2012-2013 Season

BYU’s Young Company cast and crew is bringing a free performance of Henry 5 to the Orem Public Library (58 N State St, Orem). This special performance is a tradition that Young Company has shared with the library for several years, bringing excellent children’s theatre to the Orem community.

In my last blog post I talked about A Wrinkle in Times’s use of performance theories. For this post I wanted to dive a little deeper into the theories and practices of devised theatre, giving you an inside scoop on the two theories that we are incorporating into our show.

In A Wrinkle In Time, the children use a process called tessing to teleport to different worlds and dimensions Below you will find a little more information on how modern science explains what a Tesseract is and how wormholes function.

by Patrick Hayes, dramaturg

by Patrick Hayes, Dramaturg

by Janine Sobeck, dramaturg

To start our journey with A Wrinkle in Time, I wanted to take a look at the author of the original novel. Just who is Madeleine L’Engle?

by Lyndi Sue Mecham, Costume Designer and Janine Sobeck, dramaturg As so many of the design elements for a show need to work together in harmony, designers often collaborate with one another, sharing ideas, thoughts, and inspirations. In the case of The Servant of Two Masters, one collaboration was between Costume Designer Lyndi Sue Mecham and BYU's Hair and Make-up Supervisor Janell Turley. Turley was creating the wigs for a few characters and came to Mecham to discuss how the wig could enhance the design of the costumes. Here is a look at what inspirations and ideas Mecham shared in order to help Turley create the perfect wig for the character of Clarice. You can find the complete journey to Clarice's costume (and other characters) in the program study guide. Clarice: Ingénue in looks, period influence, but with modern edge

by Ariel Mitchell, Dramaturg After an amazing performance Thursday night, two of our actors gladly welcomed the audience down to ask members of the cast and crew questions about the production and participate in what we call a post show discussion. As the dramaturg, I helped to mediate as many actors jumped in eagerly to answer questions about making real people into characters that they could perform every night and the process of writing and devising a piece of theater. I think the audience members who stayed appreciated the insight and context that was given by the actors who finally were able to fill in the story behind the stories that were told on stage. The process is almost as interesting as the product! I'm glad we had a chance (even in a small way) to help contextualize this performance. If you didn't have a chance to come to the post show discussion I encourage you to read the previous blog posts or comment on this post with any questions you may have and we will be glad to discuss them! If you have not yet seen the show (or want to see it again), tickets are still being sold online and at the BYU arts ticket office in the HFAC.

by Ariel Mitchell, dramaturg For a couple weeks now there has been a flurry of excitement as projections were added and aligned, music was perfected, and actors prepared to perform in front of an audience for the first time on Wednesday (2/27). We hope you are as excited as we are and we want to give you a few tips to have the greatest night possible at Gone Missing and The Cleverest Thief. Things you can do to get the most out of the play: 1. Make a poster As a part of our lobby display, you can make a lost or found poster for something you've lost or found! 2. Post to facebook Like our page on facebook ("Your Stories for the Cleverest Thief") and tell us your story about loss. 3. Check out the interviews we cut on youtube: BYUCleverestThief: Here's just one... 4. Check out the other blog posts 5. Sit back relax and enjoy the show!

by Janine Sobeck, dramaturg

by Anne Flinders, dramaturg The Young Company opened its production of Henry 5 last week, both on tour and in the Nelke Theatre. Preparing for this play required each cast member to explore and develop characters that are diverse in age, gender, and experience. We asked the cast what has been a source of inspiration for them in preparing for their roles in Henry 5? Is there something particular that encapsulates a source of inspiration for the performances you give in the play? In other words: What or who is your "muse"? Sarah Flinders plays the Boy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the King of France. To find inspiration in forming these characters she said she looked to literature for a little bit of help. “I tried to find characters in books I loved as a child who were similar to the people in the play. Not to say that I copy these characters. However, I take the idea of the motivations that my own characters have and try to find ways to incorporate the characteristics of that character ‘type.’" Playing Nym, Lord Scroop, and Bates, Camilla Hodgson looked to her cast members to help prepare for her performance. “I am inspired by all the hard work that each member of our team has put into the creation this show. It has been a long process, and I am excited to show everyone our final product!” [caption id="attachment_1277" align="alignright" width="250"] The cast of BYU's Young Company production of William Shakespeare's HENRY 5.[/caption] Kristen Leinbach, who plays, Sir Thomas Grey, Mistress Quickly, and Montjoy the herald said, “My biggest inspiration has been working together as a cast and becoming our own ‘band of brothers’. As our character relationships grew, so did our friendships. We have worked together to build one another up and provide each other with confidence and strength. This play has become a reflection of the cast and crew coming together as a band of brothers.” Henry 5 is currently playing to sell-out audiences in the Nelke Experimental Theatre at BYU’s Harris Fine Arts Center through February 16th. Tickets are still available the remaining performances.

by Ariel Mitchell, dramaturg “Devised theatre is a personal stretch for me. I didn't choose my major because I love theatre, necessarily, but I do love the creativity that devising gives to the discipline. Building a play moment by moment is challenging and at times frustrating. The creative process for some people is very individual, but this type of creativity feeds on collaboration. I suppose that is the part I like best is the push towards creative collaboration.” -Chelsey Roberts, costume designer and performance writer One of the main goals we had for Gone Missing and The Cleverest Thief, was to incorporate new media with the traditional in a new way. So obviously costumes can’t just be costumes right? Chelsey Roberts, our costume designer, decided that a trendy but monochromatic palate would be the way to go for actors who would have to play multiple characters in both New York and Provo. Most of the changes with be accomplished by adding accessories and changing physicality and vocal quality. [caption id="attachment_1242" align="aligncenter" width="300"] An idea for what our ensemble might look like (just the girls that is)[/caption] Most of our costumes will be pulled (meaning taken from what the costume shop has stored), but there might be a few special pieces created just for our mediated moments. The cool thing about white jackets or skirts is that they can easily transform into a ready-made projection screen. Here are some examples of Chelsey’s inspiration… So if you see a white piece of clothing… chances are it could become something incredible. I’d keep my eye on it. Things aren't always what they seem.

On the 31st of January at 10:00 p.m. we held our final talk-back session between the audience and the cast. The second time was different from the first, in that the final session only had the main characters on-stage. The first session on the 24th of January we had the entire cast. Both turned out just fine and both audiences were enthusiastic about the experience to pose questions and compliment the actors and the production team.

by Ariel Mitchell, dramaturg Winter semester has been a time of transition with masses of students going on missions and juggling new class schedules. Gone Missing has not gone without a few casualties. January 16, 2013, one and a half months before opening night, I walked into a crowded Pardoe Lobby full of actors reciting lines to themselves or at walls or chairs, practicing cold reading. In another corner, our actor/performance writers reunited with laughter and loud chatter, patiently waiting for our first rehearsal to begin. Rehearsals are now in full swing and we are happy to welcome Adam White, James Lyon, Annalee Hickman, and James Luciano to our cast!

An essential part of The Civilians’ process is the inclusion of media. The Civilians outline their mission as “…tackling complex and under-explored subjects, enabling artists to enrich their processes through in-depth interaction with their topics, diversifying artistic voices and audiences, and integrating theater with new media.” Since we are following their process we are looking for a fun new way to include media into our production as well.

by Janine Sobeck, dramaturg For The Servant of Two Masters, the first two weeks back in school have been focused creating the foundation of the show. Lines have been memorized, characters have started to develop, the overall blocking (movement of the actors) has been set, and the beginning ideas for all the lazzi moments in the show have begun to sprout. So much creation has been done, that the next step was to do a Designer Run. A Designer Run is the first moment that the cast performs the show all the way through for the designers. While still very much in the beginning stages, it gives the designer's the opportunity to see the world that is being created and to make sure that the ideas that they are developing in their individual shops are still working. This past weekend, the set, lighting, costume, sound and prop designers all joined with the cast, the director, the assistant directors, the stage manager and myself to watch the cast put the whole show together for the very first time. It was a good time. Here were some of my favorite moments: [caption id="attachment_1138" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our first intro to the characters[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1137" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our lovers are introduced[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1135" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rivalry? Or alliance?[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1134" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The servant girls come out to play[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1131" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Chaos starts to ensue[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1130" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Things start to heat up[/caption] And we've only begun to scratch the surface of what this show is to become!