A Celebration of Family
The show will go on. It most definitely will go on.
Despite distractions and disruptions – hey, what’s life these days without distractions and disruptions? – Collegiate’s student directors and actors will stage their annual winter play entitled Thicker Than Water (via video link) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, January 29-30.
That’s two weeks later than originally planned and a week later than the rescheduled date, thanks to the COVID-delayed return to in-person learning (and rehearsing).
When you’re onto something good, though, who’s watching the clock or fretting about the hassles?
Not the 13 actors, that’s for sure. Not the five directors. Not the crew. And certainly not senior Halsey Hallock, who’s producing the show because of his love of performing and the camaraderie that the experience fosters and as the culminating project of his honors theater class.
“Every year, the winter play is an honors theater class project,” said Steve Perigard, Collegiate’s theater director who is overseeing the endeavor. “Usually, the class are the producers and directors of the winter play, which are the student-directed one-act plays.
“This year, Halsey’s the only student in the class. Part of his job last semester in honors theater was to interview and hire the directors. He’s taken it on solely. His leadership is outstanding. He’s producing the effort, putting it together, selecting the pieces, working with the other directors, and casting the actors. He’s done a fantastic job.”
As the Thicker Than Water title suggests, the overarching theme of the nine-segment production is Family.
“It’s a collection of scenes and monologues from various famous playwrights that’s synthesized together to make one show,” Halsey said. “All the scenes and monologues deal with family aspects. There’re sad themes. There’re happy themes. The scenes have different characters, and all have different stories within them, and they all come together nicely to form a narrative on family.”
Halsey’s plan was to determine the script, name the directors, and hold auditions for the cast before the winter break, then do Zoom run-throughs during the hiatus from school and have in-person rehearsals on the Oates Theater stage when school resumed January 4 with the show running January 15-16.
All was on schedule until the decision to go remote the first week back prompting a one-week delay in the performance. Then, when re-entry was delayed until January 19, the presentation was moved back yet another week and the decision made to present a taping rather than a live-stream.
Thankfully, resilience and positivity are good antidotes for disruptions and distractions.
“It was definitely discouraging at first because everyone was excited,” Halsey said. “There were conflicts when the dates shifted, so we had to recast one role. Zoom rehearsals were challenging. You’re limited in what you can do, but there was a lot of strong work, mainly character work. Everyone took it in stride and did a great job preparing for the actual rehearsals (which resumed in person last week).”
Taping of each segment occurred this past weekend. Over the ensuing days, the crew planned to re-shoot scenes if necessary. Sophomore Finian Richardson and junior Hugh Cafritz, with the input of the directors, are editing the video.
“In the (honors theater) course,” Perigard said, “we’re looking at how you make the (script) choices, what thematic ideas are involved, what you want to say. We study what a producer does. They (students) take it on fully. Halsey’s doing a really good job. We’re there to support.”
The family theme of Thicker Than Water didn’t come by accident.
Halsey has been involved in Collegiate’s theater program throughout his high school years and considers it his second family. Two of those family members come from his actual family: his cousin Lucy Johnson, class of 2019, and his sister Alice, a junior who is directing a scene and a monologue in his production.
“When I came in as a freshman, everybody was so welcoming,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve made so many friends at different grade levels. The winter play, because of its short timeline, attracts a lot of non-theater people which brings more people into the theater family and expands the theater family to the rest of the school. That’s really exciting. This (production) ties together my experiences in theater very nicely.”
~ Weldon Bradshaw
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That’s two weeks later than originally planned and a week later than the rescheduled date, thanks to the COVID-delayed return to in-person learning (and rehearsing).
When you’re onto something good, though, who’s watching the clock or fretting about the hassles?
Not the 13 actors, that’s for sure. Not the five directors. Not the crew. And certainly not senior Halsey Hallock, who’s producing the show because of his love of performing and the camaraderie that the experience fosters and as the culminating project of his honors theater class.
“Every year, the winter play is an honors theater class project,” said Steve Perigard, Collegiate’s theater director who is overseeing the endeavor. “Usually, the class are the producers and directors of the winter play, which are the student-directed one-act plays.
“This year, Halsey’s the only student in the class. Part of his job last semester in honors theater was to interview and hire the directors. He’s taken it on solely. His leadership is outstanding. He’s producing the effort, putting it together, selecting the pieces, working with the other directors, and casting the actors. He’s done a fantastic job.”
As the Thicker Than Water title suggests, the overarching theme of the nine-segment production is Family.
“It’s a collection of scenes and monologues from various famous playwrights that’s synthesized together to make one show,” Halsey said. “All the scenes and monologues deal with family aspects. There’re sad themes. There’re happy themes. The scenes have different characters, and all have different stories within them, and they all come together nicely to form a narrative on family.”
Halsey’s plan was to determine the script, name the directors, and hold auditions for the cast before the winter break, then do Zoom run-throughs during the hiatus from school and have in-person rehearsals on the Oates Theater stage when school resumed January 4 with the show running January 15-16.
All was on schedule until the decision to go remote the first week back prompting a one-week delay in the performance. Then, when re-entry was delayed until January 19, the presentation was moved back yet another week and the decision made to present a taping rather than a live-stream.
Thankfully, resilience and positivity are good antidotes for disruptions and distractions.
“It was definitely discouraging at first because everyone was excited,” Halsey said. “There were conflicts when the dates shifted, so we had to recast one role. Zoom rehearsals were challenging. You’re limited in what you can do, but there was a lot of strong work, mainly character work. Everyone took it in stride and did a great job preparing for the actual rehearsals (which resumed in person last week).”
Taping of each segment occurred this past weekend. Over the ensuing days, the crew planned to re-shoot scenes if necessary. Sophomore Finian Richardson and junior Hugh Cafritz, with the input of the directors, are editing the video.
“In the (honors theater) course,” Perigard said, “we’re looking at how you make the (script) choices, what thematic ideas are involved, what you want to say. We study what a producer does. They (students) take it on fully. Halsey’s doing a really good job. We’re there to support.”
The family theme of Thicker Than Water didn’t come by accident.
Halsey has been involved in Collegiate’s theater program throughout his high school years and considers it his second family. Two of those family members come from his actual family: his cousin Lucy Johnson, class of 2019, and his sister Alice, a junior who is directing a scene and a monologue in his production.
“When I came in as a freshman, everybody was so welcoming,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve made so many friends at different grade levels. The winter play, because of its short timeline, attracts a lot of non-theater people which brings more people into the theater family and expands the theater family to the rest of the school. That’s really exciting. This (production) ties together my experiences in theater very nicely.”
~ Weldon Bradshaw
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