KINGSTON, R.I. 鈥� Sept. 28, 2023 鈥� 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate Tess Cruz has been named a recipient of the Gamm Theatre student fellowship for its 2023-24 season. The award is given annually to three students from Rhode Island colleges who have displayed excellence and passion for theatrical productions in college.
Specializing in stage management, Cruz 鈥�23 managed several productions in her time at 溏心vlog免费B站, such as Into the Woods during her senior year and Exit, Pursued by a Bear in her junior year. Cruz was assistant stage manager of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Her management experience is not limited to theatrical productions; she also stage managed the 2022 溏心vlog免费B站 Distinguished Achievement Award ceremony.
No stranger to accolades for her involvement in the theater program, Cruz received the department’s medallion for academic excellence in 2023, and in 2022, she received a fellowship with 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences.
A Highland Park, Illinois, native, Cruz says she fell in love with the East Coast at a very young age, when she would visit her grandparents in Maine. When it came time for college, she looked primarily at New England schools.
While she majored in stage management, she considered concentrating on directing her first few years at 溏心vlog免费B站. Directing was always what she saw herself specializing in鈥搕hat is, until she took the stage management course required for all theater majors taught by Paula McGlasson.
鈥淚 took to stage management really naturally,鈥� says Cruz, Gamm鈥檚 first fellow in stage management.
The high stress atmosphere behind the curtains of any live performance is something that Cruz thrives on. According to Cruz, stage management has heightened her interpersonal and organizational skills, and given her the tools to acclimate to the heavy responsibility of the position.
Regardless of her passion for stage management, it does not come without its own set of challenges. 鈥淓ach show is completely different because you鈥檙e working with a completely different group of people,鈥� she says.
Rolling with the punches is an essential element of stage management. It entails coordinating both performers, stage hands, and members of the tech crew. Regardless of the challenges that come with the essential role of stage manager, Cruz thrives off of the high-energy assumed with the position.
Cruz鈥檚 personal favorite of the shows that she has stage managed was the student production Exit, Pursued by a Bear, in fall 2021. The show was the first live production Cruz worked on after the COVID-19 pandemic, and despite the cast size ringing in at six actors, 鈥渁 thousand things went wrong,鈥� she says.
According to Cruz, 鈥渟o many adjustments had to be made,鈥� but everyone handled it gracefully.
Despite her hiatus from directing, Cruz will soon fulfill the role of an assistant director in the Gamm鈥檚 production of Hangmen, which runs from Nov. 2 through Nov. 26 at the Warwick theater. The production will be directed by Tony Estrella, a 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus and theater instructor.
Each of the three fellows will assist in directing a show at the Gamm. Additionally, each fellow will act as a production assistant for a show.
Another element of the fellowship is participation in the Gamm鈥檚 educational program, which aims to bring theater to local schools and communities through after-school programs, theater camps, and school-day activities. After a brief preparatory theater class, fellows begin teaching theater through the program.
Each student selected for the fellowship will be paired up with a mentor with experience in their chosen field; stage manager Anais Bustos will be mentoring Cruz.
Cruz advises prospective theater majors not to stress about their direction in the program. 鈥淵ou have time,鈥� she says, referring to her change from directing to stage managing her junior year.
She says the 溏心vlog免费B站 theater program is 鈥渨ell-rounded,鈥� in the way the different disciplines encompassed in the major such as stage management, producing, directing, and acting are 鈥渂uilt in鈥� to the curriculum. 鈥淪o you get to try everything,鈥� she says.
This story was written by Samantha Melia, a senior journalism and political science major at the 溏心vlog免费B站 and an intern in the Department of Communications and Marketing.