SUNY Oswego’s Theatre Department’s second show of the season, “The Grown Ups,” unfolds as an educational and entertaining experience with a production directed by student Ian Katz and with students as lead designers and technicians.

The show will have 7:30 p.m. curtains from Nov. 12 to 16, with matinee shows at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 16 and 17, in Tyler Hall’s Lab Theater. 

“The Grown Ups” follows a group of camp counselors sitting around a campfire talking about life, responsibility, tradition and more. 

Director Katz, a senior theatre major at SUNY Oswego, noted the uniqueness of this play as being set in the round so that the audience is on all sides of the staged action.

“The show's entirely in the round,” Katz said. “I've never directed in the round before, so that has been a process. It’s been a very fun one, experimenting with the actors about where people are going, where they're looking and how the sight lines are being affected.”

Cast member Aiden O’Brien noted how “freeing” acting in the round is. “Within the round, if you want to fully turn around and not face someone, you can do that, where you might not be able to, if it's proscenium staging,” O’Brien said. “It definitely lets you follow your natural impulses on how to move and how to behave in the scenarios, more truthfully than the [traditional] proscenium stage.”

Deep into their roles

The show is a dark comedy play that follows young adult counselors in modern times. The cast can heavily relate to the characters, which allows them to understand their roles deeper.

“I've been a camp counselor,” Emma Marshall, playing Becca, said. “I'm 20, obviously this is going to be pretty similar. And so you can kind of sink your teeth into some of the deeper parts of the character more and sort of get to know what's going on internally, instead of just sort of focusing on the more superficial stuff.”

The rehearsal process for “The Grown Ups” also allowed for the cast to understand their characters. Cast and crew began the process with a week of tablework reading with Katz asking cast members what their characters were thinking. 

“It really helped me, at least personally, explore deeper into my character with those guiding questions, so that was super helpful,” Marshall said. 

As students, both Katz and costume designer Emily McFarlane discussed how balancing school and theatre can be a lot of work, but they wouldn’t trade it for anything. McFarlane said the faculty and department help alleviate stress in any way they can.

“The Theater Department here is kind of a small department, which is really great because it's really close-knit,” McFarlane said. “So the professors know and have the grace and empathy. That sort of supportive community that's kind of built into the department is just like a really great thing to rely on.”

This show is a very collaborative experience, O’Brien said: “We all work together to create this finished product, and we all put in our own impulses and our own ideas, and that makes the process a lot more fun.”

McFarlane said that community shines throughout the play. “It's like a big crossover episode,” McFarlane said. 

“Being able to have that kind of special connection to a show like this, that I get to work on with so many people that I've built really positive relationships with, has been very special,” Katz said. 

Tickets are available via SUNY Oswego Box Office and are free to students and $10 for general admission. 

-- Written by Natalie Glosek of the Class of 2026