Theatre Takes a Village

This fall semester’s two music and theatre productions required meticulous planning and rehearsal scheduling from their respective cast and crew members, as the preparations ran parallel and overlapped for both the play in October and the musical in November.

“Murder on the Orient Express,” John Brown University’s music and theatre department’s first production of the semester, ran the weekends of Sept. 30 and Oct. 8, and the musical “She Loves Me” took center stage Nov. 3-5, requiring the casts and crews of both productions to share space in the Berry Performing Arts Center since both productions started rehearsing in August.

When the music and theatre department was concluding their rendition of “Murder on the Orient Express,” the cast and crew of “She Loves Me” had to often rehearse on a stage littered with grim props and ominous train cars that almost laughably juxtaposed the romantic tone of “She Loves Me,” a story of two feuding coworkers in Budapest who unknowingly fall in love with each other through anonymous letters.

“Murder on the Orient Express” and “She Loves Me” are just a few of the wide variety of productions put on by the JBU music and theatre department. Other notable past productions include “Into the Woods,” a modern-day rendition of “Tartuffe” and “Babette’s Feast,” among others.

While the cast rehearsed for “She Loves Me” on stage, there was much preparation that went on behind the scenes. When designing a set for a play each semester, Josiah Wallace, associate professor of speech and theatre and set designer, spends much of his time analyzing the script before he begins the process of building the physical props.

“Design starts with multiple readings of the text and an analysis of its themes, period, place and motifs,” Wallace said. “I do concrete and metaphorical/thematic visual research – typically using Pinterest.”

From there, he begins the brainstorming process of what needs to be included on stage, as well as the overall design style that the production will encapsulate.

“I sketch, draft plans, collaborate with the director and create a model that is used for the build process,” he said.

The set designers often build most of the props and sets for their production from scratch, improvising any changes to the designs as necessary. In collaboration with a student properties designer, the set comes to life, including the centerpiece that was used for “She Loves Me:” the perfume shop, Maraczek’s Parfumerie.

The music and theatre department is consistently notable for its prestigious set design. Wallace and frequent collaborator Peter Rexford, technical director, have earned numerous awards for their set designs in JBU productions.

“We have very high expectations for what we can achieve and put in more hours than we really have available to us to achieve our goals,” Wallace said. “The awards are a testament to this.”

While the set design of any production is an important aspect of its production, collaboration with the audio, visual and lighting (AVL) team is necessary for the production.

“In the theatre world, AVL works closely with music and theatre, so we can act like a well-oiled machine to produce a show and use our talents to praise God,” said Andrew Keck, junior digital cinema major and AVL technician.

AVL, although solely behind the scenes, plays an essential role in any JBU production. Their primary contribution to “She Loves Me” was providing appropriate stage lighting for each scene. By attending numerous production meetings and rehearsals, Keck and his AVL team are able to design a lighting plot fit for the musical. The team relied on cues designated by the director of the production to discern when to use the lights necessary for each scene.

Additionally, there is much to consider behind the scenes in preproduction of a musical: the actors and actresses have a rigorous rehearsal schedule to follow as well. Before they are even eligible to attend rehearsals, actors must go through an audition process.

“The audition process is fairly simple. For the musical, the requirements are that you bring a memorized monologue and sound, roughly around a minute each. Then it is up to the directors to choose from their list of their actors who might fit certain roles,” said Connor Klaassen, senior music major who portrayed the role of Arpas in “She Loves Me.”

Once their roles are assigned, the actors go through months of rehearsals, learning to perfect their dialogue, music and dance numbers and their on-stage cues.

“Musicals are more difficult than plays because everything is timed. In a musical, you have to be precise, because if you get a word wrong or the rhythms wrong, you could throw off the whole song,” said Charli Mcllarth, senior integrated music major who portrayed Illona in “She Loves Me.” “Also, there’s usually more choreography to memorize in addition to lines, blocking and music.”

Actors must dive deep into the more personal aspects of their character along with perfecting the physically demanding elements of their roles. This process, while coming naturally to some actors, can be difficult for others.

“Getting into character was an issue for me initially,” said Jerica Barkley, junior intercultural studies major who portrayed the leading lady, Amalia, in “She Loves Me,” “I had to navigate the distinction between where [Amalia’s] voice began, where mine ended and where we met in a middle ground. We tended to meet a lot more than I expected we would.”

Actors are the heart of any production, but it is through elements such as set and costume design that audience members become truly engaged with the storyline. Joelle Ungos, junior psychology major and costume designer, is very attentive to her design process. Before she even begins playing with spool and thread, Ungos conducts intensive research for the production’s time period, learning its fashion trends. She then compiles her research into a mood board, correlating characters to color pallets and costume designs. From there, she begins assigning her cast members their costumes.

Ungos played a significant role in the production of “She Loves Me,” but in order for her input to be applied, she must go through the musical’s director.

“It is very important that I refer to the director’s concept statement (a document summarizing the creative vision) and communicate with her and other production team members in order for this to go smoothly,” Ungos said.

All of the different components required to produce “She Loves Me,” including Ungos’s costume design, was not possible without the direction of Liesl Dromi ’06, assistant professor of music.

Dromi’s responsibilities in a musical is tremendous — she approves every detail of producing a show, whether as specific as where an actor stands on stage or as grand as the set design. Her contribution to the musical begins months before production begins, as she has to decide which musical will be performed.

“I chose ‘She Loves Me’ in collaboration with our music director, Lisa Auten,” Dromi said. “When we evaluate what shows to produce each season, we look for material that provides experiences for our students to grow and be challenged and that will engage our audiences.”

Among the list of Dromi’s criteria for selecting the year’s musicals is that the material aligns with the values of the JBU community. Dromi said she does not require the musical to be explicitly Christian but should tell a story that mirrors that of Christianity — admittance to being imperfect and working toward redemption.

She is also responsible for creating the rigorous three-month rehearsal schedule which details which cast and crew members are required to be present and what scenes and production elements will be the focus for the day. The final week of rehearsal runs through the entire performance from start to finish.

Once rehearsals are completed, the curtains open and the hard work and dedication of the cast and crew becomes public and celebrated by the Siloam Springs and Northwest Arkansas communities.

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