Building Theatre - LUC Theatre From All Sides

Making theatre is an immensely collaborative process. Somewhere has over 45 faculty and staff working together to bring this show to life. I had the opportunity to interview artists from all ends of the production and learn a little about what they are doing, what they love about this show, their roles, and how this play is being constructed. So read on to hear from the wonderful artists of Somewhere.

Let’s start with our stellar stage manager, Alex Umekubo. I asked Alex what his favorite thing he does as the stage manager is and he said it “is getting to tech and learning all the different cues, and with that, I get to watch all the hard work from the production teams come together as one”. The design and production teams have been working on this show since April 2022, in these last six months, their ideas have evolved into what we are seeing on stage now. Jillian Gryzlak, our faculty prop artisan, shared some insight on the development behind the scissor butterfly puppets the ensemble uses, “Finding the solution of using scissors and a base for the single butterflies was a fun discovery… I picked up a pair of scissors and the idea clicked. It was a simple solution for the movement and they seem to bring a smile to people's faces”. Design details like this across props, costumes, scenery, and lighting make this show like a little treasure box. When you sit in the audience, pay attention to these silly and genius pockets of creativity.

Another example is found with Holly Osborn, our student costume designer, with Cassandra's dragonfly earrings “Cassandra mentions in the opening scene that she previously went through a “dragonfly phase,” and I really liked that small personal detail that the playwright chose to share about her character. I liked the idea of her choosing to wear the earrings now, even though that phase has passed, as a way to connect with a time in her life when things were still ‘normal’”.

Our faculty scenic designer Tim Mann also shared a bit about his choice to include bent pipes above and around the set, “The inspiration for these shapes came first from my early research in drawings and maps depicting the migratory patterns of Monarch butterflies and was reinforced by the ceiling treatment in a series of restaurants I stumbled upon. The shapes simply felt right and ultimately came to suggest many things: The contour lines that make up the environment. The trees of the Pacific Northwest. The mycelium of the humongous fungus and the migratory patterns of the play's subject”.

On the sound side I talked to our assistant sound designer Hannah Kwak and learned more about her role, “Andre, our guest sound designer, is juggling multiple projects at once. So, I fill in the gaps by compiling meeting notes, sending Andre information about the props and practical tools being used to create the live sound, and preparing cue lists.” These are just a few examples of the production teams dreaming up and executing designs as we quickly approached auditions.

In late August our cast joined the show, going through the always dreaded audition process. Lauren Hicks and Momina Shahzad, our actors for Cassandra and Eph, both shared a bit about the nervous wait outside 409. Lauren said, “The audition process was both nerve-racking and fun! Auditions in and of themselves are always a scary process but I was lucky enough to have a bunch of friends who were also auditioning for the show that were able to help me with my piece.” Momina shared, “Some highlights of the auditioning process would be seeing your other friends in the audition room and getting to catch up with them”. Even down to the audition process this show and theatre, in general, is about people, and sometimes the best parts in the most terrifying moments are the connections you made with fellow artists.

Tori Kenny-Gates, one of our assistant stage managers, says this is one of her favorite parts, “My favorite thing I do as an assistant stage manager would be getting to know the actors and making sure they have what they need to have a smooth run of the show”. Emm Socey, our Assistant Director's thoughts run in the same vein. Emm’s job is all about people, here’s what they said about their role, “I'm an additional set of eyes to the directing team and line of connection to the performers and designers… I can provide clarity or insight to designers as to what has been going on in rehearsal and how we need to interact with their designs… I am there for actors to rephrase or reframe things that didn't make sense to them, to bring awareness to where their voice and face are in space”. Both the stage management team and our student assistant director are working to make our artists feel seen and heard, both onstage and off, as people and as characters.

Our actors on the other hand are tasked with making their characters heard. I talked to a few of them about their process. Elizabeth Avery, who plays Diana, shared a bit about her

favorite character exploration method, which, “is to write Diana’s unspoken thoughts next to her dialogue, especially in scenes where she is only listening to conversations.” Avery Thompson, who plays Corin, shared their favorite character moment in the show, “I get to have an amazing freak out scene near the end of the show where Corin finally goes off about the people who he thought he could trust using him and lying to him and it is just SUCH juicy character content and SO fun to play”. These actors have done a deep dive into their characters and now every time they step onto the stage they lift the words off the page magically and naturally.

This show is all about nature, as the characters experience the dying out of nature they are deeply entrenched in nature itself. This is reflected in the direction and movement choreography our cast embodies. Earl T. Kim, our movement director, has been tasked with developing the physicality of Somewhere. This has involved various techniques but he shares a stand-out one, “'Herding and Flocking', a movement practice that is modeled after the collective movement of animals and allows the ensemble to explore unison movement in a primal and organic way.” The ensemble especially embodies this imitation of nature. Ellie Englehaupt ensemble member and understudy to Diana touched on this in our interview, “I looked at my role as an extension of nature. I am simply following a will outside of my control. Kind of meta but it helped ground me in a way and get a sense of where the physicality might come from.” Emily, who plays an ensemble member, echoes this sentiment, viewing their ensemble character as “an infinite part of the collective body of nature”. As the nature around our characters dies off, they begin to embody nature more and more, our Director Denise Yvette Serna’s favorite moment in the show encapsulates this. Here she speaks about one of the nighttime scenes “the absence of insects and nighttime animals creates an opportunity to observe our characters ‘in the wild’ as it were. Something about the magic of that night lets us hear and see a little more - hear and see things we didn't expect…” As Denise beautifully put it this show is full of the unexpected and it surprises and fascinates at every turn.

This collection of interviews barely gets below the surface at all the hours and love and creativity that have gone into this piece of theatre, and it does not even capture all the people involved. But come see the show, experience the fruit of this collaborative art, and celebrate and support the artists that have worked on this show.

I want to end with a quote from my interview with Hemani Mehta, who plays Sybil. I asked Hemani what her favorite line is, she said, “My favorite line in the play that my character, Sybil, says is ‘I wanna live. Even if it's just imperfect.’ I love this line because throughout the entire play Sybil is trying everything in her power to make life perfect for the characters on the farm, but this is the first time she genuinely accepts that she can't fix everything. And she is continuing to live and enjoy her life as much as possible because it is the only thing she can do in this odd world.” This line and Hemani’s analysis of it really struck me, it encapsulates a question the play asks of us: how do we live in this odd world and what can we do to protect it, amongst our imperfections and its imperfections?