MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: It's weird and it's not weird. It's very quiet and
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: that's the part that's weird about it.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: We're talking about a building that is normally always
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: noisy, always bustling, people always around and
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: sort of precovid. When the semester would end, it was obvious
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: the semester ended because the noise has dropped dramatically.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: Like all of a sudden it was quiet and it has been like that now for
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: an extended period of time.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: And that is so weird.
DOM TORREZ: One thing that's interesting is like how quickly you can actually get
DOM TORREZ: used to something, because I think
DOM TORREZ: there's a period of time where I just felt like this
DOM TORREZ: does not feel normal, like this doesn't feel right.
DOM TORREZ: And I have a routine now, and it's been a couple of months since
DOM TORREZ: we've come back to campus.
DOM TORREZ: And I think one of the weirdest things at first is
DOM TORREZ: New Paltz is like just in a beautiful location.
DOM TORREZ: And you can see, you know, the ridge in the distance,
DOM TORREZ: you can see the mountains. Right now, everything's changing color.
DOM TORREZ: It's so gorgeous to be here.
DOM TORREZ: And the campus is just silent.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: The energy is like, honestly really weird.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: Like, I feel like no one, like, kind of knows
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: how to navigate being on campus because we're all
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: wearing masks all the time.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: And like, if you're like not with, like, the people that
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: you live with like everyone has a mask on, it is pretty
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: much socially distanced.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: So the energy is like, honestly, really strange.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: Going into the semester back to there were just a lot of questions
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: about how we were going to make a lot of this work.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: It was clear for us that we needed to make a significant change
KEN GOLDSTEIN: and that gave us the time to build the infrastructure required.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And so we went through all of the courses that were scheduled
KEN GOLDSTEIN: to be offered and figured out which could be offered online most
KEN GOLDSTEIN: effectively, which really would be sort of sacrificed
KEN GOLDSTEIN: or the experience for the students would be sacrificed if we moved
KEN GOLDSTEIN: them completely online. So we look for ways to offer them in a
KEN GOLDSTEIN: kind of hybrid model.
DOM TORREZ: And the way that New Paltz in particular split up their classes is
DOM TORREZ: you kind of had like three different ways you could do your class.
DOM TORREZ: So one would be like in person at a
DOM TORREZ: much lower capacity than normal.
DOM TORREZ: One was a synchronous version of a class where it would be all
DOM TORREZ: online, but you'd have like regular meeting times.
DOM TORREZ: You'd have like a regular class time and interaction with other
DOM TORREZ: students and professors and then asynchronous classes,
DOM TORREZ: which are essentially at your own speed.
DOM TORREZ: There is no official class time, and it's more like
DOM TORREZ: just a series of assignments that you have to do by certain dates
DOM TORREZ: and you're not necessarily in a classroom setting.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: What we wanted to do is have the time to prepare our spaces
KEN GOLDSTEIN: in order to support those classrooms and those classes in
KEN GOLDSTEIN: a safe and healthy way.
DOM TORREZ: We have these huge, like plexiglass walls essentially
DOM TORREZ: that we move around and we put in between people.
DOM TORREZ: And so it's been an interesting set of obstacles
DOM TORREZ: and especially as like theatre people who crave
DOM TORREZ: being around one another.
DOM TORREZ: It definitely has been weird to see spaces
DOM TORREZ: that are no longer full of people and bustling anymore.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: The kinds of exercises that are happening in performance classes are
KEN GOLDSTEIN: different. The kinds of scene work that is happening in directing
KEN GOLDSTEIN: class is different. The kind of exercises that people used to explore
KEN GOLDSTEIN: space and relationships and sort of
KEN GOLDSTEIN: listening and communicating are fundamentally different.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: Particularly because at six feet and
KEN GOLDSTEIN: further and being masked, the instrument is different
KEN GOLDSTEIN: than when you are using your entire body and your entire
KEN GOLDSTEIN: physicality. And I think in some of the design classes,
KEN GOLDSTEIN: what's happening is the distance does sort
KEN GOLDSTEIN: of change the rhythm that we are using in the room instead of kind
KEN GOLDSTEIN: of working towards a pattern of back and forth
KEN GOLDSTEIN: and an opportunity to kind of spitball ideas and bounce off
KEN GOLDSTEIN: of each other, there is a kind of slower, more methodical approach
KEN GOLDSTEIN: to ensure that everyone really is kind of keeping their distance.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And I think not only physically, but I think internally we are
KEN GOLDSTEIN: all keep our distance a little bit.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And that changes the way where we're working through different
KEN GOLDSTEIN: problems.
STUDENT 1: Just making conversation.
STUDENT 2: Sure.
STUDENT 1: Just trying to start a conversation.
STUDENT 2: Oh sure, but, still.
STUDENT 1: Do you know why it's impossible to lick the tips of your elbows?
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And we also jettisoned our production season
KEN GOLDSTEIN: and came up with a new plan that would allow a commitment
KEN GOLDSTEIN: to storytelling and a commitment to the process while still providing
KEN GOLDSTEIN: some flexibility to make changes.
DOM TORREZ: Hi, my name is Dom Torrez and I'm the assistant director for
DOM TORREZ: the SUNY New Paltz's staged reading of Cadillac Crew.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: When I came to Dom about working on Cadillac
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: Crew, one of the things that I knew
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: was just going to be amazing about Dom is that I could truly
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: look at Dom as a colleague.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: Despite the fact that they are a student.
DOM TORREZ: I am really lucky, first and foremost, to have worked with the
DOM TORREZ: director that I worked with, Dr. Martine Green-Rogers,
DOM TORREZ: I love her so much.
DOM TORREZ: She just so happens to be both my academic
DOM TORREZ: adviser and the head of my concentration.
DOM TORREZ: So I spent a lot of time with her.
DOM TORREZ: What made the process most successful was that we sat
DOM TORREZ: down before anything started and talked about kind
DOM TORREZ: of the expectations, both that she has as a director
DOM TORREZ: and both what I wanted to get out of the experience as a student.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: We were like, what are we doing? How are we going about doing this?
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: And Cadillac Crew became the guinea pig in some
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: respects.
ACTOR: Not one detail hasn't been checked 10, 20 times.
ACTOR: I've crossed every T dotted every I.
ACTOR: I assure you, there is no mistake if Mrs. Parks attends,
ACTOR: she will not be in the platform, but somewhere in the crowd with the
ACTOR: rest of us.
ACTOR: Think about the repercussions of unbearable weight this will put
ACTOR: on our community.
ACTOR: Women are supposed to be the backbone of the movement, not
ACTOR: the foot on the neck of it.
ACTOR: Now, that is an embarrassing distraction.
ACTOR: I wont sit back and utterly watch myself be written out of history.
ACTOR: And I won't commit to dying behind any woman who doesn't have
ACTOR: enough sense to know that our names are highly respected
ACTOR: when written alone.
DOM TORREZ: So my actual coming into virtual theatre
DOM TORREZ: collaboration was really interesting because after
DOM TORREZ: the shutdowns in February and March of everything closing was the
DOM TORREZ: last thing I wanted to do was more theatre.
DOM TORREZ: And then once I crossed that hump, I was like, I need to do something
DOM TORREZ: else. So I had just spent from like April to
DOM TORREZ: August producing student work who are doing a lot of
DOM TORREZ: Zoom theatre, if you will.
DOM TORREZ: In this second week you should have your first read through.
DOM TORREZ: You should have a dramaturgical presentation and really start kicking
DOM TORREZ: off rehearsals.
DOM TORREZ: The next week is all production meetings and rehearsals
DOM TORREZ: and then you'll see as we start to get into these final two weeks,
DOM TORREZ: well, obviously makes VTC a little different is that the final
DOM TORREZ: product is filmed and edited together
DOM TORREZ: as opposed to put on a stage.
DOM TORREZ: So it's really important to just be conscious
DOM TORREZ: time wise.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: And so one of the upsides of doing a completely virtual
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: everyone is sitting in their Zoom boxes of death.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: One of the upsides is that you get faces, but then
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: the trade off is that they're not in the same space at the same time
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: talking to one another.
DOM TORREZ: We would be in the same building for hours and not see a
DOM TORREZ: single other person because we each had to be kind of
DOM TORREZ: quarantined for lack of a better word in our own room.
DOM TORREZ: And so we each had a mic set up.
DOM TORREZ: The actors, our lighting designer built these sort
DOM TORREZ: of lighting boxes to help kind of control the amount of
DOM TORREZ: light each actor is getting on their face.
DOM TORREZ: Mic set ups, computer setups, scripts setups.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: I would even say with Cadillac Crew there was a production element
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: to it. Dom did some amazing choreography for some
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: of the moments for us.
DOM TORREZ: This is the solo version from Tatiana's perspective.
DOM TORREZ: If you have questions about where you start or what sequence
DOM TORREZ: you're doing, we can talk about it tomorrow during rehearsals.
♪♪ "Whistle While You Work" by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey ♪♪
♪ Just whistle while you work. ♪
♪
♪ Put it all right then and start right in and whistle loud and low ♪
♪
♪ [slowly] Just hum a merry tune. ♪
♪♪
DOM TORREZ: What I did was kind of created a movement piece
DOM TORREZ: essentially of like a series of gestures that
DOM TORREZ: mimicked things that you would be doing in an office.
DOM TORREZ: And we–the sound designer and I kind of worked
DOM TORREZ: together and created this thing where we're watching them go
DOM TORREZ: fast, go fast, go fast. And as time is going and change as it
DOM TORREZ: happening as fast as they want they kind of lose their
DOM TORREZ: steam towards the end and pitter her out.
DOM TORREZ: And it was just moments like that in terms of like, OK,
DOM TORREZ: all I have is this base here.
DOM TORREZ: How can I create movement choreography in this
DOM TORREZ: space while everyone is sitting down?
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: To create a show while you're all socially
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: distance and all over Zoom, is really
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: it's like kind of difficult to navigate at first.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: If you were in a room with a bunch of people, you could just pull one
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: person aside and like, ask a quick question.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: That's now a whole formal email that you have to write and cc
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: like three people.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: Natasha D'Amico and I are doing a series of small projects
KEN GOLDSTEIN: in an independent study where she is working
KEN GOLDSTEIN: as the designer for some of our stage readings.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: This gives her an opportunity to collaborate with directors and other
KEN GOLDSTEIN: designers. But I still have the opportunity to work with her and
KEN GOLDSTEIN: sort of mentor her through the design process.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: Everything from having the play as a designer all the way through
KEN GOLDSTEIN: the creation of an environment
KEN GOLDSTEIN: to tell the story.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: I have been studying with Ken Goldstein for
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: just over a year now, and I have learned a ridiculous
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: amount from him.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: There are times where we do a lot of work virtually online.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: She'll be at her computer, I'll be at mine and we'll look at research
KEN GOLDSTEIN: and and talk about the play and work on some skills,
KEN GOLDSTEIN: everything from drafting to other kinds of graphics skills.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: But whenever possible, we try to meet in the classroom and really
KEN GOLDSTEIN: look at her work and watch how the work is developing.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And she's at a pretty specific stage right now in
KEN GOLDSTEIN: terms of being a designer, and that she has these incredible ideas
KEN GOLDSTEIN: and incredible sense of the world of the play.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And so we're looking at different ways to kind of work through how to
KEN GOLDSTEIN: get those ideas onto the page as part of a process
KEN GOLDSTEIN: that opens up collaboration with the other storytellers
KEN GOLDSTEIN: on the team.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: This semester, I just wrapped up working on Waiting for
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: Lefty, which is a pretty straightforward
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: show, but it's set in 1935.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: So when I approached my design
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: for it, I definitely took a more historical viewpoint
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: into it and it made me
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: do a lot of historical research and learn a bunch of things
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: that I didn't learn from history classes or anything.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: And from there I was able to develop a design for it.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: Because of the reality on campus where thankfully
KEN GOLDSTEIN: the numbers of cases has been incredibly low and
KEN GOLDSTEIN: our community seems to be responding appropriately to
KEN GOLDSTEIN: following protocols and social distancing measures,
KEN GOLDSTEIN: we're actually letting the cast rehearse in the theater.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: But that really boiled down to an opportunity where we
KEN GOLDSTEIN: had the director, and designers and dramaturgs working on this
KEN GOLDSTEIN: project as if we were going to realize it fully.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And then step back and really rehearse a very
KEN GOLDSTEIN: clean and kind of elegant and simple reading.
FATT: Stand up and show yourself, you damn red. Be a man, let's see what you look like.
MILL: My mind's made up.
FAY: No hard feelings?
MILL: Sure, hard feelings!
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: I went into that first design meeting with research
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: from 1935 and then also research from
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: like 2008 and like corona picture/photography
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: and stuff. So I didn't know what
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: world we were about to create.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: But through the visual imagery that I gathered, we were all able to
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: develop the world this place should exist in.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: I think one of the things that's been sort of lovely to watch is the
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: evolution. As we've figured out our COVID protocols,
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: as we figured out what is the technology that we're using and how we
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: can use it as the students are getting more proficient in it.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: We can, each show has pushed the
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: boundary just a little bit.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: I mean, it's such a cliché to say that you learn as much in students
KEN GOLDSTEIN: as you hope they learn from you, but you'd be foolish not to believe
KEN GOLDSTEIN: that's the case. I mean, I think semester after semester, week after
KEN GOLDSTEIN: week, there are perspectives and opinions and thoughts
KEN GOLDSTEIN: that absolutely make me reconsider things that I've just
KEN GOLDSTEIN: sort of accepted or taken for granted.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And so I really appreciate that opportunity to work with them.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: I also think for as much as we've all become accustomed
KEN GOLDSTEIN: and sort of interested in communicating through a
KEN GOLDSTEIN: screen and social media and all the things that sort of have led us
KEN GOLDSTEIN: up to the last six months, I think we also have a generation of
KEN GOLDSTEIN: people who are finding the value of human connection again.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And so one of the things I'm hoping comes out of this is a true
KEN GOLDSTEIN: desire for people to want to be with people.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: Just because theatre is suffering right now, storytelling
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: doesn't stop.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: And so what are we learning about how we can do
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: this better? And I mean that on a social level, the reckoning that's
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: happening with We See You White American Theatre, I think the
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: reckoning that is happening in terms of
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: funding for the arts, that is all something
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: that we can take the time now to be better
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: and to do better.
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: My hope for the theatre community is that
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: we grow towards
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: something more genuine and more caring
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: Society is kind of realizing that there
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: are a lot of voices that we don't listen to, and
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: theatre is one of those places where those voices can be
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: like screams like we can amplify
NATASHA D'AMICO-RAINBEAU: voices to a really high degree.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: I think part of why theatre education is so important right now
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: is that we are on the precipice, a new frontier
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: for what it is that theatre is and will be
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: for a little while and maybe even just going forward.
DOM TORREZ: I think it's not enough anymore to
DOM TORREZ: expect artists to be talented.
DOM TORREZ: Now it's making more conscious
DOM TORREZ: artists, making, you know, not just artists
DOM TORREZ: like people who are conscious of things that
DOM TORREZ: are happening, that are self-aware, that are aware of injustice
DOM TORREZ: when they see it.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: What we're training students to do isn't just for the theatre.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: And I think that, you know, entering the world as an artist and
KEN GOLDSTEIN: entering the world as somebody who understands human
KEN GOLDSTEIN: emotion and empathy and is able to communicate with different groups
KEN GOLDSTEIN: and able to hear other groups and understand
KEN GOLDSTEIN: stories and context serves humanity.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: I'm so proud of our students, so
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: proud of them, and not even that they need me to be proud of them,
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: because one of the things I keep talking to them about is that they
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: don't need outside affirmation of anything that they're doing.
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: They just need to find all of the joy in their own souls
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: in order to keep doing this work and finding their place and their
MARTINE KEI GREEN-ROGERS: space in this industry.
SPEAKER: I'm just so proud of how just watching
SPEAKER: them grow in their artistry, because they know that we are all
SPEAKER: in this together and that we've all just rolled up our sleeves and
SPEAKER: said, OK, we want to tell stories how the ham and cheese sandwich
SPEAKER: are we going to do that?