Artwork by Primo Lagaso Goldberg
Over the past months, LWHS theater teacher Miguel Zavala and TA Jax Blaska ’15 have guided students in the creation of “Time Capsule,” the school’s first ever storytelling podcast.
Through song, Socratic dialogue and other personal narratives, students encapsulate their stories and experiences over the past year since the start of the pandemic. Zavala describes the podcast as a “listening experience that has the opportunity to heal you. By listening to young people’s voices, and finding empathy, compassion, connection and relatable experiences.”
The group of participants is small but mighty, including Gabrielle Milman ’21, Nathan Gilbert ’21, Alexandra Pate ’22 and Evan Aubry ’22. Because there are few students, Blaska and Zavala have been able to support students holistically through every step of the process and focus as both leaders and support systems.
Although Pate has not yet seen the final project, she’s happy with how it has turned out so far. “I had a lot of fun going to all the workshops, writing my piece and recording it,” she said. “The Time Capsule Project has been a really rewarding experience.”
Zavala described the process of creating Time Capsule as liberating. “I wake up in the mornings and I appreciate the moments and each other and what time we have,” he said. With his improv class, he describes feeling like a different teacher: “I’m looking at the clock, and we’re not getting there, we’re so in the moment. And that’s life. That’s really being alive. That’s theater.”
Blaska also considered the key components that truly make up theater. They ponder, “what is theater? Is it the fact that it’s live? Maybe. Is it the fact that it’s ephemeral and the show that you see one night is never gonna be the same show again? Maybe. But also maybe not.”
A core theme of Time Capsule emerged: vulnerability. Blaska said, “both the nature of storytelling and vulnerability feel very core to live theater and live performance. There is this kind of vulnerability of being live on stage and there is also this kind of vulnerability of writing really personally about your experience of the last year and recording it with your own voice and your friends.”
Zavala built on this point: “Vulnerability is something that we really need right now. Breaking down our shells, not being afraid to ask for help.”
The process of creating Time Capsule reflects the nature of the time period it captures as well. Blaska said, “we have to be flexible, we have to adjust, we have to let go of expectations, and all those things feel very specific to 2020-2021. So I love how the process is reflecting the content.”
As a collaborative and less traditional project, the podcast allows Blaska, Zavala and the students to each try out channeling their creative energy in different ways. “Your creative spark does not just show up in one part of your life. The desire to create can also be funneled through music or visual art or physical comedy or whatever it is,” said Blaska.
The spring also brought an opportunity for many creative professionals from across the country to lead workshops on topics such as spoken word and creative writing — including Eryn Rosenthal, Cici Jevae, Monica West and Melissa Victor.
An important highlight for Zavala has been working with Blaska. “Jax used to be one of my students and was very involved in the theater program. And just having this experience to be working together again — I hope I don’t cry — but it does touch my heart,” Zavala said. “I’ve learned so much from Jax in terms of directing and facilitating and that it doesn’t have to be just one way all the time. It’s been truly rewarding to have a former student teach me in my later years.”
Before the release of Time Capsule, there will be a music video accompanying a song by Aubry (also featured in the podcast) in the Performing Arts Showcase. Blaska described it as a moving collective scrapbook of beautiful and melancholic moments that have stood out over the past year.
Blaska and Zavala hope to release the podcast through the eTiger at the end of May. “But if not, that’s okay,” said Zavala.
