One decision made early in the summer of 2020 was that we would not trim our arts offerings, nor would we prohibit students from engaging in rehearsals or collaborative work, as long as we could do so safely and within state and federal CDC guidelines. Our focus first fell on our popular drama program, where the absence of a stage, lights, sound effects, sets, and the dubious nature of internet connectivity threatened to prevent us from having any productions at all. Undaunted, drama teachers Hope Hartup and Michael Calderone wholly reimagined theater at Hopkins, and absolutely nailed it! In July 2021, the drama department received three HALO awards for their productions of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play and the original musical Killing Time! The program was nominated for a total of 19 awards in one of its most lauded seasons ever.
“Keeping it Real”
It started off with the Hopkins Drama production of Boxes in the fall of 2020, an original show of student accounts of the previous six months in quarantine. To cover up the requisite COVID face masks the students had to wear while delivering their lines, Calderone had character masks custom made in the U.K. for the production. Since no more than four actors were allowed on the stage at any one time, Boxes was recorded and shared online, preserving a key element of live performance in a small, but special way. Photos and rehearsal clips of the production can be found on the Winter 2020 Arts Festival video, but the production itself did not have a chance to conclude due to the virtual transition Hopkins made around Thanksgiving break. While we weren’t able to complete the
Boxes production, we learned some important lessons that would set us up for successes down the road.
Following
Boxes, Hope Hartup directed Tony Palermo’s radio-on-stage adaption of
It’s A Wonderful Life, just in time for the winter holidays. Still masked and on the Townshend Auditorium stage, Hartup was able to bring together a larger cast, musical instruments, and sound effects to create an experience not too far off from a televised presentation. The camera work, Hammond organ introduction, and the experience of live theater, though without a live audience, brought to mind a time when we were all together under one roof, enjoying the holidays and celebrating student performances. A video recording of
It’s A Wonderful Life still lives online at
hopkins.edu/life. Following a similar format, Junior School students pushed their own Zoom creativity for their production of H.G. Wells’
War of the Worlds. Released in April of 2021, Calderone went to tremendous effort to create a believable world, complete with sound effects and background images, and the intensity of the show belies the fact that Zoom was in the equation at all.
Taking the model of pandemic theater even further, we pushed our previous efforts to include live, interactive one-act performances in Hope Hartup’s
Short Stuff on Zoom, in two parts. In this production, students acted their parts from home with costumes and virtual backgrounds in an effort to recreate the beloved magic of the theater. Audiences were also treated to a live Q&A after each show, giving students an opportunity to highlight all the twists and turns that this Zoom theater production threw at them. It was a resounding success, and it proved that we could come very close to replicating live theater. Deep down, however, there was always a longing and a need to have a live audience in front of live performers, for that is the reality and soul of theater.
While all of this wonderful experimentation in staging plays was underway, our music department was also trying to navigate its own public spacing restrictions, airflow considerations for instrumentalists and singers, and the need for students to collaborate as an ensemble. For all our classes, hybrid learning forced teachers to rethink their profession, especially how students receive and respond to course material. Leading up to the start of the 2020–2021 school year, many of our faculty discussed this critical pivot with colleagues from other schools, theaters, and local colleges and universities. It was clear that the data concerning music rehearsal, especially indoors, pointed to necessary caution. Our band courses thus became a fixture outside under the Pratt Field tents, and our choir moved to the open-air safety of the Thompson Amphitheater. The orchestra moved to the cavernous gym, creating an odd couple of arts and athletics in an ad hoc pairing that was becoming familiar in schools around the country. When winter approached and the weather was too cold to support outdoor rehearsals, the orchestra moved to the cafeteria, while the bands and chorus switched to the athletic center. This “musical chairs” of musical ensembles tested the nerves and resolve of the students and teachers alike, though all were intent on ending the year with a live performance, audience and all! Leading up to the holidays and for a few weekends thereafter, our musical ensembles were allowed to have a few Saturday rehearsals on campus to prepare for video performances and festival recordings. For a few hours over the course of the fall and winter, the hybrid model was set aside for friendship and bonding. It was a gift, to be sure.
Live theater makes a comeback with Killing Time
As the end of 2020 approached and our winter festival video was released on hopkinsarts.com, eyes were already on the spring of 2021 and the possibilities that a vaccinated Hopkins School might bring. The next big event on the Arts Department calendar was the spring musical. After much conversation and exploring, it was decided that the Thompson Amphitheater would serve the purpose for which it was built. The School had never produced a main stage show in the amphitheater, much less anything the size and scope of a musical. And this wouldn’t be just any musical. Our very own faculty members Ian Melchinger and Erika Schroth had been working together, composing and writing a musical of their own, titled
Killing Time. The amount of time and planning that went into Killing Time was immense, with Hopkins bringing in a stage, sound system, LED lighting, and all the usual supporting crew of a choreographer, sound engineers, lighting designer, musicians—you name it. The stars and the weather aligned for five straight days, and we had standing-room-only performances, marking our first foray back to real live theater on the Hill! Photos and recordings of the show continue to live on the school’s website.
Watch a full-length recording of Killing Time on hopkinsarts.com