The class of 2022’s freshman year will culminate with their first Post Theatre Company (PTC) mainstage show, the Freshman Showcase, this spring. The showcase consists of two shows, one directed by theatre professor Lauren Reinhard and the other by adjunct professor David Apichell. The entire freshman theatre class will have roles in the performance, both on and off stage. The opening and closing numbers in both shows involve the whole cast. The main element of the showcases will be several individual scenes with the same underlying theme.
A show can’t be made without the support of a crew, many of which are second or third year students in the department. This is the first show that Emily Shoup, a sophomore theatre arts (design & production) major, will have a part in scenic design. “I’m excited to have a big portion where I’m in charge of something, rather than just being the assistant,” she said. Shoup will assist Apichell in making decisions based on his concept. “He gave me full reign on the spaceship chairs [a big prop in Apichell’s show],” Shoup said.
Emily Shoup is in charge of scenic design
Although the themes and titles for the two pieces are yet to be announced, the light-ing and costume designers are hard at work. Junior Kiely Boyington, theater arts (design & production) major with a concentration in lighting design, is in charge of the lighting plan for the both shows. “Designing lights for any show isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work and brainstorming and experimentation. It has a very creative side to it that not everyone under-stands,” Boyington said.
Despite working on two separate shows, Boyington is able to handle the job efficiently. “Doing two shows at once doesn’t add a lot to the challenge, it just creates double the work. I am now working with two design teams, two directors, two stage managers, two casts, and two sets of shows,” she said.
Kiely Boyington is creating the lighting design
Being the only design & production student concentrating in lighting design, and having designed the lighting tech for almost nine main stage shows since 2016, Boyington is fully aware of the importance of her role. “Without someone doing lights, there would be no world, especially for these first year showcases,” she said. “When there is a minimal set, like in these shows, the lighting designer’s main responsibility is to create this universes for the characters. A simple shift in light color is the difference between being in Alaska or the desert.”
Sophomore Sami Eddy, a theater arts (design & production) major with a lighting in costume design, is responsible for costuming Reinhard’s cast. “I have to dress 26 cast members,” Eddy said. Eddy believes that the costumes can really bring a piece to life, as well as making the actors’ job easier to embody their character. “I feel like clothing and what you put on your body is an expression of who you are as a person, so doing research into who these characters are, where they’re from what they do, they’re wearing that on their body,” she said.
Sami Eddy leads the costume design
Eddy is experienced in her craft, and high-lighted the importance of the entire crew as well as costumes. “You can do so much person-al work on your character, but once you got the clothing on and you look in the mirror and you see who your character is, it really ties every-thing together,” Eddy said. “Same with the set, interacting with the world around you it’s all essential to making good theater happen.”
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