Ava Hendrickson ‘22 | Mia Cabral ‘22
With COVID-19 restrictions in place, Episcopal’s fall play had to be reimagined, forcing Daniel Clay, Chair of the Theater Department and the Domino Board, to be extremely creative. Initially, there was anxiety among students that the fall play wouldn’t be possible at all, as explained by Grace Frazier ‘21, “Quite honestly, there’s nothing like getting up onto stage in front of a live audience. So as COVID continued to knock down the plans of my high school experience and the experiences of my classmates, my main concern was how the fall play would pan out.” Despite the difficulties of adjusting what is typically a live production with a full audience to one that is safe amidst a pandemic, this fall, the Domino Board was able to put together a virtual performance of the play, She Kills Monsters. “I’m so glad we all found a way to fulfill our passion while remaining safe in the midst of confusing and scary times,” notes Frazier.
Photo courtesy of Ashley Kennedy
Faced with the task of producing a successful show with all of this year’s obstacles, Clay explains the goal he and the Domino Board had in mind: “We wanted to do something that we could film in-studio a little bit, and then film at home, and then put it together to offer the community a virtual performance when we knew they weren’t going to be able to gather together and watch.” He explains why She Kills Monsters, written by Qui Nguyen, was their choice of production, “It had been on the list of plays we were going to do anyway, and when COVID-19 hit, the author actually came up with a virtual version of it, so we said ‘Oh, we were going to do this play anyways, we might as well do the virtual version of it now.’”
Clay explains the differences between producing a show during a typical year and 2020. “I think it was different for the students in that they’re used to rehearsing, and then they have this build up to production week, and then they’re really kind of busy and into it during production week, and they have this pay-off at the end, so the arc of that was different.” In regards to how the play was filmed, Clay adds, “We sent the students home with green screens, microphones and lights to plug in at home, and then we would all log on [to Zoom] and we’d record the scene over and over again and then we edited it all together”. Clay elaborates on the multi-step process of how the students prepared to film each scene as well, saying, “They’d do one quick rehearsal at school and then they’d do one more planning rehearsal and then they would go right into filming.”
Tech crew also differed from the past years. Kelly Leight-Bertucci, Technical Theater teacher, explains, “When you walk into the shop during our tech calls, instead of seeing people toting around lumber and tools, we are sitting around our laptops, frantically doing things there. We were doing rough cut editing before sending it to our editor, or fixing a backdrop before giving it to Mr. Clay. Tech crew wasn’t normal; not hands-on building. It was really sitting in front of your computer, and using technology to do the things we would usually do with our hands.”
Leight-Bertucci discusses the trade-offs of having to confine the typically live production to a screen, adding, “Instead of building physical things, it was really an exercise in digital design, learning and understanding how digital design mediums work. We learned to use Photoshop, we learned how green screens work, and we had to learn how to iron the green screen. It was a different set of skills that we learned, although it was a really fun and valuable set of skills. It was just very different from learning how to use tools and how to build things.”
Clay explains the advantages of the virtual performance. “We were able to do cool things with special effects that we usually can’t do during a play.” In addition, he explains how it positively affected the cast members’ acting growth, explaining, “I think it’s a really good experience for them because they get to see what the differences in acting on film and acting in theater are.”
Despite all the hurdles created by the pandemic, Clay is hopeful about using what he and the Domino Board have learned through this experience in the future. He explains that, “I would love to do it again. This is even something that we can combine with live theater. We could do both. We could do a multi-media sort of performance.” Even with the struggles and the “learning curve” that came with putting together the show, Clay believes that “it was very successful considering the obstacles and the differences and the snags that we had this year. I think audiences are really going to enjoy it. It’s actually really fun to watch. It’s only an hour long. And I think the students are going to be really proud.”
Episcopal’s production of She Kills Monsters is available online now at the following link: https://vimeo.com/483128198.