by The Cowl Editor on January 31, 2019
Campus
By Kellie Johnson ’22
Between managing an insanely busy rehearsal schedule and keeping up with classes, theatre, dance, and film (TDF) majors are very driven students.
Both Aisling Sheahan ’19 and Mireya Lopez ’19 provided insight into their lives behind the scenes.
To audition for a production at Providence College, students are expected to prepare a two-minute monologue for the director. From there, students who made an impression at their audition will be asked to participate in callbacks.
Callbacks are exactly as they sound. If the director sees potential in an actor, then he or she will call them to come back with given material for a final look.
Students are preparing constantly for auditions and summer programs, since opportunities at the College and in the city of Providence are always coming up.
Rehearsals for productions run on a demanding schedule of 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. every night, except for Saturdays. Six days a week, time is put in toward developing characters and meeting with voice coaches and various other experts who are able to help the actors perform to the best of their abilities.
Attendance is mandatory, and goes even beyond that. In the theater, showing up five minutes early is a rule. Being “on time” will be considered late.
Lopez gave an example of one of the special opportunities that comes with being a theatre, dance, and film (TDF) major at Providence College. She talked about the time that she met with a fight choreographer to help her with the fighting scenes involved in a production.
She explained, “I played Gertrude in Hamlet and I had to have rehearsals with the fighting choreographer and the actor who played Hamlet in order for us to be able to physically fight appropriately during the show.”
Sheahan talked about how close she has become with the others involved in productions at PC. The relationships developed between everyone in the theater department are noteworthy due to how much time they spend together.
She said, “I have found theatre majors to be the most hardworking people I know because we do not even have much time to do our homework, we have to finish it before rehearsal if we want to get a good night’s sleep.”
Lopez explained her job on campus in the scene shop. The scene shop is where the set for productions are built. This experience is valuable because she is able to be involved backstage as well as perform onstage, managing her time incredibly well, while still being able to have a great experience inside and out of the classroom.
The theatre department has their own Twitter account, @pctdf. They encourage students to be a part of any of their productions, whether it be onstage or in the crew. Everyone is encouraged to visit the Smith Center for the Arts in order to explore the opportunities that the theater department provides.
Following this weekend’s production of Lord of the Flies, the department’s next production will be Moon Over Buffalo, and auditions will be held in February. All are welcome to an incredible experience with incredible people.