Immersive
Immersive
Theater
Behind the scenes of the winter term musical
鈥淣ew England winters are tough,鈥 says Lauren Josef, chair of the Theater and Dance Department. 鈥淲e need joy. We need weird.鈥 91自拍鈥檚 performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee brought all that and more to The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance. The fast-paced and riotous musical featured six 鈥渕iddle schoolers鈥 and audience participants who spelled their way through vexing vocabulary while sharing hilarious and poignant personal stories.
鈥淚 think one of the reasons this show has felt so special is because early on we said, 鈥楾his is not going to be a traditional show,鈥 鈥 says Josef, the production鈥檚 director. 鈥淲e told the students: 鈥榊ou鈥檙e going to be interacting with the audience. You might be throwing things. You鈥檙e going to be in character preshow and bringing everybody into this environment.鈥
Delivering such an immersive experience took creativity and collaboration. Here鈥檚 a behind-the-scenes look at the way the show took shape.
Student actors interact with the live audience.
Instructors in Theater Lauren Josef and Anthony Reed stand in the lighting and sound booth.
By the numbers
hours to paint a gym floor onstage
cast and crew members
body microphones
lighting cues
minutes running time