Theater

Mason students take a bow at Capital Fringe

Colleen Rich — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 14:55:28 +0000

Mason students take a bow at Capital Fringe Colleen Rich Mon, 08/14/2023 - 10:55

Aadith Iyer walked onto the stage at Theater J in Washington, D.C., and, as he said, “my stomach dropped.”

“I was, like, this is huge,” Iyer said. “It was very intimidating.”

Bella Panciocco wrote “The Road to the End” while a student at Mason.
Photo provided

But, wow, what an opportunity.

Iyer, a junior theater major at ��AV, was part of a cast and crew made up entirely of Mason students and graduates that performed “The Road to the End” at the recent Capital Fringe festival.

Written by Bella Panciocco, BFA Theater ’23, and directed by Megan Gray Lederman, BA Theater, BA English ’23, and Darren Badley, BA Theater ’23, the play got strong reviews from DC Theater Arts and Broadway World and won for best drama at Fringe in an audience vote.

“It was,” Panciocco said, “really surreal.”

It also was a showcase for the opportunities and experiences available to Mason students, as well as a reminder about how a university experience can be enriched by sampling all a campus has to offer.

Mostly, though, it was a payoff for all the hard work.

“I’ve truly seen everyone’s growth,” said Panciocco, of Oakton, Virginia. “It was really beautiful to see because we were all learning together, and isn’t that what we should be doing? Learning and figuring things out, so when we go into the field we can be that next generation of ‘this is how it should be done.’”

“The Road to the End” is about a father-and-son road trip to the Grand Canyon, a story that emanated from Panciocco’s trip with her mother to the Grand Canyon to mourn the loss of her grandfather.

The play originally was produced for the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Mason Arts at Home series. April Brassard, an adjunct professor in the School of Theater and Panciocco’s writing mentor, suggested Panciocco submit the play to the Capital Fringe, the annual festival in Washington, which is just 20 miles from Mason’s Fairfax, Virginia, campus

The cast and crew from “The Road to the End.”
Photo provided

Brassard, BA Theater ’12, had her own play, “The Morphine Diaries,” shown at the Fringe in 2011 in a space above a D.C. bar.

So when “The Road to the End,” was placed at 240-seat Theater J, she told the cast and crew, “This is the real deal. You don’t know how lucky you are.”

Lucky to show their work on a real stage in front of a D.C. audience and mingle at Fringe events with other performers and directors.

“The thing about Fringe is the exposure. They might be able to make some connections going forward,” Brassard said. “I knew they would be in front of an audience, in front of critics. I knew there would be some anxiety, but I knew they were ready.”

For Iyer, who is from Lorton, Virginia, and played the lead role of Henry, the experience was another step in a career arc he hopes will result in roles in movies and television.

Iyer said he loves theater because “it’s a different form of acting.”

“It challenges you differently,” he said. “I love memorizing lines and having this whole book in your head when you go on stage and have to perform it over and over again in front of a lot of people. That’s very challenging. I believe any good actor should have theater experience.”

The experience was entirely different for Jessica Nguyen, who played Dabria, a hitchhiker. A junior computational and data sciences major from Fairfax, Nguyen said being part of something outside her comfort zone made her Mason experience richer and “helped me relearn what it’s like to be a student.”

“Just having something in your portfolio that says I was able to do this, so why would I fear something new later?” Nguyen said. “That’s what being a student is about, taking risks. That is what acting is, too. With every rehearsal, I was learning more about myself and what fears I was able to diminish by just saying ‘yes.’ ”

“They wanted to share the story and be part of this,” Panciocco said. “And I think this paves the way for future opportunities for Mason theater majors.”

The rest of the cast and crew:

Sage Munson (BFA theater ‘23)

Kendall Huheey (BFA theater ’23)

Keaton Lazar (BFA theater ’25)

Hansin Arvind (BA theater ’22)

Bertem Demirtas (BA theater ’25)

Michael O. Jarvis (government and international politics ’25)

Toni Avonne (BFA theater ’22)

Brett Womack (BFA theater, BA mathematics ’25)

Samba Pathak (BA theater ’23)

Caleb McMurtry (BA theater ’24)

Elisabeth Dupuy (BA theater ’24)

Sarah Strunk (BA film and video studies ’22)

Hannah Griffith (BA theater, BS marketing ’25)

Mary Clare Bernier (BA theater ’25)

Steven Franco (BFA theater ’23)

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April E. Brassard

Translating stage skills to life skills

Shayla Brown — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 18:42:02 +0000

Translating stage skills to life skills Shayla Brown Wed, 02/08/2023 - 13:42

When Thalia Goldstein studies children in theater, she looks at the skills they’ve gained not only in acting, but in life. She’s aiming to help them develop a heightened sense of empathy as a result of the bonding and teamwork they experience during various theater exercises and activities.

Goldstein, an associate professor of applied developmental psychology at ��AV, studies how participating in theater helps children to develop essential life skills and better communicate with others.

Thalia Goldstein. Photo by Shelby Burgess

“The great thing about psychology is you can use the tools and techniques to study basically anything, and I use them to study acting, theater, play and imagination,” said Goldstein, who has been studying the topic for her entire career.

Theater teachers rate students on social-emotional skills such as communication, creativity, teamwork, initiative, and problem solving, at the beginning and end of each semester, which Goldstein and her research partners then take into consideration to see what effect theater has had on different aspects of their personalities.

For the last six years, this longitudinal study has followed more than 1,000 theater students ages 5-18, and looking at the effects of formal theater activities on their social and emotional skills.

Goldstein co-directs the Mason Arts Research Center, a National Endowment for the Arts lab. When she spoke at the 2018 Arts Education Partnership Annual Convening where she met future colleague Julane Havens, who had already collected years' worth of research from her previous position at the Commonwealth Theatre Center (CTC) in Louisville, Kentucky.

“I didn't want all those binders of data to just sit there and collect dust,” said Havens, the Associate Director of Learning at Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC. “It was just good luck or fate that Thalia was there that day and that I was also moving to the Washington, D.C. area.”

Julane Havens with binders of research from Commonwealth Theatre Center. Photo provided.

Working with Goldstein and Havens is Megan Stutesman, a fourth-year PhD student and graduate research assistant in Mason’s Psychology Department.

“I came to Mason to study under Thalia,” said Stutesman. “In the early stages, I took on the role of cataloging, organizing, and getting these hard copy files into a digital format. I had a really good working knowledge of what the data looked like and what we could potentially do more scientifically and psychologically with it.”

Havens said that assessment tools built at CTC helped the students by scheduling 15-minute ‘end of semester conversations’ with students at the advanced level—typically teenagers with a couple years or more experience.

For example, “a 15-year-old, hard-working, and naturally gifted student, who was regularly cast in leading roles, was often overly critical of his work and relied heavily on feedback from his teachers,” said Havens. “On the rubric under creativity, we could point to ‘Student can describe their artistic choices and progress, but often relies on the opinions of others to be sure of their work’ and discuss with this student ways he could work on progressing to ‘Student gives carefully considered reasons for their choices, and progresses without the approval of others.’”

The goal is for the student to develop his own definition of success, so he can continue working without constant reassurance. “It was a privilege to witness this student's confidence grow. By the time he was a senior in high school, he was a leader in class who frequently uplifted and supported the younger students.”

Theater helps students with their expression, communication, creativity, teamwork, initiative, and problem solving. Photo by Getty Images

The students work with complex plays, scripts, and characters, said Goldstein, who teaches a class in psychology of creativity and innovation.

“Theater has a sense of containment that means students are free to do all sorts of things they might not feel comfortable doing in the real world,” said Goldstein.

For example, within the confines of a practice space, a group of three students might be asked to improvise a scene where they are waiting at a bus stop, which allows them to not only rely on one another throughout the exercise, but get to know one another and the way their peers are thinking.

“The arts are a potential place for children to better themselves, and in particular, to better the things that they may not be getting in a traditional academic classroom,” said Stutesman. “Theater and other performing arts are a space where kids can practice and utilize those skills and therefore develop those skills.”

“You see them connecting with folks in a different way. They’re off of the phones, off of the computers,” said Havens. “My hopes and dreams for this work as we continue it results in more resources and support for theater and theater teachers.”

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Off the Clock: Amanda Snellings is the artistic director of City of Fairfax Theatre Company, a community theatre group

Shayla Brown — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 20:55:53 +0000

Off the Clock: Amanda Snellings is the artistic director of City of Fairfax Theatre Company, a community theatre group Shayla Brown Wed, 01/11/2023 - 15:55

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Life is much more than time spent on the clock. In this series, we highlight the unique hobbies and volunteer activities of Mason's talented faculty and staff.

Amanda Snellings, assistant director of development at the College of Visual and Performing Arts, has been at ��AV for just over a year.

Outside of work, Snellings volunteers with the City of Fairfax Theatre Company (CFTC) as the artistic director. Many of her Mason peers have also participated in productions by CFTC. “We had a professor direct our show a couple of years ago, and it was really great. Students and alumni have performed, and we’ve even had some Mason theater students teach at our camp,” Snellings said.

Amanda Snellings performing on stage. Photo provided.

How did you first get involved with local theater?

I’ve been doing community theatre since I was 11. My first show was Oliver, playing one of the orphans. I’ve had the theater bug ever since. I studied theatre in college and pursued freelance directing while working in arts management at professional theatre companies to stay connected to my passion, most recently at Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C.

I returned to community theatre to get involved in productions creatively while advancing my development career. My passion and experience in performing arts made my role at Mason working with donors to the Schools of Theater, Music, and Dance a perfect fit.

What is the time commitment?

By far the busiest time of year is the summer. I direct the big summer musical with 50 people of all ages in the cast and another 50 involved between all the technical elements and live orchestra. It’s our biggest as far as set design, costumes, and lighting. We plan the production elements in January, hold auditions in May, and perform in July. The rehearsals span 10 weeks for about 12 hours per week. During the two weeks leading up to the show, I am at the theater every evening right after work until 10 p.m. and all day/evening on the weekends. It’s a lot of work but everyone is excited to be there together.

A performance of Beauty and the Beast by the City of Fairfax Theatre Company. Photo provided.

What has been the most meaningful or memorable experience you’ve had in this volunteer work?

The first musical I directed with CFTC was Beauty and the Beast. It was a huge technical challenge to figure out special effects like the enchanted rose petals falling at specific moments and the Beast’s magical transformation within 30 seconds without the audience seeing it. We also built a rotating cube set with four different scenes painted on the outside walls that then opened up into a huge castle interior. We were nominated for nine awards and won Outstanding Cast and Outstanding Set Design from the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors (WATCH) organization.

How has COVID impacted CFTC?

We were in the middle of rehearsals for a production of True West meant to open in April 2020 with the Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts Festival when COVID hit. We were finally able to do the show in April 2022. In late March 2020, we started using Zoom and Facebook to keep our volunteers and audience engaged, doing online play readings and classes. We started an outdoor Shakespeare program to replace our summer musical when we couldn’t be indoors. The first was A Midsummer Night’s Dream staged with the actors always staying six feet apart as part of the storytelling. We spray-painted the lawn, creating household seating boxes 10 feet apart.

A performance of Shrek the Musical by the City of Fairfax Theatre Company. Photo provided

What has been one of your favorite productions from your time with CFTC?

This summer we put on Shrek the Musical. I always say the songs from that show are so much better than you’d think they would be for a musical based on Shrek! There were a lot of challenging technical demands that the script set out for that show, but all the technical elements like costumes, hair, makeup, sets and lights really brought the story to life. It was such a beautiful final product and we were really proud of it.

What do you tend to enjoy most of the production process?

I love directing because I am deeply involved in all aspects of the entire production; I get to be the guardian of the vision for the show everyone is working hard to achieve. I really enjoy working with the multigenerational casts and seeing everyone learning from one another, especially the younger kids. We always have a few families that participate together, sometimes even three generations in one show. My role doesn’t usually involve performing, but each fall we do a cabaret of musical theater songs, and that's the one night a year that I always get to perform—which I love, too.