T
he WLC Theatre Department had to get creative last fall due to the pandemic. “We had a very strong feeling that live, indoor theater was not going to be happening by then,” said Prof. Simon Provan, assistant professor of theatre. “We wanted to make sure that we had something in place for our students that wouldn’t get canceled, so we knew it had to be something that could be streamed online.” After much research, the department ended up discovering – and producing – selected works from a collection of new short plays and monologues titled Alone, Together. From November 12 to 15, nearly 350 viewers tuned in via YouTube to watch the WLC Theatre Department’s production of the show – among the better-attended plays in recent history. The series was commissioned by the University of California, Santa Barbara’s LAUNCH PAD theatre program and included works from 24 distinguished playwrights – all written during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alone, Together was designed to be presented in an entirely virtual format, with many of the scenes mimicking the now ubiquitous video conference environment. Capturing a play by means of recorded video, while still maintaining the authenticity a live theatre experience, proved to be a delicate balancing act for student Mandi DeVos ’21, who served as cinematographer for Alone, Together – her senior capstone project. When recording and editing each play and monologue, DeVos wondered, “How can we still preserve the theater elements and make this feel like a theater event for our actors and the audience?” In many instances, this meant resisting the urge to
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capture a perfect and polished scene and letting the camera roll for as long as possible. The cast and crew of 20 students masterfully carried out 12 of the series’ 39 pieces, which portray the alltoo-familiar situations and emotions of life during the pandemic, such as mental health struggles, coping during uncertain times, and longing for a connection with other human beings. The short plays were presented in styles ranging from comedic to very serious, with some falling in-between. Students took in stride the challenges of acting out emotionally heavy concepts, along with the new experience of having no live audience. “The students had to deal with some deep emotional character work, which they did with great gusto,” Provan – director of the production – said of the actors. “The truthfulness these young performers brought to their work was awe-inspiring and something which the entire WLC campus can be proud of.” High praise came not only from within WLC circles. Playwright James Still, who penned two of the Alone, Together scenes presented by WLC, had this to say after watching their production: “There is such a range of emotion pulsing through those pieces, lots of sensibilities and voices from many wonderful writers, and I was especially moved to see young people take on those stories with courage and purpose.” He went on to compliment the show’s technical production: “The look and feeling of your digital presentation was professional, smart, and consistent throughout. Enormous congratulations to you [Provan] and the students, and everyone involved.”
