The SJU Theatre Company is presenting a completely virtual production of “Spoon River Anthology,” that is available for free on demand on the SJU Theatre Company website through Kaltura, a video streaming platform, from April 24 to May 17, according to Laura Pattillo, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and director of the production.
Brenna Maguire ’22, who is one of the seven cast members of the production, was excited when she learned that there was going to be a virtual production.
“I’d seen a couple of online performances before and I thought it was really neat, the way people are still able to put on shows despite everything that has been going on,” Maguire said. “I also thought that this is probably the best format for this kind of show.”
Pattillo said the play lends itself well to a virtual format because it was originally published as a collection of poems that can be monologues.
“The book ‘Spoon River Anthology’ was written by Edgar Lee Masters and first published in 1915,” Pattillo said. “It’s a collection of over 200 poems, but we’re only doing a fraction of what’s there.”
Pattillo said that the play can be adapted for shorter productions because it’s in the public domain, and she adapted it to 80 poems in total so that each cast member plays several characters. Maguire acts in 11 different roles throughout the play.
“All of the characters in the play are in the cemetery in this little town in Illinois, and instead of seeing their actual epitaphs, you’re hearing what they have to say from the grave,” Pattillo said. “I tried to pick some of the greatest hits that people are familiar with and also a few that go towards the end that get a little more spiritual and cosmic.”
The rehearsals for this production were held several times a week over Zoom, one-on-one with each cast member and one Zoom rehearsal was held with everyone to read through the parts, according to Pattillo.
Maguire said the one-on-one rehearsal process allowed her to learn and focus more specifically on her characters than she would have in a big group rehearsal setting.
“It was almost like having a private lesson in a way,” Maguire said. “[Dr. Pattillo] was coaching us through how we should deliver our monologues. She would give us pointers to put more emphasis on one part or slow down at another, and also character notes and more background info about how this character would fit into the time period.”
Juliet Gentilucci ’24 , another cast member who also plays 11 different roles, said the individual meetings didn’t hinder the community aspect and connection between the cast as a whole because of Pattillo.
“It really made it feel like less of an isolated setting, because she was really interactive with us,” Gentilucci said. “Dr. Pattillo made sure that we all felt like really a part of the team.”
Gentilucci had a unique experience among the cast because her roommate, María Filgueira ’24 was part of the production as well.
“It was definitely really cool to have a friend in the play, but also a roommate that you’re literally sharing the space with because you’re kind of going through it together,” Gentilucci said. “We could talk about the backstories of our characters and help each other with filming too.”
Each of the cast members were given a green screen, a ring light and costume pieces to record themselves with their iPhones in their own space, and Benjamin Ellis, manager of Media Production and Event Services, edited them together for the final video, according to Pattillo.
Ellis said the production process was mostly pre-production discussions with the cast members about how to set up their spaces for filming with proper lighting and audio, and then compiling all of the final recordings in one space.
“As they started to record their parts, they would put them in the Google Drive folder and Laura Pattillo would review all of them,” Ellis said.
Gentilucci said she liked that each member had the responsibility to make sure that they had the proper settings on the equipment and that they were placed in the correct framing for the recording.
“If we didn’t do that, then it was kind of our own fault,” Gentilucci said. “I just like that we had the responsibility. If we were in a normal theater, we would be given more direction.”
Maguire said the self-taping was difficult because she considers herself a perfectionist and the filming allowed her to have multiple takes to get it right, which is different from a typical live performance.
“I really prefer doing [performances] in person because of the adrenaline of being in front of people because that makes you do better,” Maguire said. “You don’t have all those eyes on you and you don’t have that pressure. When it’s just you and your camera, you can do as many takes as you want.”
Gentilucci said she’s most excited for an audience to see how everyone in the cast and production team worked hard to produce something as a team although they weren’t together in person.
“I’m excited that people can see that we persevered through the pandemic and we still managed to create art through interesting and unique circumstances,” Gentilucci said.
