The Lick-Wilmerding theater refuses to go dark. LWHS students’ new production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will open — online.
Rather than a live performance on the stage of LWHS’ Ehrer Theatre, the play will be presented as a film.
LWHS’ rendition of the play takes place in the 1970s, a setting proposed by members of the cast. (The play was written in 1596.) The 70s setting is depicted through tie-dyed clothing, wide-collared shirts, flared pants and a disco scene as the finale.
Actors are transforming their homes into stages with the use of green screens and studio lights.
Photo by Charlotte Baszucki
Cast members practiced and memorized their lines on their own before going on Zoom calls to rehearse with the other people in their scenes. Miguel Zavala, LWHS’ theater teacher and director of the play, and Kate Boyd, who teaches stagecraft and is working with the production team, attend these rehearsal calls as well. They give advice to the actors and ensure that the play is staged properly so that it will look good when the scene is filmed. Stage managers Adrianne Baik ’23, Ayden Bitanga ’22, Eamon Brannigan ’24, Alexa DiSabato ’23, Veronica Quinteiro ’21, Julia Ghorai ’23, Kreeya Makan ’23 and Evan Wyers ’23 also take turns attending rehearsals to take notes and tell the actors which scene they will be rehearsing.
Rehearsals started with each actor staring directly at the Zoom call, in order to gauge the reactions of scene partners. Then, cast members started to rehearse as though they were on the same stage.
Actors have to ensure that they look like they are in the same scene as the other actors, rather than looking directly at the camera. They are performing through angled shots in order for the final product to look like a normal conversation between characters. Sometimes, this means that an actor is turned away from the Zoom call and cannot see their scene members’ reactions.
“You have to envision the person you’re acting with in front of you, so that was definitely tricky because you can’t see what they’re doing if you’re looking to the side,” said Charlotte Baszucki ’22, who is cast as Hermia, one of the four lovers in the play.
Baszucki said that the initial Zoom rehearsals of looking directly at one another were helpful because she knew the reactions of her scene partners and could imagine them while she was filming.
The crew also adapted stage-combat for this virtual performance by instructing actors to look like they are attacking the camera.
Duplicates of props were also needed for when one actor used a prop and handed it to another actor — in a different house — on screen.
After rehearsing, actors began the filming process, setting up their phones to record themselves. While they recorded themselves, they remained on a Zoom call so that they could receive feedback, as well as hear the other members’ responses in each scene.
Actors filmed several takes of each scene, and Zavala is working on picking and choosing the shots he likes best for the final cut. Ronan Furuta ’22 and other members of the production team are working on compiling each segment on Adobe Premiere Pro. They have also made montages that will be played throughout the video, with voiceovers from the actors and music composed by Evan Aubry ’22. Transitions, special effects and sound will be edited into the film as well.
Stagecraft has also taken on a different role for this production. Rather than constructing sets, the class is coming up with design concepts based on research on Athens, where the play is set, in the 1970s. They are using a program called Roomstyler to make backdrops, which will be edited on the green screens. The class is also helping the production team with costumes and finding stock footage for the transitions of each scene.
Members of the production team have been meeting via Zoom every week to discuss the progress each team made over the week. The production is taking longer to bring to fruition because of the filming and editing process, whereas previous productions were performed live and did not need to be recorded. The production team has never worked with a film before, so they are not sure how long the editing process will take.
LWHS’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream will debut on Youtube Premiere in the next couple of months. The plan is to show half the film on one night, and the second half the night after.
Look out for more announcements about the play’s premiere in the eTiger.
CAST:
Lori Agbabian…………………………………………………………………………ROBIN STARVELING
Lucie Bacho………………………………………………………………………………………..TOM SNOUT
Charlotte Baszucki…………………………………………………………………………………….HERMIA
Sophie Bongiorno…………………………………………………………………………………………FAIRY
Lillian Devlin………………………………………………………………………………………HIPPOLYTA
Maddie Garfinkel……………………………………………………………………………PETER QUINCE
Rowan George………………………………………………………………………………FRANCIS FLUTE
Nathan Gilbert…………………………………………………………………………………NICK BOTTOM
Lily Hessekiel……………………………………………………………………………………..HELENA
Carter Jenkins………………………………………………………………………PHILOSTRATE/FAIRY
Andrzej Davis Krukowski………………………………………………………………………LYSANDER
Jamie Marwell……………………………………………………………………………………DEMETRIUS
Gabrielle Milman……………………………………………………….ROBIN GOODFELLOW/PUCK
Colin O’Brien………………………………………………………………………………………..OBERON
Brynn Palecek……………………………………………………………………………………….TITANIA
Cecille Pardo……………………………………………………………………………………………..FAIRY
Katrina Pehling……………………………………………………………………………………………SNUG
Aditi Shankar……………………………………………………………………………………..THESEUS
Jack Stanley…………………………………………………………………………………………..FAIRY
Charlotte Wyman………………………………………………………………………………………….EGEUS
CREW:
Evan Aubry
Adrianne Baik
Ayden Bitanga
Sophie Bongiorno
Eamon Brannigan
Sachi Desai
Alexa DiSabato
Magnolia Finn
Ronan Furuta
Sophie Ghorai
Charlotte Hahm
Lily Hessekiel
Liam Hillis
Natalie Mak
Kreeya Makan
Sofia Morillo
Keira Nakamura
Alexandra Pate
Veronica Quinteiro
Luke Rogers
Max Rostaing
Atri Shankar
Leah Sirkin
Elli Steinbach
Evan Wallis
Sophie Woods
Antonio Wydler
Evan Wyers
