Behind the curtains; How COVID-19 affects the Fountain School of Performing Arts
Theatre students are exploring the new world of the virtual stage
Like a troupe of virtual ambassadors of arts, Dalhousie’s theatre program is moving to the digital stage due to COVID-19.
With the transition to online learning this year, the Fountain School of Performing Arts has been more creative and enthusiastic, where they came up with the new format of performance and production.
The Fountain students have staged two of their shows “Concord Floral” and “Machinal” via Zoom.
“Being on Zoom and being in a space of people is very different experience” says Emma James, the fourth-year theatre student, “I find being on Zoom a lot more draining.”
James says it was unusual to adapt to the digital stage, where the theatre students have to keep an eye on themselves during the play and to make sure they are in the frame because normally they are not allowed to see themselves when they act.
One of the shows, “Concord Floral” was streamed online from October 13 to 17 with an extra Saturday matinee show at 2 p.m. featuring a talk-back with the cast and the director following the performance.
“Machinal” was prerecorded.
In the production of two shows, the Fountain school students had to learn how to use a green screen to create a full sense of presence for their audience, where they encountered technical difficulties.
“All rehearsal has been online and all performance week has been online via different platforms,” says Susan Stackhouse, the professor of acting, voice and speech, “I’m really proud of all of that that we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Stackhouse says they haven’t stopped anything in the production during the pandemic and they’re planning to move forward, while for her other colleagues from across Canada it has been challenging.
However, not only the adaptation to the digital stage was difficult, but theatre program classes are still challenging for students.
With no access to the studio, all students have to have their classes from home, including dancing classes.
“One of the real challenges is the challenge of how you accommodate many different students in many different environments,” says David Nicol, the professor of Theatre Studies and Cinema and Media Studies.
Nicol says that even with all classes being online, many theatre students remain optimistic and supportive of their professors.
Since the pandemic has started, the biggest change in the theatre program is the perspective of play and the new form of art.
Students say that this year has changed their understanding of the theatre.
“You rely on presence to build something out of that,” says Olivier Blais, third-year theatre student and assistant director of “Concord Floral”.
Blais says that the pandemic makes him think of other ways to insight and create a sense of the presence of the characters on the virtual stage.
With the challenges students have encountered, they had to work harder on the show production to express all the play characters’ emotions through the computer screen.
“If you build a strong enough connection with your classmates on that virtual stage,” says Blais, “you’ll be able to replicate energy you would feel live.”
He thinks good communication and connection are the keys to make the audience feel emotions through the screen, even though they might be not in the same time zone.
The pandemic has made Fountain school students learn new skills, including editing and filming.
Each student was responsible for their own camera frame, which helped them to understand how other people perceive them on the stage.
However, despite the hard work and dedication, one of the shows, “Concord Floral” was removed from Vimeo due to copyright issues.
There is no access to this show and there won’t be a way to view it in the near future.
But people still can enjoy “Machinal” which was written by Sophie Treadwell.
Fountain school had to be more creative when they were working on “Machinal” because they had to show the essence of expressionism to their audience.
With prerecorded production, “Machinal” was posted on Vimeo on Tuesday, December 1 and was available to Saturday, December 5th.
Everyone can watch the show through the private link by filling the online request form.
Now Fountain school students are working on the final graduating show “Mary Stuart” by Friedrich Schiller and will be streaming the play in March.
“For me, our students now have the learning of the things that they wouldn’t be learning even last year,” says Stackhouse.
