Theater – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Fri, 15 Mar 2024 08:19:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Theater – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 ‘The Wolves’ lets each character score their own goal https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/15/the-wolves-captivates-beyond-field/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/15/the-wolves-captivates-beyond-field/#respond Fri, 15 Mar 2024 08:19:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1244903 Campus production "The Wolves" balanced serious issues with comedic relief through the touching story of a girls' soccer team, Ramzan writes.

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The TAPS Main Stage production of “The Wolves,” directed by Ph.D. candidate Marina Johnson, “kicked” around nuanced themes of identity, vulnerability and adolescent aspirations and showcased the concept that every player has their own unique shot in the game of life. 

“The Wolves” is a dynamic play that captures the lives of a high school girls’ soccer team (known as The Wolves) as they navigate the complexities of teamwork and the challenges of growing up. I attended the second of three performances on March 8 at the Harry J. Elam, Jr. Theater, and was astounded by the stunning set, dramatic lighting and intricate character work presented by each actor.

Upon entering the theater, the audience was met with an undeniably “real” feeling set — a stage designed as a grassy field adorned with sneakers, backpacks, benches and water bottles. The performance began in medias res, with the actors enthusiastically running onto the stage in overlapping high energy conversations. The topical lighthearted banter was highly comedic and landed well among audience members.

I was impressed by the immersive atmosphere created by the actors, who performed exercises like crunches, jumping jacks and stretches in synchrony while conversing onstage. The energetic choreography of soccer drills created a palpable sense of camaraderie among the teammates, drawing the audience into the world of the play with captivating intensity.

What struck me most about this play was its raw authenticity and the depth of its characters. A unique aspect of this performance was that there were no principal or leading actors; every character in the ensemble had their own individual bits and storylines that intertwined seamlessly, with no one character particularly outshining the other. Each member of the team is distinct, with their own struggles, dreams and insecurities, yet united by their shared passion for the sport of soccer.

#46, played by Deniz Yagmur Urey ‘24, provided a standout performance as a homeschooled misfit, viewed as an outsider by the team for her uncommon life practices. Her subtle yet charismatic line delivery was hilarious (notably, her response to the team mistakenly referring to the style of her home, a yurt, as a “yogurt”), and watching her find her place within the social hierarchy of the team over the course of the production was gratifying.

One of the play’s greatest strengths lies in its ability to tackle complex themes with sensitivity and tasteful coverage. The play ingeniously addresses a range of social fault lines, such as teenage “cliques,” gossiping and young death. From concerns with body image and identity to love and loss, “The Wolves” fearlessly confronts the realities that shape the lives of young women today in an immensely resonant and thought-provoking manner. 

As the play develops, for instance, an overall diminishment in the team’s health and morale is evident. A girl who had been struggling with an eating disorder, #2 (Sophia Wang ‘26) has a nosebleed onstage and #7 (Eryn Perkins ‘25) gets injured and is forced to use crutches for the remainder of the play. 

The declining physical health of the team parallels a decline in their social health, as the girls begin to have serious disagreements involving their personal lives, drama over #7’s boyfriend, and the girls’ opinions about one another. The fracturing of the team was portrayed with immense rawness and realism, and was mirrored in the play’s set design itself. 

In a particularly climatic scene, the back wall of the stage separates into two halves, seamlessly opening toward opposite ends of the room filled with beaming lights and intense fog. This jaw-dropping moment of suspense ended with a member of the team walking into the abyss of light, demanding the attention of everyone in the audience. This moment, as we come to learn, signifies the accidental death of one of the girls, and introduces sharp developments of grief among the teammates.

The ensembled cast delivered a stellar performance, bringing to life the multifaceted dynamics of teenagehood with remarkable nuance and sincerity. This production demanded and demonstrated a strong command of physicality, displayed in intense scenes of kicking soccer balls and running while simultaneously spewing quick witted banter with not a single actor missing cues, fumbling lines or sacrificing emotional connection at the sake of keeping up athletically. 

For many plays that are dense in textual dialogue, it can often be difficult for audiences to entirely follow specificity in discourse. Though “The Wolves” piece was chock-full of quick banter and intricate conversation, the commitment to storytelling and emotional clarity made this piece a joy to follow throughout its 90-minute runtime. 

Highly energetic music, stunning visuals and intense exercises in between scene changes provided great intricacy. Although the scenes individually were relatively long, they never dwelled on a singular topic, avoiding staleness and allowing the beats of the scene to flow seamlessly. 

From the spirited banter during warm-ups to the poignant moments of vulnerability, the actors captured the essence of adolescence, eliciting laughter, empathy and introspection from the audience. Each actor fully and authentically embodied their characters in dynamic ways, and there wasn’t a dull moment in this performance. The immense hard work and dedication of everyone involved in “The Wolves” was certainly evident, and made for a thoroughly compelling piece.

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‘A Garden After Dark’ creates space for hidden heroes https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/22/chocolate-heads-spotlights-heroes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/22/chocolate-heads-spotlights-heroes/#respond Fri, 23 Feb 2024 05:58:20 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1243200 "A Garden After Dark," a live performance by the Chocolate Heads Movement Band, incorporates the talents of students with all levels of experience.

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The Chocolate Heads Movement Band, an interdisciplinary dance and performance troupe, will be performing their first winter quarter show this Thursday at the Cantor Arts Center.  

The performance piece, titled “A Garden After Dark,” invites audience members to “perceive the magic hiding in plain sight” around them by creating an “imaginary garden” through dance and art installations. Chocolate Heads developed and first performed the piece last quarter as part of the project-based performance course DANCE 30: “Contemporary Choreography,” taught by Senior Lecturer in Theater and Performance Studies Aleta Hayes.  

'A Garden After Dark' creates space for hidden heroes
Courtesy of Julien Broussard.

Through a collaborative style of teaching, the Chocolate Heads Movement Band — which is open to students with any level of performing arts experience — works together to create choreography, writing, music and installations. Although most of the performers don’t have prior experience, Hayes said she helps them undergo a “transformation” by helping them reconnect to their breath and discover their natural style of movement. 

“I’m amazed at how the use of breath brings the dancers together physically,” said Chocolate Heads General Design Divisor Ryan Yu. He added that the troupe members are “very driven and committed to each other in an ensemble way” that Yu finds “beautiful.” 

'A Garden After Dark' creates space for hidden heroes
Courtesy of Julien Broussard.

“A Garden After Dark” was created in collaboration with Stanford’s head of groundskeepers Mary Nolan and horticulturist Gahl Shottan. Hayes said the piece is a revitalization of an “ongoing initiative of doing things with people who are working with space or with their bodies, and us being in collaboration with them.” Chocolate Heads dancers learned about Stanford’s natural landscape from Nolan and Shottan and incorporated aspects of it into their final piece.

For the troupe’s fall quarter performance, an installation with large and intricate replicas of trees and bushes lined the stage while being illuminated by bright colors. Three groundskeepers were included in the piece, where they delicately moved branches and shoveled the stage. Hayes said this draws attention to the “beauty of everyday movement and labor.”

Hayes said that “performance is endless” and that she wanted students to be in conversation with the sixteen acres of campus that are invisible to us by developing a “new world” in collaboration with her performers. “A Garden After Dark” is not just about performing, she added, but “participating in ongoing knowledge creation in collaboration with community members.” 

“[It is] heartening to see people engaging with a landscape you take care of on a daily basis,” Shottan said. 

'A Garden After Dark' creates space for hidden heroes
Courtesy of Julien Broussard.

 “A Garden After Dark” is part of a larger conversation about how to honor the beauty of work and heroes that are often hidden. Yu shared that the performance is “not just [about] artists, academics, professionals, or amateurs, but people who make this campus what it is.” While “A Garden After Dark” is performed on a set designed by students, he highlighted how Stanford’s campus is also a “set” that we don’t attribute to someone putting effort into. Whereas students tend to overlook laborers on campus, Yu said this performance places them in a spotlight where they can shine, blurring the boundary between “dancers” and “laborers” by portraying both as performers in a newly imagined world. 

According to Hayes, another key aspect of Chocolate Heads performances involves building a sense of community with audience members.“One of the most important things about Chocolate Heads is when we get out and do it together with the audience,” Hayes said. “Something else happens that is magic […] something about the nonverbal world where before anything is said, it’s already happening.”

This winter, Chocolate Heads is working in collaboration with visiting guest artist JoAnna Mendl Shaw, who is offering workshops that help students explore their choreography through an interspecies lens and seeks to “enhance our human capacity for multi-sensory awareness.” The troupe also invites students interested in performing or choreographing pieces to join the Chocolate Heads community and participate in the inaugural Young Choreographers Festival taking place next spring on April 19th and 20th.

'A Garden After Dark' creates space for hidden heroes
Courtesy of Julien Broussard.

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‘Let my word take action’: Transformative feminist narratives at TAPS https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/13/let-my-word-take-action-transformative-feminist-narratives-at-taps/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/13/let-my-word-take-action-transformative-feminist-narratives-at-taps/#respond Tue, 13 Feb 2024 09:24:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1242399 Charlotte Kearns reviews Stanford TAPS graduate repertory shows "Foundations of Feminism" and "Women of Sand."

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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

This year’s Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) Graduate Repertory season consisted of three works directed by second-year Ph.D. students Yutsha Dahal, Connor Lifson and María Zurita Ontiveros. 

I attended the Feb. 9 performance at the Nitery Theater, which featured Dahal’s and Ontiveros’ plays, and was immersed in a world of feminism, activism and solidarity. Lifson’s production, “Omelas,” had been performed at the Nitery the week prior. 

The evening began with “Foundations of Feminism: The Poetics of Curiopathy As A Manifestation of the Sisterhood Zeitgeist In Feministological Nepali Archivism,” written and directed by Dahal.

With its long-winded title and witty script, “Foundations of Feminism” served as a playful satire about the esoteric and sometimes ostentatious nature of feminist academia.

The performance followed Sahana (Giovanna F Jiang ‘26) and Parijat (Margarita Jamero ‘24), two young Nepalese women, as they explored their feminist identity and its various manifestations throughout the history of Nepal. 

Jiang and Jamero shined as they transformed from friends to academics to protestors, weaving their various roles into an homage to the lost identities and stories of the women they embodied. I was impressed by the versatility that the actors displayed, as well as their ability to transition between scenes and vignettes in a fluid and engaging manner.

In an interview with third-year Ph.D. student Marina Johnson, Dahal discussed how she drew inspiration for her production from the “Feminist Memory Project” collection at the Nepal Picture Library, a digital photo archive that explores the feminist movement in Nepal. By incorporating photos from Nepalese women’s personal albums, the play weaves together a rich tapestry of history and individuality.

The play’s conclusion was marked by a poignant moment when Jiang and Jamero, out-of-character, shared how their own personal feminist identities were shaped through the stories and photographs of their inspirational mothers.

On the back of the production’s program, there was a QR code that audience members could use to submit their own photos to a Google Drive, fostering continued dialogue on solidarity and increased representation.

The actors connected advocacy in the past and present, in nearby homes and distant regions, as they mentioned the hundreds of students who had defended the pro-Palestine sit-in in White Plaza the night prior, following the University’s ban on protest encampments. 

Dahal’s piece on activism and thoughtful dialogue seamlessly transitioned into the second play of the night, “Women of Sand: Testimonies of Women in Ciudad Juárez.” The play, which was directed by Ontiveros and written by Humberto Robles, discussed equally heavy topics and encouraged audience members to take action. 

This documentary theater piece, originally written in 2000, explored the femicide crisis in Mexico through testimonials from family members, journalists and activists. The cast of five used poetry, music, prayer, vignettes and shadow-puppetry to passionately advocate for social justice and the women of Juárez.

“Women of Sand” is not for the faint of heart. Actors described the harsh realities of femicide, sexual assaults and mutilation with raw authenticity and explicit language. At the play’s climax, Chetanya Pandey ’27 delivered a gut-wrenching and nauseating monologue that depicted the torture of a woman in a linear progression, from beginning to end.

The costumes and set were equally powerful, with actors wearing purple bandanas in support of “The Purple Revolution,” a movement against Mexico’s nationwide femicide epidemic. Posters of missing women were displayed at the back of the stage, emphasizing an alarming statistic. Today, 10 women are murdered in Mexico every day. When the play was written in 2000, that number was two.

Despite varying executions and text, both “Foundations of Feminism” and “Women of Sand” served as valuable educational tools for audiences, offering a window to the past while navigating contemporary complexities. These productions encouraged dialogue about frequently glossed over topics regarding feminism in an international context, providing hope and strength to persevere in times of grief and adversity.

In light of current global circumstances, I thank Dahal and Ontiveros for staging these impactful productions and highlighting the intersections between activism on campus and the narratives presented in these plays.

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AATP’s ‘Among the Dead’ gives voice to a silenced history https://stanforddaily.com/2021/11/19/aatps-among-the-dead-gives-voice-to-a-silenced-history/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/11/19/aatps-among-the-dead-gives-voice-to-a-silenced-history/#respond Sat, 20 Nov 2021 06:58:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1188163 The Daily's Jared Klegar reflects on the powerful messaging present in AATP's production of Hansol Jung's "Among the Dead."

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At the Nitery Theater, where the Asian American Theater Project (AATP) debuted their show “Among the Dead” on Thursday night, everything is up close and personal. You can see the spike tape marking the stage, the microexpressions surfacing on actors’ faces. If you’re sitting in the front row, you’re not far from treading the boards yourself.

It’s the kind of intimate setting which, for all of digital theater’s innovations, cannot be replicated virtually. From the very beginning of the show when Ahmed Abdalla ’22, in character as a wisecracking Jesus, instructs the audience to silence their cell phones, the message is clear: this is not a cinema or a Zoom room, and you are no longer invisible. “Among the Dead” is a story that you, the witness, partake in.

Hansol Jung’s poignant play follows Ana, a Korean American woman who — through an old journal, a mysterious cigarette and a bit of divine intervention — is thrust back in time to World War II–era Burma. There, she finds herself inhabiting the body of her mother, Number Four, a Korean “comfort woman” forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese imperial army, and reliving Number Four’s time with Ana’s father Luke, a young American soldier.

Jung’s temporal weaving is not a “Tenet”-esque intellectual experiment for its own sake; rather, by literalizing the legacy of trauma, it unearths deep layers of anger, love and humanity. Under the masterful direction of Hope Yoon ’24 and Tiger Zhou ’22, the complexities of the narrative never veer into confusion or incoherence, and the production’s relatively simple lighting, sound, costume and set designs operate seamlessly, allowing the story to shine through. The Nitery’s stripped-down setting keeps the focus on the characters, highlighting their triumphs and flaws, their relationships and emotions.

“Among the Dead” is a story that is unflinchingly emotional; its plot, which explores topics like military power and sexual coercion, is unquestionably marked by violence. Despite its dark subject matter, however, the play is capacious enough to hold moments of joy, beauty and humor as well. Crucially, in its excavation of the violences against Asian women, “Among the Dead” still gives its female characters agency.

As Number Four, Junah Jang ’24 is a revelation, effortlessly disappearing into the role and fully embodying her character’s repressed rage. She has excellent comic timing too — a quality shared by Abdalla, whose impossibly charismatic stage presence brought about most of the evening’s laughs. Alison Rogers ’25 and David Mazouz ’23 as Ana and Luke, respectively, deliver equally-committed performances, and their chemistry, complicated by the partnership’s historical and familial contexts, is at once electrifying and deeply discomforting.

Photo of Alison Rogers and Ahmed Abdalla acting out a humorous scene in "Among the Dead"
Alison Rogers ’25 (left) and Ahmed Abdalla ’22 (right) in one of the play’s many surprisingly funny scenes. (Photo: Frank Chen)

It would be easy to classify “Among the Dead” as a tragedy. To be sure, there is hubris and cowardice and suffering and catharsis. But tragedy often connotes fixity, inevitability — and while history, in its positivist sense, is unchangeable, we can change the narratives we tell about it. As the show’s program note reads, “not only does the past influence the present, but the present also influences the past.”

Ana cannot change her past, but she comes to understand it. So can we, and so we must. “Among the Dead” is a breathtaking return to live theater, with all the personal and political power the art form is capable of wielding. It is simply unmissable.

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Trauma, war and identity: AATP returns to live theater with ‘Among the Dead’ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/11/17/trauma-war-and-identity-aatp-returns-to-live-theater-with-among-the-dead/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/11/17/trauma-war-and-identity-aatp-returns-to-live-theater-with-among-the-dead/#respond Thu, 18 Nov 2021 04:20:17 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1187993 Ximena Sanchez Martinez shares the story behind AATP's latest production, "Among the Dead."

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Since its creation in 1978, the Asian American Theater Project (AATP) has been a well-established space on campus for students to uplift the stories and voices of Stanford’s Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community.

For its 2021-2022 season, AATP has chosen the theme of the “Future Perfect Continuous,” based on an essay by Olia Sosnovskaya that focuses on the power of revolution, the present as a source of overwhelming tragedy and the potential for imagination to be used as a tool for political movement. 

According to a statement written by artistic director Chloe Chow ’23, AATP draws upon the idea of the “Future Perfect Continuous” to “bridge together who we were and who we aspire to be, both as individuals and as the community of the Asian American Theater Project.” The theme provides AATP the opportunity to explore normalcy in the post-quarantine world as well as the themes of self and community growth. “Among the Dead” will be a production that takes its audience into a space of self-reflection and growth.

AATP executive producer Evelyn Kuo ’23 shared her reflections on this theme and the organization’s experience coming back to campus after a “lost year.” 

“We at AATP are embracing the feeling of linear disjunction and exploring the ways the past, present and future are all connected,” she said. “With regards to our season theme, ‘Among the Dead’ spans across multiple timelines and places, and it really highlights the way the past influences the present, but also the way depictions of history in the present influence the way we view the past.”

“Among the Dead” by Hansol Jung will be the first AATP production of the year and its first in-person play since the University’s pandemic closure. It explores the themes of intergenerational trauma, war and identity through Ana, a young Korean American woman who ventures into the past and finds herself in the shoes of a Korean “comfort woman” for the Japanese imperial army, who is known only by the name Number Four.

Artistic director Tiger Zhou ’22 explained that the play will be exploring the contemporary issue of “comfort women” as well as “social and political themes that resonate across generations” of Asian American families. Comfort women were women, predominantly from Korea, China and the Philippines, who were forced to serve in brothels for the Japanese military. Today, survivors such as Lee Young-Soo continue to seek justice for the abuse and trauma forced on them.

Less than 24 hours after their initial Instagram announcement, “Among the Dead” sold out. Hope Yoon ’24, director of the production, was surprised by this news. 

“AATP has always been a sort of alternative theater space on campus. It’s never really been a huge show that stays in MemAud (Memorial Auditorium). It’s always been [in] the smaller venues and about the lesser-heard voices in theater,” Yoon said. “So to see that the interest level at Stanford to witness [‘Among the Dead’] was so huge [and] a really nice surprise to me and also probably a testament to the fact that folks are more and more willing to listen to the stories that have historically been untold.”

The storytelling aspect of the show is crucial to understanding the impact of history and the way it is told to subsequent generations. Yoon’s vision for the play is to show how history and certain events in time continue to impact an individual’s identity and inflict intergenerational trauma even long after their occurrence. 

 “It’s up to us to continue to tell that story first of all, but also to recognize that how we tell these stories is going to continue to influence whether that history repeats itself in the future,” Yoon said.

Alison Rogers ’25, who portrays Ana, found she was able to relate to her character because they share the identity of being half Asian and half white. Rogers views the role as a meaningful opportunity to use theater as a tool for exploring her identity.  

“Ana spends the play discovering a lot about her identity, her past and her parents’ history. Ana grew up in the United States as a half Asian, half white girl, which can be confusing for someone,” Rogers said. “It was confusing for me growing up, and getting to play a character that struggles with those same aspects of identity is the first time I’ve ever gotten to do that and that’s really big for me.”

Unlike Rogers, David Mazouz ’23 does not personally identify with his character Luke. Instead, he has had to endeavor toward “understanding his cowardice, selfishness, the human choices and from a certain perspective, namely the perspective of Number Four.”  

While Mazouz may be ambivalent about his character, he hopes to portray him “authentically.” Mazouz hopes for the audience to reflect on their journey with Luke and their own socio-political positions during his monologue towards the end of the show. 

Similarly focused on stewarding her role with authenticity is Junah Jang ’24, who stars as Number Four. Jang explains the historical significance of her character’s role as a “comfort woman”: “The biggest challenge is making sure that I’m able to represent the character true to how real girls were treated during that time. That means giving her a lot of emotional depth and agency.”

Jang is no stranger to the play script, having played a different role in her high school’s production of “Among the Dead,” and she looks forward to the new perspective she will gain through her role as Number Four.  

Ahmed Abdalla ’22, on the other hand, will make his stage debut as Jesus, a divine character with a modern twist, in “Among the Dead.” Abdalla decided to give acting a try because he hopes to engage in critical and experiential manners with the play and with acting as a discipline.

“This is one of the last times I’ll have the opportunity to do something in an environment where learning is a thing that is possible. It just seemed like the perfect time,” Abdalla said.

Though Abdalla has enjoyed his rich learning experiences in the theater, he expressed some nervousness over performing for such a large audience. 

“After realizing that the show was sold out, we were all visibly more nervous and stressed,” Abdalla said. “For weeks you practice this just in the context of like four or five people and you feel like it lives in that space… it really hit [us] that over hundreds of people are going to be seeing this and sharing this experience with us. There was a new energy in the room.”

Yoon hopes AATP’s audience will “feel like they’re a very active part of that storytelling and of that act of framing and reframing.” Similarly, Zhou hopes the audience walks away with an understanding of the issues explored by the show and a “deeper curiosity about themselves and their own family history.” 

“Among the Dead” has a waitlist open and will be giving out unclaimed tickets at Nitery Theater beginning at 7:50 p.m. each night for the three shows spanning Nov. 18-20.

This article has been updated to reflect that Alison Rogers shares her half Asian, half white identity rather than a half Korean, half white identity with the character she plays, Ana. The Daily regrets this error.

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TAPS’ ‘As Soon as Impossible’ is equal parts emotionally heavy and comedically light-hearted https://stanforddaily.com/2021/11/15/taps-as-soon-as-impossible-is-equal-parts-emotionally-heavy-and-comedically-light-hearted/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/11/15/taps-as-soon-as-impossible-is-equal-parts-emotionally-heavy-and-comedically-light-hearted/#respond Tue, 16 Nov 2021 05:37:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1187843 Professor of Drama and Classics Rush Rehm, Margarita Belle Jamero '24 and Morgan Gwilym Tso '22 performed alongside esteemed actor Kal Naga.

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The Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) department’s first in-person production since the pandemic, “As Soon As Impossible,” directed by TAPS Professor Samer Al-Saber, is a warm “Welcome Back!” to live performance at Stanford. The campus show is the play’s debut, and all Playwright Betty Samieh needs to tell a compelling story of love and forgiveness is a simple set-up of two trailers and four actors.

“As Soon As Impossible” features two best friends: Ramsey, an intelligent Arab-American professor, and Arthur, a hard-working “brawn over brains” WASP. Along with Arthur’s timid yet smart grandson Drew, they live together in neighboring trailers during the summer’s fishing season when they are unexpectedly greeted by Ramsey’s boisterous and unapologetic granddaughter Layla.  

Though love bonds the characters in unspeakable ways, a heavy feeling of isolation weighs upon them all. Ramsey struggles ongoingly with the loss of his wife. Drew suffers the burden of hiding a facet of his identity, Layla desires immediate independence and Arthur grows suspicious of Ramsey — though unable to articulate the words aloud, he finds himself suspecting his best friend of being a terrorist. “As Soon As Impossible” makes us witnesses to the web of interactions the four characters have with each other but, more importantly, forces the audience to confront their loneliness. We understand Ramsey’s irreconcilable grief that no other character can aid; we see how Layla’s one-track plan to her idealized version of womanhood jeopardizes her welfare, we bear witness to the tension that a strong sense of resoluteness and self-awareness undermined by timidity and fear can have upon a person such as Drew and we ultimately see how Arthur’s unspoken stereotype-based suspicions can ruin even the closest of relationships. 

In order to balance these emotionally heavy themes, Shamieh wittily embeds humor throughout the play, giving the audience room to laugh through the discomfort rather than turn away, to transform difficult topics into a light-hearted yet productive conversation. The play’s humor causes viewers to leave the show in uplifted spirits and with a greater resolution to address the core issues of our unjust society that are reflected in the play.

Shamieh brings her characters to life with dialogue that gives equal insight into what is deliberately unspoken. The conversations give the audience room to peer into the depths of each character, to sympathize with their hidden desires, fears, worries and motivations and to find pieces of themselves in each of the characters’ psyches. It leaves us wanting more — to follow the characters and see how their relationships grow after the play’s conclusion.

Two men sitting on a boat on stage.
Professor of Drama and Classics Rush Rehm (right) and actor Khaled ‘Kal’ Abol Naga (left) portray Ramsey and Arthur. (Photo courtesy of Frank Chen)

Professor of Drama and Classics Rush Rehm and esteemed actor Kal Naga playing Ramsey and Arthur are a sight to behold — their dynamic masterfully conveys the unlikely friendship between two older men of different backgrounds. Student actors Margarita Belle Jamero ’24 and Morgan Gwilym Tso ’22 bring the play to full completion. Jamero plays Layla wonderfully, creating a character with a burning desire for the center spotlight, evoking laughter from the audience with her witty dialogue. Tso masterfully portrays the timid yet strong-willed Drew, whose character (that albeit lacks the rambunctious verve of Layla’s), has strong stage presence and nonetheless brings the audience to a few tears (out of both laughter and sympathy). Credits must also be given to Scenic Design Lecturer Nina Ball, whose set in the Roble Arts Gymnasium had audience members “oo”-ing and “aah”-ing during set changes.

‘As Soon As Impossible’ is a must-see. With its striking balance between culturally relevant content and feel-good humor, it is a galvanizing start to the TAPS department’s return to live performances. The rest of the play’s performances run from Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Harry J. Elam, Jr. Theater, located in Roble Gymnasium. Tickets can be purchased here.

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‘Lizard Boy’: Musicalizing comic books as American mythology https://stanforddaily.com/2021/10/18/lizard-boy-musicalizing-comic-books-as-american-mythology/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/10/18/lizard-boy-musicalizing-comic-books-as-american-mythology/#respond Tue, 19 Oct 2021 02:12:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1186385 “Lizard Boy," a musical take on a comic book coming-of-age story, is an endearing and grounded story with broad appeal, writes Chloe Chow.

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For decades, comics have lived in children’s imagination — shaping their ideas of heroism, adventure and community. In those small panels exist some of our greatest role models, drawn in spectacular detail. These heroes have made it onto the big screen — but what if one could bring them to the stage? That is exactly what Justin Huertas set out to do in 2011 with his original musical, “Lizard Boy,” now playing in-person at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley for the company’s 51st anniversary.

The production centers on Trevor (played by Huertas), a recluse living in Seattle who feels defined by his lizard skin — obtained via a childhood encounter with a magical dragon. He comes out only once a year for Monsterfest, a holiday during which people dress up as magical creatures — Trevor can blend in with confidence. One year, Trevor meets Cary (William A. Williams), a Seattle newbie, on Grindr. As Trevor navigates his newfound relationship with Cary, he encounters Siren (Kirsten “Kiki” deLohr Helland), who tells him of a prophecy: dragons will end the world the next day, and he must help her stop them.

Not only does Lizard Boy feature an immensely talented three-person cast, but it also skillfully incorporates musical instruments into its blocking. Huertas, Williams and deLohr Helland play guitar, piano, cello, ukelele, kazoo, egg shaker and various percussion instruments, even using some as weapons. In an interview with The Stanford Daily, Director Brandon Ivie said that their skillful instrumental employing “adds to this sense of fun that Justin has in his writing and allows the show to really embrace the imagination that has gone into the story.”

‘Lizard Boy’: Musicalizing comic books as American mythology
Siren (deLohr Helland) tries to convince Trevor (Huertas) to join her. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Berne)

There are not many shows in the American musical theater repertoire that are based on comic-book structure and storytelling. Productions such as “Spiderman: Turn off the Dark” were cut short due to performer injury and high-risk stunts attempted onstage. “Lizard Boy” finds its comic book connection outside these anatomical planes —  through its meticulous character development.

“Comic books and the characters and stories in comics actually lend themselves remarkably well to musical theater, because at its core, [telling stories through comics] is about people searching for identity and hope. A lot of it is about family and [characters] finding who they are. They have a lot of things to sing about,” Ivie mused in our discussion. He perfectly described comic books as “American mythology,” encompassing their timelessness and universal appeal.

From the audience’s point of view, the simplicity of Ivie’s staging and minimal theatrical effects put all the focus on the actors themselves. Each performer dazzled with their vocal versatility and ability to sing while dancing and playing myriad instruments. Ivie wanted to emphasize the characters’ journey because it is more rewarding than the temporary theatrical spectacle on which film and TV often focus in superhero storytelling.

‘Lizard Boy’: Musicalizing comic books as American mythology
From left to right: deLohr Helland, Huertas, Williams sing with an ensemble of musical instruments. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Berne)

Personally, this show hit home. Having grown up in Seattle myself, I immediately recognized the projections of famous Seattle landmarks such as the Space Needle, Olympic Sculpture Park and even the Dick’s Drive-In sign. On the phone, Ivie and I joked about how he is sending TheatreWorks actually used Dick’s Drive-In wrappers for props. Furthermore, I grew up going to the same theater (Village Theater) where Huertas and Ivie first met years ago when they were in school.

Lizard Boy” is an endearing and grounded story for the masses; incorporating elements from traditional comic book structure and musical theater-style spectacle, this production is the perfect in-person theatrical experience after a year and a half of being isolated from the theater community.

“Lizard Boy” is available to watch in-person between Oct. 6 and Oct. 31, 2021, or via on-demand streaming from Oct. 19 through Nov. 7, 2021. For more information, please visit the TheatreWorks Silicon Valley website.

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Cue the lights! Gaieties makes its mark at the Tonys https://stanforddaily.com/2021/10/06/cue-the-lights-gaieties-makes-its-mark-at-the-tonys/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/10/06/cue-the-lights-gaieties-makes-its-mark-at-the-tonys/#respond Thu, 07 Oct 2021 05:34:33 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1185833 The short clips submitted by the Gaieties team were accompanied by a string of videos from three other college theater groups across the country: Pace University, University of Michigan and The Governor’s School for the Arts. 

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After more than a year and a half of darkened theaters and virtual performances, Stanford’s famous student production “Gaieties” celebrated the revival of in-person theater in a very special way: by sharing a video at the 74th annual Tony Awards Show. 

One of Stanford’s oldest student theatrical societies, Ram’s Head, is the thespian hand behind highly anticipated annual productions like “Big Game Gaieties,” an original student-written and produced musical parody showcased in Memorial Auditorium during Big Game Week, right before the football game against the University of California, Berkeley. Each year, details about the show remain a mystery until just before it opens. 

“Gaieties 2021” was approached by Tonys’ creative consultant and Stanford alumna Sammi Cannold ’16 — who was hailed in the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 — to create a video to be shown at the live ceremony at the Winter Garden on Sept. 26. 

“I laughed immediately because I knew how we would do it. I knew that we would not be sitting down calmly to explain what Gaieties is,” said Johnny Rabe ’23, head director of Gaieties 2021. “I knew I would tell people that I was on the screen at the Tonys wearing a cow print onesie.” 

The short clips submitted by the Gaieties team were accompanied by a string of videos from three other college theater groups across the country: Pace University, University of Michigan and The Governor’s School for the Arts. 

Regan Lavin ’22, executive producer of Ram’s Head and cast member of Gaieties 2021, thinks this performance puts Stanford on the performing arts map in a way it hasn’t been before.

“I’m really proud of it because I think a lot of the other colleges that were in the video have BFA [Bachelor of Fine Arts] programs and are known for them, but Stanford doesn’t have that,” Lavin said. “In that sense I am proud we were included and we were able to represent our community.” 

This Tonys was not like those of the past; it signals Broadway’s September 14th return to the stage after the coronavirus forced the famous New York pillar to shut down

Gaieties members say that the minute-long video was shared at the awards show in order to inspire the world and to express excitement for the future of Broadway in a light-hearted manner. Ram’s Head board member and writer of Gaieties 2021, Sameer Jha ’24, thinks that Gaieties was also featured because of its tenets of inclusivity, safety and community. 

“I think the idea behind the clip we were part of was to show that theater is coming back. For many people, theater is their livelihood. It’s so refreshing to see all these people from around, feeling united and coming back together through theater,” Jha said. “Gaieties, being as big of a tradition as it is and being such an integral part of the Stanford experience, a lot of people feel very comforted and at home in the theater community here. I think that’s why we were invited.” 

For many Gaieties members, an electric magic hangs heavy in the air during live performances. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced all student organizations to operate remotely, the theater community resorted to unique measures to feed their passion for all things acting, singing, scripting, producing and directing. To Ram’s Head, after a digital year, this moment in time feels all the sweeter and makes the difficult past just a little more worth it.  

“At the core of this Tony awards ceremony was the idea that Broadway is back. Every week more and more shows are reopening. I think the Tony awards are really celebrating that and having these videos was a great way to remind people that in-person theater is going to be an option again,” Rabe said. “It’s the fact that a group of people can come together again to make art.” 

Lavin also added that for them, it felt “like we were finally able to do what we love again. Theater is such a live art. It’s such a community-based practice that it was hard to do that on Zoom.” 

Moving forward, Gaieties members recognize that more obstacles are inevitable, pointing to Broadway’s recent cancellation of “Aladdin” shows. 

“It’s still a little bittersweet because obviously things are not totally back to normal. Things like that will continue to happen, and we know that this is not over. But the message behind the video is a nice landmark, letting us know that we’re hopefully through the worst of it,” Rabe said. 

In the aftermath of their Tonys debut, Gaieties looks to the future with exhilaration and in anticipation of the in-person showcase of “Big Game Gaieties” this November. 

“We want to showcase that theater is diverse, it is about everyone coming together,” said Jha. “It’s for people of color, queer people, trans people and that’s the most exciting thing about theater. Being back is to see all these developments continue to grow and I can’t wait for everyone to see Gaieties this year.”

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Licensing of gender-bent ‘Heathers’ from Ram’s Head ‘removes one more barrier’ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/09/27/licensing-of-gender-bent-heathers-from-rams-head-removes-one-more-barrier/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/09/27/licensing-of-gender-bent-heathers-from-rams-head-removes-one-more-barrier/#respond Tue, 28 Sep 2021 02:11:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1184809 The queer reimagining of “Heathers” from Ram’s Head will be availible for licensing upon request. Other productions will also be able to use an official gender-bent script.

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Ram’s Head’s gender-bent version of “Heathers” musical will soon be available for licensing by theater companies outside the Stanford community. The script, written specifically for Stanford, is the first gender-bent “Heathers” to be officially available for licensing. While the role of J.D. has been played by non-male actors in the past, Stanford was the first to work with the original creators of the musical to produce an official script.

The fully virtual production was directed by Diana Khong ’22 and Gwen Phagnasay Le ’22 and starred Junah Jang ’24 as Veronica and Emily Saletan ’24 as a female J.D. The gender-bent production was critically acclaimed by Stanford students and community members.

Khong and Le had not originally planned on casting the leading role of J.D. with a female actor. Once Saletan expressed interest in playing the role, however, the directors embraced the idea. And when they reached out to the writers of “Heathers,” Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, they fully supported the idea and worked with students to script the first official gender-bent version.

With licensing, the script can be used by other theater companies that want to produce the show with a female-presenting J.D. in the lead. The directors said the licensing of “Heathers” shows other theater companies that it is possible to reimagine a script to increase representation in a production.

Echoing the directors, Jang said that “having the scripting license just removes one more barrier” to producing “Heathers” and other plays as gender-bent productions.

“Stories can be very limited in terms of who they’re for and what they address,” Jang said, adding that theater often fails to represent people of diverse backgrounds and sexualities.

Kyla Figueroa ’24, a Daily staffer and the Dramaturg for Ram’s Head’s production of “Heathers,” wrote that she also hoped shows would be created with more complex depictions of queer people and individuals of marginalized identities.

“Hopefully, we don’t have to gender-bend shows in the future, and… shows will already have these characters,” she wrote to The Daily.

Ram’s Head’s “Heathers” was more inclusive than the average theater production, according to Khong and Le, with a cast featuring many people of color and the central plot exploring a queer relationship between the two lead characters. The directors said including people from different backgrounds with unique experiences helps bring more depth to the production.

“I came away feeling really satisfied having made art with one of my best friends,” Le said. 

“Heathers” was the first musical that Khong and Le directed. Le explained that the production was a way to build community and connect with more people, despite the challenges of working virtually and with a more unfamiliar script.

Speaking to the changes, Jang said, “It felt as if the script was meant to be that way.”

The feelings of angst and being misunderstood draw characters Veronica and J.D. together, and that conflict is heightened through the added dimension of a queer relationship with a female J.D., Jang said.

“I genuinely think having a gender-bent J.D. makes ‘Heathers’ the show a little bit more believable and complicated and intimate, and in a lot of ways that it wasn’t before,” Jang said.

Figueroa wrote that depictions of queer people are often “stereotypical and rely on their queer identity as their only personality trait.” Because J.D. was not initially written as a queer character, gender-bending “allowed us to retain the traits of the character and also provide the messages that we wanted on relationships and being and feeling like an outsider.”

Other members of the production agreed with Figueroa and Jang — with the change in J.D.’s gender, J.D.’s character dynamic and story increased in complexity. While they emphasized that Veronica and J.D.’s relationship is unhealthy and manipulative in many aspects, Khong said that the changes to the script made the relationship more understandable. As a result, the play felt more realistic, Khong said.

Jang expressed optimism about the potential for more queer reimaginings as a result of the licensing, both of “Heathers” and other shows. Including gender-bent characters in productions is important to the future of theater, Jang said.

She explained that having diversity in theater makes it applicable to more audiences and conveys a broader message.

“There’s a lot of potential there for building on the beauty that a lot of these shows already have,” Jang said.

Dorothy Okoro contributed reporting.

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Stanford Theater is back in the spotlight https://stanforddaily.com/2021/09/15/stanford-theater-is-back-in-the-spotlight/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/09/15/stanford-theater-is-back-in-the-spotlight/#respond Wed, 15 Sep 2021 19:51:41 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1184452 Like most students, theater companies had to adapt last school year. This adjustment process included navigating Zoom in a way that many couldn’t fathom prior to the pandemic.

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Lights. Curtains. Dancing and singing. Laughter, clapping and bows. Heart-to-heart moments, backstage memories. Seeing each other in rehearsals and group huddles.

This is what theater-makers and audiences missed this past year with online theater. While shows did go on, as actors and crew members persevered in making the virtual campus lively with their work, it is nice to know that we will be returning to in-person shows and live audiences this school year. Recently, I got to catch up with some theater-makers and talk to them about their experiences with virtual theater and expectations for the coming year.

Like most students, theater companies had to adapt last school year. This adjustment process included navigating Zoom in a way that many couldn’t fathom prior to the pandemic. Chloe Chow ’23 is an actress, producer and director who works with the Ram’s Head Theatrical Society and Asian American Theater Project (AATP).

She said Zoom theater was a challenge, but also something she embraced with a positive mindset as an opportunity to grow: “I experienced Zoom fatigue and burnout faster than I normally would with in-person classes and rehearsals,” she said, “but I think the resilience that I learned will help me push even further once we return back to our self-defined normalcy.”

Her time doing online theater made her view it as a separate artistic medium, not as a halfway point or substitute for in-person shows. This approach allowed her to stay open “to the possibilities that await when you make a performance digitally.” No two shows that she produced, stage managed, directed or performed in were the same. 

For rising sophomore Ahmad Koya ’24, the Zoom theater experience brought a drastic change from acting in high school. Used to “having a spotlight on [him], doing makeup, wearing costumes and just feeling the energy of being on stage,” he still wanted to act once everything went online.

“Physically, it was a big change, but personally it did not change my motivation to act, and I found different ways to do it,” Koya said.

During his freshman year, Koya participated in Ram’s Head’s productions of “Gaieties 2020” and “La Llorona.” Writing a skit and performing within the specific time constraints for Gaieties were novel experiences for Koya, pushing him beyond his comfort zone. Reflecting upon these activities, Koya said he felt like a YouTuber — setting up a filming room, green screen and perfect lighting. The disconnect from the audience further enhanced the idea of online entertainment. While these challenges were new, Koya knew that he wanted to make the best of his situation. 

Liam Fay ’23 took a similar approach as scenic advisor for “Gaieties 2020” and composer for “Gaieties 2021.” He had to be creative in redefining backstage roles, so as an advisor to Scenic Director Tiger Zhou ’23, Fay assisted in hiring Scenic Artists Isabelle Paylor ’23, Helen He ’23 and Cathy Wang ’21. The team created Zoom backgrounds for shows, which required more artistic skills compared to traditional set design, meaning more work from the scenic artists. To Fay, “it allowed [the theater company] to rethink the way we do things we previously knew and look at the benefit of doing something over Zoom.”

Despite the disadvantages that come with online theater, many found the experience to be beneficial for personal growth. Koya discussed how facial expressions and body language, while important for in-person shows, were crucial to Zoom theater performance. 

“I ​​relied a lot on my facial expressions and those very small movements, and I saw how paying attention to these details made me a better actor,” Koya said. “I want to dive into that more when I go back in person.”

Chow’s Zoom experience made her appreciate the accessibility of online theater, as it allowed people from all over the world to watch the magic from the comfort of their homes. In her roles as an actress in the Fall Main Stage production of “Beyond the Wound is a Portal,” producer of Ram’s Head’s first virtual Gaieties and director of AATP’s “Question 27, Question 28,” Chow channeled resilience in the performing arts.

“Coming out of the virtual theater age, I learned that you have to be adaptable, no matter what. Adaptability is the key to survival in this industry, and I’m so thankful that I was able to help pioneer a lot of virtual theater productions at Stanford,” Chow said.

Now, she wants to explore the intersection of performance and technology, drawing inspiration from a performance of “The Seagull” on “Sims 4.” To talk more about gaming culture, she hopes to direct a play that partly takes place in a video game. She plans to experiment with projection and virtual reality as a set to “deepen [her] understanding of the role that digitization of worlds and presentation has on the future of theater.”

With the return to in-person theater comes the traditional recruitment festivities. Fay was recruited into “Gaieties 2018” in the standard way: Ram’s Head members “yelled at [him] in White Plaza until [he] auditioned.” 

“Somehow, I made it in and fell in love with Stanford theater from there,” Fay said.

Through his experience in backstage and center-stage roles, Fay came to learn that theater experience is not required to get involved in productions at Stanford. With most shows, especially on Zoom, skills that may not seem applicable to theater are sometimes crucial, and new people are needed all the time. 

Chow, for example, auditioned for “Gaieties 2019” on a whim. Then, the show connected her to a strong community of theater-makers. She encourages the newcomers to reach out to people for advice and to throw themselves at opportunities they are interested in, no matter their level of experience. 

“Stanford’s theater community is there to welcome people of all identities and backgrounds, and we are always looking for people to fill positions and provide mentorship to those who desire to learn and grow,” Chow said. “Each show is only a quarterly commitment, but these friendships and relationships you build will last your entire career.”

While she found it difficult to maintain relationships with the wider theater community on Zoom, Chow managed to find artists that would support her both virtually and eventually in person.

For all interviewees yearning to return to campus stages the new year brings hope for restoring the collaborative, social aspects of theater — working together in person and not in front of a screen.

“I always appreciated in-person shows,  but I still took it for granted,” Fay said. “Now, I don’t think I’ll ever take it for granted again.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Zhou, Paylor, He and Wang also worked on set design. The Daily regrets this error.

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‘It feels like there’s more purpose’: Emily Saletan reflects on playing the first gender-bent J.D. in ‘Heathers: The Musical’ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/06/02/it-feels-like-theres-more-purpose-emily-saletan-reflects-on-playing-the-first-gender-bent-j-d-in-heathers-the-musical/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/06/02/it-feels-like-theres-more-purpose-emily-saletan-reflects-on-playing-the-first-gender-bent-j-d-in-heathers-the-musical/#respond Thu, 03 Jun 2021 06:08:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1183158 When she selected characters on the audition form for Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s “Heathers,” Emily Saletan ’24 said she checked off J.D. “not really expecting anything.” Now, she’s the first official female rendition of the role — Janie “J.D.” Dean — bringing an entirely new queer narrative and meaning to the musical.

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When she selected characters on the audition form for Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s “Heathers,” Emily Saletan ’24 said she checked off J.D. “not really expecting anything.” Now, she’s the first official female rendition of the role — Janie “J.D.” Dean — bringing an entirely new queer narrative and meaning to the musical. 

“It was a dream role of mine, but one that I didn’t think would ever actually get fulfilled,” Saletan said.

Throughout the audition process, she was sure the role would go to someone else.

“One of the reasons I was so sure that it wasn’t going to be me was because it was going to be such a hassle rearranging everything musically because I’m not a tenor, I’m a soprano,” Saletan said. “I walked away thinking it wasn’t going to happen so I was quite shocked when I got the email.”

Co-directors Diana Khong ’22 and Gwen Phagnasay Le ’22 asked Saletan if she was comfortable performing with he/him pronouns. Within the production’s rights agreement, they were not allowed to change the script, including pronouns.

“I [said] that’s fine, I’m presenting as my own gender identity, pronouns don’t equal gender,” Saletan recalled. 

However, Khong and Le reached out to the writers of “Heathers: The Musical,” Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy. The writers scripted an official gender-bent version, also including small tweaks to the canonical version that will professionally debut in the West End this summer. 

Saletan recalled her excitement at receiving the rewritten script titled “Female J.D. Rewrite for Stanford.”

“I was like, that’s me! I sent a screenshot to all my friends,” she said. 

While it was a dream role for her, J.D. is not Saletan’s first time portraying a gender-bent character. She previously played Lysandra, a female version of Lysander, one of the four lovers in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“One thing that I really like about gender bending and the two experiences that I’ve had with it … is that a lot of the time I feel like queer characters are written for the purpose of being queer.” As a result, the personality of queer characters often revolves around their gender and sexuality rather than being “fully-fleshed out,” Saletan explained. 

In contrast, genderbending takes a fully-developed character and adds the nuance of a queer relationship. As Saletan explains, “it impacts the story, but it’s not the [sole] purpose of the story.”

Concurring with the directors and creative team, she said she was really excited to take the popular character J.D. and take on the challenge of portraying J.D. as a queer figure. Especially after all the work invested in re-imagining the relationship as between two women, there was pressure to execute the gender-bend in a convincing manner.

For Saletan, one of the greatest challenges was creating an authentic and nuanced representation of the relationship, since portraying “theatrical intimacy with your scene partner is so hard when you can’t even look them in the eye.”

However, the directors prioritized “giving us the time that we needed to face each other and feel it out,” Saletan said. Jang and she both took the portrayal of the relationship very seriously — “maybe a little too seriously,” Saletan said, “but I think we both cared a lot about it and that made us feel safe going all in.”

She also added that pre-recording the audio made singing J.D.’s part more feasible. 

“I don’t know if I could have sung it live every night,” Saletan said. “It’s complicated music, but it’s also really hard vocally, especially trying to sing down the octave,” she explained. 

And viewers certainly agreed that despite the inherent limitations of virtual theater, “Heathers” was an engaging and innovative experience. 

“‘Heathers’ presents a lot of the hypermasculine and hyperfeminine cliches of high school,” Saletan explained. Navigating the new implications of a female J.D. on the character’s relationships with other cast members brought new meaning to J.D. and the musical for the cast and viewers alike. 

For instance, with the toxic masculinity of football jocks Ram Sweeney and Kurt Kelly (played by Cainan Cole ’20 M.S. ’21 and Dylan Moore ’24), “J.D. has to be masculine enough to pose a threat to them but she also retains enough of her femininity to kind of unseat the stereotypical” representation of power dynamics and perceptions of beauty in “Heathers,” Saletan said. 

She said it was “fun to look at something through a new lens” and discover some of the new meanings that emerge with the gender-bend, even unintentionally. 

J.D.’s relationship with her father also takes on a new meaning in this light, Saletan emphasized. 

“Even before [the rewrite], J.D.’s dad runs this hypermasculine, explosion business,” Saletan said. With the queer reimagining, they considered the new implications of the toxic masculinity of Bud Dean, J.D.’s father, and the absence of a maternal figure on J.D.’s actions and personality. The line from Bud Dean wishing for “a real boy” highlights the toxic dynamics J.D. was raised in, Saletan explains. 

“I think it added more nuance to the story,” she said. While J.D. and Veronica have always been outsiders, the added dimension of gender identity in the already hyper-sexualized landscape of “Heathers” made J.D.’s actions more understandable for Saletan.

“It’s more desperate. It feels more human, to me, it feels like there’s more purpose,” Saletan said. 

As an actor, she said playing J.D. was easier with the new gender and power dynamics on which to draw to understand the character’s motivations. 

While Saletan mused that it’s fun to play a villain, she also acknowledged the dangers of romanticizing J.D.’s relationship with Veronica (played by Junah Jang ’24). Looking back on the show, she said the directors wondered if they should have made J.D. more unlikable. 

“You can’t stray too far to either side. You have to believe that Veronica can fall in love and stick with this crazy person, but you can’t just be the charming good guy, there’s something really bad and flawed about how [J.D.] treats the people in their life,” Saletan said.

She also found it difficult to celebrate the reimagined queer representation in “Heathers” given the toxic nature of the relationship.

“There’s a media trope that the queer women always die, the queer women never get a happy ending, and … even though it wasn’t written that way, technically it’s true in our production, as well,” Saletan acknowledged. 

Nevertheless, queer dynamics like J.D and Veronica’s exist in real life. Queer members of the production related to the “whirlwind queer relationships,” Saletan said. 

Khong, Le and Kyla Figueroa ’24 expanded on the show’s portrayal of love and college culture, drawing parallels between toxic high school dynamics in “Heathers” and problems at Stanford. 

According to Saletan, while she recognized that adulthood doesn’t magically endow someone with the wisdom and competency to have all the solutions, there was a frustration in “Heathers” with the ability, or lack thereof, of administrators like the character Miss Fleming to handle students’ grief that is reflected in Stanford’s own campus culture. Echoing the perspective of the directors, she hoped “Heathers” would promote necessary conversations about isolation, identity and belonging at the University. 

Beyond Stanford, Saletan hoped “Heathers” would help facilitate discussion about sexual assault, gun safety and the experiences of gender-marginalized individuals, especially people of color. Khong and Le “didn’t want to do another all-white production of Heather’s, and I’m hoping that is a change that continues to circulate through Rams’ Head,” Saletan said.

Now, “there is an official rewritten script with the blessing of the composers,” Saletan said, and “if it’s been done before, there’s a higher chance of it happening again.”

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Dear Diary: Welcome to Westerburg High! https://stanforddaily.com/2021/05/12/dear-diary-welcome-to-westerburg-high/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/05/12/dear-diary-welcome-to-westerburg-high/#respond Thu, 13 May 2021 04:46:21 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1182332 We are putting on the first official queer re-imagining of “Heathers: The Musical,” rewritten for stage by the playwrights with a love story between two women as its center.

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Hello from “Heathers!” We write this letter to you as the Co-Directors (Diana Khong ’22 and Gwen Phagnasay Le ’22) and Dramaturg (Kyla Figueroa ’24) of Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s live digital production of “Heathers: The Musical.” This column’s title (“Dear Diary”) alludes to the first line of the show as jaded protagonist Veronica Sawyer reflects on the hell that is her conformist high school. This space will similarly serve as a place for us to ruminate as we attempt to put on the first official queer re-imagining of “Heathers: The Musical” — rewritten for stage by the playwrights with a love story between two women as its center — and what that ultimately means for us as future theatermakers, artists and misfits.

“Heathers” began as a cult classic 1989 film that was later adapted into a rock musical by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy. The show, a dark satirical take on the cultural norms of high school, follows Veronica through her senior year. She aspires to leave her small suburban town for something bigger, better and far away from the soul-crushing toxicity of her school and its narcissistic mean girls, hypermasculine jocks and perpetual bigotry. 

Going into this production, the directors and our producer Sierra Porter ’22 aimed to put on this show with a cast of predominantly people of color. Veronica’s experience isn’t foreign to us. Those feelings of alienation and non-conformance that plague Veronica also ring true for the many marginalized students who exist on Stanford’s campus. As students and theatermakers of color, we’re also not strangers to theater historically being an exclusive art form that withholds opportunities from communities of color and low-income people. Exposure to theater from an early age is often a matter of luck and area code. Cultivating an intentional community geared around collective growth and learning is our priority. 

And along the way, this story became so much closer to us than we could’ve ever imagined. We first considered gender-bending the character of JD, Veronica’s love interest, during the audition process when Emily Saletan ’24 — who we eventually decided to cast — brought up trying out for JD as a female actor. As two queer people, we, the directors, saw so much possibility in what this story could represent. 

We eventually decided to write a letter to the playwrights of the show, asking for their blessing to change JD’s pronouns. They not only provided their approval but rewrote the show to intentionally center a queer relationship. With that change comes so much nuance — JD becomes not only a casualty of non-conformity but homophobic violence. We watch as bystanders as her vengeance takes on a cruel irony in songs like “My Dead Gay Son.”

Our Creative Team (including our stage manager Yannie ’23, vocal director Zoey Hu ’24 and choreographer Jess Fry ’21) became invested in depicting a complex and multidimensional relationship between two queer women. In this show, the relationship undoubtedly is a harmful one, but we saw possibilities in what conversations this show could spark in talking about harm and abuse in love — even queer love — and nurturing actors to depict that dynamic.

The result was our show, and we could not be more thankful to the community of art makers who made it possible. With the pandemic, making theater has been an incredible challenge but a worthy one. Despite our distance from one another as a theater community separated by COVID, we’ve still found ways to come together and kindle new friendships.

In future articles for “Dear Diary,” we’ll be breaking down love and desire at Stanford, race and gun violence, breaking open white American theater and more.

We hope that you join us in experiencing “Heathers!” Come see “Heathers: The Musical” live on Thursday May 13 & Friday May 14 at 7PM PT and Saturday May 15 at 2PM PT. Get your tickets at musical.stanford.edu!

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‘La Llorona: A New Horror Musical’ is a tale for moving on https://stanforddaily.com/2021/03/17/la-llorona-a-new-horror-musical-is-a-tale-for-moving-on/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/03/17/la-llorona-a-new-horror-musical-is-a-tale-for-moving-on/#respond Thu, 18 Mar 2021 02:19:53 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1179957 “La Llorona,” Obed de La Cruz’s chilling playwriting debut, doesn’t draw on the Latinx folklore to blitz you with jump scares. It prompts you: Let go of the past lest the past tightens its hold on you.

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Long ago, a woman named Maria married a man with whom she had two children. They lived in marital bliss until she caught him with another woman. Their relationship strained, Maria suspected her husband planned to flee with his mistress and take her children away from her. So, she woke them in the night. “Your father loves you more, but I’ll have you forever,” she told them before dragging them to a river and drowning them — and immediately regretted it. Out of grief, she drowned herself, too. But she was without peace in the afterlife. Now she stalks the earth at night, her soul haunting the river where she drowned her children. That’s how she became the Weeping Woman, or, as generations of children know her, “La Llorona.” 

Nostalgic ghost stories make for great drama, hence great theatre. But “La Llorona,” Obed de La Cruz’s chilling playwriting debut, doesn’t draw on the Latinx folklore to blitz you with jump scares. It prompts you: Let go of the past lest the past tightens its hold on you. 

If “La Llorona” was ever in jeopardy of rehashing the premise of other horrors about the titular phantom (remember that Llorona surge in 2019 with “La Llorona” and “Curse of La Llorona” released only four months apart? ), the play’s authentic storyline and settings keep it fresh. We meet Elena (Shania Santana), a seamstress living in Corozal, a small town in Puerto Rico, sewing dresses to save up money to fulfill her dream of owning a tailor shop. Her reputation among the locals is marred by the death of her husband Carlos years ago. The police found his corpse in the river behind her house; despite insisting she wasn’t involved, people believed she murdered him for attempting to run away with their young son, Gabi (Dylan Moore). When Gabi turned eighteen, he stole the money from his mother’s shop to pursue his dreams in America. Just as Elena is close to buying the store again five years later, he returns to untangle the mystery around his father’s death under the guise of visiting his ill grandmother. Faced with her son’s arrival, Elena grapples with lingering resentment from their history and the raspy voice in her head begging her to kill him. 

The production team of Ram’s Head Theatrical Society seemed to heed the show’s theme of foraging ahead by deviating from Stanford’s historically white theatre scene; the staff behind and in front of the screen are mostly people of color. In the producer’s notes, Evelyn Kuo wrote the show’s brilliance doesn’t just lie within its diversity but that “it is a testament that people of color are fiercely capable of creating entertaining narratives and artwork, and it is a privilege for all of us to appreciate the beauty (and horror!) of the finished product.” 

The beauty is difficult to deny. While the fright and gore in the show was a slow burn packed near the end, viewers await the thematic pay-off while submerged in musical performances like rhythmic bass-fueled “Las Bahemias” or “Cigarillo y Machete.” The songs also nod to the history of trauma engraved in the Corozal. In “Orange Tree,” Elena’s grandmother Lydia (Journey Washingtonhigh) stands in the field of growing orange trees and reflects on how she used to dream of motherhood before she was forcibly sterilized by the U.S government after her first child — a procedure most mainland Americans are unaware of continues to happen to this day.   

To adapt to a streamed production, Cruz condensed the script for the virtual show and managed to do so without abandoning the spirit of the characters or the setting. The use of drone footage of the river running through Corozal helped ground the musical in a place and the use of mirrored Zoom backgrounds created the illusion that the performers weren’t miles away, but tucked in the same room.

After a year of theatres experimenting with virtual shows, “La Llorona” is an eerie play that demonstrates progress in virtual storytelling with performances that don’t feel molded around but rather designed for the medium. It’s a glimpse of how technology can be used when in-person performances are permitted once again. 

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Manic Monologues: Destigmatizing mental illness from a virtual stage https://stanforddaily.com/2021/02/21/manic-monologues-destigmatizing-mental-illness-from-a-virtual-stage/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/02/21/manic-monologues-destigmatizing-mental-illness-from-a-virtual-stage/#respond Mon, 22 Feb 2021 05:19:20 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1178365 Due to the pandemic, the creators have reimagined the performances for an online platform, a virtual viewing experience that is free to all and went live on the McCarter Theatre Center’s website last Thursday.

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This story contains references to suicidal ideation that may be troubling to some readers.

“This is scary as hell.”

A woman looks up at a lemon tree in her backyard, twisting free several fruits as a voiceover lets out a nervous laugh. “It’s not that I don’t have anything to say,” she says, back to the camera, sunbathed lemons dangling overhead. “After 22 years of being officially mentally ill, I have plenty to tell.”

In this scene of serenity, of trimming and plucking and garden upkeep, this woman wonders aloud, “Do I talk about that?” From guilt to shame to gratitude and resilience, she captures the myriad of emotions that accompany sharing her experiences. She tells her story, and she is not alone. 

The Manic Monologues,” a play that first premiered on the Stanford stage in May 2019, found early success with its piercing, slice-of-life accounts of mental illness and the lives it touches. Due to the pandemic, the creators have reimagined the performances for an online platform, a virtual viewing experience that is free to all and went live on the McCarter Theatre Center’s website last Thursday. 

The 21 monologues are not presented in the traditional, on-stage format. Instead, viewers are invited into a creative space reminiscent of a school classroom, complete with a teacher’s podium, a roll-out TV set and a desk littered with newspaper clippings. Hanging over the scene are 21 black silhouettes, each a snapshot of a story waiting in the wings. Once a figure is clicked, a wave of whispers emerges as all but the silhouettes fade away. One voice takes center stage as the screen goes dark. 

Some about college-aged students, some about parents, some funny, some heart-wrenching, the performances capture an impressive diversity of people and experiences. Nothing about the presentations is monolithic; a woman smudges her eyeliner in the reflection of her TV, a middle-aged professor sculpts a clay bust, a mother makes an omelette in the kitchen. Sometimes it feels like the performer is telling their story directly to you, as if confiding in a close friend. Other times, it is as if the viewer takes a backseat inside the mind of someone reliving the highs and lows of their journey with mental illness. 

Manic Monologues: Destigmatizing mental illness from a virtual stage
(Photo courtesy of McCarter Theatre Center)

One of the most memorable monologues for me, entitled “The window is a portal,” begins with a young man peering out his dorm window onto a quad of his college campus. A series of ornate windows fill the screen, images of grand staircases and stained-glass ceilings outlined with chalk-like sketches. As he begins to speak about his experiences with suicidal ideation, blueprints and calculus equations creep over the pictures, as if scrawled across a lecture hall blackboard. The familiar college imagery resonates with me.

As he shares these nuanced thoughts of ending his own life, he is still a college student with a curious and calculating mind. He is still human and multidimensional, more than any single emotion or thought. His experience is not twisted into a lesson or warning. It is raw and real. I felt like I knew this young man as a person, not just a vessel for his mental illness. 

The focus of the Manic Monologues is to combat the stigmatized narrative surrounding mental illness, something their site regards as more fatal than the illness itself. In addition to the video monologues, the website attempts to engage viewers with several creative activities, such as doodling in colored pencil or writing a personal story on an etch-a-sketch. A corkboard littered with sticky notes offers extensive mental health resources for those seeking help, those looking to learn more and anyone who wants to help disrupt the stigma. Many of the people whose stories are shared in this performance are themselves involved with the mental health community, as counselors, authors and artists. 

This performance compassionately provides a space for people to share their experiences with mental illness and allows the rest of us the opportunity to reflect, learn and engage in conversations that are long overdue.

“I’ve survived,” says the woman in the garden. “Maybe I should talk about that.”

Contact Marli Bosler at mbosler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford Shakespeare Company brings the magic in ‘The Tempest: A Radio Play’ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/01/27/stanford-shakespeare-company-brings-the-magic-in-the-tempest-a-radio-play/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/01/27/stanford-shakespeare-company-brings-the-magic-in-the-tempest-a-radio-play/#respond Thu, 28 Jan 2021 03:15:31 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1177176 Joining scores of theater and performing arts companies across the nation who have adapted to virtual productions, the Stanford Shakespeare Company premiered their winter show, “The Tempest: A Radio Play,” for remote audiences last Friday.

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Joining scores of theater and performing arts companies across the nation who have adapted to virtual productions, the Stanford Shakespeare Company premiered their winter show, “The Tempest: A Radio Play,” for remote audiences last Friday. 

But what exactly is a radio play? Best enjoyed with headphones, the show is an auditory treat that cleverly juxtaposes ambient music and sound effects to bring to life the magic of Prospero’s island all within your living room. Starting off with a bang (or, more precisely, a thunderclap), the howling storm and roaring sea that assault one’s ears in the first few seconds are jarring, yes, but they introduce the listener to the immersive potential of the auditory format. Listeners are instantly thrown into the tumultuous conflict of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” guided by a stellar cast that effortlessly breathes life into the antiquated script and a soundscape as intricately put together as the playwright’s original. Simply put, “The Tempest: A Radio Play” is a must-hear.

Without spoiling anything, “The Tempest” is, according to director Ryan Tan ’21, a story about stories. “Despite movies and tragedies, these plotlines that we create of ‘revenge’ and ‘romance’ and ‘righteousness’ in our lives can never fit quite perfectly onto ourselves or others,” Tan writes in the show’s program. “There is a potential danger in getting attached to the stories we tell about our lives, especially if we begin to act in ways just because they are consistent with what the fictional character of myself would do.” With quarantine and introspection going hand-in-hand, the character Prospero’s steeled belief in their role as protagonist poses a fascinating challenge to modern-day listeners: Are we truly the protagonists of our own stories? And if so, how accurate are our self-prescribed narratives?

In keeping with its far-reaching message, the Shakespeare Company’s rendition of the play includes thoughtful modifications to the original that broaden its approachable nature to a wide range of remote audiences. For instance, the protagonist Prospero, who is traditionally gendered as male, instead uses they/them pronouns. In conjunction with the absence of character portraits or otherwise influential visual guidelines, Prospero becomes a faceless protagonist — such that our impressions are sculpted entirely through their emotions and interactions — with whom virtually all listeners may sympathize or even identify with.

Nevertheless, the play’s ability to question and resonate with audiences extends beyond a dramatic reading of the script alone. Rather, the radio play format allows the audio to play a major role in what lead sound designer Wilder Seitz ’22 describes as “creating ‘moments.’” According to Seitz, “At the editing stage you’re in complete control of all the elements, so you can make effects and music and acting all line up in the right way that theater snaps together into moments of profundity.” It is precisely in these “moments of profundity,” indicated by a puncture of volume or godly echo, that the emotional depth and meaning behind the Shakespearean phrases become suddenly so clear.

No review would be complete without mentioning the intricately composed musical scores interspersed throughout. Taking inspiration from “freak folk,” the character Ariel’s singing, accompanied by the sometimes soothing, sometimes melancholy array of string instruments, ties the play together in an ethereal fashion that reflects the role of the character. Just as Ariel possesses the unique ability to jump between the various groups on the island, the musical transitions seamlessly draw the island’s disparate inhabitants closer and closer together as the story unfolds to its climax.

Naturally, such well-executed command over the soundscape was not without difficulties. Seitz discusses the unique challenges of recording over Zoom — a necessity, given the amount of actors and background members — describing how “the final recordings that the sound team got from each actor would have a slight delay in between lines and responses. So designing the sound ended up being a game of also trying to be in that acting headspace as well, trying to effectively recreate dramatic pacing, comedic timing, really intangible stuff like that and replicate it with little millisecond adjustments.” 

What’s next for the company? While unable to produce their typical two full-length Shakespeare plays per year, the company plans to continue outreach events for fellow Shakespeare enthusiasts. According to the official company website, the 2020-21 year will continue to be one of “experimentation with digital media forms to re-imagine Shakespeare for our current time.”

“The Tempest: A Radio Play” is available on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music and SoundCloud for your listening pleasure.

Contact Carissa Lee at carislee ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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A conversation with Charlie Alterman: Broadway music, ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/01/14/a-conversation-with-charlie-alterman-broadway-music-zoeys-extraordinary-playlist/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/01/14/a-conversation-with-charlie-alterman-broadway-music-zoeys-extraordinary-playlist/#respond Fri, 15 Jan 2021 03:26:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1176513 As for advice to aspiring actors and musicians, Alterman believes that “anything that you can do to get your work out there” is a must. And he especially encourages people to create their work during quarantine, even if “it’s more daunting.”

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On Nov. 14, Ram’s Head Theatrical Society hosted “A Conversation with Charlie Alterman” as part of its professional development series. Alterman, a Broadway musical director and musical consultant of the musical TV show “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” gave insight into his musical career journey through a virtual discussion moderated by Jessica Fry ’19.

Calling in from Vancouver, Alterman explained that he had been interested in music and theater since he was a kid, playing the piano since he was four years old. When asked how exactly he broke into the world of music directing, he explained that it sort of happened by chance. 

As a freshman, Alterman auditioned for his high school’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors, but because of the small cast, he ended up not landing a role. Still, the director and the rest of the crew loved him, so he was asked to assist the musical director. And that was the start to his music directing journey. 

What Alterman specifically loves about music directing is that it brings everything together. He always feels like “an extra cast member” because of the unique opportunity to use his “theater brain,” as he calls it, “in terms of how the music is supporting the storytelling and how it’s supporting the actors.”

Alterman’s “theater brain” especially comes into play while transitioning between different “musical language[s]” when speaking with choreographers, composers, music copyists and the director. 

“A friend of mine once described it perfectly — that being a music director for the theater is like being an English-to-English translator,” he described. This type of translating entails musical directors to possess a code-switching ability in order to bring their musical vision to life. They have to learn and transition among various musical languages, using specific words that only directors, composers, orchestrators and music copyists would understand.

Alterman has taken on this role of the “English-to-English translator” as musical director of Broadway shows like “Pippin,” “Godspell” and “Next to Normal.” Specifically with “Next to Normal,” he said, “the music is such an enormous part of the storytelling; almost the whole story is told through music.” Music directing has cultivated his passion for storytelling, and by working with “the best of the best on Broadway,” he is surrounded by people who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. 

Alterman explained that his collaborators often say he is a “breath of fresh air,” referencing the positive attitude that he strives to maintain. It simply baffles him that there are people in this industry who come in with a negative attitude and do not treat others with the respect they deserve.

“We’re getting paid to make art, to make music, to do theater. If you’re going to come to work in a bad mood, then go be a stockbroker or something, where you might actually make some money,” he joked.

Alterman recognizes that there are aspects of this industry that can be tiring and even “annoying” at times, but he tries to keep a glass half full mentality, reminding himself of all the good things. 

For Alterman, the sitzprobe is definitely his favorite moment in the production: “It’s the first time that you actually hear all of the music come together with the cast and the band and everything. I’ve literally been brought to tears, tears of joy.”

However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities for Alterman to partake in this creative process with others in-person have been non-existent; many of his friends and colleagues have been out of work. 

So, when he was brought on as the music consultant and vocal coach of NBC’s hit show “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” it was a “small miracle.” The real difference being a musical director for a TV show instead of a Broadway show is “only need[ing] to get it right once.” In addition, coaching actors how to lip sync is “a whole piece of the puzzle” that is entirely new to Alterman. 

Being the music director for “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” has been a learning process for him, but the goal remains the same in helping “land an emotional moment in the story” through music. 

As for advice to aspiring actors and musicians, Alterman believes that “anything that you can do to get your work out there” is a must. And he especially encourages people to create their work during quarantine, even if “it’s more daunting.” 

But when live theater does return, Alterman relays that the “old cliche” rings true. The audition starts “the minute you walk in the room,” so being your authentic self is what is going to “get you hired in the long run,” according to Alterman. 

Contact Catherine Sarca at csarca22 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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TheatreWorks’s ‘Simple Gifts’ is heartwarming holiday fare https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/22/theatreworkss-simple-gifts-is-heartwarming-holiday-fare/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/22/theatreworkss-simple-gifts-is-heartwarming-holiday-fare/#respond Wed, 23 Dec 2020 02:20:29 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1176274 This December, the Bay Area-based TheatreWorks debuted its original holiday musical “Simple Gifts.” Billed as a “joyful, multicultural celebration of beloved holiday songs and traditions from many diverse backgrounds,” virtual carolers sing of winter celebrations from Hannukah, Kwanzaa and Noche Buena to Bodhi Day, Diwali and Yule on the Winter Solstice.

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Even 2020 cannot change the arrival of the holiday season. The word “holiday” in English means holy day, or a time in which people pause from work to celebrate religious and other culturally significant occasions. Celebrating holidays amid COVID-19 and all the other socioeconomic upheavals of this year, however, presents a curious paradox. Most holidays involve large indoor gatherings of people from different households and activities such as feasting, dancing and gift exchange. How can people celebrate the holidays when quarantine with its stipulated germ pods, social distancing, masks and travel restrictions leaves no other options than Zoom, the same technology employed for school and work? One compelling answer for keeping the holiday spirit alive comes from a rather unlikely source — digital theater. 

This December, the Bay Area-based TheatreWorks debuted its original holiday musical “Simple Gifts.” Billed as a “joyful, multicultural celebration of beloved holiday songs and traditions from many diverse backgrounds,” virtual carolers sing of winter celebrations from Hannukah, Kwanzaa and Noche Buena to Bodhi Day, Diwali and Yule on the winter solstice. Eleven actors and four musicians come together in the artistic vision of Tim Bond, Music Director William Liberatore and videographer Stephen Muterspaugh to create an audiovisual collage of resonant holiday moments. By naming the show after the well-known 19th century Shaker song covered by the likes of Aaron Copland and Yo-Yo Ma, Bond reminds remote patrons that turning our holiday stories over can bring love and delight even in the darkest of times. 

Candlelight permeates most of the video frames, personal holiday stories and even lyrics in Bond’s “Simple Gifts.” The show opens with a close-up shot of Liberatore playing the titular “Simple Gifts” with a singular lit candle atop the piano. A cross-fade to Velina Brown saying “there’s something magical about winter and holiday time” cues Michael Gene Sullivan and others enumerating what the holiday means to them — “the music,” “the food,” “tamales,” “latkes,” “my grandma’s ravioli.” While most of the ensemble perform songs with clear holiday ties, Michelle K. Jordan singing the Grammy-nominated R&B singer India Arie’s “I Am Light” literally underscores the triumph of light, hope and love that can persist beyond the holiday season. The first opening sequence features the remote ensemble from all over California holding burning candles, masterfully edited by Muterspaugh to stand side by side. According to Brown and Sullivan, the choral camaraderie showcased in “Simple Gifts” was a just feat of video production. 

“We would rehearse the songs by ourselves, we’d rehearse with Liberatore once but he would send us recordings of the backing tracks, our choral lines,” Sullivan told The Daily. “We just needed to go over that ourselves. We had ear prompts so we could hear the music even if we were singing a cappella. We could hear a click track so we’d all be in the same tempo and key.” 

The award-winning couple Michael Gene Sullivan and Velina Brown auditioned together for “Simple Gifts” after contacting TheatreWorks in August to ask them if they had any plans for a Christmas show. The audition process required prospective ensemble members to send in tapes of them talking about their own holiday experiences, memories that were meaningful to them around the holiday season, as well as singing a holiday song. 

“Part of my personal story was that I used to direct a Christmas choir,” Sullivan told The Daily. “[Velina and I] met in middle school, we were in a high school choir together and we wanted to keep it going after we graduated. We were in it for eight years and we won contests.”

TheatreWorks's 'Simple Gifts' is heartwarming holiday fare
Seasoned Bay Area producer, actress and career coach Velina Brown performs a lovely rendition of the holiday classic “The Christmas Song.” (Photo: TheatreWorks).

Brown added that their background in a Christmas choir ended up in the final piece, and the couple feature prominently in the choral numbers throughout the show. Brown auditioned with “The Christmas Song” and patrons of “Simple Gifts” are treated to her strong vibrato and smiling alto vocals on the heartwarming classic. Another Christmas classic in “Simple Gifts” is Bryan Munar on guitar and vocals for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The Filipino actor accompanies his wistful performance with memories of his extended family in pre-COVID times celebrating Noche Buena with music, food and dance all through the night. The desire to gather with “faithful friends who are dear to us” quintessential to doing theater unfortunately was not realized in any capacity during the production process. 

“It was all very separate. We only rehearsed with Liberatore once in the studio. Then we went back to record our lines and vocal parts,” Brown told The Daily. “It was really important to me how conscientious they were being. [Michael and I] were there together because we were in the same germ pod.” Certified COVID Compliance Officer Steven B. Mannshardt worked closely with on-site technicians to ensure proper precautions and sanitizing occurred such that actors such as Brown felt safe recording their lines and vocal parts in the studio. The remote nature of the rehearsal process, however, meant that actors hardly ever interfaced with other actors. 

Brown noted that at one of their music rehearsals they did get to meet Sharon Rietkirk, fellow ensemble member and wife of the trombonist Tim Higgins. The second of two “Simple Gifts” couples, Rietkirk and Higgins perform together in the flirtatious “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” This 1947 song by Frank Loesser of “Guys and Dolls” fame supplants the widely known “Auld Lang Syne” in paying homage to the New Year’s Eve holiday. 

TheatreWorks's 'Simple Gifts' is heartwarming holiday fare
The musical couple Sharon Rietkirk and trombonist Tim Higgins perform Frank Loesser’s “What Are You Doing On Christmas Eve?” (Photo: TheatreWorks)

Concerning the musical representation of holidays in “Simple Gifts,” TheatreWorks veteran David Crane speculated that Artistic Director Tim Bond in conceiving the show tried to “pick deeper cuts or do a new take on an older song.” The biracial Jewish and Japanese “Simple Gifts” actor performs in two Hanukkah songs likely unfamiliar to most patrons: the Hebrew “Banu Choschech L’goresh” and the Ladino “Ocho Kandelikas.” Crane also speaks in the show about the Buddhist Bodhi Day celebration on Dec. 8, the celebration of Diwali and his grandfather Toshimi sweeping up red firecracker papers after the New Years’ celebration around his childhood home in Hawaii. While Crane does not celebrate Bodhi Day or Diwali himself, he appreciated how “Simple Gifts” encouraged him to articulate holiday stories from his own life. 

“I did not have the story pre-set, pre-planned in my arsenal of stories to tell when I auditioned. The experience of celebrating New Years in Hawaii were stories I had in my consciousness but had never strung them together. I was telling the whole crew [in rehearsal] and at our talkbacks after the shows how it was pretty awesome to be given the impetus,” Crane told The Daily. 

The actor-turned-educator reflected on how he found himself “tapping into that Event Post or Buzzfeed energy” in learning to play himself in the script for the show. Sullivan and Brown similarly acknowledged the novelty of performing one’s own story versus another character in a script. Though “devised” has become a buzzword to describe the plethora of innovative, virtual theater ranging from Stanford’s Gaieties 2020 and Cerulean to Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday and the Backroom Shakespeare Project, Brown hesitates to call “Simple Gifts” devised. 

“The stories that we told in our auditions was our contribution to Simple Gifts. For camera things in general, it really is an editor’s medium because when you record something, the director and editor figure out how to edit it. In live theater, it is the actor’s medium as the actors are in charge of how the experience goes. When I think of devised theater, I think of having a topic and people jamming on it as a group,” she said. 

“I would say [Simple Gifts] falls in the middle as we devised our stories individually, not as a group.” Sullivan added. “There was this one recording where I added this one extra bit and the Director rejected it because of timing. ‘Please stick to the original draft of your life,’ he told me. —  something to get used to, but it was a lot of fun.” 

When asked if they had any favorite performances by others in “Simple Gifts,” Brown and Sullivan initially struggled to answer: “We got to learn about other people’s families and traditions. It was a learning experience as you normally don’t get that kind of deep-dive into other people. In a piece like this, everything is just fascinating.” 

One such piece is the Christmas Truce of 1914, the miraculous story recounted by Will Springhorn Jr. of how hundreds of thousands of British and German troops struck a temporary truce amid World War I for holiday festivities. The image of soldiers on both sides of the war pausing their battery has a narrative echo in Crane’s story of the firecrackers, showing how personal and historic holidays alike can carry that simple gift of love and delight. Despite the pandemic, the people of “Simple Gifts” whose stories compose the emotional core of the show remain hopeful for celebrating the holidays and the eventual return of live performing arts. 

Crane becoming an acting teacher at the Oakland School for the Arts is a direct result of the pandemic, a window opening when the door on Broadway closed this March that has brought him great joy as he works with young adults on acting technique and devising shows. Brown and Sullivan meanwhile have been busy producing a radio play series “Tales of the Resistance” and the labor-oriented “A Red Carol” with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Looking ahead to the new year, the couple remain hopeful that TheatreWorks’ canceled shows such as “Ragtime” and “Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner?” will go up once it is safe to do live theater again. 

“If the weather’s okay, we’ll get together outside for Christmas dinner restaurant-spaced in the backyard,” Brown told The Daily. “Once the pandemic is contained, that’s not going to be our tradition for celebrating as a family.” Looking ahead to 2021, the couple remain cautiously optimistic that they can come back for TheatreWorks’ “Ragtime” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” canceled by the pandemic. Brown has also shifted to writing her long-running theater column “The Business of Showbiz” on a need versus monthly basis, noting “there is still so much unknown about what can be done safely next.”  

At the time of his interview, Crane was about to celebrate the seventh night of Hanukkah with his significant other in Hawaii. “I’m currently in Honolulu, we don’t have a menorah but we found a piece of coral and have been very carefully lighting candles on it. What’s next for 2021? I wish I could be like ‘come see my next show.’ I am so grateful to have Simple Gifts, to have been part of something again.” If Brown, Sullivan and Crane’s anecdotes of working remotely on the holiday musical are any indication, the power of song and story to bring people together even through a screen is a simple gift to enjoy by performers and patrons alike time and time again. 

Presented as part of TheatreWorks from Home, Simple Gifts will be livestreamed Dec. 10-27, with on-demand streaming available Dec. 28, 2020 – Jan. 1, 2021. Live post-show conversations with members of the cast will follow every performance. 

Contact Natalie Francis at natfran ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Season 2, eps. 4-5 of ‘Love is Blind Stanford’: Love triangle turned love line https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/21/season-2-eps-4-5-of-love-is-blind-stanford-love-triangle-turned-love-line/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/21/season-2-eps-4-5-of-love-is-blind-stanford-love-triangle-turned-love-line/#respond Tue, 22 Dec 2020 03:07:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1176125 Days four and five helped resolve some emotions, but introduced another tangle of unexpected conflicts. Then again, isn't that what “Love is Blind” is all about?

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Remember those love triangles, and how contestants wanted the phone calls to make their fledgling connections clearer? After Day 4’s Kiss, Marry, Kill minigame and Day 5’s calls, it’s looking more like a very long love… line? Frybread picked checkmate, who picked Ailurus with Katara. Ailurus picked Hibiscus, who picked Nutter Butter, who picked Turtle #1, who picked Garam Masala. That’s half of our contestants. 

Thankfully, we do have a couple mutual matches: secretly grandma and Boiled Soda, and Kit Kat and theThotThatCounts. In ep. 4’s Kiss, Marry, Kill, Snickerdoodle and secretly grandma married each other, but #SecretlySnickerdoodle may not be endgame romantically after all — Boiled Soda’s persistence paid off. 

Checkmate is showing that it’s never too late to connect! Boiled Soda pulled off a bold move and asked Checkmate to pick him as a top three for phone calls even though they haven’t talked much — some call it desperation, we call it courage. In the meantime, Katara discovered that she lives just two miles (!) away from Ailurus in Chula Vista, San Diego. Gives us a flashback to the first season, where hotpot and TSMA found out they were just across the street from each other (and we all know what that near-miss turned into!).

Contestants spent their phone calls discussing why they chose each other for the call. Kit Kat had phone calls with both theThotThatCounts and Kale Chips, who also had calls with theThotThatCounts and Lemon Tree! Kale Chips also sounds way more natural and confident on the phone than we can ever hope to be.  

Garam Masala talked to Turtle #1, and made a guess at secretly grandma’s identity — they know each other in real life! 

Ailurus had phone calls with theThotThatCounts, Hibiscus and checkmate, all of whom commented on her ability to have reflective and engaging conversations. Checkmate also had conversations with Boiled Soda and Snickerdoodle. Frybread didn’t get to have phone calls this time around, but we’re still rooting for her. 

Hibiscus connected with Boiled Soda over performance and life values and gained a deeper connection with Ailurus over wholesome conversations and vulnerability. 

Days four and five helped resolve some emotions, but introduced another tangle of unexpected conflicts. Then again, isn’t that what “Love is Blind” is all about?

Favorite “couples”

Michaela: Ailurus and Hibiscus, platonically! 

Nicole: Ailurus and Checkmate. We can’t help it, Ailurus’ energy is astronomical.

Favorite quotes

Michaela: “It was more of a Romeo-Juliet killing.” -theThotThatCounts

Nicole: “I’m literally such a simp for this girl and I don’t even know what she looks like.” -Snickerdoodle

Contact Michaela Guo at mcguo ‘at’ stanford.edu and Nicole Tong at nwtong ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Interdisciplinary fall class reimagines virtual performance https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/21/interdisciplinary-fall-class-reimagines-virtual-performance/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/21/interdisciplinary-fall-class-reimagines-virtual-performance/#respond Tue, 22 Dec 2020 01:54:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1176248 Technology met the performing arts in the fall 2020 course "Video and Audio Technology for Live Theater in the Age of COVID," as students worked on a research project to develop software geared toward live, virtual theater productions amid a global pandemic. The software will be used to host a production in late winter quarter titled “StageCast: Experiments in Performance and Technology,” which includes a set of independent 10-20 minute plays performed by five students chosen to participate in the production.

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Technology met the performing arts in the fall 2020 course “Video and Audio Technology for Live Theater in the Age of COVID,” as students worked on a research project to develop software geared toward live, virtual theater productions amid a global pandemic. The software will be used to host a production in late winter quarter titled “StageCast: Experiments in Performance and Technology,” which includes a set of independent 10-20 minute plays performed by five students chosen to participate in the production. 

Theater is “an art form that’s been devoted to having people in the same room breathing the same air,” said StageCast artistic director and theater and performance studies professor Michael Rau, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the theater community to adapt. 

Zoom, although widely used as video-conferencing software, proved to be a poor platform for showcasing real-time theater productions. Theater performers struggled with issues including low video quality, high latency and delayed conversations. 

“Bouncing energy off the audience is why I love performing, because it makes me feel validated, but also because I know that I’m doing something to make someone’s life better,” said StageCast assistant director Chloe Chow ’23 in regards to her own performing experiences. “If I can’t see the smile or the applause, or the laughter or the cry or scream, then I feel like I’m only doing half my duty as an artist and Zoom chat just doesn’t hit the same.”

The importance of performer-audience connections makes theater unique as an art form, Rau added. 

“One of the things that distinguishes theater from radio or film is the fact that there’s a way for the audience to make their presence known,” Rau said. “The actors know that they’re there and the audience knows that the actors are there. There’s a relationship there.” 

Zoom’s inadequacy inspired Rau, electrical engineering professor Tsachy Weissman and computer science professor Keith Winstein to create a course where students developed software to improve the quality of live but remote performances. 

Throughout fall quarter, students from the electrical engineering and computer science departments worked to build a platform that could better support the needs of theater. 

The 15-student class was split into four groups, with each group focusing on a different aspect of the performing arts. The groups worked on lowering the latency of audio and video; improving video design; developing software to make it easier for video, lights and sound operators to control their corresponding hardware; and collecting feedback from audience members through emojis, chat boxes and audio. 

The technology created for StageCast is adapted from Puffer, a TV streaming platform developed by a group led by Francis Yan Ph.D. ’20, according to electrical engineering master’s student Qingxi Meng M.S. ’22. The StageCast crew, however, customized Puffer to fit the needs of live theatrical shows. They deleted and simplified parts of Puffer’s functions, such as an algorithm created for those in rural areas that adjusted video quality based on the user’s internet connection. At the same time, they implemented features such as emojis, animations and a chat box for increased audience involvement. 

Meng said that the process has been challenging but ultimately rewarding. 

“Maybe you’re spending one week trying to do some research and find out it doesn’t work,” he said. “You feel like this week is not very rewarding at all. It’s a little bit frustrating.” 

Despite the hardships, Meng said that it was one of the “best experiences” he had at Stanford. 

“Each week there’s something new happening,” he said. 

He added that working with people with theater backgrounds was “very fun and rewarding” for him because he has spent most of his time at Stanford surrounded by other students with engineering and computer science backgrounds. 

Unlike Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s “Gaieties 2020: Unprecedented Times,” a pre-recorded show that was live streamed, the aim of StageCast is to give viewers a live, real-time virtual production that will allow audiences to provide feedback in real time. 

Although in-person performances are the most ideal for theater, virtual productions like “StageCast” may play a role in the future of the performing arts, Rau said: Expanding certain productions to include digital versions could “build our audience and distribute aspects of the production that capture part of what makes it unique to a wide global audience.”

“It’s a medium that adjusts to the present circumstances,” he added. “I think what’s amazing about theatre is that it’s a reflection of a community.” 

According to Chow, StageCast “was a great way to look at the intersectionality of the performing arts and engineering and see how we can bridge culture within Stanford itself.” 

The StageCast performance is slated to premiere from Mar. 4 through Mar. 6. To view the group’s performance, a link will be posted on the TAPS website between the end of February and early March. 

Contact Kaitlyn Huang at klhdance18 ‘at’ gmail.com.

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Ram’s Head collects pitches for first virtual Spring Musical https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/07/rams-head-collects-pitches-for-first-virtual-spring-musical/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/07/rams-head-collects-pitches-for-first-virtual-spring-musical/#respond Tue, 08 Dec 2020 02:36:30 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1175815 This is not the group’s first experience creating a virtual production. Earlier this year, the organization put on an online fall production of Gaieties and is currently planning a member-written winter production of La Llorona.

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The Ram’s Head Theatrical Society invited students to submit musical project pitches for its spring musical, which will be performed virtually for the first time in the society’s 109-year history.

The group traditionally puts on a live spring musical once a year, but this year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ram’s Head to adapt to a digital platform. The group encouraged all interested students to submit pitches for consideration, from which it will choose one to produce for the virtual Spring Musical.

This is not the group’s first experience creating a virtual production. Earlier this year, the organization put on an online fall production of Gaieties and is currently planning a member-written winter production of La Llorona. Kaitlyn Khayat ’21, the executive producer of Ram’s Head, said that the recent virtual shows were “a fantastic learning experience and I think we can only build on it from there for the spring show.”

Khayat said that she hopes this opportunity will prove valuable to students heading into the professional world of theater.

“Our vision is to open up this slot… and really allow people to do what they’re passionate about,” Khayat said. “I feel like theater should… allow people to artistically express what they’re feeling at the moment, and we didn’t feel that selecting a show ahead of time would do that mission justice.”

The organization had previously voted on a musical to produce for the spring, but due to regulations regarding licensing rights for digital performances, it selected a different play. By producing a musical pitched by students without licensing restrictions, Ram’s Head can avoid these obstacles. Any Stanford student, as long as they are currently enrolled or on a flex term, was eligible to submit a pitch for the musical. Students pitched in teams composed of two to four people, including a producer and director. The selected team will have producing and directing roles in the musical’s online production.

“All of the board members are really committed to the idea of having a show that not only centers stories of marginalized communities, but also has a cast that represents the diversity of Stanford’s campus,” said Jessica Fry ̕21, a Ram’s Head board member.

Ram’s Head is particularly interested in pitches that represent that purpose, according to Fry.

The musical, which is set to be performed sometime between weeks three and five of the spring quarter, will be produced fully online. Ram’s Head is unwilling to put any person’s health at risk, “especially because we don’t know how to do in-person safely right now,” Khayat said.

“We wanted to make sure that we’re taking care of our members, first and foremost, before we take care of the production,” Chloe Chow ̕23, a Ram’s Head member, said.

“To anyone interested in theater, it’s a great opportunity for you to have your own individual vision come to life while having the resources of a larger institution,” Fry said. “We want people to walk away from a show… having the feeling of being in a community.”

Contact Lana Levison at lanalevison ‘at’ gmail.com.

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‘Gaieties 2020: Unprecedented Times’ brings Stanford to life on screen https://stanforddaily.com/2020/11/18/gaieties-2020-unprecedented-times-brings-stanford-to-life-on-screen/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/11/18/gaieties-2020-unprecedented-times-brings-stanford-to-life-on-screen/#respond Thu, 19 Nov 2020 02:29:30 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1175327 Opening with a jubilant musical score reminiscent of a LSJUMB number, the traditional festivities and energy of fall quarter are brought to life on-screen, thanks to a talented and dedicated cast (and the Zoom platform, of course).

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Having announced the transition to an online musical production this year, “Gaieties 2020: Unprecedented Times” marks the Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s first ever virtual production since its founding in 1911. With all the typical hilarity and spunk, this year’s Gaieties spotlights frosh struggles, life in quarantine and an epic quest to find a cure for TDS, or toxic duck syndrome.

Opening with a jubilant musical score reminiscent of a LSJUMB number, the traditional festivities and energy of fall quarter are brought to life on-screen, thanks to a talented and dedicated cast (and the Zoom platform, of course). In spite of its light-heartedness, this year’s show strikes a slightly bittersweet note, providing a much-needed reminder of pre-pandemic Stanford and the campus community that, for many students, is a home away from home. 

With a script originating largely from the minds of Ram’s Head’s frosh — most of whom have yet to experience campus themselves — producer Chloe Chow ’23 remarks that “this Gaieties was unique in that it came from a place of what frosh imagine Stanford to be, both from mass media to the ways in which Stanford shapes its public image to the little quirks that frosh hear here and there from upperclassmen.”

Indeed, Stanford’s reputation seemingly transcends the barriers of quarantine. Much to the credit of a team of both frosh and upperclassmen writers, Gaieties 2020 is filled with the familiar “campus culture” jokes of its predecessors: the “techie” versus “fuzzy” debate, the infamous “duck syndrome” and, of course, Cal being the “deepest, darkest place” on the planet. Accompanied by clever, timely quips about TikTok, Stanford-centric online dating platforms and Among Us, new material keeps the humor relatable to the throngs of students unable to come to campus. 

However, beyond poking fun, this year’s production also delivers refreshing and optimistic messages to those tuning in from their screens at home. Without giving away too much, the cast ultimately reminds us that despite all of the stress induced by the pandemic, economic crisis and presidential election to name a few, it is important to keep showing up — whether that means just getting out of bed in the morning or turning your Zoom video on; 2020 is (almost) over, and we (somehow) might just survive.

Delivering such a memorable performance was not without its challenges. In tackling its first virtual production, Ram’s Head was forced to reinvent itself, rewriting job descriptions and changing the script revision process for a video format. Chow explains that with the help of director Justine Sombilon ’22, stage manager Liam Smith ’23 and Gaieties 2020 Head Writer Obed De la Cruz ’21, she “went through about three different versions of the show before settling on this devised version.”

Nonetheless, upon seeing the final product, she believes the company’s perseverance was rewarded: “Reinventing the way we keep theater alive on the spot was very challenging, but ultimately successful.” Video editor Haley Stafford ’24 echoes these sentiments, citing Ram’s Head’s collaborative spirit as the key to success.

“This major undertaking was a team effort,” Stafford said. “It meant stepping up and stepping in for each other; sacrificing sleep to perfect music scores, reshoot scenes and complete assets; and reaching out for help and actively seeking out ways to help others.”

What will next year’s Gaieties look like? According to Chow, the format, live or virtual, has yet to be determined given the uncertainty of the pandemic and emerging third wave, but she would not be opposed to future virtual productions. “One of the best parts of this production is that this video will be permanent,” she wrote in a message to the company. “It’s a marker of how our tradition persisted even when we couldn’t be together in person, and proof of how the Gaieties community isn’t dependent on the MemAud space or the naked run or the audience heckling or the Axe Committee.”

Contact Carissa Lee at carislee ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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SF Playhouse brings Yasmina Reza’s brilliant, blistering, Tony Award-winning play ‘Art’ right to you https://stanforddaily.com/2020/11/17/sf-playhouse-brings-yasmina-rezas-brilliant-blistering-tony-award-winning-play-art-right-to-you/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/11/17/sf-playhouse-brings-yasmina-rezas-brilliant-blistering-tony-award-winning-play-art-right-to-you/#respond Wed, 18 Nov 2020 03:52:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1175168 SF Playhouse makes a triumphant return in its premiere production of the 2020-21 season with Yasmina Reza’s 1998 Tony Award-winning play “Art,” translated by Christopher Hampton (originally in French) and directed by SF Playhouse artistic director Bill English. As a Bay Area theater that often brings new plays by both emerging and established playwrights to […]

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SF Playhouse makes a triumphant return in its premiere production of the 2020-21 season with Yasmina Reza’s 1998 Tony Award-winning play “Art,” translated by Christopher Hampton (originally in French) and directed by SF Playhouse artistic director Bill English. As a Bay Area theater that often brings new plays by both emerging and established playwrights to its cozy stage, SF Playhouse makes a bold choice by bringing this more than 25-year-old play to life in a recorded production performed in its original form at the Playhouse theater (but with no audience), shot from multiple camera angles and cut together as a video. However, Reza’s show is, of course, tried and true — and buttressed by three actors with performances sharp enough to cut across the virtual screen. “Art” pulls more than its weight as the first show of SF Playhouse’s ambitious nine-show season.

Since SF Playhouse’s “Mary Poppins,” I haven’t seen an SF Playhouse production in nearly two years (that’s two years!) — partly on me and partly because of the pandemic. (I do miss being able to snack in the SF Playhouse theater, one of my favorite characteristics of the theater, itself tucked into the back and top level of the Kensington Park Hotel just north of Union Square.) But armed with my trusty family-size bag of chips, I was ready for all of the SF Playhouse shine that I know and love.

My first Reza play was the 2009 Tony Award-winning “God of Carnage” at Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, Michigan. “God of Carnage” is an absolute cutting, satirical lambastation of grandiloquent parents, revealing an underlying savagery in their fight to preserve their already six-feet-deep reputation in the playground of the only required locale, a living room set (spoiler: it’s so that one of the characters can puke on everything). It’s ghastly and amazing.

Only Yasmina Reza can turn the simplest things into complex meditations on life that, by the end, ultimately turn back around to laugh in your face.  In “God of Carnage,” a dispute between two sets of parents over their children fighting launches them into vicious attacks on their character and sanity; in “Art,” a white painting (or, as the characters argue, a “white” “painting”) breaks friendships and brings characters to tears. Where you thought there was a profound message, Reza undermines it with a childish fight that evokes feelings reminiscent of the brain-poke-esque COVID-19 test nasal swab (to describe the sensation in the most of-the-times way possible). It’s neither a comfortable nor uncomfortable feeling, but it’s definitely some kind of feeling.

In “Art,” Reza takes her time skewering the oft-perceived conception of modern art as highfalutin while doubling back and making a case for it. Dermatologist Serge (Johnny Moreno) buys a $200,000 painting by a famous artist of what appears to be just a white canvas — with some diagonal white stripes (like that “Look, I drew a polar bear in a snowstorm!” kind of joke you might have heard when you were little). His friend Marc (Jomar Tagatac), an aeronautical engineer, immediately scorns him for this absurd purchase while his other friend, textile-turned-stationery businessman Yvan (Bobak Bakhtiari), is caught in the middle.

scene from Yasmina Reza's "Art"
Yvan (Bobak Bakhtiari) and Serge (Johnny Moreno) laugh about Serge’s new painting. (Photo: SF Playhouse)

As the play starts out, with every turn audiences are swayed toward Marc’s side, then Serge’s — and then you realize it’s not about that: It’s actually about how people treat each other when they interpret life differently and can’t understand each other despite 15 years of friendship. Then Reza twists the knife again and again until the argument over the painting gruesomely (metaphorically) peels away the scabs of hurt between the friends: Yvan’s long-standing hesitancy to go through with his upcoming wedding, Marc’s sense of pride founded upon Serge’s admiration, Serge’s insecurity over an identity he’s constructed for himself. Finally, Reza goes so far beyond the characters themselves and into the foundations of how we exist only how others conceptualize us, while simultaneously telling audiences that these philosophical musings are, honestly, nonsensical and only serve to exacerbate the sheer, pitiful depths of human cruelty.

“Art” has no singular takeaway and will do something different for every viewer, but for everyone, it should take on Reza’s signature sense of uncomfortable quality that you can’t quite pinpoint. You want to laugh, you know you can and you know you should… but something’s holding you back. There’s something almost too close to home, that kind of theatrical tension that grips you by the shoulders and squeezes. However, this is also why it works best with a live audience; you’re able to share in this palpable tension with others in the room, picking up on every crackling moment.

SF Playhouse’s “Art” lost a bit of spark translating to a recorded format, but any cast performance less than what the show’s three actors brought to the table could have rendered the show much less than it was. The small but stellar cast truly bolstered the production, never missing a beat. SF Playhouse excels most in its straight plays, bringing together intimate performances with slick and production design (some that will make you think, “Whoa, I can’t believe they built that!” but it’s never flashy), and “Art” exemplifies this as well. The play features a simple yet effective design that shows off what the theater has to offer without spending too much on a set that audiences won’t be able to enjoy in person. On the relatively sparse stage, the set merely consists of a side table, a few chairs and a spinning three-sided contraption in the back that acts as each of the characters’ apartment/home back walls rotating to each character’s corresponding side depending on the location. Each location is denoted through color palette and style (complemented by lighting design by Heather Kenyon).

At certain comedic turns, I was practically waiting for the audience to laugh — being so used to that timing, I heard a little audience laugh in my head every time that happened. Due to the digital format, the laughs just don’t hit as hard (especially the fits of laughter that punctuate the play) despite the genuinely comedic nature of “Art.” Nonetheless, viewers will quickly get absorbed in the fast pace of the show, seamlessly held up by the three actors. Moreno stands out as the unflinching owner of the white painting, his voice imbued with a small lilt that carries an innately sardonic tone that feeds perfectly into his character’s interrogatory lines of questioning toward Marc and Yvan. Bakhtiari brings the needed quirk to the play with his performance of the authentically and amusingly messy Yvan, caught between a fight between two close friends in which he ultimately ends up as the punching bag; the standout part of the play includes an extraordinary four-and-a-half-minute monologue where Yvan reenacts a conversation and acts as three people at once (himself, his mother and his fiancée) as he tries to make an excuse for why he’s late. Last but not least, Tagatac is yet again a pleasure to watch as the scornful, self-righteous yet fragile Marc (including a personal favorite performance in Bay Area playwright Christopher Chen’s political-thriller-for-the-stage “You Mean to Do Me Harm”).

As SF Playhouse (presumably) moves forward with more filmed-for-the-stage plays, my wish list remains small but still pressing especially given the theater’s already all-around high standards for production quality. Some of the more abstract sound design laid on top of the video that would have otherwise worked in a theatrical setting felt unnatural and distracting, while the musical elements that settled under the dialogue set the tone well. I also wished the scene transitions showed the whole stage. Often, the magic of theatrical transitions (especially at SF Playhouse) is in watching them work and watching the stage take form before our eyes; they are an art in and of themselves. The video quality wasn’t superb, with some jerky camera movement and out-of-focus moments, but the tempo of the editing and cutting made up for the energy lost from its translation from stage to screen.

Preserving the most essential parts of what SF Playhouse brings to the Bay Area theater scene, “Art” is a welcome offering, and I’m looking forward to what the theater brings to life next. Reza’s play is the sort of makes-you-question-your-sanity type of play that captures what you might be feeling at this time — but at least once the play’s over, that feeling doesn’t stay with you in a bad way. “Art” at SF Playhouse is currently streaming online through Nov. 21. If you’ve been hungry for theater like me and need a few laughs or a breath of comedic fresh air, visit the “Art” production page here to learn more and get pay-what-you-can ($15-$100) tickets.

Contact Olivia Popp at oliviapopp ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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‘Zoom Gaieties’: An opportunity for creative and institutional change https://stanforddaily.com/2020/09/03/zoom-gaieties-an-opportunity-for-creative-and-institutional-change/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/09/03/zoom-gaieties-an-opportunity-for-creative-and-institutional-change/#respond Fri, 04 Sep 2020 03:08:23 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1171980 After Stanford’s announcement that in-person gatherings will be prohibited on campus, many student groups revised their plans for the upcoming school year once again. Gaieties, an annual musical held by The Ram’s Head Theatrical Society that celebrates Stanford’s quirks while calling out the University on its pitfalls, is no exception. Gaieties already went through a […]

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After Stanford’s announcement that in-person gatherings will be prohibited on campus, many student groups revised their plans for the upcoming school year once again. Gaieties, an annual musical held by The Ram’s Head Theatrical Society that celebrates Stanford’s quirks while calling out the University on its pitfalls, is no exception.

Gaieties already went through a major structural change earlier this summer, and after evaluating different ways to respond to Stanford’s prohibition of public gatherings, Producer Chloe Chow ’23 and Stage Manager Liam Smith ’23 decided to change Gaieties’ format again. In an email sent to Ram’s Head on July 29, the production team announced that Gaieties would move to an entirely virtual platform, abandoning its traditional format of a full-scale, in-person musical. Instead, as stated in the email, “the show will be accompanied by devised skits created by company members.” In addition, the email included that “this year’s Gaieties will center the struggles, frustrations, and moments of joy of being a Stanford student through a mix of old & new songs, updated to reflect the current Stanford experience” instead of a completely original soundtrack.

During this unprecedented time, what it looks like to perform “on stage” has been completely reinvented. Below, read more about how, for the first time in history, the production team plans to shift the musical online while still keeping the essence of Gaieties alive.

How was this decision made?

Worsening public health conditions and updates from Stanford were significant in the decision to go virtual. The idea to move Gaieties online was formed by Chow and Smith, who brought it up to Kaitlyn Khayat ’21, Ram’s Head’s Executive Producer, for review.

“We realized that it would be a really big disappointment to plan for an in-person event [knowing] it was likely that it wouldn’t happen. [Since] we don’t have as much familiarity with online events, it’s better to plan for the more complex and technologically involved thing rather than [try] to come up with that on the fly,” Khayat explained. “[Since] we’ve decided to go with this option before we even start hiring and casting for a lot of our positions, hopefully it doesn’t feel like a disappointment, and instead feels like a really cool, unique opportunity.”

Director Justine Sombilon ’22 also offered her input on the decision: “If the alternative is no Gaieties, I think online Gaieties is the best thing to do right now.”

Khayat noted that “it made a lot more sense and felt more equitable to move [Gaieties] online to a platform that is hopefully more accessible to everyone. By and large, the ability to include all four classes instead of just the two that would be on campus [during fall quarter under the University’s original plan] was another big decision-making factor.”

Who’s invited to join?

With the shift to a virtual platform comes the ability for a greater number of students to join and attend the musical. Gaieties 2020 will be open to all Stanford students, regardless of grade level or musical ability.

Sombilon noted that with an online platform, many Stanford students will have equal access to the same opportunities, and there will be less of an information gap between different communities on campus. Sombilon also said, “A problem in the past [was] that outreach for Gaieties can tend to be to one or very specific groups of people, such as the theater community on campus,” and that often, students without previous theater experience didn’t know how to join Stanford’s theater scene.

Chow added, “It’s no secret that Gaieties is a positive feedback loop. In the most respectful way possible, white and privileged individuals are drawn to Gaieties because it is [similar to the] theater community they experienced in high school, while others may not be as willing to take a risk because they’re daunted by the fact that it’s highly populated by white individuals.”

Chow stated that the same people who participate in Gaieties tend to return to more Ram’s Head productions, as “these [individuals] end up staying in Ram’s Head and leading Ram’s Head, shaping future Gaieties and only soliciting to the people who are like them.” Chow said this year’s team will be doing their best to make this Gaieties as accessible as possible by, for instance, “getting proper internet access to people and if possible, distributing cameras, microphones and green screens so that everybody will have, to some extent, an equal Zoom platform to perform on.”

What will the whole show look like? 

The production team has decided to do a sketch-style Gaieties. The show will be performed and filmed mainly on Zoom, edited and then broadcast through ShowTix4U livestream on Nov. 13 – 15 as a pre-recorded production. Ideally, “it’ll be cabaret-style, where you have like a few songs and a skit, then a song, then maybe two skits — but for sure, it’s going to be bookended by original ensemble pieces,” said Chow. Skits will also include songs from past Gaieties, and Chow hopes original songs will also be composed and performed.

Chow also mentioned the significance of incorporating songs from previous Gaieties, stating that “our twist [is] that we are going to be rewriting a lot of the lyrics. I want to return back to my original vision of diversity and inclusiveness and how Gaieties should embody that moving forward, while also acknowledging the damage that was done in the past.” She is aiming to have “as many different communities — underrepresented communities — performing in this Gaieties, singing these songs, performing these skits, telling their stories, since it’s now in their hands without a preconditioned script.”

What’s going to look the same?

The musical style of Gaieties 2020 will stay somewhat consistent with a traditional Gaieties. Additionally, Khayat believes that what makes Gaieties unique will still stay the same, such as “the kooky, fun, ridiculous energy of people making fools of themselves, as well as the critique of things that aren’t so great about Stanford but are important to acknowledge and call out in a constructive and fun way.” 

Paulo Makalinao ’23, videographer, believes that “the meanings, messages, campus unity and community that we try to promote through Gaieties will hopefully still be there. The overall message of promoting a more inclusive community within Stanford will also still be there. While it’ll be quite different from a typical Gaieties, the heart and the soul of what Gaieties stands for and why we do it is always going to remain.”

Both Chow and Khayat hope to create a bonding experience as close to a traditional Gaieties as possible. “By and large, the community-building aspect is something that people really value in Gaieties,” said Khayat. “I hear it over and over, and I see people make friends in Gaieties that stay friends throughout Stanford. And we are striving to provide that experience for people this year.”

What’s going to change? 

Gaieties 2020 will no longer be in a traditional narrative style. The cast will be responsible for writing the script for their own skits, with the artistic vision led by Sombilon. “Hopefully with this entire production, we’ll come up with a theme that we want [the cast] to follow,” said Chow. 

Since there will be no pit orchestra this year, the music will be simplified and mainly in a piano-ballad style, according to Composer Katie Pieschela ’23. Music director Sophie Opferman ’23 said, “[There] will probably be shorter songs … [that are] simpler in terms of orchestration and harmony, just so it’s suitable and performable in an online format.”

Khayat believes that the virtual format opens an opportunity for increased participation, especially from upperclassmen. “[Gaieties 2020] will have a really different feel for the people involved, and that will be really exciting,” said Khayat. “Hopefully, we’ll get a lot more upperclassmen turnout because it won’t feel like people are performing the same show over and over again.” Additionally, Khayat noted how “Gaieties says something that’s really specific to Stanford, and a lot of alumni hold it really dear in their hearts. I’m excited about the opportunity to reach out and see if we can engage other Stanford alumni or families at home who might not otherwise get to see their students perform.”

What will the music sound like, and the composition process look like?

Katie Pieschala was initially in charge of composing original pieces for Gaieties. She has become more of a music facilitator with this virtual format, however — she will be meeting and working with different performers to help them create one or two new songs and lyrics for each skit. In addition, Pieschala will now work closely with the recording and video engineers to ensure their plans for sound quality are viable. She added that since it’s difficult to coordinate singing with other people and instruments virtually, most of the songs will be written and sung solely with piano accompaniment. “The devised skits are just going to be smaller-scale scenes of a traditional Gaieties, so I figure the music and lyrics will be pretty Gaieties-like, just on a smaller scale,” said Pieschala.

As music director, Sophie Opferman ’23 originally signed on to hire pit-orchestra musicians, lead rehearsals and ultimately conduct the show. With the online format, she is now responsible for selecting songs from previous Gaieties to revise. Opferman will work closely with Pieschala to make sure the old and new songs work together well. She will also help recording engineers create the backing tracks for singers to use in performances. For Opferman, the biggest difficulty, she said, is not having “as much freedom to create those truly magical moments that Gaieties is about” — they no longer have a pit orchestra or as many full-length songs as before.

As to what revamping old songs from Gaieties might look like, Opferman recalled how “one of the things that Gaieties 2019 did so beautifully was centering a same-sex storyline and having that be the focal point, but not really treating it any differently. It’d be very interesting to take a love song from a past ballad or a past Gaieties that was between a guy and a girl and change it so that it’s between two guys or two girls, so that it’s more inclusive and more representative of what Gaieties should be.”

Opherman noted advantages that come with doing a virtual show: “There are lots of opportunities for doing things — like adding tracks or sampling different songs and putting them in — that you couldn’t necessarily do in a live performance. [I also love] that we’re going to have so many attempts because we’re filming instead of doing it live, [allowing us] to really experiment.”

What will the set design look like?

While Gaieties 2020 no longer has a physical stage, the production team is hoping to create a similar visual experience by creating graphics to use on Zoom. Liam Fay ’22, set designer, must figure out how each scene will look visually through a virtual format. “I’m getting to reinvent what set design means to the show,” said Fay. “In this case, it’ll be up to me working with our videographer Paulo to figure out, ‘What does the green screen background that we have behind him look like? And how are the panels of people going to be arranged on screen?’ — which is obviously not what I signed up for, but is a cool, creative challenge.”

In terms of what the set might look like, Fay said, “What will be in common [with a traditional Gaieties] is the general whimsy and slightly cartoonish look that Gaieties normally has. It doesn’t look Seussical — [Gaieties] sets are usually fairly realistically painted, but the contrast is turned up a bit because it adds to the excitement and the fun.”

For Fay, working with the videographer will be important for the set design process: “The way that tiles or different camera shots are lined up has to do with the way that the set design then ends up looking.” Although collaborating with Makalinao and other members of the production team will be more difficult than usual, Fay believes the process will be easier — he has worked with almost everyone on the production team and trusts their creative vision.

How will virtual filming work?

The majority of each skit will be recorded through Zoom — each performer will be in their individual rectangle on the screen. The production team predicts that the cast will individually record their parts and send them to Makalinao to stitch together.

Makalinao, who initially joined the team as the videographer, has shifted more into the role of a video editor, as he is responsible for putting all the videos, edited audio and graphics together for the final product. Makalinao described himself as “a very camera and gear oriented person” rather than someone who enjoys editing. Instead of thinking about how he wants to shoot something and what equipment to use, he is now “putting that all aside and directing people to get the content that we’re looking for in a virtual sense.”

“When I have camera equipment and gear, I’m thinking, ‘How do I want to compose the shot … to convey the storyline the best?’” Makalinao said. “And now [I think,] ‘How do I take all these different shots of all these people … on their iPhone and put this on a canvas? How do I arrange these people to get the best version of storytelling that we want to convey? How do I go from this scene number to the skit … to a more musical number? How can I use my video editing … to keep the heart and soul of Gaieties still wrapped up in what we’re producing?’ And I think that’s the challenge that I’m looking for.”

In addition, instead of having an autonomous role where the bulk of the work comes at the end of the production for the videographer, he now must work constantly with the sound engineers, set designer, creative team and others: “My role has changed greatly — from somebody who can be on the sidelines and pop in every other week to somebody who is now going to constantly be there to help form that final vision.”

Makalinao emphasized, however, that he views his role as a messenger rather than the sole creator: “I want to give [the creative team] as many creative tools as I can possibly give them … I just want to make people’s visions and dreams that they have about [Gaieties 2020] come to life.”

What will the audition process look like?

Auditions will be held during the first week of fall quarter. Chow hopes the production team can hold them live over Zoom, as the team would prefer meeting with auditionees face-to-face rather than watching audition videos. 

“The traditional Gaieties audition is unlike any other theatrical audition you will ever do,” Khayat explained. “Everyone is wearing crazy clothes and costumes. You come in, and everyone cheers for you and hypes you up through it. You’re supposed to tell a joke, and then you read a side that’s absolutely nonsense. We ask people to deliver it in different ways, and it’s really funny, kooky and hilarious for the people watching — and also the people auditioning … Chloe and I have been talking about how to use Zoom to [recreate that and] make it feel as though we are providing the same excitement and support for auditionees.”

How will the cast rehearse?

Kelsey Carido ’22 will be the vocal director, working with the cast to rehearse their songs. “Rehearsals are going to be low-maintenance, probably twice a week,” said Chow. However, cast members can reserve additional times, if needed.

How can I watch?

On Nov. 1, the Gaieties team is planning to livestream the final video on YouTube. Chow said the performance will be uploaded to YouTube afterward for anybody to watch in the future — although she “hopes people will still treat the November 1 date as like an actual Gaieties performance.” 

Final thoughts from the production team

Paulo Makalinao (video editor): “Now that we’ve transitioned to a virtual Gaieties, there’s really no playbook for anybody. This is the first time that we’re all going to go through this, and I’m happy we get to go through this together … I anticipate it’ll be a very interesting product. But at the end of the day, I don’t think this is going to be any different … Having this in an online format accentuates the idea that Gaieties has always been wacky, fun and different.”

Chloe Chow (producer): “We really want to use this Gaieties to right the wrongs that Gaieties sent in the past … I’m hoping that, because [we’re aspiring] to hire more people of color both in the cast and the production [team], we can start to turn things around and make it more of a representative production rather than an exclusionary one.”

Justine Sombilon (director): “The exciting thing for me about this Gaieties is that we’re not trying to write a new story — we’re trying to bring to light the experiences of every Stanford student: people from every single community and group on campus. And so we really encourage people from every single corner and crevice of Stanford to just audition. We would love to have you. We don’t care if you can sing or act or dance — we just want you to have fun. The biggest goal of Gaieties is not to put on a Broadway show — it’s to have fun. And we want to provide, we want to be a vehicle for that, especially this fall quarter, because we know it’s gonna be difficult, but we want to be some kind of light in someone’s life. I also feel that Gaieties is the most undaunting form of theater on campus, because it’s silly, it’s fun and it can be meaningful. I think there’s a possibility for it to be especially meaningful as a community-builder right now.”

A common theme throughout each interviewee’s response was the emphasis on how every one of them found a home and support system in the process of creating Gaieties. Many members of the production team also expect community-building to be difficult this year. Even so, Sombilon emphasized that she wants to provide a support system for everyone in the company, as quarantine can feel very isolating. “I want this to be a positive experience,” said Sombilon. “Even though it’s over Zoom, I want [Gaieties] to feel as personal and as face-to-face as possible, even if we’re thousands and thousands of miles away.”

Contact Vivian Jiang at jiang.vivian2 ‘at’ gmail.com.

This article has been corrected to reflect that Gaieties will be broadcast on ShowTix4U, not YouTube. The Daily regrets this error. Additionally, this article has been updated to reflect changes to the rehearsal process.

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Stanford TAPS’s play ‘Cerulean’ explores vulnerability and human connection in a society reliant on technology https://stanforddaily.com/2020/08/25/stanford-tapss-play-cerulean-explores-vulnerability-and-human-connection-in-a-society-reliant-on-technology/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/08/25/stanford-tapss-play-cerulean-explores-vulnerability-and-human-connection-in-a-society-reliant-on-technology/#respond Tue, 25 Aug 2020 08:46:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1171246 Written and performed by 10 Stanford undergraduate students who are part of the Stanford Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) Summer Theater program, the virtual play “Cerulean” brought the sorely missed performing arts back into our lives for two hours. The performers wrote and rehearsed the production remotely for eight weeks, their hard work culminating in three shows from Aug. 6-8, all free of charge, performed over Zoom and broadcasted live on YouTube.

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Written and performed by 10 Stanford undergraduate students who are part of the Stanford Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) Summer Theater program, the virtual play “Cerulean” brought the sorely missed performing arts back into our lives for two hours. The performers wrote and rehearsed the production remotely for eight weeks, their hard work culminating in three shows from Aug. 6-8, all free of charge, performed over Zoom and broadcasted live on YouTube.

Directed by Kari Barclay, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in theater and performance studies, “Cerulean” touches on vulnerability, recovery and finding balance in an online world that can foster connections yet destroy authenticity. The show’s premise centers on a new technological innovation, Cerulean, that is worn as a bracelet and can detect users’ emotions and identify them as colors, and then link users who are simultaneously experiencing the same feelings.

The play follows the interconnected relationships and individual struggles of three characters — Vivian, Miguel and Rita — along their journeys to healing and closure. Through various video calls, virtual group therapy sessions, remote meetings and text messages, we are introduced to the complex lives and hardships of every character. Vivian, the founder of Cerulean, must deal with her mother’s death due to cancer; Miguel grapples with the tragic death of his close friend; and Rita lives an uninspired life as she tries to heal the wounds from her childhood.

“Oftentimes, we think of technology as a barrier to human connection and how it expands and maintains our network but also leads to a lot of falsehoods, especially on social media. With creating our profiles, we get to present ourselves in a way that we want to be presented, so it creates a barrier to vulnerability,” said Mai Lan Nguyen ’22, who played Vivian. “We were exploring what forming connections over technology might look like … so the synopsis is kind of paradoxical because it’s about disconnecting from technology itself but also [using it to] connect with people.”

Vivian creates Cerulean while seeking empathy amid lonely grief. With few close relationships except with her cousin Rita, and her mother’s impending death from cancer, Vivian hopes Cerulean will be the key to unlocking vulnerability in people and cultivating authentic, honest bonds.

“Connection is something we all crave, and it’s actually something we all deserve. … Can technology connect us on a meaningful, truthful level?” she asks in an advertisement for Cerulean. “Cerulean lets us be vulnerable together.”

This concept of vulnerability continues to be discussed throughout the show, raising questions about the extent to which vulnerability is necessary, while examining the often laborious journey it takes to reach that stage in grief. Miguel’s journey to vulnerability particularly stands out. Mourning the loss of his friend, Miguel is initially closed off at his group therapy meetings, unable to accept his feelings or experiences. But Cerulean ultimately enables him, even forces him, to come to terms with his emotions.

“A frustrating customer service call to Cerulean turns serendipitous as Miguel later finds friendship in the customer service rep, Rita, with similar underlying feelings of grief and anxiety,” explained Marlon Washington II ’22, who portrayed Miguel. “Miguel evolves from being extremely reticent about his experiences to speaking on the complexity of emotions with aplomb in his final scene,” which is, once again, at his group therapy meeting, bringing his story full circle.

The final group therapy meeting provides closure for not only Miguel but also for Vivian. Though Vivian created Cerulean to encourage vulnerability — believing it was “a checkpoint before you get to connection,” according to Nguyen — the character ultimately realizes that vulnerability isn’t a requirement when recovering from grief and tragedy.

“We juggled with the idea of needing consent from the person to be vulnerable … It’s your decision and your right to control the level of vulnerability that you explore or give out to the world,” said Nguyen. “[Vivian] takes off her bracelet at the end because she understands that her way of thinking about emotions and connection and vulnerability has been simplistic. It’s more complex than that.”

Miguel’s newfound friend, Rita, is struggling to find herself between a desire to pursue her passion for writing and her father’s desire for her to obtain a more stable job in the tech industry. At the same time, she is faced with trauma from an abusive mother whom she was left with after her father abandoned her as a child. Begrudgingly taking on the dreary customer service job for Cerulean, Rita attempts to ignore her discontentment with her life. Her automatic connection with Miguel, facilitated by Cerulean, compels Rita to face her emotions and rethink her career and passions, along with her relationship with her father.

Barclay said that “Cerulean” explores how Rita “moves to forgive her father and recognize that he also went through some challenging things. It’s a journey of forgiveness. It’s a journey of healing, just like the journey that Miguel takes. … It’s a play about healing, in a lot of ways.”

Cerulean is, indeed, a play about healing, specifically from grief. In the play, a shade of deep blue represents sorrow on the bracelet. It’s an emotional shade that Miguel, Vivian and Rita all experience, and it’s one that any other human being will experience in their lifetime. Yet, in the tech industry, where happiness equates to clicks which equate to profit, there is apparently no room or time for sorrow, a long and arduous process. Consequently, Cerulean’s board members pressure Vivian to remove deep blue as a color, essentially suggesting grief can and should be ignored.

Vivian, mourning the recent death of her mother, fights back against this decision, exclaiming, “Grieving is a real experience. It’s the core of vulnerability. It’s complex and difficult, but sometimes it’s the only thing you have left. It’s the only thing you can hold on to.” Nguyen explained, “[Vivian] was struggling with the ethics of … tailoring people’s emotions — getting rid of something that they might actually feel, but displaying something completely different. It goes into the realms of manipulation.”

In this way, “Cerulean” appreciates and recognizes the grieving process as a natural, necessary part of life while acknowledging flaws in the tech industry that may prevent genuine human connection. “The tech culture — if it’s entirely built around capitalism, it makes the internet undemocratic. How can we, as people, have more say in the technologies that we’re using?” asked Barclay. “That is what we were getting at.”

As society continues to grapple with the ramifications of a global pandemic, “Cerulean” is particularly relevant to today’s issues, not only because it touches on emotions that are undoubtedly being felt around the world right now, but also because it ponders whether technology can connect humans in a meaningful way. Today, people separated by various distances are forced to communicate virtually, and the capability of technology is seriously being put to the test.

Interestingly, those working on “Cerulean” had to test it out themselves. Using advanced software such as OBS that enabled them to broadcast media from multiple sources, the performers were able to expand the capacities of Zoom by broadcasting creative backgrounds and overlays, giving the impression of a diversified setting. Spending hours of screen time to perfect these tricky and unconventional techniques, they successfully put on a touching production through unprecedented means. 

Barclay said, “I started the play in a very pessimistic place about technology, but the fantastic thing was I was working with these nine actors over the summer, and we formed a genuine, real community over the internet. I’ve never been in the same room as some of these people, and yet I feel that I know them.”

Similarly, Washington said the process “was a refreshing start and assessment of the times: We created a constellation of characters with rich emotional lives to stage. … As performers, we juggled responsibilities of videography, sound-mixing and acting live. As collaborators, we triumphed over distance and a short timeline.”

“Cerulean” seeks not to answer philosophical questions about vulnerability or morality, but to simply raise these questions, sparking thought and discussion. The eight-week process of devising the play and bringing to life relatable characters, along with their raw emotions, provided an opportunity for TAPS students to attempt to find an answer to some of those questions themselves. Amid a troubling time of widespread loneliness, grief and a certain detachment from community, “Cerulean” is a heartwarming, thought-provoking show that serves as both a memento of the present and a bridge to a more hopeful future.

Contact Yejin Song at 22yejins ‘at’ students.harker.org.

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‘Devised at Dink’: Producer Chloe Chow ’23 on revamping Gaieties 2020 to open-air sketch comedy https://stanforddaily.com/2020/07/17/devised-at-dink-producer-chloe-chow-23-on-revamping-gaieties-2020-to-open-air-sketch-comedy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/07/17/devised-at-dink-producer-chloe-chow-23-on-revamping-gaieties-2020-to-open-air-sketch-comedy/#respond Fri, 17 Jul 2020 19:24:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1170225 The Daily met with this year’s producer Chloe Chow ’23 over Zoom to discuss the future of Gaieties 2020, and behind-the-scenes details on the original script, Chow’s experience as a Producer during the pandemic and on uncharted territory for this year’s Gaieties company.

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The debut of the “Re-Approaching Stanford” Newsletter in student inboxes this summer produced a clarion call for beloved Stanford fall-quarter traditions to either adapt or face cancellation. One such tradition is Gaieties, an original completely student-written, composed and performed musical produced by Ram’s Head Theatrical Society. In the past, it has been an outlet to poke fun at how absurd life can get on the Stanford campus and showcase the ridiculousness of Stanford students while rallying the student body against their rival, Berkeley, as they prepare to face off in their yearly football game, the “Big Game.” With origins that date back to 1911, Gaieties has evolved into a large-scale musical with a singular, cohesive storyline that follows a group of freshmen who must work together to defeat their rival’s mascot, the Cal Berkeley Bear. However, as a result of ongoing circumstances due to the coronavirus pandemic, the production team of Gaieties 2020 has been forced to revise their initial plans of going through with a traditional form of Gaieties. Instead, as announced in an email sent to the Ram’s Head company last Friday July 10, Gaieties 2020 is looking to return to the original format of the show as a series of individual, sketch-style acts without a set theme tying them together. 

The Daily met with this year’s producer Chloe Chow ’23 over Zoom to discuss the future of Gaieties 2020, and behind-the-scenes details on the original script, Chow’s experience as a Producer during the pandemic and on uncharted territory for this year’s Gaieties company. 

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity and length. 

The Stanford Daily (TSD): Why did you want to join Gaieties 2020? 

Chloe Chow (CC): This past fall, I had the fortune to be one of the freshmen heroes of Gaieties 2019 and perform on stage. I think that, because with Gaieties we audition people the very first week of school, this really is your community from the second that you step on campus and you want to be involved in the theater scene. For me, I auditioned kind of by mistake, and I didn’t know what I was getting into. But I think that if I didn’t have Gaieties, I wouldn’t have felt like I found my place at Stanford because Gaieties very much inducts this new group of theater freshmen into the theater scene. Stanford isn’t very well known for theater, but I just fell in love with the whole community aspect. I love socializing and I’m somewhat extroverted, so I wanted to be able to create that new community aspect in Gaieties 2020, and that’s why I applied for producer. I also wanted to be involved in Gaieties 2020 because I think that obviously 2020, before the pandemic hit, was going to be a pretty momentous year.

Gaieties has, in the past, embodied a lot of racism and really bad meaning within it and being a person of color and a minority within this theater scene and America in general, I wanted to make sure voices on campus were being heard. And I think that doesn’t just come from being a cast member. It comes from the very start, from hiring your writers to shaping what the script is going to be about because Gaieties is completely student-written and composed. So hiring a diverse, creative production team and casting diverse people really needs to come from the back door where you can ensure that you have a handle on everything that’s going on. Not necessarily like a dictatorship, but just enough to be aware that things are flowing in the right direction. 

TSD: What was your role on staff in this production, and when were you hired? 

CC: I was hired back in late February, so it’s been about five months. As the producer, I’m the very first person hired on to the process. I am in charge of hiring our head writers, who write the script, and our composer and lyricist, who write and compose the music. From there, I help the head writers hire writers to create the writing team. I am the messenger, the liaison between the writing team and our Ram’s Head Board of Directors. I also helped assemble our Creative Advisory Board (CAB), which is a separate group of students from the writing team who make sure that no jokes are too offensive, that the script is coherent and makes sense. I deliver the script to the Board of Directors, to CAB and am also in charge of hiring a bunch of the production staff like our production manager, our director, our stage manager, choreographer, vocal director, just like everybody. And then from there, what my job this summer was supposed to be was budgeting, for planning just the money aspect around Gaieties and setting up a rehearsal schedule. So that’s generally what the producer does. Then later, I’d work on marketing, but that hasn’t come yet, obviously. So yeah, that’s generally what the producer does. It’s kind of a lot of tasks, but so far, it hasn’t been too many tasks because of COVID.

TSD: How much work did you accomplish for your position before it was decided that the show in its intended form should be postponed for next year? 

CC: Yeah, intended is the keyword here. Coming out of March, when we were all sent home, I still had the mindset of like, “Oh, we’re going to have Gaieties maintain this musical for; we don’t know what September is going to look like, what November when Gaieties performance is going to look like. So we should just keep on working towards the end goal of putting on a regular musical assuming that everything is possible.” And then the [Stanford] email [on June 3 from President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Persis Drell] came saying that they’re only going to have two classes [on-campus] per quarter. So that starts changing stuff a bit. And then the email that completely changed things up was when they said that only freshmen and sophomores are gonna be on campus in the fall and summer and then all the upperclassmen are going to be on campus during the winter and spring. But up until [last week on Tuesday, July 7] when I sent an update to [the Rams Head company], the work that had been done was that we had hired quite a bit of the design and production staff, and we had gotten a final draft of the script. So we do have a finalized story that’s going to be performed [next year for] Gaieties 2021. It just hasn’t gone through like the final touches but that was where we were on the timeline, assuming that we were going to be putting on a regular musical. 

TSD: How did the pandemic and Stanford’s virtual spring quarter impact your work-life balance on this show? 

We got sent home the week before winter quarter ended, so the script hadn’t been written yet. We had just hired our writers, and I did all my interviews with the writers and the Creative Advisory Board in person. But then we got sent home, and my work-life balance was skewed a lot. I was working a lot on Gaieties during the virtual spring quarter because I was interviewing and creating applications, reviewing applications for the production team and the design team. And that’s what I was doing during the majority of spring quarter as well as editing the script. It wasn’t terrible, because I would have been doing a lot of that stuff on my computer anyway, but doing zoom interviews was very time-consuming. Again, there’s nothing you can do since it had to be done, and I enjoyed getting to know people over Zoom. So it wasn’t really a setback.

TSD: How have the Black Lives Matter protests in response to police brutality and anti-blackness impact your production process? 

CC: That’s hard to say because I can’t speak for any one of our team members because I think that we all experienced the Black Lives Matter movement and the whole anti-cop protest very differently. I told my head writers that it was okay to put a pause on the scriptwriting for the two or three weeks that the Black Lives Matter movement was really taking flight back in late May. I think that in order to fully engage in your art, you need to be cleansed of other stresses in your life, and in order to be cleansed of other stresses in your life, it’s okay to say no to doing art for a moment. Social justice right now definitely takes greater priority than putting on Gaieties. In comparison to this whole national movement, Gaieties is nothing, and I’d much rather have my team members either be out there protesting or signing petitions, raising money to donate, taking care of their own mental health and emotional health instead of stressing over meeting a deadline. I think that moving the script next year was honestly probably a better choice [than] rushing it and getting it done by our initial deadline [National Tax Day, June 15] because I don’t want our writers to feel stressed in any capacity. We did consider integrating the Black Lives Matter movement messages into our script but because it’s not being performed this year, we want to make sure the script stays relevant to whatever is happening next year. The script hasn’t really reflected any of the recent events that have been going on because it has been put on pause.

TSD: How did Stanford’s Re-Approaching communications impact the production process? 

CC: I have to admit I was very, very, very stressed for the entire four months that we were kept in the dark. It was really stressful because of all the responses that I thought Stanford could send out to their students planning for fall quarter, them saying, “Oh, we’re gonna have half capacity” was the last thing I expected. It’s really hard to plan a show when half the people that you’re expecting to be in the show just aren’t there and you also didn’t know who was going to be there. 

I sent out an email to the entire company saying “Hey, I’m going to host a town hall because I think that so many people have worked on this that it is unfair for me as a single person to make a decision.” We had about 20 people from our Gaieties company out of, I think, 40 people attend [a town hall], and we had a really good conversation around options for Gaieties. One of them being we could do Gaieties completely on Zoom. We could do a regular musical, but film it, and then we could put it on at Frost Amphitheater and have a movie under the stars and allow people to social distance. Another option we had is to do Gaieties as a movie where, rather than do it in a theater, we film using the campus as our backdrop. Another option that we had was to just not do Gaieties at all and save the script for next year. So then I sent out the Google form with all the options, people voted, and the most popular option was to do a musical-style Gaieties and record it and put it on as a movie. But after they said that only freshmen and sophomores are going to be on campus [during the Autumn quarter], and obviously COVID cases are rising in California, SoCal especially, and Florida, Alabama, etc., we figured that social distancing protocols probably won’t allow us to put on a regular musical in the Memorial Auditorium. 

I then met with my production team, which is Rebecca Cohen ’21, our production manager, Liam Smith ’23, our stage manager, and Justine Sombilon ’22, our amazing, amazing director. And we talked about all the options on the Google form: A movie would just take up too much time, the social distancing wouldn’t allow for a regular musical and Zoom Gaieties wouldn’t be feasible for the script that we had at the moment. We decided to move the script to next year in order to honor the writers and the original intent of the script and where they want to be performed. [For this year] we decided to return to the original form of Gaieties as a bunch of little, one-acts or sketches people performed that didn’t necessarily have to be interlinked, but would still maintain the whole “We’re going to make fun of Berkeley and we’re going to make fun of Stanford and we’re going to induct all these freshmen into the theater scene. We’d let the people that we cast devise their own Gaieties and then perform it in an open airspace, but it would still maintain the whole community aspect.

TSD: What will the ‘devised Gaieties 2020’ look like? 

CC: Devised theater is where a bunch of people get together and make up their own cooperative story and their own songs. They share it with each other and they help each other edit and refine it, and put it on as their own group project instead of having someone hand [a script, music, and choreography] to them. I really hope that we get a lot of people auditioning because my hope is to have one to three cohorts of students (freshmen and sophomores) each devising their own 25 to 30-minute piece about their experience thus far, if it’s a lot of sophomores, or what they expected Stanford to be or whether they feel like they’re missing out. I feel like one topic that’s going to be very popular is “Who knows what spring quarter feels like?” because none of us have experienced spring quarter or “Screw Greek life, who needs Greek life on Stanford’s campus?” because I think that freshmen and sophomores have a very different idea of what Stanford is than the current juniors and seniors. 

You know where Dinkelspiel is? It’s right across the Student Union. There’s this big cement stage that’s outdoors. I’m hoping to put it on there so people can social distance in the audience but still have a good old time. Logistics are still yet to be figured out. But that’s the vision so far and is what was in the email that I sent out [to the company of Ram’s Head last Friday]. 

What aspects of Gaieties will stay the same, and what will look different? 

I think in terms of what’s going to be the same is community. Community building. We’re still going to try to be a family, to maintain the whole culture of “Gaieties babies, we love you, freshmen.” It’s really hard to say what else can be the same because I think that the fact that we have no script going into Gaieties means that everything is going to be different. What’s going to be vastly different is the fact that there’s no thorough storyline throughout the entire hour to hour-and-a-half production because I’m hoping each cohort is going to have different stories that they’re telling. No one person is going to be “the” freshman hero as I’m hoping that we’ll have multiple freshmen heroes existing in each cohort. Music-wise, there’s going to be music mentorship from our composer Katie Pieschala ‘23. She’s going to be guiding them in how to write songs, what makes for a good Gaieties song and how to integrate story into your lyrics. My choreographer is going to just guide them on general movements since I think that Gaieties choreography has never been too fancy. Like, literally if they just flossed the entire 30 minutes, that could be choreography. If they do fortnite dances, that could be choreography, it’s really up to them. It’s just that we have staff members to help guide their visions, in case [they] need some pushing one way or another. What else could be different? I don’t know how we’re gonna make money because if it’s an outdoor space, you could just walk in and out, and you don’t really need to buy a ticket. I’m hoping people will buy tickets, and I’m still figuring that out.

TSD: Is there a schedule you have already set in place? 

CC: There is a tentative schedule in place. 

TSD: Will juniors and seniors and any other students choosing not to live on campus this fall be able to get involved? If so, how? (virtually, off-campus meetings?)

My plan is to have them offer some sort of one-on-one mentorship to people on campus. They get to help with script advising and editing. If I can find a way to get a projector in Dinkelspiel, I would love to have people off-campus pre-record something, and we can integrate that into our devised pieces.

TSD: What information (if anything) can you disclose about the plot, characters or themes of Gaieties 2021 at this time? 

CC: I don’t know how much I should disclose, but I’ll hint that it incorporates something that the freshmen had in their unique experience of not having Admit Weekend.

TSD: To what extent will Gaieties 2021 be incorporated into the ‘devised Gaieties 2020’? 

None. 

TSD: How does the original Gaieties 2020 script, now Gaieties 2021 script, respond to previous Gaieties? 

CC: We tried to take a more multimedia approach in comparison to previous Gaieties. But we also tried to make it break away from the typical “There’s a freshman that doesn’t feel like they belong at Stanford, but then they find a group of friends, and they have to go and save the day from Berkeley. And then at the end, everybody’s happy and everybody’s at Stanford and ‘oh my god, we love Stanford.’” We tried to take a little more realistic stance and have characters come from not only diverse racial backgrounds but also socioeconomic, family circumstances, taking in[to] account other family members rather than just the admits themselves. We also tried to find other things to poke fun at in our script besides Greek life. I’m very in love with Gaieties 2021; I really wish we could have put it on this year. I think that the story is, I wouldn’t say it’s unique beyond comparison, but it’s definitely not what Gaieties 2019 was about. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen [Gaieties 2020’s] evolution. Probably if people see it, they’ll be like “It was just Gaieties 2019 again,” but I feel like there’s a lot more nuance to this. I think that it potentially, also depending on casting, can speak out to a lot more communities than past Gaieties have.

TSD: You might have the opportunity to work on it next year, right? 

CC: I would love to produce Gaieties 2021, but depending on COVID circumstances, and this is a very personal thing, I really want to travel abroad. Stanford in New York is in the fall, which means I wouldn’t be on campus, which means I can’t produce it, and I don’t know if the Rams Head will let me produce two Gaieties in a row. That would be amazing; I love, love the process. But in like a really bad comparison, I feel like I kind of gave my child up for adoption. To have seen the script since its birth, and I had planned on guiding its vision until its “death,” but I’m going to have to hand it off to somebody who I know I can trust because I’ll be the one hiring them. But to see it take a probably very different form than what we initially intended it to look like, it’s going to be exciting; it’s also going to be sad, but mostly heartening. 

TSD: Any last thoughts? 

Even though we’ve had the unfortunate situation of being stuck in a pandemic, I am really happy with the way that Gaieties is moving forward because, like I said before, “Oh Gaieties 2020, what a cool year, what a cool number for a year, like, it sounds like it’s supposed to be momentous, you know? And it is momentous because I think that we found a Gaieties that is adaptable, accessible and still fun. It still preserves the core nature of Gaieties and the fact that we want to welcome any and all freshmen into the theater scene and show that Stanford can be fun, because I think that Stanford is very nerdy. And also just building communities, which is something that I really, really value because community is what made me feel like I have a chance at belonging at Stanford without dealing with imposter or duck syndrome, and I want to be able to pass it on, no matter the shape or the form of Gaieties. And I know that a lot of freshmen that I’ve talked to already are very excited just being in Gaieties. Granted, this isn’t the Gaieties that they’re expecting, but I still want to deliver. 

But I think that we are making history. In a good way — I hope so, in a bad way, I hope not. But what can you do? You can’t control your circumstances, and I think we’re making the best of it.

Contact Vivian Jiang at jiang.vivian2 ‘at’ gmail.com. 

The post ‘Devised at Dink’: Producer Chloe Chow ’23 on revamping Gaieties 2020 to open-air sketch comedy appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

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Artist Spotlight: Eve La Puma ’20, actor-musician https://stanforddaily.com/2020/06/13/artist-spotlight-eve-la-puma-20-actor-musician/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/06/13/artist-spotlight-eve-la-puma-20-actor-musician/#respond Sun, 14 Jun 2020 02:28:30 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1169420 Eve La Puma '20 majored in TAPS with a minor in music (bassoon performance) and is a highly valued member of the Stanford Arts community. She celebrates her graduation this weekend with the class of 2020 and will be dearly missed.

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To round out a quarter of canceled show reviews and artist spotlights in Arts & Life, I wanted to speak with an extraordinary individual who I’ve technically known about since I walked into Dinkelspiel Auditorium four years ago. Julia “Eve” La Puma ’20 is a multi-talented musician, singer, actress and theater-maker who — though wholly unbeknownst at the time — I saw perform under the baton of Anna Wittstruck at the 2016 Stanford Symphony Orchestra (SSO) Halloween Concert. That concert with its macabre decor and costumed musicians is a quite fitting venue to overlap with someone I would get to know quite well from assistant music-directing Rams Head’s 2019 spring show “The Addams Family” and this year’s Gaieties. With the onset of COVID-19 in March, the musician-actor had to radically-rethink her intended capstone project, which blossomed into a heartwarming suite of her Stanford musical experiences this spring. 

Artist Spotlight: Eve La Puma '20, actor-musician
The promotional graphic for Eve’s joint Senior Recital through the Music Department and TAPS Capstone Project (Photo courtesy of Eve La Puma)

At the end of Week 7 spring quarter, more than 130 people signed onto a Youtube livestream to watch Eve perform her joint bassoon senior recital and Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) capstone project. Her selected repertoire ranged from Vivaldi, Gliére and Mozart chamber pieces to Stephen Sondheim, Alan Menken and Andrew Lippa musical theater numbers and even an original composition, the delightfully meta-theatrical “Bassoon Song.” La Puma made her senior recital a “family affair,” in the literal sense that her family members performed with her and helped stage and record the recital, but also in the figurative sense in that her Stanford family came en masse to support her. During her time at Stanford, La Puma collaborated with a variety of student-artists in TAPS, ITALIC, Rams Head, [wit], SloCo and the music department, which was well-represented by the chat window buzzing with music and theater commentary for the duration of her livestream. 

The opening remarks of her bassoon instructor, Rufus Olivier, set the nostalgic-yet-celebratory tone of the event: “Eve is such a positive person, talented in not only the bassoon but also dancing and acting. During our lessons I would always ask her, ‘How would you sing that? Act that passage out,’ to look for the drama in the music. I wish I could say Eve grew so much as a musician these past four years but she was already mature beyond her age and just ripened.” 

Both Olivier and her voice teacher Kathryne Jennings, prior to “act two” of the concert reflected on how it was such a delight to work with La Puma because of her warmth, strong work-ethic and enthusiasm for performing with, mentoring and creating welcoming spaces for others. I could not help but think back to last spring when I went into the MemAud pit for “The Addams Family” opening night and found paper mache black roses on every music stand wishing every member of the 15-piece band plus the cast and staff “an unhappy opening.” La Puma during her time at Stanford cultivated the warm and fierce agape, a term which Ancient Greeks used to describe the kind of familial, friendly love that binds communities — whether hereditary or chosen  —  together. As a TAPS major and music minor, La Puma also very much embodies the Ancient Greek notion of mousike, which unlike the English term “music” encompasses instrumental music, vocal song and dance. Though La Puma’s virtual recital was incredibly noteworthy in itself, I followed up with her afterward over Zoom to discuss her artistic journey within and without Stanford.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. 

The Stanford Daily (TSD): When did you first start music lessons? Is it something you’ve done for all your life? Why music and theater? Why pursue these things at Stanford? 

Eve La Puma (ELP): Music has always been part of my life. My mom is a composer for musical theater, so, ever since I was a baby, she’d take me along to her rehearsals. She would bring a full backpack of coloring books for me, and I often would play with my sisters in the aisles of the theater. One day I saw a harpist play at church and thought “that instrument looks really cool” but knew it was good to learn piano first so I could then transition over. I started taking piano lessons in first grade and never ended up going over to the harp. In fourth grade, my mom encouraged me to choose an instrument for the school music program that a lot of other people wouldn’t want to play, so I picked the oboe. My school wasn’t going to let me play the oboe, however, because they thought it too advanced particularly since the teachers in the program only were trained in flute, clarinet [and] sax, not double reeds. But I ended up taking oboe lessons the entire summer and joined the class as an oboist. And in seventh grade, I wanted to join the most advanced ensemble at my middle school, but they already had two oboes going into eighth grade. The orchestra conductor was like, “Well if you want to play with us, you’ll have to switch to an instrument we don’t already have.” 

My mom was the one who suggested the bassoon because she had played it a little bit in high school and for one show in college and thought it might be really cool for me to pick it up. I went to high school at Orange County High School for the Arts (OCSA) and studied the bassoon through the instrumental music program, where it eventually became my primary instrument. [In high school], I definitely knew I wanted to pursue the Humanities and the Arts in some way. In my Stanford application I put that I was interested in majoring in English, theater or music. English kind of dropped off the grid, but I needed a little time to take a break from the intense instrumental music education I had in high school. So I ended up focusing on theater and declared a theater major by the end of freshman year, though I continued playing in orchestra and joined the wind quartet.

I then pursued a certificate of music in bassoon performance until this year when they [Stanford] changed the music minor. I found out I already had a music minor under their new rules, so I ended up declaring a music minor, which is nice because now it will be a more official thing. The certificate of music is an audition-based program, and you have to do a recital by the end of senior year. One of the pros of the certificate of music is that it forces you to put in the effort of doing a recital which you might not find the time for otherwise but I wanted to do one regardless. The music minor is great in getting tons of new students involved with the music department. I have so many friends who realized they accidentally have a music minor or just need one more class, which is fantastic, because it shows how many are engaging with the arts even if it’s not their main degree at Stanford. 

TSD: How would you say doing ITALIC your freshman year impacted your sense of what you wanted to do with the performing arts at Stanford? 

ELP: ITALIC is one of those programs that I understood how much of an impact it had on me after I left it. For my entire life I had been funneled through music and theater practice, so I didn’t have a lot of experience with visual art, photography or other art forms. ITALIC was really great because it exposed me to those and gave me a framework for having a conversation about them. One of the things I really appreciated about that program is that it brings together people who have spent significant time in those art practices as well as people who just have an appreciation for them and don’t necessarily make that art themselves because I think bridging the gap between consumers of the art and creators of the art led to some really interesting conversations during that year. Tons of ITALIC people are still friends, and we have a group that has been getting together to play Toontown during quarantine. I loved ITALIC because of the conversations we had and it just made it so easy to go out and engage with the things we were talking about in the real world. I took so much of it for granted, how they would arrange transportation to take us to the opera and pay for it. And now I’m realizing, “Wow, that is incredible that we got to be a part of it.” I highly recommend it. 

TSD: What did you originally plan on doing for your TAPS capstone project and how did the pandemic change that? 

ELP: Yeah, my TAPS capstone had kind of a wild journey. I had originally planned on doing “Fun Home” at the beginning of this year with a couple of other friends and do sort of a joint-capstone like “Next to Normal.” We had everyone we needed, TAPS was like, “This is great!” but then we were denied rights to the show. So then we were like, “Okay, let’s find something else.” We briefly considered “Spelling Bee” and then wanted to do “Heathers” in winter quarter. We got midway through fall quarter and my voice teacher noted that “You haven’t started casting and you don’t have a lot of the positions filled.” The show would have gone up Week 7 this year but because of Gaieties, Brenna [McCulloch ’20] and I wouldn’t be able to get involved until Week 1 winter quarter, which we realized would be insane. Brenna and I signed on to do “Midsummer’s Nights Dream, and we got cast as Helena and Hermia, which was gonna be super fun but then COVID hit, and the show had to be canceled. Brenna made Gaieties her capstone retroactively and I did the recital since voice and bassoon was already what I was going to be working anyway. I view myself as an actor-musician so it felt right to me to have my capstone be something where I got to showcase both of those skills. 

TSD: Do you want to reflect briefly on the music and theater productions you did at Stanford? 

ELP: Yeah, let me just look at my resume just to make sure I have all of them. Here we go! Freshman fall I started off with “The Merchant of Venice” with [wit], a gender-conscious theater company which sadly was crowded about by the sheer amount of theater that happens on campus. But for the first couple years at Stanford they were the ones who I felt the most community with. So I played Antonio in the “Merchant of Venice.” I have a lot of love for that production. We tried to do some really interesting things with a story that is very problematic and hard to tell. I met some of my best friends on that show. And then I was in a TAPS Department show “Disillusion,” which started as a staged reading written by Clay Slang ’18 but ended up becoming a full production in Prosser. I was in the “Wild Party ensemble that spring in my first Rams Head production. The next fall I did “Hamlet” with [wit], and I got to play Polonius, one of my favorite roles at Stanford. 

I actually auditioned for “Chicago” with Rams Head and hadn’t gotten cast so I was in this little rut where I was like, “Can I even do musical theater?” You know, having a little crisis. A week after Chicago auditions, however, I auditioned for TAPS’ “Next to Normal” and the only role that was left open was Dr. Fine and Dr. Madden. I thought “they are not going to cast me because it is traditionally a male role” but after I auditioned the director said, “Great, let’s make it a female role!” And since I’m a contralto, we didn’t have to change the key signature for any of the songs. I did “Dr. Voynich and her children” with [wit] that spring where I played a character named Hannah. I did “A Little Night Music” through the music department and co-produced “Stop Kiss” with [wit] winter quarter and “Addams Family” spring quarter. I actually had not planned on auditioning for “Addams Family” until mid-way through fall quarter because I was like, “You know I didn’t get into “Chicago,” I think I’ll devote all my energy to [wit] this year,” but my friends encouraged me to audition and I was like, “You know why not? It would be fun to do another musical,” and I’m so glad that I did. I also stage-managed the stand-up comedy show “Lighten Up” for my TAPS stage management project at the end of junior year, which was really fun. Music-wise I played with the Stanford Wind Quartet for 2 ½ years — from the end of freshman year through this fall — and was in SSO my freshman year. 

TSD: When did you start planning your capstone in the form that it took as a Youtube livestream? 

ELP: I first started talking about doing a senior recital with Kathryne and Rufus last year as I always knew  I would love to do a half-bassoon, half-voice recital. I have taken bassoon every single quarter since starting at Stanford and voice every quarter since sophomore year. When we knew that we weren’t going to be coming back and that it wouldn’t be possible to do it in person, I had already been working on this [recital] and getting excited about it for so long. But I knew I could call on my family to “Please accompany me!” and they would leap up and help me so there was never a question of whether I would do the recital. As time went on, my family just kept practicing together and we were like, “What if we had Cece play the cello?” What if we had mom play the harpsichord? And the electric piano? Why not?” We’re a very “yes and…” family which made it really exciting. I toyed with the idea of making it live but I got really nervous about WiFi being a problem. And after watching the Worker’s Benefit Cabaret, I realized I really liked how they did the premiere. It was pre-recorded but you’re watching it with people so you keep the communal sense of being in this musical space together. I texted Kaitlyn [Khayat ’21] and Vincent [Nicandro ’20] so many questions — “How do you set this up? How does Youtube work?” — and they were extremely helpful.

TSD: How did you choose your musical theater songs? Had you performed any of those classical pieces before or did you intentionally try to learn any new repertoire for the recital? 

ELP: It was a mix. For “Just Around the Corner,” I thought it would be fun to do a throwback to that show because that was my favorite performing experience as an actor on this campus. There were a couple songs on the program that I had worked on early on with Kathryne in lessons: “Pretty Funny” and “You Can Always Count on Me.” “Pretty Funny” I had a lot of trouble with the first time I performed it. I get really nervous about using both my mix and my head-voice because I’m just so comfortable in the lower, chesty part of my voice. So I wanted to do it again after three years of voice lessons to see how it felt different and easier to do now. And it definitely did, which was very gratifying. “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Losing My Mind” I had been working on this year in voice lessons and I felt really great about them and thought it would be fun to throw them into the mix. 

TSD: What’s the story behind your original composition “The Bassoon Song”?  

ELP: I had worked on Goldrich and Heisler’s “Alto’s Lament” in voice lessons before, a hilarious song about how this girl wants to sing the melody-line but always got cast in alto roles. In the middle of the song there’s this breakout moment where she sings a bunch of famous musical theater songs but just the alto line. So it’s like, [Eve breaks out in song]: “the hills are alive with the song of music!” and it’s just so funny. My mom and I got inspired by that and I was like, “What if I did something like that with the bassoon?” I originally planned on making fun of the bassoon the whole time but people make fun of the bassoon all the time. Let’s make fun of the bassoon a little bit but also make it a positive thing, express “look how great the bassoon is!” and “here’s some melodies that you might recognize [such as Peter and the Wolf, Rite of Spring and Fantasia].” I sent lyrics to my mom by the end of fall quarter, three stanzas of complete lyrics plus a bunch of random notes and bassoon jokes about “the spit” or “the stand-up comics.” My mom is a really great composer because she takes the ideas and words the lyricist puts in front of her and crafts them to fit the music she is thinking of and I led her to take the lead. We have discussed doing a nicer recording in the recording studio. I could fix that high D that didn’t want to speak when I debuted the song at my recital. 

TSD: How would you say your bassoon studies inform your theater and dance practice? 

ELP: Strong musical training is helpful with dance just because I can use the rhythm of this is where the down beat, the music is. Music sticks in my brain really easily, better than anything else, so I would associate the dance move with the music that plays with it to help with memorization. I’ve taken a couple dance classes at Stanford, some social dance, which has been really fun because I never worked on that before. Partner dance is challenging in a whole different way. I took “Social Dance” last winter quarter which was also when we were learning the majority of “Addams” so it was the same thing — I was learning how to be a better partner in class and using that to practice with Rio [Padilla-Smith ’19] on the side. I think the times [my music brain] got me in trouble was when in social dance classes I was like, “This is the down beat! This is when we do the move.” But some partners don’t have the musical background so the music is there but they are not really keeping in time with it. It was a great experience to learn how to let go [and] say, “Okay I am doing the follow-position, I’m going to follow you.” It was actually much more fun to let go of that metronomic part of my mind and lean into the moves together in our own time. 

TSD: How did rehearsing for your recital in quarantine give your music new meaning? Did you consider audience reception of your particular song choices? 

ELP: Definitely for “Just Around the Corner.” I talked to Kathryne, asking “is this too morbid?” but we decided that people would associate it with a role I played and I put in a little disclaimer before the song that “I wanted to do this song because I have really fond memories of performing it last spring.”  “Just Around the Corner” was also weird to do at my recital because I was so used to doing it with a full orchestra and ensemble. I felt more pressure to fill in some of the silences that would normally be filled by other stuff. There is the inherent joy of “I’m performing with my mom and I know this song super well which I know so well” though and  I was really happy to call back on the muscle memory to perform with just piano and make it its own thing. One song that ended up resonating with me in a really interesting way that I didn’t expect was “Losing My Mind” because of some of the lyrics. I started thinking about Stanford and having the end of my Stanford experience be off-campus and separate from this entity. Even if it’s not another person, it’s like “I think about you/the coffee cup/I think about you.” That’s how I go through my days: Whatever I’m doing, I’m thinking about Stanford in the back of my head. That helped me approach the song but made performing it a lot more emotional versus other songs that were just lots of fun to perform. 

TSD: To what extent do you think your audience was different than if you had a traditional senior recital back on campus? 

ELP: One nice thing about recording ahead of time was that we were able to have the comments section up while we were watching the video. It made me so happy to see what people were saying on the side, the jokes like, “Don’t applaud between movements.” It helped with that community feel and it was so lovely to see what people were saying. A lot of my Stanford musical theater friends were there as well as a lot of family members who live in Mexico and they sent me a message the day after, “We watched your recital, it was really great.” Many of them would’ve never seen it otherwise because it would be a lot for them to travel up to Northern California. The Zoom reception gradually dwindled down to just my family members and teachers talking, the people who have seen me grow up and encouraged me to pursue music plus my professors who have gotten to be such a significant part of my life. In some ways, it had a larger audience and a larger audience of people really important to me and I think that’s definitely a positive thing to come out of having to do it online. 

TSD: What is your favorite role that you played in a Stanford show?

ELP: Morticia. It’s fun to be a character that’s adored by all the other characters and feel graceful. I think also that the rehearsal staff on that show was just so good. It was fun to be in rehearsal and to stay after rehearsal with other cast members just working “cause we didn’t want to go home.” I love musicals because they challenge me — I get a lot of stage fright about singing — so I felt like it was a real moment of growth for me to do that role and also such a delight to get to play it. The most challenging number was “Secrets” because it goes up into this really high belt and I couldn’t figure out how to place that for a while, which was something I worked on with Camilla Hayashi ’19. “Tango [de Amor]” was a close second cause I never tangoed before and there were a lot of new skills I had to pick up — and in those [stiletto] shoes. One show I had been walking around and I was like, “Kaitlyn, these feel super wobbly, I’m really worried about doing the tango tonight.” She came backstage during Intermission and filed down the ends of my shoes. It was great. Rio, Kaitlyn, everyone was there, being like “alright Eve, you and your shoes will get through the Tango.” 

TSD: Given your strong vocal and orchestral background, did you ever music-direct any shows at Stanford? Who is your favorite music or vocal director you worked with on a show and why? 

ELP: I actually applied for music director or vocal director for Gaieties this year because I was worried about having my evenings full during the week as a Donner RA [resident assistant]. I knew that my skills and experience served me better as a vocal director, however, and I was delighted that was what I ended up doing. I was surprised how much I enjoyed being a teacher to the point where I can see myself crafting an artistic career where vocal directing is very much a part of that. The hardest song to rehearse was “Be Okay” because there were so many harmony parts. Trenton Chang ’20 and Liam Fay ’22 wrote some great harmonies in that show, but training my ear to hear eight different lines and who was off-key was really difficult. My favorite song was “Sandstone Walls” because it was just gorgeous and I loved working with the leads and getting into the nitty-gritty of placement and vowel shape — stuff you don’t  have time for in larger groups. My experience in conducting is mostly through the 9 p.m. Catholic mass, and we occasionally have musicians. So I have conducted both musicians and singers at the same time but certainly not to the level of a full orchestra. One of my absolute favorite music directors that I worked with was Chris Yoon ’19 for SLoCo’s “Phantom of the Opera.” He’s so intentional about the music and knows exactly what he wants and is good at drawing that out of his musicians in a way that is both time-efficient and very kind. 

TSD: What are your next steps you hope to take with making music and theater beyond Stanford? 

ELP: It’s kind of a terrifying time for going into an arts field. I had been planning to just start auditioning for things once I had left school and I had a summer internship working for a theater company in New York but they ended up having to cancel that. It was very sad. Right now, the plan is still to go into the arts. For now, the next year or so I’m gonna have to be doing some internship somewhere probably in a not-arts related field. I want to use the extra time to pick up some other instruments that might be more useful for doubling in pit orchestras. I want to learn some flute, clarinet, saxophone so I can play some more reed books. Musical theater reed books are written for people that play saxophone, bassoon, bass clarinet and stuff like that but right now I only have oboe and bassoon and they usually don’t put those two together in the orchestration. Yeah, I don’t really know what the future will hold but my hope is to someday go to grad school for musical theater and get more specific training in the field. It’s sort of wide open, which is both exhilarating and terrifying. 

Contact Natalie Francis at natfran ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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The Off the Farm ‘Benefit Cabaret’: Finding permanence in a time (and art form) of transience https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/25/the-off-the-farm-benefit-cabaret-finding-permanence-in-a-time-and-art-form-of-transience/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/25/the-off-the-farm-benefit-cabaret-finding-permanence-in-a-time-and-art-form-of-transience/#respond Tue, 26 May 2020 03:30:43 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1168414 The Off the Farm Benefit Cabaret was live-streamed at 7 p.m. PT on Friday, May 8. The event simultaneously showcased the talents of many Stanford performers and fundraised for the Stanford Students for Worker's Rights Fund.

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Backstage before a high school theater opening night: Kristin, a first soprano, paces through the hallway, doing lip trills that straddle the fine line between impressive and obnoxious. Alissa and Rian, featured dancers, stretch out their arms and legs while awkward, 14-year-old boys sitting at the other end of the green room pretend not to notice. The secrets of last night’s final dress rehearsal fiasco travel through the gossip mill, reaching everybody from Zach, the varsity football quarterback who also happens to play the male lead in tonight’s show, to me, a sophomore singing one line in the opening number that is much, much, much too high for her.  

The atmosphere is loud, chaotic, hectic. 

Five minutes before the stage manager calls places, the cast piles into the green room, water polo players squished next to theater fanatics, cheerleaders, marching band members and AP Honors kids. Just a sea of excited, nervous teenagers, impossible to tell who is who anymore. A calmness fills the room. Mr. Johnson, my director, speaks.  

“The best thing about theater is that it is fleeting. You will never get to do this same thing, with this same group of people, ever again. So enjoy it. Enjoy tonight.” 

I’ve been thinking about this pre-show speech a lot, lately. The built-in brevity of theater, the consequences of loving something with a predetermined deadline. The idea of art that is fleeting in its nature, but permanent in its beauty and impact. 

After working on six theater productions on Stanford’s campus with two different student organizations and the TAPS department, having Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s spring production of “Pippin” canceled due to COVID-19, and feeling isolated in quarantine, I felt the transience of community and theater just as strongly as I did in high school. Except now, along with an appreciation of theater’s beautiful impermanence, there is a small tinge of sadness for what never got to be. Not just for the cancellation of “Pippin,” but for the countless other spring student art projects that also never came to fruition. 

Arriving home to Southern California, I felt lost and scared of what the future might bring, or, perhaps more accurately in this day and age, what it might take away. 

Then came news of auditions for the Benefit Cabaret. 

The Benefit Cabaret was a YouTube livestream of various campus performers on Friday, May 8, with all proceeds benefiting the Students for Workers’ Rights (SWR) organization, a cause helping subcontracted Stanford workers during this economically challenging time of COVID-19. 

In an interview with Kaitlyn Khayat ’21, a lead organizer for the project, she said that the idea for a virtual cabaret sprang forth when her initial plan to host a 24-Hour Musical through Ram’s Head Theatrical Society this coming spring quarter fell through. After seeking the support and feedback of other theater students, Khayat recounted that she quickly formed a little task force consisting of Vincent Nicandro ’20, Grace Davis ’22, Lizzie Avila ’23 and herself. 

“We each tackled different areas of the project,” Khayat said. “I worked really heavily with recruiting people to be a part of it. And then the marketing aspect, Vincent was all about the graphic design and the video editing. Lizzie was our contact with SWR, she helped get the videos from them. And then Grace worked on organizing the program as a whole and kind of giving it a sense of structure, creating a good flow for it.”

Khayat, a current board member of Ram’s Head Theatrical Society and incoming Executive Producer for the 2020-21 season, said that the most meaningful experience she had while working on the project was “watching my phone as all the Venmo payments came in … It was like a little treat every time my phone buzzed. During the cabaret and, even now, I’m still getting emails of people wanting their donations to be matched … It was great. The little high from seeing all the donations is probably my favorite part, because, for me, it’s like a marker that it was successful and people were seeing it and cared enough to donate.”

When asked about the transition from planning on-campus theater productions to a virtual cabaret, Khayat laughed as she admitted that the virtual cabaret may have been easier to plan than in-person performances. 

“There’s a certain excitement about live theater. Is it gonna work? Are we gonna be able to get this done? That’s where the excitement comes from, for me,” Khayat said. “There’s so many ways it could go wrong, but yet, somehow, it all goes right … We had the video done several days in advance. I was still nervous, wanting it all to go well and for people to show up, but I don’t think there was the same thrill of live theater that I get when I do shows in person.” 

Although it was true that the Benefit Cabaret missed the palpable buzz from an excited audience or the rapturous applause after a solo, Kaitlyn and I agreed that the best part of theater, the community that it can build, was present as the video streamed that Friday night. 

“One thing that made me personally really happy was to get to see everyone again. As cheesy as it sounds, one of the main reasons I do theater is for the people … That’s one of my biggest draws to the art,” Khayat said. “And, in that way, the Benefit Cabaret was kind of a self-serving way of getting to see people, and watch them perform and be amazing, and use my ability to organize – in a very literal sense, email-sending, list-making – to make that happen and hopefully bring that sense of connection to other people watching.” 

I felt it was best to sing a piece from “Pippin,” so I chose “I Guess I’ll Miss the Man,” a song Catherine, the character I was cast to play, sings as Pippin leaves her and her son behind in search of greener pastures and the most “perfect finale.” The song ends as quietly as it begins, building up to a belty flourish in the bridge and a sudden crashing down in the last verse. It was the one song that I felt I never captured quite right, emotionally. In rehearsal, our director, Grace Wallis ’20, likened it to speaking a eulogy at a close friend’s funeral: sad, of course, but ultimately celebratory and thankful for your time together. As the rehearsal process went on, I kept telling myself that I would eventually find the emotional depth to perform the song correctly, but, sadly, my time ran out and I never quite got there. Even after filming that last take of the song that eventually made it into the Benefit Cabaret, I wondered if even that was close enough to the gravity of loss and gratitude I was supposed to convey. 

Filming my video for the cabaret was easy enough. It involved a clumsy structure of an ironing board, two boxes and a beat, hardcover version of “Leaves of Grass” to hold up my phone to film, a few test shots to get the right lighting and a perfect first take where I forgot to press the record button. Fairly low-effort and low-excitement. 

Still, as I watched my computer screen fill with the faces of so many people I loved and admired on May 8, I felt the similar feeling of excitement, pride and anticipation that I chased all throughout high school, and my first five quarters of performing at Stanford. 

I watched one of my first friends at Stanford, “Gaieties 2018” freshman hero, JRo dorm buddy and now-fellow TriDelt Lizzie Dowdle ’22 sing “Times Are Hard For Dreamers” from “Amelie,” her voice light and concise to begin, until releasing traces of an effortless vibrato in the chorus as she transitioned into a strong mix. I noticed, also, that her hair had grown longer, and wondered how long it will be until the next time I see her. 

When Vincent Nicandro’s face popped up on my screen, for just a brief moment I was reminded of my first-ever performance at Stanford, a staged reading of Julia Cho’s “The Language Archive” with the Asian American Theater Project my freshman fall. As musically gifted as he is with graphic design, Vincent’s rendition of “Out There” from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” highlighted his deep, chilly baritone and the solemnity of his acting choices reminded me of his great ability for empathy, both onstage and off. 

And finally, the Benefit Cabaret reminded me that there are still people, both in the theater community and the whole student population, that I have yet to meet. Levi Lian ’21 put on perhaps my favorite performance of the entire night, a one-man version of the charming duet “It Only Takes A Taste” from “Waitress,” singing both the female and male verses back to himself as he sits on a park bench. His tenor is clear and adorably demure, perfect for the premise of the flirty tune.

My fingers flew across my keyboard throughout the entire streaming, sending virtual love and praise to friends, some of them thousands of miles away. 

You will never get to do this same thing, with this same group of people, ever again.”

We, as college students, artists and human beings, are living in unprecedented times, wrought with fear, uncertainty and far too many questions with not nearly enough answers. We are living through a major moment in history, even if it feels like it is characterized by the mundane routine of being stuck at home, day in and day out. 

So enjoy it. Enjoy tonight.”

If I’m being honest, I still feel just as lost and scared as I did when I arrived home almost three months ago. If I’ve learned anything while in quarantine, it’s that nothing is for certain. I’m working to not take the beautiful things in my life for granted: Late mornings on my porch with my parents as my mom waters her roses, a random text from Lizzie about a crazy dream of hers I was featured in and theater. I’m learning to embrace the fleeting nature of this art form that I love so much, and celebrating the moments it chooses to remind me of its longstanding power.  

When speaking on the $11,826 raised for SWR, Khayat remembered feeling proud and surprised.

“If we even raised $1000, I would be really happy. And the fact that we exceeded that … Woah. That’s crazy,” Khayat said.

I agree, Kaitlyn. For a performance that streamed online for only 48 hours, $11,826 feels pretty permanent. 

Contact Justine Sombilon at jsombilo ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Voices of Canceled Stanford Shows: Sarah Mergen ’19 on adapting Shakespeare and directing ‘HAL’ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/01/voices-of-canceled-stanford-shows-sarah-mergen-19-on-adapting-shakespeare-and-directing-hal/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/01/voices-of-canceled-stanford-shows-sarah-mergen-19-on-adapting-shakespeare-and-directing-hal/#respond Fri, 01 May 2020 07:05:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1167119 Sarah Mergen ‘19 is/was the director and playwright of TheaterLab’s “HAL" (2020). Adapted from Shakespeare’s “Henry IV Parts One & Two,” the futuristic multimedia show would have graced campus last Thursday through Saturday with the misadventures of the timeless rogue Falstaff and his royal mentee Hal.

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Sarah Mergen ’19 is/was the director and playwright of TheaterLab’s “HAL” (2020). Adapted from Shakespeare’s “Henry IV Parts One & Two,” the futuristic multimedia show would have graced campus last Thursday through Saturday with the misadventures of the timeless rogue Falstaff and his royal mentee Hal. Like many Stanford performing-arts groups, Mergen and her company of 10-something actors and a dozen or so staff canceled their show in March due to rapid shifts in University COVID-19 policies. Given the buzz around Mergen’s highly creative, modern take on the “Henry IV” history plays, I spoke with her over Zoom about the creation and truncated production process for “HAL.” 

For Mergen, the works of William Shakespeare have profoundly shaped who she is today as a theater-maker and storyteller. Mergen grew up in a rural community where arts education was not readily available — for the first 10 years of her life, she had minimal exposure to theater. In middle school, however, when she got involved with a summer production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” through Murphys Creek Theater’s Mirror Project, Mergen was hooked. 

“Theater gave me a sense of community I never had before,” Mergen said. “I picked up on the Shakespearean language and memorization really quickly. I did ‘the theater thing’ subsequently for three summers.”

The Mirror Project staged separate “kids” and “professional” shows, and during her third summer, Mergen was fatefully asked to step in for the adult cast as Prospero in the professional production of “The Tempest.” 

Mergen said the incredible experience of playing Prospero cemented her love for acting and desire to seriously pursue theater in college: “I wanted to study acting at Stanford. Upon arriving here, though, I realized I didn’t quite have what it took. My true strengths lie in the storytelling and directorial aspects of theater, in taking a story that is already there and figuring out what works or not, as well as their relevance to today.” 

Mergen told The Daily she is interested in working with Shakespeare in ways that normally are not done.

“Sometimes Shakespeare is a little too removed from what exists today,” she said, adding, “Uncopyrighted material gives [theater-makers] a wonderful opportunity to play with larger archetypal narratives that already exist.” 

As an undergrad, Mergen directed Theater Lab’s “Go Ask Alice” (2016) and the Stanford Shakespeare Company’s (StanShakes) 2018 production of “Pericles.” The former production was a stage adaptation of Beatrice Sparks’s bestseller of the same name, which reimagined the book’s contents as a three-hour monologue split between nine actresses. StanShakes’s “Pericles,” in contrast, marked Mergen’s directorial debut both with a full-length play and Shakespeare. Similar to her experience playing Prospero as a teenager, the thrill of directing a Shakespeare show performed for a sold-out audience all three nights of its run made Mergen want to direct another show immediately after. Mergen made only a few narrative tweaks and revisions to Pericles and knew she wanted to “take Shakespeare much farther,” which she certainly would have accomplished with “HAL.”

Mergen told The Daily how her desire to work with Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” plays through “HAL” stemmed from her experience watching the Canadian Stratford Festival’s “Breath of Kings: Rebellion & Redemption” (2016). The production merged Shakespeare’s history plays “Richard II,” “Henry IV Parts One and Two” and “Henry V” into a four-hour show, split in two halves. Mergen notes how the show was not only “one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” but, more importantly, introduced her to Falstaff and his unique dynamic with the young crown prince Henry V, or Hal.

Shakespeare’s Falstaff is the archetypal rogue who flouts society’s expectations. As one of the Bard’s best-written characters, Falstaff offers the audience a sort of wish fulfillment with the caveat that, as the rogue, he must always be punished in the end. Mergen’s “HAL” takes as its jumping-off point the inevitability of Hal rejecting Falstaff as their mentor figure to accept their kingship. Mergen told The Daily how she felt particularly drawn to the Hal-Falstaff relationship because, for her, it raises questions of what it means to “realize one’s potential” relevant to the lives of Stanford students expected to “go out and do amazing things and be successful.” Through “HAL,” Mergen wanted to challenge whether Hal’s choice to reject Falstaff in the end is actually a good one, and if there is fulfillment outside of our modern capitalist society’s definition of potential. 

When The Daily asked Mergen to give an elevator pitch for her play, she described “HAL” as being set in the near future and centered around the two separate worlds of the Bolingbroke mega-corporation “ruled” by Henry IV and Falstaff’s underground club. Mergen initially wanted her show to be set specifically in the Berlin techno-nightclub scene, but during her year-long adaptation process decided to make it more general. A “really big” part of her directorial vision was using an alleyway stage set-up with video screens on two sides. 

“I wanted to push notions of how Shakespeare can be performed,” Mergen said. “People make a lot of assumptions about what Shakespeare can look and feel like. So I wanted my production to have an SF MOMA art-room aesthetic.”

When asked why she wanted to incorporate film into the aesthetic of her show, Mergen explained that she wanted to give her actors something to take away from the show, noting “undergraduate opportunities to participate in filmed shows are rare.” Mergen also remarked that certain elements of her directorial vision could not be realized without film. Almost all the 15th-century England battle scenes were cut because Mergen reimagined the war as a corporate scandal between Julianna Yonis 21’s Hotspur and Henry’s companies involving leaked news of corrupt management and failure to pay workers. By having the theater space exclusively populated by actors, with sets and props exchanged for urban backdrops and newsreels projected onto video screens, Mergen could focus attention on the character relationships developing onstage. 

Building character is emblematic of Mergen’s artistic process as both the director and self-proclaimed “script adaptor” of “HAL.” Mergen cites Orson Welles’s “Chimes At Midnight” (1965) movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” — in which Welles performs extensive character work with Falstaff — as one of her primary inspirations for her project. Mergen first developed her show concept last March in conjunction with Gracie Goheen ’20 and last April and May pitched it to Stanford Honors in the Arts and Theater Lab, respectively. When “HAL” was approved by Theater Lab, Mergen spent all summer working on the story through a creative process involving listening to music and re-reading her script multiple times to get a feel for all possible story arcs, for what scenes she wanted to keep in the show. During fall quarter, she generated various narrative outlines with post-it notes, revising the script in earnest from December through the start of cast and staff solicitation Weeks 4 and 5 of winter quarter. 

The most notable deviations from Shakespeare’s canonical “Henry IV” in Mergen’s “HAL” are not just the gender-swaps — Hal, Henry IV and Hotspur are all gendered female — but also the added complication of a romantic relationship between Hal (Paloma Aisenberg ’22) and Falstaff (David Mazouz ’23). While minimal romantic intrigue in original renditions of “Henry IV” may be reason enough to introduce new relationships, Mergen wanted to develop a Hal-Falstaff pairing for far more nuanced reasons that tie into her production’s core questions around personal potential. The Daily learned that Mergen wanted “HAL” to explore why “the rogue” is always a man, and how as a result, women historically have been able to “access the rogue” only through pursuing a romantic relationship with them — instead of obtaining that life for themselves. Mergen referred to Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swan in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise as a pop-culture example of this dynamic. While Hal’s consorting with the club-owning DJ Falstaff creates narrative tension with her conventionally successful business tycoon mom Henry IV, Hal is humbled when mom is diagnosed with cancer and publicly denounces Falstaff in the play’s finale — this time at a big corporate meeting surrounded by business executives. 

“The production ends on that note — of Hal realizing she cannot have the fulfilling life she imagined with Falstaff, and choosing instead to take on the responsibility of managing her family’s company,” Mergen explained. “The final scene had a big musical montage of what happens to Hal trying to prove to the world that she can take on the Bolingbroke company and all its responsibilities as a 25-year-old. Unfortunately, Hal does not find herself happy in the corporate business world.” 

Mergen elaborated on how “HAL” as an adaptation of a historically political theater responds to our current cultural and political moment: “The rapid momentum that our society has and by which it tells us what we need to do to be happy and successful is all within a capitalist framework. ‘HAL’ is a challenge to ‘the productivity cult’ that tells us that we have to be this one thing and the repercussions this mentality has on the mental health of young adults like Stanford students and their quality of life after Stanford. Political performance pieces should engage with politics in the place and time where things are going up. ‘HAL’ is immediately relevant to the struggles Stanford students face with realizing their potential.” 

Mergen also reflected on how she explored “a lot” with her character work with Evie Johnson ’21’s Henry IV billionaire CEO.

“Henry is sold the narrative that if she succeeds in a capitalist framework, she is empowered,” Mergen said. “But behind the optics of being a powerful feminist icon she is completely miserable. … In ‘HAL’ there was a scene in which Henry destroys a copy of Sheryl Sandberg’s book ‘Lean In,’ and I think this breakdown scene would have made a huge impact on the audience.”

Mergen’s jovial demeanor sobered when The Daily asked her to share how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the “HAL” company and describe her thoughts on the abbreviated production.

“We had a cast of 10 or so people,” she said. “Though auditions went really well, the tech hiring process did not go super smoothly. We struggled to find a sound designer and our costume designer dropped midway, but our production manager, Kerstin Heinrich ’20, covered many of the technical jobs. But as of Week Seven, we had two major videographers involved and ‘everything was pat.’ The rehearsal room is where things work best, where I have the most confidence and experience. My assistant director, Parth Garg ’23, was logging upwards of 25 hours because blocking is surprisingly difficult, and it was my first time mentoring, but also because he took on assistant producer responsibilities.” 

Mergen took a breath: “Everything was going fine — until it wasn’t. I first heard rumors about the 150-person ban in my directing and production management class. We had this one actress who was also in [Rams Head Theatrical Society’s] ‘Pippin,’ so when they cancelled rehearsals around Week 8, I was excited to suddenly have her free. We were all joking around — ‘oh, the show is going to get canceled’ — and boom, spring quarter is online. At that point, Stanford did not specify when students could come back. It’s such a bummer because if they have given us more time or a better notice of what was to come, ‘HAL’ could have gotten a full film recording. As it is, we have nothing we can salvage from the show.” 

When asked how she has coped during quarantine in light of “HAL” being canceled, Mergen looked incredibly disheartened yet persisted in her reflections: “It took me at least two weeks to process. I wasn’t in touch with my emotions, and there was this one day where I just started crying. There is technically this arts grant that I could apply for, but now I do not want to try anything because I am scared it could be ripped away again.” Mergen paused, sighing, “No one tells you how to grieve a rehearsal process.” 

*****

Despite the devastating emotional and artistic impact of the pandemic on “HAL” and so many other Stanford student-artists, April has showered this year with innovative art projects and initiatives. Stanford students have taken to social media to create wholesome new content and give heartwarming Zoom performances. Through sharing the stories of students involved with shows never performed on stage, the ongoing Arts & Life Daily series “Voices of Cancelled Stanford Shows” hopes to celebrate and bring to light art and communities otherwise perceived as lost to COVID-19. If you or someone you know has a story on the pandemic and performing-arts that you want to see represented in The Daily, please fill out this form

Contact Natalie Francis at natfran ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Everybody can be everybody, but only in the cast of ‘Everybody’ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/16/everybody-can-be-everybody-but-only-in-the-cast-of-everybody/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/16/everybody-can-be-everybody-but-only-in-the-cast-of-everybody/#respond Tue, 17 Mar 2020 05:49:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1165384 Rumor has it that — uncharacteristically for an on-campus theater production — the casting of "Everybody" was supposed to be kept secret. The idea seems to be that you are not supposed to learn who the actors are unless you are either in the cast or in the audience.

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Rumor has it that — uncharacteristically for an on-campus theater production — the casting of “Everybody” was supposed to be kept secret. The idea seems to be that you are not supposed to learn who the actors are unless you are either in the cast or in the audience. The other draw of “Everybody” is the lottery, played out right on stage, that determines which role each actor will play in that performance. Coming into the show, I knew that five of the actors would not know who they would be playing until the performance began.

The show, put on by the department of theater and performance studies (TAPS), boasts an ambitious 120 permutations of the script, a number the ticket sales page proudly displayed. (Stanford theater, it seems, has an obsession with making actors experience the dice of choice this quarter.)

The production is committed to formally displaying the authentic randomness of life — the program booklet does not list any of the characters, and the actors’ bios are written without the conventional parentheses that would contain their roles. This allows for wonderful moments, such as when I saw my friend Vineet Gupta ’19, who I did not realize had been working on the show. He did not reveal to me his role even in a conversation we had right beforehand. He later introduced himself as the head usher of the production and transformed into God, accompanied by booming audio effects and LED lights on his costume that spelled out GOD. The five actors who participate in the lottery to become “Everybody” — Ali Rosenthal ’20, Obed de la Cruz ’21, Mai Lan Nguyen ’22, JJ Kapur ’22 and Danny Ritz ’23 in the performance I saw — are seated among the audience at the beginning of the show, and slowly reveal themselves one by one when Death calls on them from onstage. I even interacted with some of these actors before the start of the play, at which point they told me it was their “night off.” This commitment to form is crucial in establishing the possibility of Everybody (the character) being anybody from the audience — which then becomes the stakes in the show.

However, the novelty of the “actor emerging from the audience” idea quickly wears off. By the time the third person from the audience speaks to Death — who has been asked by God to choose somebody to make a presentation of their life, the device becomes cliched. This is emphasized by the fact that the actors are, very obviously, not members of the audience. They respond to Death with confidence and not the awkwardness of a real audience member being singled out by an actor. They project their voice clearly, marking themselves as people who are familiar with acting techniques. For a show that emphasizes so much the idea that everybody (in the audience) can become Everybody, the alienation that a real audience member would have from an actor-audience’s presentation of themselves disrupts this basis the show has tried so hard to establish. The authenticity of the play is called into question by the inherent performativity of the actors — and the spatial proximity between the actors and actual audience members backfires and only makes this contrast more painfully obvious.

Performativity — and the awareness of it on the audience’s part — continues to disrupt other aspects of the show that depend on the “calling out” of the audience’s ignorance. For example, the moment where Love announces that “This is a theater,” would have fallen flat without the dramatic collapse of the set and the lighting rigs. In a post-Brecht, postmodern consciousness of theatricality and performativity, the show and its discussion of metatheatricality become tiring and ineffective when not bolstered by visceral emotions evoked by impressive technical elements.

In fact, many of my favorite parts of the play consist of the impressive use of technical elements. A part of the show presents a danse macabre (the Dance of Death, an allegory often represented in visual and performing arts to demonstrate the universality of death), featuring many of the actors and members of the dance group Chocolate Heads. The corresponding part of the script merely instructs that it should take place in “a landscape of pure light and sound,” giving a lot of artistic freedom to the design team. And it is one of the best technical theater moments I have seen in an on-campus production: The entire stage is flooded with red light so saturated that green afterimages follow every move the dancers make. This also makes the white LED used in the next scene appear green to the eye — for me, a nod for the lasting effect of death on Everybody (pun intended). The green tomb in which Everybody goes in the following scene then refocuses the audience’s vision to a normal color balance. So when we see the remaining characters at the end of the play — Time, Death and Understanding — we see them in white neutral light, untouched — unlike Everybody — by the effect of corporeal Death. 

The set is stark white, with a rotating platform that is used to emphasize the languish of the characters, calling to mind how the motif of stagnated circular motion is often used as a characteristic of sins and their punishments. In the first part of the play, the platform also becomes a device through which the characters move spatially away from Everybody, while they deny the latter’s request for accompaniment in death. One of the most haunting moments of the play for me is the motif of a table with objects (a flower vase, a balloon, a teddy bear) rotating in the center of the platform, lit with a single spotlight. This is followed by a short blackout, and the table is replaced by one of the human characters, rotating at the same speed. This set design choice establishes a conceptual connection to a discussion about Buddhism earlier in the play, and, in my opinion, provides a preemptive redemption for a later scene that approaches the religion in well-worn “materialism-bad” terms.

While the play does present some nuanced takes on philosophical topics (for example, “God is real?” “That depends on your definition of ‘real.’”), it is heavily dependent on the hackneyed morality of “you will die alone.” One of the moments where the play escapes its moralizing structure is when Love, represented as both caring and demeaning, forces Everybody to strip and humiliate themselves in exchange for her accompaniment. While I have personal qualms with the close association between love and humiliation, this presents a controversial topic that is not merely a rephrase of a didactic idea. At times, the play’s moralizing feels as if it were part of the performance (there is something ironic about seeing Stanford students use superfluous words and abstract concepts to make their points), but this seems to be the ingenuity of the cast, rather than something inherent to the source materials. 

One of the most visually impactful scenes is the aforementioned danse macabre, and in fact, the internal contradiction within the dance almost manages to explain the contradiction between authenticity and performativity that has been raised earlier in the play. The dancers in white skeletal costumes of different historical periods themselves embody a contradiction between the transcendence and non-discrimination of death that they are supposed to be representing, and the corporeality and immediacy of the real-life bodies used to represent it. Whether the body politics is utilized on purpose or not, it is a hint of what the show could have been — an intentional exploration of the tension between performativity, transcendence and authenticity that is aware of current conversations surrounding these topics.

“Everybody” is a play about metatheatricality that underestimates its being situated in contemporary theater, and hence its audience’s awareness of this concept. The very fact that the actors do a lottery for their parts implies a separation between them and the audience, in the amount of time they have devoted to this show (or maybe I’m just too used to how theater on campus works), creating yet another division between its proposed merging of authenticity and performativity. I would have still recommended you see the show because its technical achievements are incredible and different from usual on-campus theater. But the content — itself an adaptation of a medieval moral play — needs another re-adjustment to the current consciousness of performativity and theatricality, in order to be as impactful as what the original play has been for its time.

Ryan Tan contributed to this review. 

Contact Khuyen Le at khuyenle ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Women lift women in ‘They Promised Her the Moon’ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/15/women-lift-women-in-they-promised-her-the-moon/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/15/women-lift-women-in-they-promised-her-the-moon/#respond Mon, 16 Mar 2020 04:33:28 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1165382 Laurel Ollstein, the award-winning writer of They Promised Her the Moon, confessed to being drawn to stories of accomplished and complicated women. She is also passionate about telling the stories that were never told.

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“It is fascinating and horrifying – that there are stories about women that we don’t know. There are so many women who did unbelievable things. And those are just not the stories we were told.”

Laurel Ollstein, on They Promised Her the Moon

Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb was arguably America’s first and finest female astronaut. She held world records for speed, altitude and distance. Dubbed a “trailblazing aviation pioneer” by the National Aviation Hall of Fame, she finished in the top 2% (of men and women) in all physical and psychological test batteries. She relentlessly lobbied the government into investigating whether NASA was discriminating on the basis of sex: Spoiler alert: It was.

And yet – we don’t know her.

Playwright Laurel Ollstein, the award-winning writer of “They Promised Her the Moon,” confessed to being drawn to stories of accomplished and complicated women. She is also passionate about telling stories that were never before told.

Cobb’s story was certainly told, but only in a selectively glossy way. She was widely covered in the media but with a generous dollop of sexism. Time swooned over the “first astronautrix” who had more airtime — over 7,500 hours — than any of the male astronauts of the time, yet Time couldn’t help but add her “measurements: 36-27-34” to its story.

Despite the brave fight, Jerrie was denied an opportunity to go into space. National gem, astronaut John Glenn, freshly back from orbiting in space, attempted to offer an explanation. At the congressional hearing in 1962 Glenn argued: “Men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes … The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order.”

At the post-show reception on opening night, multi award-winning director Giovanna Sardelli told us that she wished — almost hoped — that the relevance of the story would fade away. She was saddened that this narrative burns ever more relevant, every passing day. Whilst most of us are content posting hash-tagged motivation on International Women’s Day, few stop to analyze and question the painful chapters in women’s history.

In “They Promised Her the Moon,” Sardelli and Ollstein bring us this pain but in an easily digestible, comically effervescent, heart-warming way. How is that even possible? I wondered. Much of the answer is in the effortless friendship between the two remarkable creators of this production. Sardelli and Ollstein met through the Old Globe’s New Voices Festival and have since been working together on the show for the past two years. 

In this newest production from TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, astronaut-protagonist Cobb is compellingly played by debutant Sarah Mitchell, who channels Cobb’s off-and-on ground exploits with athletic grace. She was every bit as believable as a shy but firm Cobb in a dress in front of the Congress as she was in her oversized flying suit, giggling and flying the Piper J-3 Cub.

Craig Marker smoothly transitions between portraying John Glenn’s slimy machismo and the flirtiness of Jack Ford, a flight transport guy who takes an immediate interest in young Cobb and becomes a mentor/lover. Anthony Fusco shines as Randy Lovelace, lead of the Women in Space Program, also called Mercury 13. The chemistry between a mentor and mentee never sizzled as much as it does between Cobb and the legendary pilot Jackie Cochran — played to perfection by Stacy Ross. In many ways, this show is the story of these two women.

There is plenty of impressive gadgetry and lighting in the production. The story alternates between Cobb’s long and suffocating stay in the isolation tank and flashbacks of her life. I chuckled at some cool automated rigs that were in play during the show. 

When I spoke with Ollstein ahead of the opening, she reminded me of the continuing significance of this story: “If you remember the Mercury 7 guys you will remember: They all looked alike. Identical.” I cracked up at this but only because the image conjured up in my mind is that of a typical corporate board, bulk of our Supreme Court justices (but we have Ruth Bader Ginsburg so we can’t complain) or indeed any political aggregation.

On opening night, the end of “They Promised Her the Moon” received a standing ovation that I thought continued past mere politeness. Remarkable, given the visceral reaction it evokes portraying the injustices of the time. But it also brings satisfaction that yet another bold story was told. By two women no less.

Contact Anupriya Dwivedi at adwivedi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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On history, humor and ‘Hamilton’ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/05/on-history-humor-and-hamilton/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/05/on-history-humor-and-hamilton/#respond Thu, 06 Feb 2020 03:25:11 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163528 Although I’ve dabbled in musical-watching since childhood, “Hamilton” was the third professional-level musical I’ve ever seen (following “Horton Hears a Who!” and Broadway San Jose’s “Cinderella” last year with Stanford). The crazy thing is that there was thunderous applause after each musical number, although the entire show was one long musical number. Hamilton takes the […]

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Although I’ve dabbled in musical-watching since childhood, “Hamilton” was the third professional-level musical I’ve ever seen (following “Horton Hears a Who!” and Broadway San Jose’s “Cinderella” last year with Stanford). The crazy thing is that there was thunderous applause after each musical number, although the entire show was one long musical number. Hamilton takes the style of a “sung-through” musical, with very few spoken pieces of dialogue. In other words, not a single word was spoken without some melody to it. Having never seen such a musical before, it was a very unique experience to hear the entire story be shared through song, which probably requires the actors to have staggering stamina levels in order to sing and dance for virtually the entire duration of the musical.

Our dorm had the privilege of receiving one of those elusive Experiential Learning Fund (ELF) grants. Around 40 of us from the dorm piled into a bus and embarked on the long, traffic-jammed trip into San Francisco since the musical was performed at the legendary Orpheum Theatre. Upon our fashionably late arrival to the San Francisco Public Library, our group piled out the back of the bus and scampered to the theater where we were ushered into an inner vestibule and then up a couple sets of stairs to the balcony. From the balcony, we had a good, bright view of the entire stage. However, it can be hard at times to discern the actors’ facial expressions when perched up in the nosebleeds.  

Without a doubt, the acting and singing was phenomenal. The more plaintive and slower songs were expertly contrasted with the funnier and more upbeat numbers. My favorite character was King George, who entertained the audience with three distinct and funny renditions of his theme melody. Since this musical is being performed in the 20th century, I think that the playwright — Lin-Manuel Miranda, who starred as Alexander Hamilton in the original production — succeeded in writing a script that includes educational, captivating and entertaining dialogue. Although patriarchy was overwhelmingly pervasive during colonial America, the musical doesn’t diminish the women’s roles and instead lets the women shine with their own solo songs.  

The inclusion of modern language and phrases (including swear words that we use all the time) helped the story seem more relevant to contemporary times and established the audience’s engagement. Although each scene was complex and entailed vastly different settings, the main background set stayed the same. There were rough bricks on the back wall and stairs with wooden platforms. Perhaps the most intriguing component of the set was the two concentric revolving stages, which the actors used to demonstrate their characters moving from one setting to another or in two other pivotal moments in order to facilitate the dueling scenes.  

Sometimes, it was a bit more challenging to decipher what the actors were singing and rapping, so it would thereby be advisable to read some of the musical’s background information and some song lyrics prior to going to the theater. The ushers were also super strict about seating and didn’t shy away from escorting people to the right seats (in contrast to some events at Stanford where one can usually waltz in and sit at the nearest open seat).  

Contact Sarayu Pai at smpai918 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Indie folk musical Hadestown is a noteworthy 2020 Grammys nominee https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/24/indie-folk-musical-hadestown-is-a-noteworthy-2020-grammys-nominee/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/24/indie-folk-musical-hadestown-is-a-noteworthy-2020-grammys-nominee/#respond Fri, 24 Jan 2020 08:27:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1162812 “Lover, when I sing my song / all the trees gonna sing along / and bend their branches down to me / to lay their fruit around my feet” —- Orpheus, “Wedding Song” (Track 4, Hadestown 2019 Original Broadway Cast Album) There are few events more important than the Grammy Awards and the promised eighty-four […]

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“Lover, when I sing my song / all the trees gonna sing along / and bend their branches down to me / to lay their fruit around my feet” —- Orpheus, “Wedding Song” (Track 4, Hadestown 2019 Original Broadway Cast Album)

There are few events more important than the Grammy Awards and the promised eighty-four categories to the lives of artists not only in the music industry, but also on Broadway. From the 1959 Musical Theater Grammy awarded to “The Music Man” composer Meredith Wilson to last year’s winner, “The Band’s Visit,” the best of musical theater producers and composer-lyricists compete each year for glory. With the 62nd Annual Grammys just around the corner, I wanted to take a critical look at one of this year’s nominations for the Best Musical Theater Album: folk artist Anaïs Mitchell’s sensational “Hadestown” (2006-19). Why does the production of the cast album span almost 15 years and three iterations? Why does the musical simultaneously evoke Greek mythology and Great Depression–era shantytowns? And why should a show that already hauled off two Tonys this past year also get the Grammys limelight instead of other equally deserving candidates? I have taken the time to research and listen to the indie folk-opera from its inception as a 2010 concept album to the 2016 off-Broadway record and nominated 2019 Broadway cast album so you don’t have to, unless so inspired.

This year’s Grammy Awards are not the first time “Hadestown” has been up for nomination. Music producer and composer-lyricist Anaïs Mitchell received the Best Recording Package Grammy for her indie folk-opera concept album “Hadestown” (2010) with a modest track-list of 20 and an hour of musical narrative. The best recording package award aptly addresses the unique musicality and storytelling of the concept album, formally defined as a collection of songs about a specific song or theme. First introduced to the music world by folk singer Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads (1940), the concept album has subsequently been embraced by country, pop and progressive rock artists. Though the indie folk of “Hadestown” is largely infused with New Orleans jazz, cabaret and Americana, you can hear the legacy of not only Woody Guthrie’s groundbreaking work, but also Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” (1973) in the crackling radio sound effects and subversive ballads. And the most recent Broadway incarnation of “Hadestown” parallels the musical development of Green Day’s punk-rock “American Idiot” (2003) that produced such earworms as “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Holiday.”

The plot of “Hadestown” in all its iterations reimagines the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in what some critics have dubbed “a post-apocalyptic Depression-era, Dust Bowl America.” The Depression aesthetic allows Mitchell to convincingly portray the tragic lovers as a poor starving artist and a working-class girl, as well as the King of the Underworld as the literal lord of mining black gold (coal and oil). Since the Greeks are vague about how exactly nature goddess Persephone travels between the land of the living and dead, Mitchell ingeniously has a train do the trick, conveyed through harmonica, New Orleans jazz and Hermes’s raspy vocals (subsequent stage adaptations adding the train whistle and vocal “chugga chuggas”). Mitchell reimagines the premature death of “the hungry young girl” Eurydice as motivated not by a rattlesnake but rather by the rattling promise of the business snake Hades’s promised relief from hunger — something her starving artist-fiancé unfortunately cannot guarantee. The dual conflicts of Hades and Persephone falling out of love over industrializing of the Underworld, all while the Earth dies and the artist’s inability to hold on to those they love, evoke a modern mythology of human irrationality during the climate crisis and the timeless struggle of industry versus art. The frequent invocation of all five elements — earth, wind, fire, water, metal — by all the characters acknowledges the age-old kinship of music and mythology with nature. And like any good adaptation, Mitchell does not sugarcoat the tragic ending of Eurydice’s eternal damnation to Hadestown which is showcased dramatically in the penultimate atonal “Doubt Comes In.” Rather the folk artist challenges the listener throughout her work to “raise their cup” to those who bloom in the bitter snow, or Orpheus-like figures who speak out for beauty and truth even in the times of greatest adversity. 

The musical core of Hadestown has largely remained the same with each adaptation. The pastoral call-and-response “Wedding Song” that kicks off the concept album acknowledges the in media res introduction of the two lovers by ancient writers such as Ovid in “Metamorphoses.” The subsequent addition of footstompin’ “Road to Hell” showcasing André de Shield’s shrewd narration as Hermes aligns the music more within the oral storytelling and epic poetry traditions endemic to both ancient Greece and America. Given the range of musical genres and voices encompassed by “Way Down In Hadestown,” “Wait For Me,” “Why We Build the Wall,” “Lady of the Underground” and “Flowers (Eurydice’s Song),” it is noteworthy that Mitchell transplants motifs from her other work. The second track “Any Way the Wind Blows” and all subsequent callbacks sung by Eva Noblezada’s Eurydice and the three gravelly alto Fates is transplanted from Mitchell’s 2014 folk album “Xoa.” Persephone’s speakeasy-queen anthem “Livin’ It Up on Top” allows us to hear how Amber Gray’s nature-goddess revels on Earth, leading a Schwartz-ian bucolic dance break in stark contrast to her sultry Jazz-Age Underworld persona. Patrick Page’s gritty basso Hades on the insidious “Hey, Little Songbird” and resentful “How Long?” underscores his political motivations for the strange conditions taken for granted by myth by which Eurydice may go back with Orpheus. 

Whether “Hadestown” (2019) garners a Grammy this weekend, however, will depend not only on the resonant mythological and environmental production values, but, more importantly, on what the music itself has to offer. The wholesome Act One ballad “All I’ve Ever Known” showcases Eurydice’s refreshing acknowledgment of the struggle between female self-reliance and suppressed loneliness against gentle piano and strummed guitar arpeggios and plaintive string harmonies. The three iterations of Orpheus’ meta “Epic” song about the relationship of Hades and Persephone with its minor plucked-string cadences and multi-part vocal harmonies pays fitting homage to the rhapsodes and troubadours of ancient Greek and medieval times. The aggressive string tremolos, thumping low-octave piano and percussive voices of “Chant” in contrast expose the harsh reality of Hadestown as “Hell on Earth,” exploiting the labor of both human souls and the Earth. The somber “Why We Build the Wall” claimed by the “Hadestown” fandom to predict the rise of President Trump is a good song in its own right for its harmonica and incisive call-and-response between the industrial elite and exploited working class. And Orpheus’s epic want song “Wait for Me” even stripped of its 2019 Tony Awards swinging-lamps spectacle is noteworthy for its balance of traditionally-lyrical strings, folksy guitar riffs reminiscent of Pink Floyd and Hermes’ bemused narration. 

It is to be determined if all the aforementioned musical and narrative qualities of “Hadestown” (2019) will be sufficient to garner the 2020 Musical Theater Album Grammy. One of the main faults of the “Hadestown” Broadway cast album is its length, as the concept album has been extended from 20 to 40 tracks. I share the view that most of the Act Two tracks are not particularly noteworthy or conducive to the plot. The development of numerous reprises and plot-exposition songs originated with the off-Broadway 2016 cast album, and careful analysis of the three different “Hadestown” albums reveal that the majority of character and plot development songs originated with the concept album with the few notable exceptions already discussed above. Moreover, the Motown, psychedelic soul biopic“Ain’t Too Proud” (2019) and the first-ever full Broadway cast album of the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “Oklahoma!” (2019 revival) pose a legitimate threat to “Hadestown” winning this year. Nevertheless, the timely themes of environmental and political consciousness and the role of the artist in society make the indie-folk opera turned-Broadway musical a better contender than “The Cursed Child” score or the jukebox “Moulin Rouge!” soundtrack. Ultimately “Hadestown” will win only if the Academy recognizes “Hadestown” (2019) as the culmination of over a decade of songwriting and musical production by one of the most talented female composers and folk artists of our time.

Contact Natalie Francis at natfran ‘at’ stanford.edu

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Gaieties takes a step forward in its 2019 rendition https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/19/gaieties-takes-a-step-forward-in-its-2019-rendition/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/19/gaieties-takes-a-step-forward-in-its-2019-rendition/#respond Wed, 20 Nov 2019 05:30:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1160765 Centered around a romance between two characters with underrepresented narratives and struggles, Gaieties 2019 touches upon issues of accepting failures and forgiving oneself. Weaved into that narrative is a positive celebration of one’s identity and community, and of how the latter can serve to support and uplift the former. These issues are brought to life by a talented cast of mostly frosh, further bringing home the pertinence of these issues especially to those new to Stanford and to college life.

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Once Week 7 of fall quarter came around, the murmur around Gaieties rose to a constant buzz, then to an incessant Stanford cry for a theatrical tradition, literally physicalized by the shouting tablers at White Plaza. Among the multitudes of emails advertising the show and emoji-filled messages on the various channels of communication through which the Stanford community could reach me, one line of introduction caught my eye. It was from an Assistant Producer of the show, and it said: “I know Gaieties is usually hella white and hetero but please come, this year we are trying to fix it!!!”

This is a hefty goal, especially for a musical theater production, whose representation in America has often favored the more privileged identities. It’s especially challenging when that musical is Gaieties, which, in the two years I have seen it, has mostly derived its humor from superficial, one-dimensional representation of student groups and hetero-romantic plot lines (even though it has always been “informally queer”). Whether or not this year’s Gaieties manages to overturn these precedents, I’ll leave for you to decide. But it was clear that it does have a team that has made a very passionate effort to do so, which was reflected in the choices for the show.

Without revealing too much, this year’s Gaieties offers a heartwarming look into a very common experience of Stanford students. Centered around a romance between two characters with underrepresented narratives and struggles, Gaieties 2019 touches upon issues of accepting failures and forgiving oneself. Weaved into that narrative is a positive celebration of one’s identity and community, and of how the latter can serve to support and uplift the former. These issues are brought to life by a talented cast of mostly frosh, further bringing home the pertinence of these issues especially to those new to Stanford and to college life. 

While poking fun at midterms and Eurotrash may elicit laughter from freshmen, upperclass students who are familiar with Gaieties may feel jaded by these routine jokes by the end of the first act. Director Brenna McCulloch ’20 reveals that one of the difficulties for Gaieties is balancing an audience of a wide variety of experience at Stanford. In my opinion, the pace picks up significantly in the second act, in which jokes become more specifically about Stanford and its student groups, and at times, turn bitingly satirical against the school itself. 

It is these moments that make Gaieties more relatable to me. Despite its connection to Big Game week, the show is not just about a football game: a statement that one character makes to question another character’s focus on the Big Game becomes one of the most poignant moments in this year’s Gaities. Situated in a show that claims to celebrate Stanford as a community, the statement implicitly raises the question of why this celebration, in the form as seen on stage — unashamed, passionate, but still incisive against the flaws of the community — does not happen more often beyond a football game against Cal.

The cast of Gaieties has often been comprised of some of the most talented musical actors and actresses on campus, and this year’s cast did not disappoint. The powerful voices of Cleo Howell ’23 and Chloe Chow ’23 cut through Memorial Auditorium’s terrible acoustics. David Mazouz ’23, Drew Feinman ’23 and Izzy Angus ’20 possess great comedic timing. Other cast members and the dance ensemble all have moments to shine on stage. Sometimes the cast’s delivery of jokes fell flat, but with the support of an audience in the house and more practice in the space, I’m sure the cast will achieve their full potential come opening night.

The set, designed by Olivia Testa ’22, Kiki Hood ’23 and Isabella Terrazas ’23, is intricate, with moving pieces that add to the humor of the show, but are simple enough to not take away attention from the characters and the story. The lighting design by Abla Ghaleb ’21, Ian Chang ’23 and Anjali Sukhavasi ’23 accentuates the plot lines and helps the magic of the show come to life. The music written by Liam Fay ’22 and Trenton Chang ’20 is funny, beautiful and celebratory at the same time. There were definitely some hiccups with the tech, which is to be expected at their first dress rehearsal, but they should be smoothed out by the time the show opens.

That said, Gaieties falters in one of the goals it sets for itself: highlighting the narratives of marginalized communities. Perhaps this is simply a by-product of a musical, but when the main character first mentioned her “community,” it felt like an empty buzzword with little meaning. While the characters’ identities are made clearer as the show progressed, the vagueness did drag the show a little at the beginning. Additionally, the show’s traditional poking fun of Stanford student groups, which is usually done by presenting stereotypes of these groups, often conflicts with its stated goal to uplift communities. While this contradiction is not totally conspicuous, it could have been better resolved at the end of the show.

Is this the limit of Gaieties? I’m not saying that there isn’t more the show could do — for example, I would have loved to see more celebration of different body types on stage. And director McCulloch and the rest of the team are passionate about and understand the importance of having marginalized identities on stage, through narratives that are purposefully written into the script and not just represented implicitly through the identities of the actors. In our post-show interview, McCulloch talked about the importance of being in conversation with communities that are being represented on stage, and I hope the next Gaieties continues this uplifting precedent.

What I mean to say is this: Constrained by its form as a comedic musical, it is beyond Gaieties to truly represent the variety of narratives at Stanford. In my personal experience, most of my friends do not break out into song to express their emotions. Gaieties 2019 talks about experiencing and accepting failure at Stanford, but it could only show the onstage representation of failure, the kind that ends in an obligatory happy ending. And we know that life at Stanford does not necessarily end in this way, and sometimes loving yourself and forgiving yourself is more difficult than having a bunch of friends singing positive thoughts at you. 

I do not mean this as a criticism against Gaieties, or as expectations that I am disappointed that this year’s Gaieties has failed to meet. Go to Gaieties, see an attempt to represent you, your communities and your relationships at Stanford and see that as that—an attempt, but a very well-intentioned one, from the Gaieties company and from Stanford. And even though those representations can be stereotypical at times, Gaieties — and Stanford at its best — do try to understand and help you feel that you belong here, even though it may not feel that way all the time.

The rest is up to you: be it by learning to forgive yourself for your failures, by finding supportive friends, by finding communities that will make you feel you belong at “a school like this,” by pushing for marginalized identities to be represented in the Stanford narrative and by pressuring Stanford’s administration to be truly inclusive of all identities.

Contact Khuyen Le at khuyenle ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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A trip down ‘Mark Twain’s River of Song’ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/18/a-trip-down-mark-twains-river-of-song/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/18/a-trip-down-mark-twains-river-of-song/#respond Fri, 18 Oct 2019 08:37:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1158776 “Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company,” declares Mark Twain, played by Dan Hiatt. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s opening night of Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman’s Mark Twain’s River of Song was far from hellish; the company was indeed spectacular.

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“Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company,” declares Mark Twain, played by Dan Hiatt. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s opening night of Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman’s “Mark Twain’s River of Song” was far from hellish; the company was indeed spectacular. In this musical tracing the history and route of the Mississippi, we have a cast that includes Dan Hiatt — the Bay Area theater veteran who can easily be described as the engine for the narrative steam in the folksy, bluesy River of Song — and Grammy and Tony Award nominee Valisia Lekae, who was delightful throughout the wholesome cadence of this west-coast premiere. 

Now, make no mistake, “River of Song” is a modern traveler’s vlog. But Mark Twain, the original #wanderlust who has previously steered our imaginations all over the globe — his favorites Mississippi, Tahoe and the Sea of Galilee — was also a blisteringly funny guy, in an oddly efficient way. His one-liners like, “I’ve been an author for 42 years and an ass for 74,” pompously declared by Hiatt in a leather armchair, got the audience roaring. Sometimes these were so clever, delivered so swiftly, that your brain needed a second to catch up. Sat decked in crimson red socks peeking out from underneath a crisp white suit, with a wispy silver mess of hair, Hiatt simply needed a cigar to complete the picture of the witticism-spewing, venerated literary giant.

At 22, Twain changed his name from Samuel Clemens and adopted the pseudonym Mark Twain, a Mississippi river boating term used to indicate a safe depth of water for a boat (two fathoms).

Famously, the targets of Twain’s amorous intentions were many, and they spill over in the show. “All gamblers and fancy women must sign up with the captain before the boat leaves for New Orleans” — which, if it weren’t for the detailed soliloquy on the “democratic buzzards,” would have been my favorite line of the night. “River of Song” treats us to crackling melodies to accompany a megadramatic voyage down the mighty Mississippi, and we hear stories from lumberjacks to gamblers and farmers to farm wives.

Myler and Wheetman are both diehard Twain lovers. Given TheatreWorks had also dabbled with productions like “Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the past, this collaboration was imminent and, I suspect, effortless.

Traditional numbers such as,

“When I was single, I ate biscuits and pie.
Now that I’m married, it’s cornbread or die,
And I wish I was a single girl again.
Lord, I wish I was a single girl again,”

are interspersed with some charming, original songwriting by Wheetman, from the uplifting “Goin’ Up River” to the utterly hummable “Don’t She Roll.” There are funny and profound tales of common tragedy — for instance, an episode with a father and his little girl with scarlet fever. Both of Twain’s loves percolate through in this universally joyful performance — snippets of time spent training on the river Mississippi and widely acclaimed writing for newspapers around the world. With dozens of songs generating some compulsive floor-thumping, knee-slapping entertainment, “Mark Twain’s River of Song” more than adequately made up for the business school tailgate I had abandoned for the show.

The show closes on Sunday, Oct. 27, so see it soon!

Contact Anupriya Dwivedi at adwivedi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Tap into TAPS and other student groups for dance opportunities https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/28/tap-into-taps-and-other-student-groups-for-dance-opportunities/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/28/tap-into-taps-and-other-student-groups-for-dance-opportunities/#respond Sat, 28 Sep 2019 08:30:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157794 Figuring out how to be a part of the dance community can be daunting. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to start, from the myriad classes and performance opportunities offered by TAPS faculty to the over 33 dance groups on campus.

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Freshmen frenzy

As a freshman at Stanford, I remember not knowing where to start when getting into the dance scene. Luckily I found an amazing community in Cardinal Ballet Company and had the privilege of meeting various faculty and students of the dance community through Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) classes I took for credit. Whether you are a dance fanatic like me or you have never danced in your life, dance at Stanford is for you! 

Figuring out how to be a part of the dance community can be daunting. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to start, from the myriad classes and performance opportunities offered by TAPS faculty to the over 33 dance groups on campus. 

So I’m here today to breakdown some ways you can get involved in dance on campus!

No dance experience, no worries

Even if you have never stepped foot in a dance studio before, you can still find your place in the Stanford dance scene.  

Dance classes, studio practices and productions are held by the TAPS department. Stanford has a host of beginner TAPS dance classes you can enroll in, ranging from introductions to ballet (DANCE 48) and hip hop (DANCE 58) to social dance (DANCE 46) and a class you can just be a hot mess in (DANCE 123). Beyond dance as practice, TAPS offers means to explore dance through varied lenses — politically, culturally and theatrically. TAPS 20N: “Prisons and Performance” requires no background in the arts and investigates the use of theater and dance to affect social change and personal transformation among prison inmates. 

Outside of the department, there are many non-audition extracurricular student groups that offer students a welcoming space to move and mess up and learn. Many begin their dance journeys in Common Origins, the only non-audition hip hop group. Other non-audition groups include Stanford’s competitive Kpop team XTRM and Latin dance group Ritmo. See a comprehensive list of student dance groups and their hyperlinked information at the end. 

As you can see, there are a variety of dance classes and performance projects offered every quarter, including ballet, contemporary, modern, social dance and hip hop. If you can’t choose between styles, you can take DANCE 106: “Stanford Dance Community: Inter-Style Choreography Workshop,” where you sample a different dance style each class. The TAPS department allows students to pursue a variety of ways to choreograph, perform and collaborate. On top of courses and faculty performances, TAPS hosts the Bay Area Dance Exchange (BADE),  where dancers from peer institutions meet for an all-day immersion in masterclasses and workshops taught by some of the best dance teaching artists in the Bay Area. 

In terms of student groups, you will find countless styles of dance from hip hop (Dv8, Legacy, Alliance, Common Origins) and social (Cardinal West Coast Swing, Ballroom Dance at Stanford) to tap (Tapthat) and contemporary (Urban Styles, Chocolate Heads with Aleta Hayes) to cultural (Stanford Chinese Dance, Bhangra, Mua Lac Hong). 

While I have only listed a few, there are many more to choose from. Often, dance groups of the same genre will have different styles to their movement quality, so you can find which group you best fit into. 

You may be thinking, “Okay, maybe I’m not quite ready to step into the studio, but I would love to watch dance!” Luckily for you, Stanford has a multitude of dance performances put on by faculty and students alike. For example, this year’s upcoming Fall Mainstage Production “REVIVAL: Millennial Remembering in the Afro NOW” is an Afro-Futurist-inspired dance theater work that explores the people and events that have catalyzed movements for social change through time.

You will be able to find dance performances held by different dance groups each quarter. Often, various groups will stage guest performances so you can see a host of styles and groups in one show. For instance, in the hip hop scene, there is a large show put on by a different group each quarter. Fall Quarter has “Breaking Ground” by Common Origins, Winter Quarter has “EnCounter Culture” by dv8 and Spring Quarter has “Hipnotized” by Alliance.

One of the biggest dance events is the Stanford Viennese Ball, a Stanford tradition with social dancing, live music, performances and live contests with opportunities for volunteering, planning and performing. And the annual holiday performance of “The Nutcracker” put on by Cardinal Ballet Company attracts audience members on and off campus. 

There are so many ways to get involved in dance and dance-making on campus. Dance is a way to move, to create, to destress, and to be unapologetically you. Stanford asks you to dance. 

Resources: 

To stay connected with the general Stanford dance community and be updated on events and auditions, join the Stanford dance community Facebook group! 

Get on the list server for “DanceNews,” a dance-specific email for Stanford students. 

Browse this list of student dance groups and more.

Find more info about TAPS dance faculty, events, auditions, open dance masterclasses, lectures and performances and check the TAPS website weekly for new dance information.

Contact Leilani Tian at leilanit ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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‘Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids’ boldly explores race, class and environmental themes https://stanforddaily.com/2019/07/23/polar-bears-black-boys-prairie-fringed-orchids-boldly-explores-race-class-and-environmental-themes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/07/23/polar-bears-black-boys-prairie-fringed-orchids-boldly-explores-race-class-and-environmental-themes/#respond Wed, 24 Jul 2019 05:33:37 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1156422 “Polar Bears” explores the meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement by positioning it as an issue of environmental justice. Peter and Molly, white liberals in search of consciousness, are the adoptive parents of a 3-year-old African American boy named Jason. Their desire to give him a bright future is challenged when two black boys are killed by police officers in their neighborhood.

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“Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids”: what do these three have in common? Perhaps that is what playwright Vincent Terrell Durham is asking in this new play at Stanford’s Nitery Theater.

Set in the Harlem brownstone inhabited by Peter Castle (Gabe Wieder ’20), an emergency room trauma surgeon, and his wife Molly (Emma Rothenberg ’19), an environmental activist, “Polar Bears” explores the meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement by positioning it as an issue of environmental justice. Peter and Molly, white liberals in search of consciousness, are the adoptive parents of a 3-year-old African American boy named Jason. Their desire to give him a bright future is challenged when two black boys are killed by police officers in their neighborhood. This motivates Molly, who drives the action of the play (and her marriage), to befriend more of her black neighbors in the Harlem community, which she and her husband are simultaneously gentrifying. The entire play takes place on the evening of a cocktail party thrown by the Castles. It is something they do often; however, this time the guest list is all black, including members of Black Lives Matter, a black business owner, and the mother of a black boy recently slain by the NYPD.

“Polar Bears” is the second play in the line-up of Stanford Repertory Theater’s (SRT) 21st annual summer festival produced in partnership with Planet Earth Arts and the National Center for New Plays. It is fitting that “Polar Bears” makes its debut in the San Francisco Bay Area because the play wants to unsettle liberal white social activists.

The play begins with a moment of surrealism. Jaquan Wallace (Victor Ragsdale ’19), appears in a dreamlike scene accented by heavy, ethereal blue light (beautifully designed by Austin Critchlow ’20). Jaquan finds a flower on the stage and exits. His presence is not long enough to draw conclusions, but the emotional effect of loss and wonder is given. This opening scene is juxtaposed by Peter and Molly preparing for the cocktail party. It’s no wonder that Peter’s first line of dialogue is directed to Alexa, his digital assistant, and not to his wife. They cannot seem to communicate. Peter and Molly’s series of arguments begin when Peter learns about the all-black guest list. But Molly’s aim is just. Given the murder of the two black teens in the area, she is intent on finding a way to prevent Jason from being a victim of the same fate. Peter and Molly argue about sex (or the lack thereof), children (he wants one of his own), the costly renovation of their brownstone ($150 thousand), and whether or not Molly should go back to work.

The theme here is not privilege, but rather salvation and the quest for redemption. In their work, Peter and Molly literally save lives, Peter as a doctor and Molly as a protector of endangered species. Along the way, it seems they forgot about protecting the thing that keeps them going: their marriage. As Molly argues that she has to save the world because “humans really suck,” Peter hurls accusations like, “You collect causes.” Then Molly accuses Peter of “not listening” to his wife. As Peter reminds Molly throughout the play, the couple’s plan to have a child of their own never materialized. Now, they have lost their way and found themselves in a sexless marriage struggling to speak the same politically correct language. Rothenberg’s Molly is uncertain yet smart, timid yet tender. We get the sense that this Molly, like most overzealous liberals, is unsure of what justice looks like but is of the “shoot first, ask questions later” mindset. This gets her into some awkward situations as we see in her interactions throughout the night. These unquestioned shots leave her apologizing for living most of the night.

The awkward disfunction in the Castle marriage is symbolized in the disfunction of their home (designed by Dan Holland ’19). To preserve energy, they’ve installed motion sensor lights that don’t actually respond well to motion. They paid to install low flow toilets to save water, but since they don’t “flush yellow” the home smells of urine. And the 7-inch thick walls mean that they wouldn’t hear their son in his bedroom – even if he were choking. Like the home, the marriage isn’t working. Nevertheless, Peter is sympathetic, gentle and supportive. He’s a good husband, even if he doesn’t understand why he shouldn’t describe black people as “smooth mocha.” He would rather have a heart-to-heart with his wife about sex and children than to step out with a hot young nurse from his busy hospital. At his core, Peter has a strong moral center that we trust to guide him and us to a resolution for this SoHa couple.

In this play about environmental justice and police violence, Durham layers in a critique of the black maid in modern culture and in Hollywood film history. But you won’t see a black maid on stage in “Polar Bears” because their maid, Claire – who gains the new title of African American household assistant – has been given the night off due to Molly’s fear that Claire’s presence would offend their black guests. Instead, Durham introduces the character of Shemeka Davis (Gianna Clark ’19), the owner of the Frederick Douglas bookstore. She is the first guest to arrive. Clark renders Davis with authenticity and an excellent range of emotion. She glides into the room in sheik attire (designed by Kaylyn Pugh ’19). In one moment she is the poised author and Harlem business owner. In the next, she transforms into the Alize-sipping, life of the party. In Davis, we have a moral compass through which we understand and interpret the events as they transpire down to the last moment of which she is the only witness.

Interestingly, though the Castles’ maid Claire has the night off, Davis does speak for the black maid. As the cocktail party gets underway, we learn that she is the author of an upcoming book on African American actresses in Hollywood. She says, “I got the idea after reading my great grandmother’s diaries. She was in a lot of movies from the early 40s right up until she died.” “Polar Bears” is a play whose script speaks to film history and the roles assigned to black women by critiquing America’s only vision of black women as servants who cater to the needs of white families. Referencing examples like “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and “Imitation of Life,” Durham writes a condemnation that culminates in a fiery indictment delivered with great force by Clark who brings the full weight of her character’s history to bear on this crumbling cocktail party, saying: “You got all the imagination in the world for grieving elephants, but you can’t imagine somebody who looks like me owning a bookstore. It never crossed your mind. It’s just what Rita was saying. Your limited view of us is what helped get a twelve year-old Black boy killed inside a park.”

The story gathers its steam with the arrival of Jaquan, a Black Lives Matter activist and his plus one, Tom Freeland (played with uninhibited fervor by Jake Harrison). Jaquan and Tom bring balance to the party. When Peter meets Jaquan’s plus one, he is relieved because he is white. But this lasts only for a moment. It takes Tom, the white militant Black Lives Matter advocate with no filter, no time at all to begin his tirade against the whitening of Harlem.

In Tom’s presence, “Polar Bears” descends into a narrative of gentrification replete with shaming Starbucks, Whole Foods and Chase Bank as symbols of white supremacy. Jaquan tries to put a lid on Tom, but this only goads him on as he retorts, “My thoughts are just as valid as yours. I’ve been with you since the first Black Lives Matter hashtag.” Jaquan, tired of Peter’s overstepping and lack of self-awareness, blurts out, “I get tired of you trying to grab a hold of something you’ll never understand.” Ragsdale and Harrison both deliver powerful, genuine performances. Playing opposite one another, they are vulnerable, weak and redeem one another. Their love draws us into this cozy little party. It’s obvious that their love is real and protects them both.

“Polar Bears” is unashamedly about men. But not just in policing. It relies on the very constant relationship between the black and white men. Jaquan is in love with a white man, Jason’s father is a white man, and Elijah, who was playing a cop when he was killed, wanted to be a white man. Going further, Durham has viewers observe the consequences of an absence and erasure of black men. For example, Shemeka shows up to the party expecting to meet a potential mate only to learn that he is gay; Jason, a young African American boy doesn’t have a black father, only Peter, a white doctor who calls black people “smooth mocha.” It’s almost as if Durham is considering what the world would be like without black men – do we need them?

As the room of five people sip cocktails and alternate between arguing and storytelling, they find common ground in The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.” The music silences all the arguments, and they dance. But the music only lasts a short while before the grieving Rita Dupree (Sequoiah Hippolyte ’22) arrives. With her arrival, “Polar Bears” and the conflict it brings takes off until final arguments are presented on behalf of All Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter, with Rita having the final say when Hippolyte delivers a heart wrenching monologue of a mother’s loss. Hippolyte teleports us to a world of grief we never wanted to know, saying,

“Black boys have imaginations. Black boys pretend. What did those police officers see when they saw my son? Why didn’t they see a boy inside a park?”

Under the direction of SRT Artistic Director Rush Rehm, the characters in “Polar Bears” feel so familiar and steady that one doesn’t expect a tragic end filled with eruptions from characters in pain, driven by the need to speak their truth. Whether we agree with them or not, the play addresses deadly police violence against African American men in a unique way. It speaks truth to the reality that, when a cop pulls a trigger, all efforts to create change – the protests, marches and eloquent speeches – come to nothing. In that moment, Durham reminds us that the only thing that matters are the decisions made by two people who are both afraid and confused. And the tension at this fraught cocktail party heightens with the arrival of one more unexpected, uninvited guest.

Don’t miss “Polar Bears.” The play is running until July 28 at the Nitery Theater, 514 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 9430. Remaining showtimes are Thursday and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., in addition to Saturday and Sunday Matinees at 2:00 p.m. There is plenty of free parking, and tickets are available at stanfordreptheater.com.

Michele Wells is a Ph.D. student in Theater & Performance Studies. She is advised by professor Rush Rehm.

Contact Michele Wells at michtaps ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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A ‘Beautiful’ look at the life of Carole King https://stanforddaily.com/2019/06/03/a-beautiful-look-at-the-life-of-carole-king/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/06/03/a-beautiful-look-at-the-life-of-carole-king/#respond Tue, 04 Jun 2019 00:00:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1155792 “Beautiful– The Carole King Musical” has joyously returned to the SHN Golden Gate Theatre for a limited two week engagement. Its stellar touring cast effectively propagates a unique dialogue with San Franciscan audiences and emphasizes “Beautiful’s” tonal complexity and engaging narrative. The Tony and Grammy-winning musical centers on the life and career of singer/songwriter Carole […]

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“Beautiful– The Carole King Musical” has joyously returned to the SHN Golden Gate Theatre for a limited two week engagement. Its stellar touring cast effectively propagates a unique dialogue with San Franciscan audiences and emphasizes “Beautiful’s” tonal complexity and engaging narrative.

The Tony and Grammy-winning musical centers on the life and career of singer/songwriter Carole King as she evolves from a 16-year-old pavement pounder to a Carnegie Hall headliner. A large majority of the story interrogates the turmoil in King’s personal life. This focus ultimately deepens the impact of King’s personal growth and professional metamorphosis. The musical is defined by toe-tapping hits including, “I Feel The Earth Move,” “A Natural Woman” and “So Far Away,” which the piano conductor and most audience members boogie to throughout the production. It’s nearly impossible not to.

Most of the show’s book and structure is successful due to the individual performances of many key cast members. A clear standout is Sarah Bockel, who plays Carole King herself. Bockel embodies the role with natural nuance and warmth. She impressively evolves both emotionally and vocally throughout the show and handles both comedic and dramatic acting beats with grace and honesty. An additional standout actor is Jacob Heimer, who portrays Barry Mann, one of King’s friendly songwriting rivals. Heimer often provides lovable comedic relief, offsetting Dylan Wallach’s unlikeable Gerry, and he especially stuns with a forceful rendition of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” in the second act.

Since many audience members remember King’s initial rise to fame first hand, the theater transforms into a space of cultural celebration and experience sharing. Beginning with Carole King’s opening monologue, King seems to subliminally invite observers to relive their own memories as the show unfolds. And boy, does it work. When I attended the performance, many enjoyed basking in nostalgia while collectively riding the tide of second-wave feminism “Beautiful”’s narrative centralizes. Never have I heard so much vocal participation from an audience predominantly comprised of middle-aged or elderly folks, who cheered for King when she decided to sing her own songs or verbally balked at her husband’s infidelity.

At times, the musical’s scenes become a bit tiresome. This is partially due to some drag in line delivery, but mostly because many scenes are similarly set in King’s office or focused on her difficulties while songwriting. But any problems that may result from this structure are resolved through the implementation of performance breaks, or moments in which the audience is briefly pulled out of the narrative to fully appreciate a famous song as a stand-alone piece of art. In these moments, I can imagine many audience members layer their own experiences onto the songs and reflect on their own memories that may be connected to the music, particularly because these moments are only loosely connected to “Beautiful”‘s primary narrative. Though songs are usually most successful when serving as plot-furthering devices, jukebox musicals have the unique opportunity to lean into productively non-narrative musical moments. This production should serve as the gold standard.  

Some excellent musical breaks include “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “On Broadway” sung by performers portraying The Drifters, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” sung by performers portraying The Shirelles, and “The Locomotion” featuring a performer portraying Little Eva. During these songs, various highlighted ensemble members sing with precision and exuberance in reverence to each of the respective songwriters. Each ensemble soloist belts absurdly high and harnesses massive vocal control while mimicking the sounds of other famous musicians. I also appreciate how the casting team chose actors with differing body types to fill the ensemble and cast as a whole, displaying a refreshingly natural representation of body image onstage.

Another aspect of the production that successfully capitalizes on the audience’s pre-established knowledge of King’s era is its comedy. In a few show-stealing moments, The Drifters and other periphery cameo characters exaggerate classic music styles and dances in a way that subtly wink at the audience. Though these performance moments likely wouldn’t have been viewed as comedic in the 50’s or 60’s, the suggestive flick of a hand or oh-so-precise sidestep expertly conveys feelings of solidarity with audiences and acknowledges the goofiness of some outdated performance moments when placed in a contemporary context. The show also interestingly enhances its comedic components through uses of dramatic irony. Many times King’s mother, her producer or King herself easily win laughs after conveying lack of faith in tunes that the audience knows become hits, and the delivery of these moments is superb and wholly satisfying.

Outside of instances in which the narrative uses the audience’s basic understanding of King’s career to enhance storytelling elements, the show is also largely informative. The show’s illumination of specific well known songs tactfully educate audiences who may not have been aware of King’s involvement in so many musical hits before her rise as an independent music personality. Coming away from the show with these discoveries is perhaps one of the most resonant aspects of this performance experience.

Overall, I am happily surprised by “Beautiful”’s depth. The show superbly honors King, is shockingly hilarious and effectively leans into darker subject matter. The main actors hone the historical figures they’re playing and encourage audiences to join their feminist leanings. I left the theater humming King’s iconic tunes feeling happy, proud and moved. You will too.

“Beautiful– The Carole King Musical” runs through June 9 at the SHN Golden Gate Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at shnsf.com.

Contact Chloe Wintersteen at chloe20 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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In TAPS’ ‘Cabaret,’ even the orchestra is beautiful https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/20/in-taps-cabaret-even-the-orchestra-is-beautiful/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/20/in-taps-cabaret-even-the-orchestra-is-beautiful/#respond Mon, 20 May 2019 08:00:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1155144 NOTE: A previous version of this article inaccurately reported the identities of Cabaret ensemble members in “Maybe This Time” and “Entr’acte”. Commentary on the live sound design has also been amended. Come hear the music play in the 2019 Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) Mainstage production of Kander and Ebb’s “Cabaret” (1966), choreographed and directed […]

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NOTE: A previous version of this article inaccurately reported the identities of Cabaret ensemble members in “Maybe This Time” and “Entr’acte”. Commentary on the live sound design has also been amended.

Come hear the music play in the 2019 Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) Mainstage production of Kander and Ebb’s “Cabaret” (1966), choreographed and directed Erika Chong Shuch and music directed by Chris Yoon ’19. Audience members ushered into Roble Arts Gym are greeted by flirtatious Kit Kat People hovering around the candy-colored, pin-striped alleyway stage, immersing spectators in the garish glitz of a 1930s Berlin nightclub. A prominent ten-foot raised platform situates the 14 person orchestra above the dramatic action. The shiny, colorful party hats that the musicians wear can be seen bobbing in tandem with the conductor’s baton throughout the show.

“It’s really nice to be able to see what’s happening onstage, because normally you don’t get to do that in a pit orchestra,” Yoon notes about the orchestra set-up. “I really enjoy being able to watch.the big Kit Kat Club numbers “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Mein Herr” and “Money,” which are always fun to conduct.”

Shuch’s directorial choice of placing the orchestra onstage acknowledges the stage direction in the original script that the band is onstage, which gives the the audience “the sense of being in a club.” The lofted orchestra allows for effective communication of music cues between the actors and conductor, meta-theatrical moments and even set changes. The emcee treats the lofted musicians as their audience for a brief dance solo in “Wilkommen” and there is a delightful moment in the engagement party scene at the end of Act I when Yoon and his musicians throw down golden streamers to help the stage crew decorate the stage space.

“You don’t need many rehearsals to make pit orchestras sound good — it’s more about finding good players,” Yoon said when asked about the rehearsal process.

The 14 piece Cabaret orchestra consists of a violin, viola, cello, two clarinets, alto and tenor sax, trumpet, trombone, two pianos, bass and drums. The orchestra only met for three rehearsals and one sitzprobe spring quarter prior to tech. Although the full band was not assembled in rehearsal until tech due to the various illnesses and conflicts the musicians had, Yoon was able to produce miraculous sound from his musicians. Yoon attributes his success to having worked with most of the musicians in past productions as well as giving detailed seven-to-eight page rehearsal notes that included any changes to tempo marks or orchestration that he and Shuch had made. When asked what his least favorite songs were to conduct, Yoon said, “the music is not easy but it’s not Mahler,” adding, “It’s a melodically easy musical, unlike more complex Sondheim shows. All the music is hummable and it makes sense.”

Yoon was well-equipped to reorchestrate various songs in “Cabaret, having music-directed seven shows during his time at Stanford. Yoon recalls how as a frosh, he worked with the director of 2015 TAPS mainstage production of “Evita” (1985) to “make it sound more modern like the 2012 revival.” “Cabaret” marks Yoon’s final show after working on a variety of student productions such as Stanford Light Opera Company’s “Don Giovanni,” “Phantom of the Opera” and Blackstage’s “Ragtime.” Yoon was a self-taught conductor and violinist prior to coming to Stanford, who had watched countless YouTube videos of Leonard Bernstein so he could lead fellow musicians in his school orchestra, playing repertoire such as “Beethoven Symphony No. 5” and Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite.” “Cabaret” marks a milestone in Yoon’s conducting career, giving him “the really cool experience of working with professionals” in a rehearsal staff of predominantly TAPS faculty and guest artists versus students.

The prominent position of the orchestra and their music director onstage is thus fitting given the extensive collaboration between Yoon and Shuch during the rehearsal process. Yoon describes Shuch as “a deviser,” someone with a flexible approach to theater who loves working with actors in a space to figure out what does and does not work, where nothing in the music or script is ever “set in stone.” Yoon admits he was not familiar with the show prior to working on “Cabaret” but knew that “the story revolves around 1930s Germany and the bystander effect — which is to say if you don’t look out for other people, it’ll bite you in the back.” While Yoon and Shuch have included all the songs in the 1998 Broadway revival soundtrack, they made a couple notable changes to the orchestration to reflect Shuch’s artistic vision.

The most obvious change that Shuch and Yoon have made to the music is the slowing down of the eponymous musical number “Cabaret.” Regan Lavin’s ’21’s B-list cabaret artist Sally Bowles slowly enters onstage in a sparkly black dress, her subdued energy matched by the slow croon of the saxophone. Over the course of the first verse, Sally Bowles goes from hardly singing at the revised slow tempo, the rhythm and volume gradually picking up and more instruments coming in. By the time she sings the bridge “Come taste the wine! Come hear the band!” the whole orchestra plays the iconic melody with gusto. The melodic similarities between the start of “Cabaret” and the harrowing hymn to amorality “I Don’t Care Much” plays up the stubborn blindness of Sally Bowles and the entire Kit Kat Club throughout the show.

Another notable digression from Broadway is the directorial choice to have women from all walks of life front and center for the power ballad “Maybe This Time.” Originally sung alone by Bowles as she reflects on her relationship with Cliff Bradshaw (played by Ian Hodge ’19), in Shuch’s production, Amanda Yuan’s ’20 Fraulein Schneider and three Kit Kat Girls join Bowles onstage, creating a plaintive, raw unison about their romantic aspirations. Having Fraulein Schneider join Bowles onstage makes thematic sense, as the middle-aged German landlady and young British nightclub star are far more similar than they may appear. Over the course of the show, both women are revealed to tragically choose their careers and complicity with Nazism over their lovers and acting upon conventional morality. The addition of Kelly Devens’ ’20 Rosie, Samantha Loui’s ’20 Frenchie and Kathryn Dragone’s ’22 Helga onstage reinforces that Sally, of all the Kit Kat Girls, is indeed “lucky” to have a way out of “the seedy little dive” that she loves so irrationally.

Small sound design choices contribute to the detached, hedonistic attitudes of characters inside and outside the Cabaret. Modern club music blared during the loudspeakers during Kit Kat Club scenes suggests a terrifying timelessness of people clubbing in bad faith, not asking themselves “what would you do” about their Nazi neighbors. Live sound designer Jamie Tippett ’19 explained that the removal of the polish effect on the mics in Act II sonically renders the characters in an “off” world. This first becomes apparent during the poignant scene when the voice of Herr Schultz (played by Gabriel Wieder ’20 seems to echo when he sings “Married (Reprise)” at the beginning of Act II. The echoing effect on the music augments how Fraulein Schneider after seeing Navi fervor at her engagement party rejects her romance and marriage with the Jewish Herr Schultz encapsulated by the song “Married” as a foolish thing of the past.

Nowhere in the show does both the orchestra and ensemble shine, as they do in “Entr’acte” at the beginning of Act II. The orchestral medley clocks seven minutes, featuring melodies from “Two Ladies,” “Money,” “Married,” “I Don’t Care Much” and “Cabaret.” This is Yoon’s favorite song in the show, and Shuch’s concept for the number completely obliterates the fourth wall. Though the orchestra remains confined to their lofted platform, their energy propels the ensemble out of the set and into the aisles, openly engaging with the audience members while remaining completely in character. The writer herself was sought out to dance in the aisles with the Kit Kat Club People by Justine Sombilon ’22, who along with Arjun Sheth ’19 and Chloe Wintersteen ’20 composed a terrific trio of emcees. During the entirety of the Entr’acte spontaneous dance party, the orchestra played exuberantly with a sound quality and musicality rivaled only by Broadway, proving the words of Arjun Sheth’s emcee spoken in “Wilkommen” that indeed, “the orchestra is beautiful” in “Cabaret.

Contact Natalie Francis at natfran ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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‘The Addams Family’ is a macabre marvel https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/15/the-addams-family-is-a-macabre-marvel/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/15/the-addams-family-is-a-macabre-marvel/#respond Mon, 15 Apr 2019 07:30:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1152676 Most theatrical performances begin with a short, functional reminder to silence your cellphones and abstain from recording. It’s not really a part of the show itself — it’s a courtesy notice, the kind of thing you throw in more because it’d be bad if you didn’t rather than any positive force toward it. Ram’s Head […]

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Most theatrical performances begin with a short, functional reminder to silence your cellphones and abstain from recording. It’s not really a part of the show itself — it’s a courtesy notice, the kind of thing you throw in more because it’d be bad if you didn’t rather than any positive force toward it. Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s production of “The Addams Family,” which runs this weekend and next in Memorial Auditorium, performs this reminder in full character, complete with multiple bits of prop comedy. It is extraordinarily extra, and therefore entirely fitting for the production. Ram’s Head’s “Addams Family” is a deeply cheesy, over-the-top show, and it’s at its best when it fully commits to that energy.

From the show’s opening number onwards, which deftly weaves in the classic theme of the 1960s television adaptation of Charles Addams’ original cartoons, “The Addams Family” reveals itself as a deeply campy production. For those unfamiliar with the term, camp refers to a certain style or artistic lens — one that emphasizes artifice, outlandishness and extravagance. For example, a musical that starts with a crew of the undead dancing the twist, as occurs in the first few minutes of  “The Addams Family,” could be considered campy.

Now, a lot of the outlandish energy of “The Addams Family” comes from the original production, which premiered in 2009. The musical’s music and lyrics are by Andrew Lippa, whose work Ram’s Head previously performed two years ago with their production of his “The Wild Party.” In that production, which received criticism for its treatment of abuse, Ram’s Head had to grapple with a musical that shifted wildly between gaudy jazz-age tropes and serious depictions of sexual violence. Here, though, they have an easier job — “The Addams Family” is a comparatively straightforward romantic comedy. Yet, they fully and seriously commit to the ridiculousness of the premise and Lippa’s music, never flagging in the two hours of musical hijinks they provide.

For those unfamiliar with the broader mythos of “The Addams Family,” which has had a bizarrely long legacy in American pop culture since the 1930s debut of Charles Addams’ cartoons in the New Yorker, the concept is simple. The Addams — a family centered around the core unit of smooth, charming patriarch Gomez, sharply witchy matriarch Morticia, sadistic and emotionless daughter Wednesday and chaotic son Pugsley — are macabre as all hell in a world that is significantly less so.

Lippa’s musical plays around with that concept, setting it a decade or so after the original material and focusing on the romantic escapades that ensue when Wednesday Addams, here played with a perfectly struck dose of cynicism by Amanda Lim ’21, falls in love with Lucas Beineke (George Hosono ’22), a boy from an apparently normal family. The Addamses and the Beinekes meet for dinner, and from there, two hours worth of romantic conflict ensue, enveloping both Wednesday and Lucas and their respective parents. Of those three pairs, Gomez and Morticia (played, respectively, by Rio Padilla-Smith ’19 and Eve La Puma ’20) get the lion’s share of the plot. Padilla-Smith and La Puma commit fully to their roles, with Padilla-Smith’s Gomez seeming concocted of equal parts charm and flop-sweat and La Puma’s Morticia a compellingly chilling force of sarcasm. But even Temi Bolodeoku ’22 and Brooke Hale ’20, who play the Beineke parents, make the most of what could’ve been thankless roles as the third couple in an already overstuffed romantic comedy.

But remarkably, “The Addams Family” works best when it’s at its most overstuffed. In fact, the musical’s second act, where the action slows in a series of reconciliations, is the weaker of the two. That’s no discredit to it — it’s perfectly good theater. But the scene that exemplifies the mad-cap, goofy energy of “Addams” comes at the close of the first act, instead. In an extended number spilling out of a Addams family drinking game based on “Full Disclosure” of secrets, the entire plot of the musical gets turned inside out. Also, Vincent Nicandro ’20’s wonderful Fester Addams, the secret emotional core of the play, sings about being in love with the moon. It’s a chaotic scene, full of moving parts that a lesser production could have fumbled. Under Ram’s Head’s care, it went off without a hitch.

That’s likely due to the skilled direction of J.B. Horsley ’19 and the technical skill of staff members like choreographer Madeline Lee ’19 and music director Joshua Chang ’21. More than anything else, “The Addams Family” is a production where every part is finely honed to help achieve a totally over-the-top, goofy goal. It’s corny, but most of all, it commits.

Contact Jacob Kuppermann at jkupperm ‘at’ stanford.edu

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Cinderella in San Jose https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/09/cinderella-in-san-jose/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/09/cinderella-in-san-jose/#respond Tue, 09 Apr 2019 08:00:33 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1152058 As soon as I traipsed out of my Computer Science class, pondering the different types of selection sorts, I saw the Cardinal Nights email and immediately became excited. San Jose Broadway would be performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” on Saturday and the tickets were only $15, including transportation. Straightaway, I contacted one of my closest […]

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As soon as I traipsed out of my Computer Science class, pondering the different types of selection sorts, I saw the Cardinal Nights email and immediately became excited. San Jose Broadway would be performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” on Saturday and the tickets were only $15, including transportation. Straightaway, I contacted one of my closest friends and we began planning our course of action for securing the tickets. That night, we met in the hall and kept the Eventbrite page open, refreshing until 9 p.m. The time was reminiscent of when we were registering for winter quarter classes and legitimately had the Atomic Clock website open so we would know exactly when to click the “Enroll” button. Fortunately for us, we got the tickets.

The next few days were spent in anticipation of the show, and finally, it was the day of. After a quick bite to eat, we headed over to the parking lot behind the Faculty Club where we boarded the charter bus that took us into San Jose. The performance venue was San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, with the foyer and “staircase” (more of a sloping spiral going up) reminiscent of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. We arrived at the venue an hour earlier, so we whiled away the time by paying a visit to the nearby CREAM establishment and treating ourselves to the quintessential cookie sandwich.

After we skedaddled back the theater and found our seats — the process was confusing since the seats are not in numerical order amid the rows (instead the odd seats populate one side while the evens have the other). The pit orchestra played beautifully and was well-heard, adding the perfect musical touch to the mostly comical events of the play.

The most impressive facet of the play would indubitably be the costume changes. On separate occasions, Cinderella’s fairy godmother transferred from a grungy, stooped woman dressed in baggy rags to an elegant, straight-backed woman upright in a shimmering gown. The costume changes occurred in a blink of an eye. For example, the aforementioned change on the fairy godmother’s part was carried out while she did a quick spin on her toes. After Cinderella came back from the first ball, still dressed in her glimmering, poofy ball gown, she ran to the set’s fireplace and someone from behind the firebox, perhaps around the mantel area, covertly snuck their hands through and pulled Cinderella’s party dress off, revealing the torn, raggedy dress that is so symbolic of her unfortunate position in life.

Without spoiling too much of the plotline, Cinderella does not relent to her prince’s charms after their first dancing encounter. Although the play concludes in the way you would expect it to, Cinderella’s reluctance to leave any way for which the prince to connect with her allows for a brief moment of female empowerment. Additionally, the focus is not entirely on Cinderella throughout the play. Her kind-hearted stepsister has her own clandestine, forbidden relationship with the local firebrand whilst the other stepsister provides comic relief.

Although a couple of the songs seemed a bit dragged out and repetitive, the actors did a wonderful job of simultaneously projecting their voices and dancing during the multitude of musical numbers.  

If you are at all interested in seeing a Broadway production, I would recommend popping over to the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts for a show. Upcoming shows include “The Lightning Thief” (yes, with Percy Jackson and all), “Aladdin” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”  

Contact Sarayu Pai at smpai918 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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