By Megan McGuinness, Staff Writer
Who are the Stageless Players? The Stageless Players are the theatre club on campus! This club is very involved with the arts as they co-host a theater camp with the Improv on the Rocks Troupe the week before school begins each year for incoming students interested in theater. The members are also involved with producing a yearly student-directed fall play, and they work together to put on an annual spring musical.
Due to the pandemic, the Stageless Players’ 2020 spring production of “Mamma Mia!” came to a halt two weeks before opening night. However, last spring, although they were unable to put on a musical, members of the club gathered together to put on a virtual rendition of “The Women of Lockerbie.”
“The Women of Lockerbie” is a play by Deborah Brevoort about grief, love, loss, and hope. The Stageless Players’ performance of the play was directed by students Kayla Curameng, class of 2022, and Molly Doyle, class of 2022. In addition, last year the club was fortunate enough to be able to run its theater camp for incoming students with some adjustments, including requiring extra COVID protocols and offering zoom workshops in place of bringing people from outside the campus community to the school.
This year, the Stageless Players were very grateful that they were able to run their theater camp under more normal circumstances and were happy to have a good turnout. Over this fun-filled week, many incoming freshmen participated in a variety of arts-focused workshops. Workshops ranged from a dancing to technical crew to a physical theater workshop, in which students learned more about the art of miming led by professionals.
In addition, students participated in theater games and learned more about who the Stageless Players are and what they do. “I did this program my freshmen year and loved it,” said current Stageless Players’ President, Natalie Scott, regarding theater camp. “It was the best experience ever.”
As the president of the club, Scott has many tasks. She is involved with streamlining communication with other clubs and organizations around campus, she runs the Executive Board, she assists with planning the spring musical, and she leads the general club meetings.
Scott is currently a senior on campus and has been involved with theater since she was eight. She is particularly excited to play the role of Meg in this year’s upcoming fall production and is grateful for the people that she has met through being involved with the Stageless Players: “Stageless is a very unique club as it provides a very close knit community of people,” Scott told the Westerner. “There’s lots of diversity regarding the people who join and work together which I think is really unique. I haven’t seen another club like it on campus.”
Scott and the Stageless players as a whole are especially excited for the upcoming fall play and their anticipated spring musical. This year’s fall play is “Little Women,” adapted by Marisha Chamberlain from the novel by Louisa May Alcott and directed by the Stageless Players’ Events Coordinator, Julia Hart.
There are around 10 cast members performing in the fall production who have all been working towards making the show a success. The Stageless Players’ advisor, Professor Hillary Bucs, commented, “The production is going very well! Everyone is extremely talented and working very hard!”
In particular, Hart has been hard at work since the summer in preparation of a great show, and she was the one who ultimately decided on “Little Women” for this year’s play. As the director, Hart was actively involved in the pre-production process of running auditions and casting and currently leads the cast’s weekly rehearsals. She works closely with the technical director regarding the building of the set and coaches the actors on how to convey emotion on stage and to talk through their motivations at rehearsals.
Hart gained some directing experience while in high school and really enjoyed it. Thus, she was eager to apply for the director position last spring and is happy to hold the role, “I’m really excited for this year’s production!” said Hart. “I did theater all throughout high school and have been involved with Stageless right from the start.”
In addition to being the director of the play, as the Events Coordinator of the Stageless Players, Hart also planned the Stageless Players’ recent Golden Hours paint and sip event on October 15. At this event, paint classes were offered which were led by Stageless Players’ Vice President, Dominick Buccitti, and a hot and iced tea bar was provided along with honey sticks and fix-ins. Hart told the Westerner, “Our golden hours events are typically show themed to help promote our productions, and I think this one went really well!”
There will be a total of three performances of “Little Women”: one on Friday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m., one on Saturday, November 20 at 1:00 p.m., and one on Saturday, November 20 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets to the show are available for purchase on University Tickets. Tickets are $5 for students and seniors and $7 for general admission.
To keep up with the happenings of the Stageless Players, be sure to follow them on Instagram @stagelessplayers.
