In the Aud

Members of the Second Stage organization discuss playwriting festival that was organized, written, performed, and produced entirely by Michigan State University’s very own aspiring playwrights. Watch the performances at theatre.msu.edu/spaces

Michigan State University's Head of Acting and Directing in the Department of Theatre, Rob Roznowski, previews his new book The Introverted Actor: Practical Approaches. The book offers first-hand accounts, methods, and tested techniques that will enable directors and educators to create balance between introverts and extroverts in rehearsal spaces and classrooms.

This episode of In the Aud was recorded on February 28, 2020 in anticipation of promoting the upcoming production of Bonnets: How Ladies of Good Breeding Are Induced to Murder by Jen Silverman, scheduled to open on Friday, March 13.

Due to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, MSU suspended face-to-face instruction on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. That afternoon Department of Theatre Faculty, Staff and Students learned all rehearsals and performances for the remainder of the 2019/2020 season would be postponed or canceled. What follows is a tribute from director Dr. Ann Folino White, Ph.D. to the audience of Bonnets.

"On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, I concluded rehearsal as I always do, with “notes”; that’s theatre jargon meaning the comments given by the director about acting or staging. That night was our second full dress rehearsal, three days before our scheduled opening. My notes were almost entirely complimentary; I had few requests for even minor tweaks. I finished by saying, “Our job is done. All we need is an audience.” Claire Wilcher, cast member and MFA candidate, jokingly asked, “So . . . we get to take tomorrow night off?”
That was Tuesday.
On Wednesday ...well... you know what happened.
If we had opened the show, if you had been in the audience, you would have experienced the classic 3Ms of Theatre: Merriment, Murder, and Motorboating (the naughty kind). Ok, 3Ms isn’t a real thing; I made it up a while ago because the production did include all the aforementioned elements, and what more could anyone want in a play?!
In all truth, had you been able to join us in the Studio 60 Theatre, you surely would have been surprised by punk pieces bursting through the constricting clothing of Puritan Salem, 1800s England, and 1700s Paris. You would have awed at how three doors set in a painted wall managed to capture the whole history of women’s artistic expression as a means to fight oppression. The lighting and sound designs would have transported you to these times and places in ways not merely atmospheric, but evocative of the emotional lives of the characters. You would have seen eleven women inspirit male and female characters with abandon: You would have swooned at Laurent, and fallen in love with Claire just as he did. You would have envied Valerie’s candor and confidence. Your heart would have broken at Georgette’s loneliness for a friend. You would have hoped against hope that the maid, Webster, would get the girl – yes, sweet insecure Georgette. You would have empathized with the “unpleasant” Mrs. Wolcott in spite of yourself. You would have raged at Daniel’s humiliation of Prudence, but also scoffed at his stupidity and marveled at her resolve. As Mistress Stone faced an unjust death with dignity, you would have found yourself doubting, like Fortitude, that gender equity will ever come. (Did I mention it’s a comedy?) And, like God herself, you would have wanted to both dance in the terrible beauty of it all and blow up the whole damn thing.
You see, we got to make a whole world together. We got to make it just the way we wanted it. Our work was joyful, and it was done.
I truly wish you were there. I am mourning the fact that we could not share it, not as much for us – the designers, stage managers, assistant directors, dramaturg, technicians, crew, and cast – as for you. I’m sorry you missed it."

Who will redefine gender norms as an artistic response to a changing world? #SpartansWill Frankenstein director Ryan Welsh and actor Abbie Cathcart discuss how casting Frankenstein's Creature as female completely altered their perception of this gothic horror classic.

Freshman Showcase director and Second City Alum Sarah Hendrickson, along with students Maris Keller and Mark Zummallen, discuss using short-form improvisational comedy to help acclimate freshmen to their new lives as Michigan State Spartans and the things that are expected of them as newly minted adults!