E-Board Check Ins
Isa
Baby is doing great :)))))
Finished up mentorship expectations
Did a lot of brainstorming about the fall - compiled a document
Met with Kendall for brainstorming - super helpful!
Dealt with other closed board damage control things
Emergency E-board
Rob
Brainstorming fall stuff, emergency E-board
Natalie
Helping with Pygmalion, keeping in touch with creative team, posting about Pygmalion, and about showcase submissions
Sunny
Shared action statement with Babatunde, talking with him about edits for that
Redbubble is a great idea!!!
Helping out with Pygmalion webinar
Kendall
Spoke to Margaret about Shindig - gonna follow up
Went to Pygmalion
Brainstormed a lot about the fall, met with Isa which was great!
Posted Pygmalion stuff on social media
Zach
TfA stuff posted
In contact with Playwright’s Theater - let them use the Space to cut some stuff
Went to Pygmalion
Steve
Thought a lot about the fall, went to Pygmalion!
Pygmalion Check Outs
Siena
This was a huge team effort - conGRATS!
Uncharted territory - everyone was courageous and willing :)
Hopeful for the future!
The week went by pretty much without a hitch, had to figure out some webinar kinks
Was good to coordinate behind the scenes with the Zoom chat!
Lucky to have this opportunity, thanks everyone for trusting her with it!
Grateful for SMs, TD, producers, and E-Board support
There are definitely limitations to online theater, have to be creative
Casting switch was difficult, but everyone took it in stride - collaborative space
Emma
Learning experience, fun to come up with new things (montage!!!) that you can’t really do in the student theater
Stepping into a leadership role was different, learned how to speak with the team and give feedback, so happy that she got to be part of the show :)
Advice: checking in individually with techies throughout the week was really helpful; innovative solutions & don’t be afraid to try out new things
Julia
Very unique and exciting experience!!! Great way to keep connections close over the summer, meet new people in Troupe (freshman on the team!)
Worked with awesome people on the team - amazing experience
Doing plays on Zoom has been really cool :) If anything like this happens again, we’ve found a good outlet to be connected over this weird situation
Advice: Very important to keep communication with techies/actors, good experience to create a good schedule that could be flexible; need to be able to roll with the punches, change things as issues arise
Andrea
So much fun with producing! Great to get to know Angel
Sunny was a GREAT help, guided us through the process, kept checking in
Loved working with creative team - wholesome, glad we got to do this even if it was just virtual
Advice: a lot of it translated really well virtually; usually producing social media/digital; Sunny gave a great outline of things to be working on/thinking about; one thing if this were to happen again: maybe we could find a way to get some headshots of the actors, even if it’s just over Zoom - edit them and enhance them
Chat with Fall Creative Teams
We’ve been talking extensively, but haven’t made any solid decisions yet
Would love to check in with everyone, see how you’re feeling and run some of our ideas by you and hear your thoughts
The Great Gatsby
Robert - director
Live-streamed show - not opposed, but there is the fact that the actors might also be at risk there, with physical intimacy that can’t be cut from the show
Lost Tsai, lost composer/MD - gonna find public domain music probably ?
Emma - assistant director
A little worried about possibilities of adjusting tech, all different aspects to whatever format we will have
Kim - choreographer
Really awesome opportunities to use movement blocking etc to convey things like attraction, other emotions without physical proximity
Very difficult over something like Zoom, but could be a possibility for some sort of in person opportunity
Totally ready to tackle a socially distant and compliant production, reconsider new movement and formation techniques to keep the same emotions/feelings/themes - that would not cause a lot of stress
Andrea - Co-SM
Not a ton of concrete ideas - splitting up rehearsal room into 2 groups, easier to keep social distancing
Trying to be flexible, taking everything that’s coming at her
Matt - Co-SM
Take what comes, work with what we get, be flexible!
David - Head Producer
Shouldn’t really be an issue, producing won’t change much regardless of where/how it will happen - social media and digital communication
Has access to equipment even if COM doesn’t rent stuff out
As soon as we get everything figured out, we will plan process
Probably can’t have giant full-cast shoot
Time constraint - something to think about but he’s done this before!
Steel Magnolias
Caroline
Pitched as an intimate show and experience, emotionally, with vulnerability, you’re supposed to feel like you’re one of the ladies
Very hard feeling to replicate without an audience/live theater
Wouldn’t mind a live-streamed show, but also prioritize the health of our actors and techies so don’t know how feasible it is
Don’t see Steel Magnolias working on Zoom
Been working on a bunch of theatre projects this summer - it’s been interesting seeing how people are adjusting to our current reality - innovation (audio dramas, showcases)- interesting formats that we could tackle instead!
Would feel super comfortable taking on any Troupe project this fall, but thinks it would be in the best interest to explore different options other than a Zoom ~box~
Wouldn’t want to squander opportunity to direct favorite show
Fly By Night
Kendall - Director
Passing on to rest of creative team bc they’ve heard me talk :)
Nikita - Director
Grappling with fact of not having live theatre anymore
Not reasonable to move on as if it’s a normal semester - open to changing how we present it, what we do, livestreams, etc
Main concern: most important thing in extracurricular college theater - people are having fun and feeling safe
Don’t want anybody to feel like they have to choose between their safety and the show
Jackson - MD
Music side - not super concerned; that’s what we did for OBOB
Musically can definitely teach the show
Small cast that is also run crew, pit is also small
Primary concern is health and safety of cast and crew
Zoom production - disservice to the story; the show is something he loves and is very passionate about, has seen this process and wanted the show to be put on since freshman year
Doesn’t want to see this opportunity slighted by the limitations of technology
Open to livestream, professional recording, etc
Concerned with being in charge of a large group of people’s comfort and wellbeing
Natalie - Choreographer
Main concern - most choreography ideas would not be possible over Zoom
Don’t want to force the project if it’s not something we’re proud of
And agrees on health and safety
Postponing Opinions:
Nikita:
Concerns are that nothing is gonna change in four months, we will still be dealing with it
David:
Not fond of the idea of postponing, but understands that public health and public safety come first
Interested in alternative methods of delivering these shows
Jackson
TBh,, Best decision is to postpone
Might not be safe to put on these shows in person, and that was the original intent behind the shows pitched
Disingenuous to the membership to put something on that wasn’t actually pitched
Postponing also leaves a gap in programming - theater is important enough to continue :)
Andrea
First of all - gonna ask about alternative projects in line, glad that we have a plan in case these were to be postponed!
Would love if they didn’t get postponed - senior mentality, but want to see what we might be able to do instead
Emma
Same concerns with postponing - not sure if the creative teams can handle a spring project; we don’t know what we’ll be doing/what our schedule looks like
Caroline
Would be fine with postponing, but understand the concerns of not knowing what it will look like
But these shows were pitched as live experiences, not fair to directors or membership to force it like before
Wants to look at alternative programming
Kim
Seems like these opinions align with the shows
Also thinking about charity show - either there is no charity show, or one of the current teams must accept that responsibility
Our Options:
1: Maintaining all 3 shows, putting them on however we can
Nikita: We’ve come up with some fall alternatives
Stress of rehearsal room will be greater, the things that ease that stress will not be possible
Zoom rehearsals will not be the same
Jackson: could still be stoked for fall
Disagrees with Zoom theatre; a musical would not work
Process IS the most important part of the show - but the concern is that people are going to be more stressed out in the process of creating the show with our current circumstances
If we had 3 shows going on, 3 creative teams, all covid regulations, that would create more of a burden on the cast and crew to maintain those boundaries
Going about this with its original intent would be very taxing
Live Zoom performance - not logistically possible for a musical
Especially not for Fly By Night
Other theater experiences better suited for the fall
Zach: we could still do Zoom theatre
Wants to see all 3 shows happening in the fall
Technology is a gift, shouldn’t see it as a hindrance
Andrea: Zoom theatre was kind of quick & easy
For musicals it would definitely be different, but this might be able to be done for certain shows
We have to adapt to Covid requirements and play the cards we’ve been dealt
There are ways we can do cast bonding
These are unprecedented times, we have to adapt
Caroline: Part of being flexible is being adaptable
As a director, she recognizes that some shows might be easier to do over Zoom, don’t think SM is one of those shows
Loves the process, doesn’t want to put out something mediocre right now - very in favor of taking on a unconventional alternative programming project
If we’re in the same situation in the spring, there are other creative options we could do instead
Kim:
Emotional toll of adapting a show - so so stressful for creative teams on top of everything else right now
Lots of logistics to think about:
Are we charging people to see Zoom plays? Can we logistically sustain Troupe if we don’t?
Livestream/real time - won’t have as many people as usual on campus (specifically actors to cast a full season)
2: Postponing all 3 shows, or cancelling any that don’t want to postpone
Natalie: spring will not look very different from now
Kim: option to postpone without knowing what the spring will look like, gives directors opportunity to decide if they want to direct it over zoom, give the spot to someone else maybe
Isa: time to consider ways to adapt to Zoom
3: Postponing all but 1 show
Could Gatsby possibly be extended or moved?
Sunny:
We will have to push back F&F, too short of a time frame
We don’t want to move any production to Zoom, we want to put these shows on live in some capacity
Given what we know now & the outlook for spring → rules and regulations will probably not change that much
So, we still want to provide Troupe members with opportunity to have familiar experiences
Have performance dates extended, rehearsing in different groups, platooning rehearsals so people aren’t grouped together
Would work with creative teams to create safe & regulated environment
David:
Psychologically, how comfortable will people be in a live theater setting - student theater is so small
Kim:
Rotating rehearsal schedules and potential of multiple casts for one show - lots of opportunities for acting on campus
Worry that (scheduling/energy standpoint) it could be difficult to increase the number of rehearsals - up to twice as much for creative teams
Even if the show isn’t happening over Zoom, you can definitely do lots of rehearsals and character meetings over Zoom
Crazy new idea she had bc she’s a genius:
Sleep No More - multi-room, multi-floor experience where audience walks around, everyone wears masks
Social distancing, spread out, everyone wears masks, timed entries, so many opportunities to play with that
Gatsby is so well known, so people could understand different segments of it performed separately
Audience filters through in smaller groups
Multiple casts !!!!!
Great Gatsby - rights, not presenting it in the way that the author wrote it would violate those rights
Book is not in the public domain yet