[Note: This week, two writer-directors and three cast members will give us a backstage look at the making of Uni's annual Student Productions. Sophomore actress Anna Gooler began the diary on Tuesday, followed by senior actress Michelle Gao on Wednesday. Writer-director Kumars Salehi continues the diary today. Writer-director Lauren Piester and senior actor Carl Zielinski will conclude things later this weekend.]

IN AN IRONIC turn of events, it has come to be that Sprite, one of the driving plot devices in my play, “Run to the Sun,” will likely play a pivotal role in my day, even before Student Productions 2007 opens tonight.

For some reason I cannot fully comprehend, I have become brutally nauseous in the last couple of hours and, through no apparent fault of my own, am running the risk of being miserable for the rest of the day.

It is entirely possible that I am subconsciously nervous, the agitation serving to upset my stomach. I have, in the past, used the product Sprite to remedy this — so with the help of Michelle Gao, I stole a Sprite from my props and as I slowly consume it, I am praying that it settles my queasy belly.

I am fully aware that I have broken one of Tony Montana’s golden rules: “Never get high on your own supply.” Well, if uncut fishscale could cure tummy aches, such a sentiment may never have been uttered.

Really, though, I have very little to be nervous about. I’m not performing tonight, I’m just standing around backstage, yelling orders and slicking back Jacob Olshansky’s hair. Besides, I’ve done this sort of thing before.

This summer, I attended a three-week summer filmmaking program at the New York Film Academy in New York City, and I directed a short film (which, by the way, is viewable on my Facebook).

It was filmed in a single day, and, as is apparent from the film’s lack of professional fine tuning, it was edited in even less time. It would seem almost redundant to say that this period was the most stressful of my short life.

Compared to directing a student film, directing a play for Student Productions is like taking all of that stress and spreading it over three weeks like margarine. There’s still a lot of people to manage and a lot of decisions to make in a short period of time, but the medium is more straightforward and one is given far more time to manage the details.

As it turns out, the preparations for the shows tonight and tomorrow night have gone more smoothly than I could have anticipated.

The day of my shoot in New York, several scenes (one of which was quite integral to the plot) were lost due to a phenomenon known as “spaghetti-ing.” A defective camera, or a camera that has been improperly loaded, will occasionally derail the film inside such that the result is a tangled, unusable mess that generally isn’t reparable if you don’t have the time or resources (which I didn’t) to reshoot the scenes.

Then it rained. Twice. We covered the camera and I sprinted through Union Square in search of an umbrella vendor — by the time I got back, the downpour had subsided, but my purchase came in handy when the rain returned. Production was halted several times and at numerous points during the shoot I was convinced that this was the worst day of my life. It wasn’t. I learned from my mistakes and made a decent if sloppy film in the process.

Naturally, I approached directing my play for StudProd with trepidation, and when I saw how willing and cooperative everyone involved was, I came to the conclusion that this would be nothing like filming my own movie in a day.

And it really isn’t; the whole of StudProd is like a machine — since most people involved don’t have worries about their project in the back of their minds, everyone’s efforts are concentrated toward bettering the production as a whole and aiding the directors in every possible way. Major, major props are due unto the wonderful cast and crew.

My stomach is feeling a little better — it could be the Sprite, or it could be that I’ve finally finished this diary entry. But it’s probably the Sprite. It’s good for a lot of things, you know.

STUDPROD 2007: CAST MEMBERS

"Why I Hate Your Boyfriend" Written & directed by Zoë Schein

• Clara: Sian Best
• Frances: Larissa Pittenger
• Palmer: Julian Hartman
• Bartimus: Deren Kudeki
• Alfred James (AJ): Buck Walsh

"Run to the Sun: A Concise Vignette" Written & directed by Kumars Salehi

• Narrator: Jacob Olshansky
• Waitress: Hannah Lake-Rayburn
• Bartender: Ollie Goldbart
• Flirty Woman: Laura Voitik
• Clerk: Alan Liang
• Nice Girl: Eunice How

"My Parents Think I'm Perfect" Written & directed by Lauren Piester

• Cammy: Hannah Leskosky
• Simon: Carl Zielinski
• Mom: Anna Gooler
• Dad: Jeremy Kemball
• Julie: Michelle Gao

"Can I Have That in a Sentence?" Written & directed by Natsuki Nakamura

• Megan: Diana Liu
• Serena: Brittany Scheid
• Leslie: Maria Gao
• Brandon: James Smith
• Cameo, Old Man: Alan Liang
• Serena's Mom: Jamie Weiser
• Announcer: Adam Joseph

STUDPROD 2007: BEHIND THE SCENES

• Queen of the Crew: Tianna Pittenger
• Lights: Isaure Hostetter
• Sound: Linda Song
• Lighting Design: Natsuki Nakamura & James Smith
• Crew Members: Andrew LaPointe, Maddy Levin, Stephanie Overmier, Lily Smith
• Sponsor: Barbara Ridenour
• Script Adviser: Jen Goheen
• Program: Lauren Piester & Zoë Schein

STUDPROD 2007: AN OVERVIEW OF THE PLAYS

"Why I Hate Your Boyfriend"
by Zoë Schein
Frances is best friends with Clara. Clara is dating Palmer. Frances hates Palmer. Palmer has two hilarious friends named AJ and Bart. Hilarity and cleverness ensue.

"Run to the Sun: A Concise Vignette"
by Kumars Salehi
Can you find the answer to life by drinking Sprite? Watch the play to find out!

"My Parents Think I'm Perfect"
by Lauren Piester
Cammy's got a C in math, and can feel the inevitable wrath of her parents from miles away. She and her friend Julie devise a plan to make them see that bad grades aren't really the worst thing ever.

"Can I Have That in a Sentence?"
by Natsuki Nakamura
Megan is determined to win the school spelling bee and finally beat Brandon, but things get complicated when she is too distracted by the letters to look at the whole word.