Senior and Repertory Theater member Allison Miller student-directs personal project “Three Men in a Boat” to show on April 12.

The senior solo projects are coming up, and Miller said she wanted to direct a funny and engaging play for hers.

“My dad told me I should do ‘Three Men in a Boat’ because it was the funniest book he’d ever read,” Miller said. “And I kind of hyper fixated on the play, because I hadn’t found anything else, but it actually is the funniest thing.”

Miller had been thinking about directing her own play since the fall, she said.

“Allison’s play is the first time a passion project has been done in this capacity and magnitude,” Repertory Theater teacher Grant Steckbeck said. “I’m excited to see the end result.”

Miller said her vision is for the play to be set on a pocket stage; half of the stage would protrude out with an extended riser.

“It’ll really help play on that structure and up the energy,” Miller said. “On the stage, we’ve already blocked most of the show, and I especially asked myself what I could do to make this ‘the funny.’”

“The funny, the laugh, the big, and the loud,” Miller said. “We’re just working with how we can implement those aspects.”

Steckbeck said that the performing arts teachers were initially hesitant to allow Miller’s project.

“We had to consider the equity,” Steckbeck said. “Does showing ‘Three Men in a Boat’ open the gates for everybody else who wants to do it, and logistically how would that work?”

However, because of Miller’s experience directing the Studio One Acts in the fall, Steckbeck said the department trusted her to self-direct her own project, and are all looking forward to the end result.

Miller said she appreciated the teachers’ help and all the students who auditioned.

“It was just one of those things where the right people auditioned,” Miller said. “It was so instinctive, and it’s been really wonderful to work with everyone to bring my vision to life.”