Pratima's Ponderings
Hello blog readers, theater enthusiasts, parents, friends,
fellow students and casual bystanders
(a little nudge to the fall play- Plans).
Welcome to the first edition of Pratima’s Ponderings. I was ecstatic to
see that I would be writing for the blog this season. (Mostly because my
dad is an avid reader of the blog, and if he can read about what I’m doing in
rehearsal on here, it saves me a phone call!)
But in all honesty I have wanted to write for the blog since this
spring. Once in a while, someone comes around that is so inspiringly talented
at something that you can’t help but notice them. My blogging inspiration is
Hung Hoang (’13), who wrote the remarkable Thursday Think Tanks for the
Spring One-Acts. He made this whole blogging thing seem so effortless.
Emphasis on seem.
But then again, maybe it’s not so hard to write about something that
I love so much? Berkshire School Theater.
The routine and vigor of rehearsal has become a comfort to
me. Into The Woods is my seventh play here because I just keep coming back for more. I
love so many things about Berkshire Theater, but my favorite aspect of every
production is the undeniable camaraderie that develops almost immediately at the auditions. This very connection is often the reason that everyone in each cast
is able to reach the pinnacle of their Berkshire Theater experience. Needless
to say building up this network of joy, love and trust, as cliché as it may
sound, is the most important thing we do here. And this cast has already started
to cultivate this special bond with such fervor that makes me even more excited
for this show than any other show I have ever done here. Everyone in the cast
works so hard at rehearsals that we cannot help but respect and
care about each other. That sounds like the kind of nurturing environment that
yields success stories to me!
Which is exactly what we intend to bring you come February with this production.
Team Blog
Hello Blog Readers!
Our names are Henry, Pratima, and Rebecca and we will be your bloggers for the next several months! The entire cast and crew is extremely excited for our winter production of Into the Woods and we are thrilled to give you a look behind the scenes of the show and help you get to know this awesome cast and crew.
Henry, a sophomore playing the role of Rapunzel’s Prince. Henry will be making “Weekly Walkthrough” videos to show you what the rehearsal process looks like for a show as complicated and challenging as Into the Woods.
Rebecca, a senior theater captain playing Cinderella’s Stepmother. Rebecca will be sharing weekly interviews with the cast and crew to help you get to know all the people involved in the production.
And finally Pratima, also a senior theater captain playing the role of Jack’s Mother. Pratima will be posting a weekly entry called Pratima’s Ponderings sharing her thoughts and personal process while working on this production.
So keep checking in for new content! If there’s anything you want to see or hear about on the blog, comment below and let us know.
Thanks for reading!
Until next time,
-The Blog Crew
Into the Woods music rehearsal
Watch the cast of Into the Woods practice their musical parts for the upcoming play.
It's official! Into The Woods is the Berkshire Theater winter musical
We are very excited to announce Into the Woods as Berkshire Theater's winter musical. It is a funny play with lots of twists and turns. The play features many familiar fairy tales and mashes them into a wonderful musical adventure. You will recognize a lot of familiar faces such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and many more. We are now having a lot of music rehearsals because the music in this show is quite complicated. To learn it well, we are front loading music rehearsals with Dr. Wu and Dr. Davis.
The audition process for this play had a huge turnout from the Berkshire student body. Auditions featured individual monologues and music solos. Then, everyone sang as an ensemble and we worked on individual song. As we go into break, we are learning lines and songs. Excitement is building in the theater as we work on this challenging play. Keep up with the blog for all the latest updates, info, and progress.
Into The Woods cast list:
Max Miller
Noah Faison
Kennedy Alvarez
Andrea Cass
Jordan Greco
Pratima Singh
Christiena Auguste
Alyssa Cass
Rebecca Rovezzi
Katie Soper
Annie Love
Greta Dorsey
Henry Thomas
Hayden Graham
Catherine Xu
Merit Glover
Jeffrey Erazo
Stage Manage: Jake Diamond
Assistant Stage Manager: Anna Kravtova
Assistant Stage Manager: Carrie Babigan
The audition process for this play had a huge turnout from the Berkshire student body. Auditions featured individual monologues and music solos. Then, everyone sang as an ensemble and we worked on individual song. As we go into break, we are learning lines and songs. Excitement is building in the theater as we work on this challenging play. Keep up with the blog for all the latest updates, info, and progress.
Into The Woods cast list:
Max Miller
Noah Faison
Kennedy Alvarez
Andrea Cass
Jordan Greco
Pratima Singh
Christiena Auguste
Alyssa Cass
Rebecca Rovezzi
Katie Soper
Annie Love
Greta Dorsey
Henry Thomas
Hayden Graham
Catherine Xu
Merit Glover
Jeffrey Erazo
Stage Manage: Jake Diamond
Assistant Stage Manager: Anna Kravtova
Assistant Stage Manager: Carrie Babigan
Plans strike with Chrtistiena Auguste
Fun at the Plans strike. Afterward, everyone went to the cast party and had a great time.
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland
Second Performance!
This Friday, November 1st, we held our
second performance of Plans. The cast
and crew couldn’t wait to put out hard work into action for the second night in
a row.
Opening
night is always slightly nerve-wracking, performing in front of an audience for
the first time. However, being the second night, we were able to get all the
jitters out of our systems, and put our best feet forward! Friday evenings are
the most popular show times, so the crowd is always packed. Knowing this, we
were so excited to perform for hundreds students, teachers, parents, and
friends.
We felt Plans
turned out to be quite a success! Thank you everyone for coming out to support
the cast and crew.
Light, Stage, and Cardboard Houses
Light, stage, and cardboard houses?
The opening performance for Plans was last night! As the audience flowed through the doors they were mystified by the actors who were already on stage. The audience got to experience an average day in the life of the three neighbors. The exciting buzz is flowing around campus. From puppets, to pianos, to cat fights Plans has it all. It is sure to stir up a mixture of all emotions happy and sad. All are highly encouraged to come out tonight or tomorrow night and watch the original work of the Berkshire Theatre department. 7:30 show time and doors open at 7:15. Don't be stuck in your normal routine experience something new and come see it!
PS when the lights come on intermission has started!
The opening performance for Plans was last night! As the audience flowed through the doors they were mystified by the actors who were already on stage. The audience got to experience an average day in the life of the three neighbors. The exciting buzz is flowing around campus. From puppets, to pianos, to cat fights Plans has it all. It is sure to stir up a mixture of all emotions happy and sad. All are highly encouraged to come out tonight or tomorrow night and watch the original work of the Berkshire Theatre department. 7:30 show time and doors open at 7:15. Don't be stuck in your normal routine experience something new and come see it!
PS when the lights come on intermission has started!
Wednesday Walkthrough: Backstage
Follow senior Christiena Auguste backstage before dress rehearsal. Get your behind the scenes look peak at the Plans cast and crew getting ready to perform before an audience. The first performance is tonight at 7:30 in Allen Theater
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: Mountain Day
Mountain Day!
As we were all very tired going into the start of the
week, we had all anticipated a little bit of time
off to recharge our batteries. It was perfect time for the school to
declare that Monday a MOUNAIN DAY!
On Mountain Days, Berkshire students are all
encouraged to take a hike on our beautiful mountain. This allows everyone to
relax and explore the amazing mountain we
are all lucky to have right in our backyard! As a theater group, we thought,
“What better way to spend our Mountain Day than take a team
hike?” We all gathered in front of Berkshire Hall at 10:45 and set up
for our hike to Black Rock. It was such an amazing time to admire the beautiful
place we live in from a birds-eye view. This Mountain Day was exactly what we
needed- now we cannot wait for October 31st!
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: Tech Rehearsal
Theater Insider with Amy
Rowland: Tech Rehearsal
As we begin to finalize the play, we have what is
called, Tech Rehearsal. It basically consists of running the play, beginning to
end, as the stage managers stop us when needed to write light and sound cues.
The Tech Rehearsal is not only beneficial to us as
actors running the play, but it primarily helps the stage managers handling the
necessary backstage work. The rehearsal takes a very long period of time
because of the many of times we take a pause throughout the show. These pauses
could be taken for various reasons. Just to name a few: light or sound cue
clarification, forgotten or missed line, improper blocking, or simply just
working a line in a different way.
Doing the Tech Rehearsal always makes the play seem
so much more official. For the first time,
we get to perform the show under the lights with the added sound effects and background music. Then, as we are corrected by Mr.
Howard and the stage managers, we feel as if the show it being polished up. It
can be a very exhausting rehearsal, but it sure is worth it!
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: Light Hang
Light Hang!
From 12-6pm on Sunday, October 20th the official
light hang was held. Our amazing stage managers, Merit Glover, Jake Diamond,
and Lucia Liencres, along with our directors, Mr. Howard and Dom Sayler, spent all day in Allen Theater working incredibly hard. They
spent many hours hanging and adjusting lights to shine various points on stage.
I was
lucky enough to stop by late that afternoon to get a glimpse of what was going
on. When I arrived, I saw Jake standing by the set as Mr. Howard was giving
commands for needed adjustments. Dom and Merit adjusted various lights as Lucia
programmed commands into a console. I was so impressed with how well everyone
was working together, and how great the lighting had looked. The interior of
the sets had a mesmerizing glowing effect while the rest of the stage had dark,
peaceful lighting. Seeing these cool effects really brought the set to life!
After the stage managers had finished their work, I got
to speak with them about their experience of the light hang. Merit said “[she] enjoyed getting
really high up on the ladders to hang lights” while Jake had fun “seeing the
mood of the show with the newly lit stage.” With it being Lucia’s first light
hang, she shared that “it was a lot of work and took a lot of time, but it was super
fun.
By Amy Rowland
Christiena's weekly wednesday walkthrough
Follow Senior Christiena Auguste on this week's walkthrough
Max's Minerview
This week Max sits down with two of the theatre captains Rebecca and Pratima. They talk about what its like being a leader in the theatre, what they are most excited about for about "Plans" and about PROSTUMES. If you have never heard of this word watch the video it will inform you on so very interesting life changing information.
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