Line Run and Black Box Theater Set-Up

Setting up the platforms
for our audience members!

With two weeks to go until opening night for the Spring One-Acts, the cast of the three plays began to prepare the stage in order to create the Black Box theater effect. As you may know, the Spring One-Acts will be performed in a three-quarter-thrust formation, meaning the audience will be able to experience the performance while being seated on three sides of the stage. After speaking to our Production Manager, Heather, she stated that the stage will be able to seat a little over a hundred people per show. So if you’re planning on attending the performance, make sure to get there early!

Waiting for the second half of
the line run to begin.

On a different note, today was our first off book line run. After performing all three plays without our scripts, we knew that the show was going to be a success. Mr. Howard stated that we “did a great job,” but of course, our work does not stop there. There is always room for improvement! A week from now will commence Tech Week, a week in which we run through the play several times with light cues, music, and costumes. It’s time to get this show on the road!

by Jeff Erazo, '15

Max's Monday Thrinterview: The Stage Managers

Max Miller interviews Stage Manager Jake Diamond and 

Assistant Stage Manager Carrie Babigian, part of the stage management team 

for the 2013 Spring One-Acts!

The Four-Minute "Hot Minute" with Christiena Auguste: Light Hang

Christiena Auguste is on the scene with members of the
Light Hang crew at today's Light Hang for the Spring One-Acts!

Thursday Think Tank With Hung: Warm-Ups

Hi you! Yeah you, you beautiful, gorgeous, random blog reader! I know you’re out there! You’re just a little too shy to comment but that’s OK! That can change, and that will change! But for now, welcome back to Thursday Thought Tank with me, Hung Hoang. Side note: starting this week, the official name of my weekly blog will be Thursday Think Tank, not Thought Tank, just to spice it up a little. Truth is, when trying to come up with the name, I over-thought and doubted if Think Tank would fit the bill since what we are doing here has little - if at all - to do with, as Webster dictionary told me, “interdisciplinary research”. Little did a guy fresh off the boat like I know that Mr. H thinks Think sounds so much better. Should have guessed that. But anyway, there you go. Think Tank.

So, without further ado, let’s get right onto our topic this week. Let’s get it. Let’s warm up. Just like athletes. Loosen the muscle, release the tension, avoid injuries, and stay on top of the game. 

Now, imagine yourself being in a circle, surrounded by eighteen other people. It’s 3:20 in the afternoon, school just ended, and you have a couple of tests and quizzes the day after (in case your days as high school students are long gone, let’s replace that with professional development meetings). You have had a pretty rough day already, and you have so many things on your mind. You feel like exploding. You feel like screaming. You feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. 

Then the song starts. 

That peaceful melody emerges out of thin air, swoops down and enwraps you, consumes you. And you let it take you away. And you begin the warm-up. You close your eyes, shut down your mind, and let your instinct take over. Every day’s warm-up is different. In no particular order, a typical warm-up shall be a combination of, but not limited to, Dying Goat, Syllables, Twelve Counts, Word Association, Pass the Clap, High Pitch to Low Pitch, 2 slows – 2 fasts, so on and so forth. This is not Yoga, by the way. But the effect is equally powerful, I must say. Also, if you encounter any problems while imagining what these exercises are, don’t worry; I’ll upload a sample warm-up in the near future.

If you were like me, after a few days, you would realize that regardless of how different every day’s  warm-up may be, the circle would always get smaller at the end. We wrap our arms around our fellow cast members, our friends, and look into each other’s eyes, for a really long time. I always had goose-bumps around this particular moment of the rehearsal, especially on the days when the warm-up song ended just in sync with the closing of the circle. It felt as though time has stopped for a short while just for us boys and girls, plus Mr. Howard; just so that our bodies can freeze in space; our souls connect; and our trust in one another forever strong. I always had goose-bumps, and I always loved it.

It’s been about three weeks since I started shouting at the top of my lungs, jumping up and down, squatting, and letting all the pains drip down my fingers. And in the past three weeks, I feel as stress-free as humanely possible. I got my mindset right before every rehearsal, I forgot the bumps I had during the day, I managed to set aside the worries of my life, and, like my good friend Sami “Shades” once told me, to feel like a Beast from the East. #MinorityPride. (I’m from Vietnam, btw).

Again, I will upload a video of our typical warm-up in the near future, possibly next Thursday. But in the meantime, should you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, so on and so forth, don’t hesitate to drop in a quick comment. If you’d like to come to our rehearsals, you are always welcome to (I have never asked Mr. Howard about this, but I don’t think he would mind).

Have a great day, global citizens. See you next Thursday.

by Hung Hoang, '13

Monday Minerview with Max: Christiena Auguste, Hung Hoang, Kay Humes

Max's Monday Minerview continues this week with

Christiena Auguste, Hung Hoang and Kay Humes!

Spring One Acts: Set Build #1

In the video below, Max Miller shows us some of the things 

that happened at today's set build for the Spring One-Acts!

Thursday Think Tank with Hung

Hello everyone, my name is Hung, and welcome to the first ever Thursday Think Tank. Every Thursday starting from now until quite possibly the end of May this year, you are cordially invited to join me as I recap the major/ memorable events of the week that take place in/outside the Allen theater, during rehearsals, break-time, off-stage, in the Green Room, up in the Film Lab, and watch me throw them all into the gigantic tank of pure philosophical awesomeness, mix them all up, and paste the fine mixture up here on the official Berkshire theater blog.

Now, with the introduction out of the way, let’s jump right into our first topic, which is a not a rhetorical question, but a legit concern that has many times been mentioned by our dear theater director, Mr. Howard, at school meetings but never been documented in written verses:

What would I get out of the theater experience?

If you are as impatient as me, Googling the answer can become an utterly frustrating experience. So let’s start this off nice and slow with a little story.

Since spring is here, and the ice-cream machine has officially returned from hibernation, I decided yesterday afternoon to treat myself with a cone full of brain-freezing happiness. When I made it to the machine, something struck me. Keep in mind I didn’t come to Berkshire with the intention of earning a degree in Desserts and Bakery though. But at the same time, it didn’t really take a genius to notice how limited the flavors the machine has to offer are. Vanilla. Chocolate. Or both. Cool. But what about other flavors?

I’m not in any way questioning the time and effort the Sage Dining Service has put into their work (on the contrary, I know they are all awesome people. #Scottmakesmyday). But,

When will we get to have those industrial-size buckets of ice-cream again?

When will we have the privilege of topping our bowls of ice-cream with hot chocolate melt?

Cherries and gummy bears?

Reddi-whip cream? (Btw, spring theatergoers: You guys will get this whip cream joke soon.)

I pondered my way back to my advisor’s table (shout out to Dr. Davis) as the melting ice-cream started dripping down my fingers. Mr. Howard’s table situated diagonally from mine. I looked at him while licking my thumbs (Glory to Buddha Amitabha for he didn’t see me doing that) and wondered if the past two weeks spent working with him and nineteen other human beings for the first time ever, also the last, have turned me into a nagging son of a gun, or, as Heather puts it, annoying.

I hope they have.

I’m glad if they have, because that, I believe, is the side-effect that will slowly but surely be embedded into my system the moment I subconsciously start regarding Allen theater as my new home – A home where I get to work towards the same goal with Jeffrey, Kay, Christiena, Max, Kennedy, Liz, Alyssa, Merit, TJ, Michelle, Craig, Tom, Ethan, Rebecca, Pratima, Alex, Amy, Mr. Howard, Dom, Heather, Jake, and Carrie, a home where I am confident that all of us are carrying out our own respective responsibilities, where I can learn to be aggressive against no one but myself alone, where deciding the position a chair on stage has to be violent, and where making mistakes isn’t something to be embarrassed about, but rather encouraged and, later on, very rewarding (I’ll talk about that in the near future).

We have no tests, no pop quizzes, and no paper to write. What we do have is the chance to be normal, frustrated, confused, excited, enthralled, crazy, sexy, indifferent, arrogant, classy, down-to-earth, greedy, flamboyant, depressed, cool, jock, attention-seeking, fame-thirsty, and so much more. What we do have, is the chance to deliberately demand more from ourselves, from others, and to be more than one flavor in life. What we do have, is the chance to have fun, to go crazy with people of different origins, personalities, tastes in music and movies, socioeconomic backgrounds. In other words, Berkshire Theater is just like any other sport team on campus, only slightly more artsy. There’s more to life than Vanilla and Chocolate; that’s what the theater experience has shown me.

But hey, you don’t have to take it from a guy who got into a play for the first and last time in his entire high school career. Come and see us rehearse if you have free time. If not, Thursday Think Tank will happily provide a virtual tour for you. Also, feel free to comment down below if you have any suggestion on what the topic of next week should be.

Until then, stay awesome, global citizens. And have some mint chocolate chip scoops while you’re at it.

Hung’s out.

P/s: Arwen, squirrels are wickedly cute. Here’s a picture to validate my point.


P/p/s: Whoever has my pair of pilot sunglasses, return it now and that will be the end of it. But if you don’t, I will find you, and I will huff you.

Update: Guess who just telepathically heeded my outcry at lunch today? Sage, you guys rock.

by Hung Hoang, '13

Monday Minerview with Max: Merit Glover

Max Miller takes a minute to interview our 

Tech Assistant and Student Director, Merit Glover!

Spring One-Acts: Tech Crews

Who's excited about tech jobs?
The props crew is definitely excited!

First of all, congratulations to the cast of the Spring One-Act Plays—!Artistic Inspiration, Small Actors, and It’s Not You, It’s Me. With about five weeks until opening night, we have gotten down to work on memorizing our lines, working on our blocking, and developing our unique characters. Now that we have received our tech jobs, this is really when the rubber hits the road!

The bios crew discusses their plan for
writing the best bios we've ever had!

Ranging from costumes, props, bios, and headshots to publicity and blog crew, the Spring One-Acts has, in essence, become our play. Many responsibilities have been entrusted to us, giving each and every one of us the experience of being both a cast and crew member.

Meet 3 of your bloggers: Hung Hoang, 
Christiena Auguste and Max Miller!

After receiving our tech jobs, each crew got together to discuss and plan out their work for the next five weeks.  Everyone was enthusiastic about their jobs and could not wait to discuss their ideas with Mr. Howard, Heather and Dom. Each group met with them to outline responsibilities, deadlines and any details needed to do our jobs well for the next five weeks. These meetings were necessary to ensure the smooth sailing of this awesome production! 

by Jeff Erazo, '15 

Thank You from the cast and crew of Anything Goes!!

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to see our production of Anything Goes! Here are a few quick thank you's from cast members as they leave the theater after striking the set.

Closing Night: An interview with Thomas Benfield

Thomas Benfield takes a moment to talk with Max Miller 

before the final performance of Anything Goes

Anything Goes: Friday Night!

The Friday night crowd packed the theatre. It was the fullest Allen Theatre has ever been for a show! The back of the theatre where all the freshmen sit during meeting had to be open for the first time ever. With the theatre packed to the gills, laughter bounced off every wall. The final performance of Anything Goes is coming tonight at 7:30, so if you want to see an energetic, happy, spiritual (at some points) and racy play, you should come out to closing night of Anything Goes at Berkshire School. You don’t want to miss this fantastic production!

by Max Miller, '14

photos by Anne Day

Anything Goes: Opening Night!

Peter Dunn, Pratima Singh, Max Miller and Liz Butler
in 'Anything Goes'

It's officially official: the show is underway! Last night we opened the winter musical, Anything Goes. The theatre was roaring with laughter throughout the night and was constantly filled with wonderful songs. The play starts promptly at 7:30, so be there or be square! The costumes, set, lights, and everything else are finally coming together and we are making very good head way towards the second night. It is a $2 suggested donation at the door... and bring extra money for homemade goodies at intermission! Thanks to everyone for their tremendous support thought this process and we hope to see you all tonight or tomorrow night!

by Max Miller

photo by Anne Day

Anything Goes: Dress Rehearsal!

Thomas Benfield and Kennedy Alvarez

Cielo Magana and
Savanna Fortgang

The lights are up and the set is painted. Tonight the cast of Anything Goes had their dress rehearsal. With five people in the audience, the cast got a feel for what it will be like performing the show for an audience. A dress rehearsal is when you run the entire show without stopping. It is like a warm up performance. With that under our belt, we look forward to Thursday night when there will be more of a crowd. The cast has put in countless hours of work this past week preparing to give this performance to the Berkshire community. We didn’t get back to the dorms until 11 p.m. and we got here at 3 p.m. We look forward to seeing you here one night... or all of three of them!

by Max Miller

photos by Anne Day

Anything Goes: Load-In

Christiena Auguste takes us on a behind-the-scenes look

 at the 'Anything Goes' load-in.

Read what other cast and crew members have to share about their experience at today's load-in!

Today at load-in, I had fun making the bed for the cabin requiring many feet of tape. I also organized and cleaned the green room to make the space a better place. Load in got me really excited for costumes and I can't wait to try them on!

- Alyssa Cass

Today was a big step for the theater department's performance of Anything Goes. There comes a time in the making of a show that makes it feel real; today was that day for me. Seeing the costumes and putting everything in its place made it so powerful. It's thrilling to know that in less than a week you will be putting your heart and soul out to the public, while becoming vulnerable and hoping that people will embrace it as much as you did.

- Cielo Magana-Bustamante

Today was the load in, which I found to be a refreshing change of pace from the tiresome rigor of rehearsal lately. I am on the props crew, so my job today was to paper the tables and figure out a preliminary plan as to what side of the stage props need to be on. I love props crew because of the endless meticulous work involved, such as assigning our many beautiful period luggage pieces to their best-fitting character. Seeing all of our incredible props and costumes gets me so pumped and ready for the following challenging days of tech. I cannot wait to share this stunning show with the community.

- Pratima Singh