7 minute read
Performing Arts
We Will Rock You School Edition
Queen was a band like no other. A stand-out innovative group of musicians who were never satisfied with coasting on who they were in a given artistic moment, but very interested in what they and their music could become. Driven by Freddie but relying and celebrating the gifts and ideas each brought to the group, they brought music into the world, and ideas of what music could be, that transformed Rock and Roll. I had not realized how deep their song-book was and how much it had permeated the fabric of my life till, listening to the soundtrack of this musical, I found myself going, “Wait that’s a Queen song?” “And that one?!?” “They wrote that one too!?!”
I love this piece because it is so very Rock and Roll and so very Priory in its themes. One of our Benedictine Pillars is Individuality and much our Benedictine Pillars is Individuality and much of this musical follows individuals breaking free from oppression, monotony and group-think to find their Individual voice. Along the way their Individual voice. Along the way Community, Integrity, Hospitality and, Community, Integrity, Hospitality and, through the transformational magic of through the transformational magic of Rock, even Spirituality come into play. Rock, even Spirituality come into play. I love it also because it really is a unified I love it also because it really is a unified solid musical. Each Queen song drives the action solid musical. Each Queen song drives the action forward, the plot moves like a freight train, the characters are well rounded, fun, comic, dramatic and recognizably human (even the dramatic and recognizably human (even the ones that aren’t entirely human). We hope you enjoy the music, the tech and the We hope you enjoy the music, the tech and the characters as this incredible adventure launches characters as this incredible adventure launches forth, fueled by Queen, transformed by the forth, fueled by Queen, transformed by the imagination of Ben Elton, invested with incredible imagination of Ben Elton, invested with incredible heart, soul and commitment by our Actors, Techies heart, soul and commitment by our Actors, Techies and Musicians, and presented for your pleasure. and Musicians, and presented for your pleasure.
John Sugden, Director (excerpt from play program)
John Sugden and Matt Roth answer the burning questions of how they produced the Middle School Play, “Murder in the Knife Room” entirely through Zoom!
How did the idea come about to produce the play via Zoom?
It was an interesting situation to be thrust into. The actors had one live rehearsal on campus and the next Monday we moved to Distance Learning at Priory and rehearsals moved online. I huddled with Matt Roth and Stefan Fisher who was directing, and we were all certain we wanted the play to continue. We weren’t sure how soon we would be back on campus so we devised three different schedules for putting up the show. We hammered out what would change with each plan, and when we talked through using “Speaker View,” on Zoom along with green screens and some other tricks built into the software, it became clear that we could do the whole show online if need be. Which is what we ultimately did.
How did you manage the rehearsals, costumes and sets?
We moved all the rehearsals online and the actors really invested hugely in learning their parts, developing their characters and connecting with each other in this new world of “screen acting.” Our set designer Micaela Sinclair adapted her earlier designs to be digital backdrops, Miranda Waldron our lighting designer gave great advice on lighting spaces and green screen use and Karoli Clever our costumer had parents measure the actors and she pulled costumes from our stock and found others online. I ordered props and huge rolls of green screen paper for actors to use in their homes. Karoli bagged each actor’s costume individually and labeled them and we included internet cables and headsets for actors that had connectivity issues or needed their sound bumped up. Then we had a two day “pickup your costumes and props” at curbside; loading people’s cars while masked and gloved.
How you did it (from the tech side)?
We recorded two complete “takes” of the show, and for each show we had both a gallery recording and a speaker view recording. Stefan sometimes had to decide if the take with “better” performance or the take with the “cleaner” recording was the one to use. He made detailed notes about which sections he liked best. For special effects... Alexis Levin ’23 did all the flashback chime sounds, and then we had two other students on the call sharing their laptop audio. Chloe Huffman ’23 did all the thunder and Nate Chen ’24 did all the other SFX and Huck Twerdahl ‘26 creating the end credits.
What were the challenges/problems you encountered?
• Differences in people’s internet connections could make it hard for an actor to sign-in to rehearsal and sometimes they’d suddenly disappear from a dropped connection and they could pop up at strange times. • Lighting and framing of actors in their homes so they could be seen on the Zoom screen well, timing reactions between actors because of lags in internet connections, and the frustration of not being able to physically move very much because they would go off camera. • How to get musical cues and music overlapping for a Boy Band scene (shout out to Oliver Trevithick ‘25 for welding that scene’s song together!)
• The script, as written, has the majority of the cast on stage during the entire show. It is hard for young actors to stay focused and “in character” for that long. Zoom made the challenge even more difficult.
What was the feedback from the Priory community after the play was released?
The feedback we received from the Priory community was overwhelmingly positive. People were very impressed with the show, parents were happy that it kept their sons and daughters artistically and socially engaged in this time of isolation and the students were proud of what they created.
Anything else you’d like to share about the entire experience?
Theater is truly a community effort and we had some amazing high school students in Grant Whitman ‘20, Alexis Levin ‘23, Chloe Huffman ‘23, and Matt Gutow ‘20 that helped Stefan run rehearsals, create sound effects and were there every day to help. Michael Chang ‘20, did the editing of the two shows and cut it into a single performance for us. I’m very glad we didn’t let the Pandemic stop us. “The show must go on,” took on enhanced meaning and it was an engaging time for all involved and stretched us all in many ways.
