Entertainment

Woods Theatre Offers Professional Summer Opportunities

Every year, the University’s professional theatre, Shadow Lawn Stage, performs a show in the summer. This year, they produced “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” but it wasn’t just professional actors involved in the production. Multiple University students and alumni earned parts in the play, helping them boost their resume and gain experience in a professional setting.

Taylor Bogan graduated with a degree in theatre arts last May, and within a couple weeks she found herself back in Woods Theatre for “Spelling Bee” rehearsals as Olive Ostrovsky. For Bogan, the real perk was her co-workers.

Bogan explained, “The benefit of performing in a professional summer show is getting the chance to work with equity professional actors. When you work with a more experienced team of actors it makes you work harder.”

Two members of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) were in the play. AEA members are considered professional actors, and being a member is how most actors can earn professional jobs. First, though, they have to gain membership, and “Spelling Bee” helped put student and alumni actors on track to getting their Equity membership.

Senior theatre arts major Michael Rosas (who portrayed Leaf Coneybear) explained, “Actors Equity has a program in which Professional Theatres can hire amateur actors whilst not giving them a full Equity Membership. It’s called the Equity Membership Candidacy Program. Actors have to work approximately 25 weeks for AEA professional theatre productions until [they] can finally be a full Equity member.”

Brittany LeBoeuf worked as the show’s stage manager after graduating with degrees in theatre arts and English this May. Her job earned her an Equity membership. LeBoeuf explained that AEA membership will not only help her win jobs in the future, but its purpose is to keep her safe.

She said, “Equity is the union that represents actors and stage managers, and it will make sure that as a member, I am protected in the work environment.”

Equity membership sets a lot of rules which can lead to obstacles for a production. For “Spelling Bee,” the cast could not work with their Equity actors for the first weeks of rehearsal. “Two of those weeks we rehearsed without the two Equity actors, thus them only having one week of rehearsal. Fortunately, knowing that these actors were seasoned veterans, this did not cause any unrest for me,” Rosas said.

Overall, the rehearsal process was different from what usually happens during all-student productions during the school year.

Rosas said, “Rehearsals in community theatre or school theatre usually start at nighttime because people’s actual jobs wouldn’t allow day rehearsals. Since this was a professional show, however, this is the actor’s actual job so rehearsals were from 10 am to 3 pm, Monday through Saturday, for three weeks straight.”

The students and alumni involved seem to agree that this was great preparation for more professional theater experiences. LeBoeuf felt that “Spelling Bee” was a positive experience for her first job after graduation.

LeBoeuf said, “The transition from academic life to professional life was overall a fairly easy transition for me. I did work with several people that I had met and worked with as a student at Monmouth, so that definitely helped, but I also was treated as a professional for the first time…It showed me that while there are still things I have to learn about the business, they aren’t things I can’t handle based on what I already know.”

“Spelling Bee” eased Bogan into the professional world smoothly as well. “After ‘Spelling Bee’ ended, I was a little nervous to start auditioning in the real world, but the experience gave my confidence and [my] resume a boost and made auditioning a bit easier. Since then I’ve received my second professional theater job,” she said.

Bogan starts work with Surflight Theater in Long Beach Island this week. “I’ll be a member of their touring educational theater company called Surflight-To-Go. I will be touring and performing in musicals for schools around New Jersey.”

Rosas is considering graduate school for an MFA in theatre, but right now he is focused on his senior year and being President of Boom Roasted Productions, the University’s student-run theatre group. He is currently in the midst of planning their karaoke night in Woods Theatre next Friday, September 20 at 5 pm as well as their play “All in the Timing” on September 27 and 28.

IMAGE TAKEN from desmoinesonstage.org