Students across Performance come together to produce independent virtual theatre festival
Poster Design by Avery Schellenberg.
Mairead Canning
Artistic Director and Co-head of Marketing
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone when I say that this year has been uniquely difficult. The stress and fear alone, associated with the day-to-day events of a global pandemic, are a burden that feels exhausting after a year of living under it. In a program and industry such as theatre, the act of sitting still is especially trying. We are problem solvers at heart; being able to get our hands dirty and fix an issue at all costs is the way we’re wired, and having to watch the world halt for a problem you can’t fix, it’s harder to deal with than you might imagine.
There are other things, too, which I didn’t realize were such a big part of my school experience. Mainly, my life and education are full of my classmates and peers’ bright energy and joy. When my classmates and I had a free second to talk to each other, it was always the highlight of the day. All of the goofy, bright, excited chatter used to fill the space between lectures or entertain us through call was there again in an instant. It’s so funny how easy it is to miss things that you’re not even cognizant of until you can’t do them anymore. That type of simple daily interaction was gone, and we missed it so much.
Our intention with the Pocket Festival was to give ourselves a space to work together in ways that we had not experienced before. Because of the circumstances of virtual theatre, we as theatre creatives have a unique opportunity to use or medium in ways we would not have been able to in the past. We can explore shows and ideas that aren’t possible in a regular performance space; we can lean into our circumstances instead of being smothered by them.
We can also discover new things about ourselves and each other, new skills that we bring to the table while meeting each other where we were at. To intentionally make this process fit the stresses and struggles of being alive in a global pandemic. We had the opportunity to offer an outlet, accept any idea that was provided to us and say, “Let’s see what we can do together,” without the pressure of expectation.
This Festival was the first time we got to see the Acting, Dance, and Production + Design programs work collaboratively. We are so often working around each other that it’s easy to forget that we all share experiences and communities. Throughout this process, it was so refreshing to share our collective skills, knowledge, and experiences. It’s so refreshing to work with people we see so often but never get to interact with this way, and I feel that we have grown closer as a whole. There are so many people that I understand more fully because we were able to create together. We were able to understand and recognize the passion and drive in one another in a way that is only possible through artistic creation.
Annasofie Jakobsen
Production Stage Manager & Co-Head of Marketing
Tanvi reached out to Mairead, Margaret and I about being on the executive team of a project that started as a pipedream. We had a few meetings, and we began to get the ball rolling with applying to grants and starting to shortlist plays. We started by reaching out to our peers in the Acting and Production + Design program and solidified a fantastic group of directors. The meetings that we had at the beginning of the process, the meetings were so exciting; it seemed like such an overwhelming task, but our team is so competent, and I had faith in them from the get-go. We split up responsibilities, so while Tanvi and Margaret were figuring out funding, Mairead and I were holding auditions! We extended the audition call to First and Second-Year Actors and Second-Year Dancers and held auditions over two days. There was so much talent in that zoom meeting; everyone left so inspired and ready to start the rehearsal process.
Once we had secured funding from SIF, we set out to find our crew and creative team. The Second-Year Production + Design class is one that is brimming with talent, so it wasn’t difficult to find people who wanted to be a part of the process. By the end, we had five plays, two of which were original student works, four executive team members, seven directors and five stage managers. With such a great team, we created flexible schedules that could be passed off between stage managers, with a production stage manager to support them. When rehearsals started happening, I was so impressed by the stage management team and how they were constantly at the top of the game, making dailies and rehearsal reports while juggling school and show calls. They are the unsung heroes of this festival. I am so immensely proud of all of them, and I’m so grateful to share a space with them and call them my friends.
Time flew by, and the next thing we knew, we were in tech week.
The chaos of last-minute meetings, lots of minute-long voice memos (because who has time to type all of that out) and endless cups of coffee is a familiar one for all of us, and it was all the more challenging because it was virtual. We navigated online platforms that we hadn’t before; we pushed one another to better our communication skills; we stared at our computers for far too long. A lot of curveballs were thrown our way, but this experience was so unique, it will be one that I’ll talk about for years to come.
It was a privilege to have worked with my peers in the Acting, Dance and Production + Design programs, all of whom I respect wholeheartedly and cannot wait to work with again in the future.
See the last night of The Pocket Festival! On May 19th at 7:00 pm EST, we will be streaming “Get Yourself Home, Skyler James,” a play written by Jordan Tannahill and directed by Landon Nesbitt, Second-Year Acting; and “Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes,” also written by Jordan Tannahill and directed by Kendra Cordick, Second-Year Acting. Click below to register for a free ticket!