Natalie Boydston / Staff Photographer / nb397205@ohiou.edu

Molly Jo Stanley, Dean Barker and Joe Balding perform at a dress rehearsal in Adaptation the first play out of three in An Evening of Comedy performed at the Stuart Opera House in Nelsonville on Tuesday. The play runs May 10, 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. and May 13 at 2 p.m.

David Bower brings a passion for the theater arts process into his classroom daily. That same passion has led him to direct An Evening of Comedy, a night of three one-act plays that opens tonight at Stuart’s Opera House, 34 Public Square, in Nelsonville.

Bower is no stranger to the stage or the classroom. Having taught high school theater for 20 years, Bower served as a high school administrator before becoming an assistant professor in the College of Education at Ohio University.

Bower has worked with the Athenian Players acting troupe for two years doing tech work, acting and directing. He uses many of the same methods and techniques teaching actors that he uses in the classroom.

“Theater and the arts touch an important part of our humanity. They enrich our lives — and for me as an educator I feel (the arts) develop our potential to work with students,” Bower said.

He uses a “coaching philosophy” when directing and teaching, he said. He keeps behind the scenes and allows his actors and students to explore on their own before offering his suggestions.

“(David) sort of lets the actors feel their way along until they feel they have accomplished the character, then he refines,” said Ruth Borovicka, a retired actress who acts in one of the three plays. “If he feels you’re not focused, he refines.”

His students agree. Eileen Buescher, a senior middle-childhood education major, said Bower is “supportive of us and understanding.”

“He’s says he lives vicariously through our stories in the classroom,” she said.

Putting actors and students in the forefront allows them to have an active role in their education, Bower said. He teaches people to think for themselves.

“He knows what’s it like to really engage students in his learning. He’s not a lecturing type of professor — he’s a conversationalist,” Buescher said.

The three one-acts to be performed at Stuart’s Opera House are Adaptation, Actor’s Nightmare and Final Dress Rehearsal. The characters’ lack of control over their lives is a connecting theme in the quirky plays that compose A Night of Comedy, said Ken Bowald, a professor at Hocking College who acts in the one-act Adaptation.

Adaptation uses a game show setting as a metaphor for life. Audience participation is an integral part of this play where the contestant quickly transforms from a child to an adult, Bowald said.

Actor’s Nightmare is a performer’s worst dream come true. An accountant dreams that he is in a play he hasn’t rehearsed, and the show keeps changing when he figures out his role.

Final Dress Rehearsal is a farce, a slapstick comedy with an improbable plot, about a community theater performing Cinderella. “They’ve got no set, they’ve never gotten to the third act, and they don’t know where prince charming is,” said Bower.