probably really love to be (appearing) in it, too, but the way it’s going I’m glad I’m directing, not in it.”

Originally, Didlick had an assistant director, Alex Giorgi, who appeared in both previous MHCC productions this year. But Giorgi stepped in to fill one of the “Cuckoo” roles when another actor dropped out, so she is now leaning on her stage manager for help.

She is learning that working with actors’ schedules is sometimes a problem. “Sometimes if people don’t give you enough time, you have to be the mean boss and kind of crack the whip and…say that’s not okay. And I’m not used to being direct with people about that kind of stuff,” she said.

Didlick said theater instructor Jesse Merz has helped to lead and guide her through the learning curve: “Definitely the first week and a half I was like talking to him every day, being, like, ‘What do I do if this (or that) comes up?’ ”

In the director’s role, Didlick is responsible for blocking the play, under Merz’s guidance, as well as working with lighting, sound and costuming people. “They all come to me with their ideas to okay it before they actually take it and run with it. Same with props,” she said.

“Even the cigarettes, we were trying to decide like what type of cigarette to use, and everyone was giving me suggestions,” she said. “But they were all just looking at me, they were like, ‘Okay, what kind of cigarette do you want to use?’ Do you want your actors to actually smoke? And I was like ‘Not in that small little theater, no way.’ ” So, she was forced to learn about fake cigarettes.

Didlick is quickly building her directing skills. “Definitely, it’s a lot of decision making, which is good for me, ’cause I used to be not very good at making decisions. It’s exciting it’s a new experience,” she said.