\u201cThey\u2019re all really different. There\u2019s a mix of really classic radio dramas and there\u2019s one by a local playwright that\u2019s a series of interviews with LGBTQ+ people reflecting on living through the AIDS crisis,\u201d says Rachel Walshe, faculty adviser. \u201cWith the pandemic, we\u2019ve worked very hard to be resilient, innovative and flexible and still provide our students with a really good year.\u201d<\/p>\n The radio plays project, \u201cVolume Up!,\u201d is one of those initiatives \u2013 a chance to provide students with production, design, management and acting credits after the department\u2019s fall in-person productions were canceled. The project is the culmination of last spring\u2019s THEATRE 322 class, in which student directors get a chance to stage a short play. Because of the pandemic, those plays were canceled and directors were invited to produce in an audio-only format.<\/p>\n Jourdan Miller \u201821, of, Seymour, Connecticut<\/strong>, was one of five directors to jump at the chance. He chose to direct \u201cVic and Sade,\u201d a lighthearted comedy about friendship by Paul Rhymer.<\/p>\n \u201cI desperately felt the need to create something of my own and flex my artistic muscles,\u201d says Miller. \u201cCoronavirus robbed me of my ability to be theatrically creative and heavily affected me. When I was approached with the opportunity to put my creative skills to the test for the first time in six months, I couldn\u2019t say no.\u201d<\/p>\n Jay Forcello \u201921, from Hyde Park, New York, <\/strong>chose to direct the holiday classic \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life,\u201d by Frank Capra. Forcello trimmed the holiday classic down to a tight 22 minutes to tell the story of small businesses, which have been hit hard during the pandemic. His adaptation focuses on the Bailey Building and Loan, the small community bank at the heart of the story whose existence is threatened by the town\u2019s greedy villain, Mr. Potter.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the plight of the small business has been really overlooked in the media and is an issue quite literally destroying the backbone of America,\u201d says Forcello. \u201cI want my project to make people aware and support those struggling right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Kate Dyson \u201921, of Lowell, Massachusetts,<\/strong> also chose a play that resonated \u2013 \u201cThe Journey Out,\u201d a play by Frank V. Toti Jr. that weaves a story of the LGBTQ+ community through interviews of Rhode Islanders about their experiences. \u201cAs a gay woman, doing works written by and for the queer community is very important to me,\u201d says Dyson. \u201cToo often our stories are outright ignored or tokenized by people not in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n As faculty adviser, Walshe chose the radio plays format because the plays could be produced under pandemic restrictions, and the genre provided a rich tradition that allowed students to research its best practices.<\/p>\n Erin Haas \u201921, of Providence<\/strong>, embraced the historic genre. She listened to some old, creepy radio plays and researched how they were produced in creating her adaptation of the short horror story \u201cThe Monkey\u2019s Paw,\u201d by W.W. Jacobs. \u201cI wanted to make it like an old-fashioned radio play,\u201d says Haas, \u201cwith the use of music and an introduction.\u201d<\/p>\n The genre was also a complete turnabout for directors, forcing them to focus only on sound to create the world of their stories. Rehearsals \u2013 both in-person and over Zoom \u2013 focused on voice work and creating characters and sound effects, which were produced by a half-dozen student sound designers.<\/p>\n For \u201cThe 39 Steps,\u201d by Joe Landry, a spoof of the Hitchcock classic, director Shannon Donnelly spent weeks working with actors to focus on the characters\u2019 voices and creating sound effects that establish settings in the fast-paced, international spy thriller.<\/p>\n \u201cI chose the play because it provided endless opportunities to actors and sound designers to explore new territory that is not focused on in traditional theatre,\u201d says Donnelly \u201921, of North Providence<\/strong>. \u201cThe actors each are playing a handful of characters and we\u2019ve worked to make each voice distinctive.\u201d<\/p>\n For the 14 actors involved in the five plays, the chance to work in a production during the pandemic was a major lure.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we should take any opportunity we have at the moment to be able to act,\u201d says Lauren Jannetti \u201921, of Lincoln<\/strong>, who also created the melody and harmony for jingles in \u201c39 Steps.\u201d \u201cEven though this is very different for all of us \u2013 just using our voices as opposed to looking at people \u2013 it\u2019s a great tool to have in our tool belts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the chance to act at this time mixed with the fact that this project is very much driven by our peers,\u201d says Erin McGowan, \u201921, of Zionsville, Pennsylvania<\/strong>, who plays Mary Bailey in \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s all student directors, so we\u2019ve had classes together for years. I think it\u2019s really exciting and rewarding that we get to work in a production that\u2019s run by our peers.\u201d<\/p>\n The radio plays have forced the actors to concentrate on their voices. Nearly all play multiple characters, creating a unique voice for each, and they\u2019ve needed to learn to deliver their lines through a mask.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely different than anything I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d says Liam Roberts \u201924, of Warwick<\/strong>. \u201cYou have to get into the mindset of a radio play. Creating this character, you cannot use your face, your body language, anything like that. You have to keep that in the back of your mind, what would my character look like in this situation? But it\u2019s all voice work.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthew Corbett \u201921, of Attleboro, Massachusetts<\/strong>, plays George Bailey and other characters in \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life.\u201d He found that creating the several characters he voices has taken a lot more effort. \u201cI\u2019m digging deep into my creative chest of ideas because I can\u2019t rely on my body. This is taking the things I know about how I move my body and transferring that into how I maneuver my voice.\u201d<\/p>\n But maneuvering your voice to create multiple characters in quick succession?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun,\u201d says Trey DiGioia \u201921, of Warren<\/strong>, who voices four or five characters in the first five minutes of \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life,\u201d including Mr. Potter. \u201cIn a normal play where I\u2019ve had multiple characters, I wouldn\u2019t get to do them on stage at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the biggest roles in the \u201cVolume Up!\u201d project, however, may be that of Emma Becker, production stage manager for all five plays. She worked with assistant stage managers from Stage Management class assigned to each play to make sure rehearsals went off as planned, helped troubleshoot problems, worked as a liaison with the production team, and oversaw rehearsals and recordings in the Broadcast Center.<\/p>\n Becker \u201821, of Tiverton<\/strong>, has worn many hats in her 溏心vlog免费B站 theater career \u2013 actor, choreographer, dramaturg, puppeteer, and assistant stage manager. For her first time as production stage manager, she put in a lot of preparation, especially researching COVID-19 policies. But it\u2019s gone smoothly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been very much a team effort,\u201d says Becker. \u201cEspecially now during COVID, we\u2019re all working even closer than I think we have before. We\u2019re realizing how much we need each other to get through.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVolume Up!\u201d was recorded in The Harrington School\u2019s Broadcast Center by center manager Jeff Fountain and Clay Cook \u201922, of East Providence<\/strong>, and edited and prepared by sound supervisor Max Ponticelli, a theatre lecturer, and student sound designers.<\/p>\n To listen to all five plays, go to Broadway on Demand<\/a>. The plays will be posted from 12:01 a.m. to midnight on Nov. 21. The Theatre Department is also hosting a Watch Party starting at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, on Google Zoom. The event will include the five plays and commentary from the student directors. To take part, go to the department\u2019s Facebook post<\/a> to register. Next week, all the plays except \u201cThe 39 Steps\u201d will be available on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n The casts and crews<\/strong><\/p>\n The 39 Steps The Journey Out It\u2019s a Wonderful Life The Monkey\u2019s Paw Vic and Sade Discuss a Close Friendship Broadcast Center manager: Jeff Fountain. Sound technician: Clay Cook. Sound supervisor: Max Ponticelli. Production stage manager: Emma Becker. Dramaturgs: Trey DiGoia and Athena Nakrosis. Sound designers: Owen Gilmartin, Liam Horne, Brian Miranda, Goat For Always Star, and Audrey Visscher. Technical director: Jake Hegnauer. Video tech editor: James Horban. Student production manager: Allison Marchetti.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Nov. 19, 2020 \u2013 If you\u2019ve run out of Netflix or Hulu shows to binge, the 溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre Department has you covered. While the COVID-19 pandemic has dropped the curtain on theater productions from the Great White Way to 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Will Theatre, 溏心vlog免费B站 is turning back the clock to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,18],"class_list":["post-75827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-harrington-school-of-communication-and-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82780,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75827\/revisions\/82780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2021\/05\/DiGioiaMcGowanCorbett2-scaled.jpg\")
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\n<\/strong>Director: Shannon Donnelly. Actors: Ryan Alexander, Lauren Jannetti, Liam Roberts, and Edhaya Tennarasu. Assistant stage managers: Jordan Cardona and Tricia Snell.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Director: Kate Dyson. Actors: Omar Laguerre-Lewis, Matthew Oxley, Alana Parrott, and Ben Pereira. Assistant stage managers: Sara Gallagher and Liz Priestley.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Director: Jay Forcello. Actors: Matthew Corbett, Trey DiGioia, and Erin McGowan. Assistant stage managers: Tess Cruz and Ben Pereira.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Director: Erin Haas. Storyteller: Mary Mullane. Assistant stage managers: Courtney Satterley and Sarah Taylor.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Director: Jourdan Miller. Actors: Alexander Linn and Riley Nedder. Assistant stage manager: Kyle Smith and Goat For Always Star.<\/p>\n