Located within the deepest depths of Scott Hall is an integral part of making theater magic at the Williston Northampton School. I am talking, of course, about the amazing Costume Shop. 

The costume shop at Williston consists of two rooms that are located under the main theater facility and technical production shop in Scott Hall. Ilene Goldstein is the costume designer for the Williston Theater and is the main presence within the Costume Shop. She runs an after school program within the Technical Theater afternoon program option where students learn sewing techniques in order to help create the costumes that are used in Williston productions. Ilene, however, can often be found in the costume shop most hours of the day working tirelessly on the amazing costumes that grace the Williston stage.

 Within the first room of the Costume shop anything from sewing machines to ironing boards and even a washing machine can be found and are used in order to make the costumes for the Williston Theater the best they can possibly be. In the second room is the Costume Closet, in which almost all of the costumes Williston has ever used reside. It is here that the journey of two new costume designers within the Theater Lab program begins. 

Roya Mostafavi and I are the two costume designers for the one act theater productions taking place this winter within the Theater Lab program. It is our job as costume designers to know the visions of all four directors, and to craft costumes that are suitable to the place, time, season, setting and theme of the director’s productions. Both Roya and I have only rudimentary sewing skills, so it is incredibly fortunate that we are not personally making the costumes from scratch for our various productions. Instead we must both dive into the many aisles and shelves within Williston’s vast costume shop and pull anything and everything that we feel would suit and fit an actor and their character. 

Gathering the costumes for all four of the plays being produced as part of Theater Lab has been a very collaborative process. The directors, Ilene, Roya and I have all had to come together in order to bring to fruition the visions of each director. Whether it was improvising a full clown costume or trying to find clothes to fit a high powered New York lawyer; the process of finding costumes for all four shows has certainly kept us all on our toes. Even within the extensive collection of the Williston Costume Shop some items have been too difficult to find. Luckily, just a five minute walk from the theater lives a small thrift shop by the name of The Parsons’s Closet. It was here the Roya and I were able to buy many necessary parts for the various costumes we were working on. Through the many on and off campus resources, and the amazing guidance of Ilene, Roya and I have almost completed every costume for the Theater Lab productions, and I must say I am very proud of our results thus far. 

Overall, it has been a very fun process having input into the costume designs of a theater production. When acting I never felt truly in character until I put on my costume, so it has been a great privilege to be able to create the vessel that will carry all of the actors into the imaginary world of their shows.  – Noah Jackson ’15

It would be naive to think that Shakespeare’s plays, and his comedies in particular, are not challenging for audiences. The language itself is foreign and the humor based on events that happened nearly 500 years ago. Directors are willing to put these difficulties aside because we are drawn to the way Shakespeare understands the human condition, but we  can’t forget for a moment that audiences will never understand the truths Shakespeare illuminates unless actors have a clear vision of the entire world of the play.

In As You Like It, which is admittedly a play about ideas, it is even more critical. What do Touchstone’s jokes even mean? Why is Duke Senior such a nice guy? Why is Corin so bitter? Why is Jaques obsessed with Touchstone? Our actors must know the answers to these questions—amongst a host of others.

Luckily, Shakespeare scholar and UMass professor Dr. Adam Zucker came to illuminate some of these mysteries. His presentation, which was weighted equally with humor and practical advice, gave our actors terrific context in which to place Shakespeare’s play and characters.

Dr. Zucker explained the importance of the pastoral poem to As You Like It, the role of the clown in Shakespeare’s plays, and the subversive politics presented in the play. No presentation on Elizabethan England would be complete without a discussion of patriarchy which, in As You Like It, impacts relationships between brothers as well as between sexes.

After Dr. Zucker’s visit, the cast embarked on starting character work: the time when actors get to sort out who their characters are, what has shaped their vision of the world, and what they want most in life.

Armed with a new context in which to look at their roles, the characters became living, breathing, three-dimensional human beings, not sketches of characters written centuries ago.

Through support from the Williston+ program, which connects the Williston community with professors at the Five Colleges,  we were able to host some of the Pioneer Valley’s most creative theatre minds in our Play Production course last Friday. The class, which focuses on directing for the stage, explores what it means to be a theatre artist and offers students a chance to develop an artistic perspective while examining how that perspective adds to contemporary theatrical practice. Daniel Kramer, Chair of the Smith Theatre Department and Associate Artistic Director of Chester Theatre, Priscilla Kane Hellweg, Executive Artistic Director of Holyoke based Enchanted Circle Theater and Hampshire College professor, and Eric Henry Sanders, playwright and Hampshire college instructor, engaged students in a lively, honest, and passionate conversation on these very topics.

When I set out to gather this group together my hope was that they could bestow terrific practical knowledge about directing to our students.  Mr. Kramer brings years of experience directing award-winning theatre, Ms. Kane Hellweg’s nationally recognized  community-engaged theatre company has been transforming lives for nearly forty years, and Mr. Sanders’ plays have been produced all over the world.  Who better than this group to share the how-to of directing  with my students?

What unfolded was even better than that. The visit evolved from a panel to a robust conversation between students, teacher, and visitors that examined the essence of why we do theatre. It all came down to something very simple- storytelling.  Mr. Kramer spoke of the potential for theatre to create “empathetic imaginations” when actors inhabit characters unlike themselves, Ms. Kane Hellweg discussed how her work creates a permeable boundary between audience and performers that empowers audiences to become actors in their own narrative, Mr. Sanders conveyed the inherent power that storytelling has to change the way we examine our world when we include multiple perspectives. They agreed the keys to finding success in the theatre- and by success we are not talking about how lucrative our work is, but rather how transformative the work is for audiences and artists- is a spirit of giving. Without prompting, these visitors spoke a truth I hold very dear about creating and performing theatre- you must connect, collaborate, and give through the act of storytelling. Without these elements your piece will not touch hearts, change minds, or even entertain.

In reflecting on the panel, my students had a renewed sense of the importance of theatre, but more specifically a more clear picture of why they are so passionate about it. One student said “It is important to keep perspective on the reasons… you do something in order to have clarity in your work.” With that spirit they headed off to lead rehearsals for Theatre Lab, a collection of student-directed one-acts to be performed in February.

As part of our Winter Trimester production “Theater Lab,” I’ve asked Noah Jackson ’15 to write three posts about the process of producing a play from his perspective as a first time director and costume designer.  He has written the first of those and I have included it below.

– Charles Raffetto

—————————

I stared at the script blankly as if it were a pure white canvas ready to be transformed into a masterpiece. Everything from lights to sound and costumes went running through my mind as the prospect of a play turned into a reality. With the script as guidance, I was going to form a small piece of theater into something that was completely and totally my vision. These feelings were daunting to say the least, but I am sure my experience was one similar to what most first time directors go through. 

Through Theater Lab, a new after school program option accessible during the winter trimester, students gain insight and experience relevant to every facet of creating drama including designing, directing and acting.  I was one of the four students to take up the task of directing a small, three- to four-page play chosen through options given to us by our producer Charles Raffetto. 

It is fair to say that, through my experience as a director, I have gained a new-found respect for the resident Williston Theater Director, Emily Ditkovski. Directing has entailed so much more than I could have ever imagined and has been very different from the stereotypical “sitting in the audience with a megaphone shouting orders” archetype that people may think of when the word director is used. In fact, directing is such an interconnected experience when it comes to having to work with others. Through Theater Lab I have had to collaborate with student light designers, set designers, costume designers, stage managers and actors. It has been a very interactive experience in that we all work together to bring to fruition each others ideas. 

Overall, Theater Lab has been invaluable in guiding me to become a better director. There is no better experience than just throwing yourself into a project and doing the hands-on work that you need to know how to do. Even in the one month that Theater Lab has been going on, I have run rehearsals, built cohesion within the cast and blocked an entire short play. In the end Theater Lab has given me the tools to tackle the once daunting prospect of creating a Theatrical piece of art. – Noah Jackson ’15

While winter is usually a time for curling up with a favorite book and a warm blanket or binge-watching shows on Netflix, the Williston theatre is bustling with energy, excitement, and the sound of power tools and sewing machines. Between rehearsals for  Theatre Lab (our student one-act festival) and our spring production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, each week there are over 50 people working about 25 hours in the theatre.

Needless to say, we don’t get out of the building much this time of year, but it works out fine for us when the temperatures are sub-zero and the sun barely shines. If you happen to find yourself in Scott Hall in the afternoon you are likely to discover a building teeming with small pods of actors, directors, designers, and stage managers working on one of the five one-acts that will make up our Theatre Lab performance.

If you head into the scene shop you will see technicians building walls, ramps, and doorways for the modular Theatre Lab set. Making your way into the very back of the building, you will see a costume shop exploding with fabric and the sound of multiple sewing machines going at once.  If you stumble into the building after dark you will hear the raucous laughter of actors finally getting Shakespeare’s bawdy jokes or (in a more focused moment) actors flipping through the First Folio to get a better sense of Shakespeare’s text, and of course, a stage manager meticulously recording everything.

We are excited to keep you posted on all of these events, not to mention the great things that are happening in classes (even more Shakespeare!) . Check back soon for an in-depth look at our first few rehearsals for As You Like It.

Enlightened.

Burning social commentary.

Universal truths.

These might not be the first words that pop into your head when you hear the word  “comedy” but students in Acting II have a different take on things. For the past three weeks we have been studying comedy. Yes, this is actually a thing and it consist of more than sitting around watching your favorite Saturday Night Live sketches. It is as complex, intricate and challenging as tackling Hamlet (well, maybe not as complex, but definitely as challenging!).  Comedy has rules and traditions. If you follow them you will likely end up with people describing your work as “enlightened” or containing “burning social commentary” that highlight “universal truths” while clutching their stomachs because they are laughing so hard. At least that’s what happened in our class on Wednesday.

Acting II students were charged with crafting original sketches using the foundations of commedia dell’arte as a guide. Commedia was born in Italy during the Renaissance. Its raucous, bawdy, and highly-physical comedy provided the backbone for every comedian who followed. The primary goal of commedia was to challenge the status quo and unearth universal truths about social norms. I was curious to see what social norms our students would tackle and what elements of commedia they would utilize. It would be impossible for me to summarize their work- comedy, in its essence, is of the moment- but I will give you some highlights…

• The American Melting Pot compared to rainbow sprinkles
• Politicians speaking gibberish
• A reference to the famous Red Sox player A-Rod
• A veterinarian providing childbirth advice
• Multiple references to reality television

Through these outlandish situations universal truths about American politics, major league sports, the politics of flying, and the value of family were unearthed.

Beyond creating our own sketches we looked at theatre traditions from the past and present, across the globe and in our backyards, that share connections with commedia. Kabuki Theatre, the Peking Opera, Bread and Puppet Theatre, and the San Fransisco Mime Troupe utilize physicality, stock characters and other traits of  commedia in their work. At the end of class today students concluded that this kind of storytelling is universal and links us as human beings across time and space. Pretty enlightened, indeed.