Director Josh Williams explains why you should be part of Auburn Players production of The Giver

Director Josh Williams is working with the Auburn Players for the first time, and he thinks you should too.

This season, a new director is collaborating with the Auburn Players. Although this isn’t Josh Williams first directing experience, it’s his first time working with our company. In his first production with us, he chose The Giver, a play based on a book he is very familiar.

“I was first introduced to The Giver over 15 years ago while taking an English Teaching Methods course at SUNY Oswego,” says Williams, “I have been teaching the novel to middle school aged students since 2003.”

Williams teaches English Language Arts in the Skaneateles School District. He finds  interesting finding new ways of looking at the world Lowry has created.

“On the surface it is pure science fiction, in the tradition of a 1984 or Brave New World, but beneath the surface it is about discovering the joys of life; color, music, and family. More recently I’ve considered The Giver to be about the search for and paradox of love,” according to Williams.

Jonas, the lead character, is a perceptive and curious adolescent. He begins to question the world that he presented to him by the leaders of his community. Through his friendship and training experience with the Giver, Jonas begins to see his world as it truly is.

Williams continues, “He questions his assigned parents about love, with no definitive answer.  He turns to his friends, Fiona and Asher, in hopes of finding love and companionship there.  He ultimately discovers that love exists in the least likeliest of places, that we are each responsible for the love we feel, and that although love may travel with us wherever we go, love is not something that we can possess like a tangible item.  In other words, The Giver is a rich story that exists on multiple levels and each viewer of this production is likely to take away from it their own unique message.  What you will take from The Giver greatly depends on what you are looking for, what you want, and what you yourself have to give.”

Come out and be a part of The Giver. Auditions will be Thursday, December 10th and Sunday, December 13th. For more detailed information including required monologues click here.