Abbie Dymond, Reporter
@abbiedcourant
The theatre department has been hard at work. Despite the pandemic, the theatre department has successfully produced one show, and the second one is in the works. The upcoming play, Oklahoma!, is set in the 1900’s. The story follows the life of a farm girl and her courtship of two suitors, who are rivals. With play production starting and the coronavirus still prominent, the theatre department has made many changes to make the play production safe for everyone, including the audience. Following the successfully streamed fall play, Iracus’s Mother, Oklahoma! will be streamed virtually.
In terms of producing the play, director Kate Simone had to make many changes in the script to make it safe for both the cast and the crew. “There will be some kissing here and there, but we have figured out ways to work around it,” she said. “For example, the characters would appear to get closer as if they were going to kiss, and then we would have a blackout so that nothing will be seen and the actors won’t actually touch.”
Much of the show has been left up to the audience’s imagination. Ms. Simone has double-casted the entire show, so in the event that someone has to quarantine, it would not slow down play production. An understudy is someone who, as well as learning their own material, also learns another role to act as a replacement on short notice. “We’re hopefully all covered,” Ms. Simone said, “and we’re just hoping that nothing happens; safety is so important to us, so aside from the fact that we all want to do this show, we all just want to stay as safe as possible.”
Along with the new circumstances that have arisen due to Covid, new acting skills have been discovered. Senior Julia Lamoreaux is learning a lot from being an understudy, something that the high school has never done before this year. “I’m learning a lot about how to multitask by being an understudy. You have your own part in the show, your own track, your own lines, and music to learn,” Julia said. “But then you also have this whole other part that you also need to be prepared to perform, so I feel like it’s just a lot of learning how to balance your time.” Through switching between roles, Julia has expanded her acting horizons, an unexpected benefit of the pandemic.
Like Julia, senior Jackson LaMorte, the lead in the play, has also learned some valuable lessons from the experience, which has helped further his abilities as an actor. “I’ve learned a lot from the last play about trying to convey my emotions even though part of my face is covered,” said Jackson. “I’m doing more emotion with my body and with my eyes.”
The pandemic, while providing it’s challenges, has brought the unexpected opportunity for actors to expand their craft. “I think Covid has made me a more adaptable actor,” said Jackson. “If I know that I can deal with this and still continue to perform, I can probably deal with it a lot. Because this [producing a play during Covid]was a lot to take away from a performance, and we’re still producing a play.”
We’ve had to temporarily say goodbye to many of our favorite leisure activities during these arduous times. But with many precautions set in place, the theatre department is thankful that they are still able to do what they love. “I think everyone is really enthusiastic about just being able to be in a room together and doing what we all love to do, which is putting on a show and storytelling,” Ms. Simone said. “Being able to sing, dance, and act has just brought so much joy to all of us, especially amidst the pandemic when we all need a little bit of extra joy.”
