Growing up, is it an art or a science? This is the main question of East’s fall musical, “The Theory of Relativity.”
“[The Theory of Relativity is] about the lives of college students, and the different kinds of coming of age that happen in that transition from high school to adult life,” said co-director and theater teacher Hope Love.
The choice for this musical came from a series of eight discussions between students and theater faculty in the spring of last year.
The musical was chosen for a number of reasons, including the options that directors could have with casting.
“It’s flexible casting; you could cast four people or you could cast a dozen,” Love said. “We also want to expose our actors and our audiences to different processes and different kinds of shows… It’s very different from any of the shows we’ve done recently.”
Not only is there the flexibility of casting, but the show also offers the ability to change things up in almost all other aspects.
“The other nice thing about this show is that it can be done as simply or as complex as you want it to be. I think one of the best productions I’ve seen was just the actors sitting in chairs around a piano, and I think we’re emulating that format a little bit,” said theater manager Jeff Alguire.
Alguire is also the lighting designer for the show and is one of the first people to fully utilize the new lighting equipment the theater department gained during its recent renovations.
Not only does the musical stand out for its minimalist technicality, but another difference in this show that many of the actors haven’t encountered is the lack of spoken lines.
“It’s cabaret style, so it’s almost entirely music, and the music’s really difficult,” said sophomore Livia McIntyre.
Sophomore Eva Zinn also added how the music has proven to be difficult because of its strange harmonies, but “when done correctly, it sounds great.”
Both McIntyre and Zinn are actors and singers in the show, but were instructed to not reveal the characters they play.
“The artists are doing the heavy lifting. There’s not a lot of places to hide,” Love said. “You can do sound and music and have beautiful sets and beautiful costumes, and you can cover a lot of things with costumes, lights, sets, props and razzle dazzle. In this musical you can really see the spectacle of the ensemble performers.”
In East’s theater department, students are able to take a lot of responsibility when it comes to producing shows, and this year, junior Gavin Trump has taken on the role of stage manager, ultimately overseeing all production aspects.
“In the past I’ve almost always been on the technical side of productions, which means I haven’t really been involved with the rehearsal process at all.… It’s been quite fun to actually be involved with the rehearsals instead of just tech, because I’ve never seen that half of how we make theater before,” Trump said.
Trump also expressed how this musical has less of a plot than a lot of standard musicals, but still shares a story everybody can relate to.
“There’s gonna be at least one song that somebody in the audience will relate to. These are kind of universal experiences that everybody has at one point in their life or another… whoever you are, there’s going to be something for you in the show,” said Zinn.
Performances will take place Nov. 16-18. Gofan is also the new ticketing system for East productions. You can purchase tickets for $7 using the GoFan app or website in the performing arts tab at the top.
Photo Courtesy of Avery Tortora/The ECHO
