Facing Upstage
Carly Wang
Table of Contents Preface
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Foreword 9 Chapter One
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Chapter Two
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Chapter Three
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Denouement
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Works Cited
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Bio
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Preface W
hen faced with the Documentary project at Freestyle, I instantly knew that I wanted to do mine on Upstage Theater. In 2016 I had seen their first two shows, Heathers and Punk Rock. I loved the idea of a company being completely run by adolescents, and showing off the face that teenagers are not just an angsty bunch of hormones but can actually accomplish great things if given the trust and the resources. I was extremely excited to document Upstage, as I’ve had an interest in acting from a very young age but have never actually pursued it. I also knew that they were doing Spring Awakening, a show that I had seen before and admired greatly. In fact, I soon realized after sitting through the first rehearsal that I knew the show’s lines and lyrics quite well. At first it was a bit hard to contact the founders of Upstage, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do my documentary project on Upstage after not hearing back for couple of weeks. I was
eventually able to get in contact with the founders of the company and schedule a meeting time. Scheduling interviews was a bit difficult, as rehearsals are quite busy and there’s not a lot of time during breaks to hold interviews. Locations of rehearsals also made it a bit difficult; as many rehearsals took place in San Bruno and I didn’t have transportation for much of the project. When I did finally get to rehearsals, I was incredibly nervous. I loved the idea of meeting new people, but in practice, it terrified me. I knew that I’d be meeting people who were great actors and singers, people who had much more experience than I did. After a few weeks, talking to the actors became easier and I found myself with new friendships. Through this project, I also learned how to use more Adobe applications. I found myself using InDesign and After Effects, and utilizing rules of design that I had previously known about but never applied. Previously I was mildly interested in
design and layout, but through this project I had a chance to truly invest myself in it and get a proper experience.
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For the entire cast, crew, and creative team of Spring Awakening.
Foreword T
he drive to the rehearsal space is intimidating. It’s my first time going there, and I’m driving through the neighborhoods of Los Altos Hills at night, neighborhoods which are known for having no street lights, rich houses, and no shortage of deer running across the streets. I drive slowly along the narrow streets, doing my best to see the street signs without enough light and not wanting to miss the right turns. When I finally get to the house, I know it’s the right one because I can hear the music from the driveway. It’s a beautiful chorus of girls angrily singing “Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)”, the second number from the show, the song filled with harmonies and passion. I ring the doorbell precariously, and Jessa, the assistant director and resident of the house, opens the door with a thick binder in her arm. She motions me in, and I step into the living room of an old house filled with teenagers. There are old couches (I can tell from the colors
and patterns) and antique furniture against the walls. Roughly a dozen high schoolers are on the worn white carpet, with half of the kids sitting and the other half standing. The girls who are standing up and singing have their binders out, nodding their heads and stomping their feet to the beat of the song. Jessa sits next to Julie, the director of the show and another high schooler. Julie observes the song, taking notes to correct the actors when the music finishes playing. Even without the more professional rehearsal space of a proper stage or theater space, the rehearsal itself runs no less professionally. In fact, the theater company was created in order to have a professional theater experience for high schoolers. Julie and Jessa run the rehearsals smoothly and keep the actors focused. It’s easy to forget that the entire process is run by high schoolers until the break rolls around, and the actors talk about school and inside jokes. When rehearsal resumes, things are
once again focused. Julie and Jessa have thoroughly scheduled calendars, another example of their professionalism. And because they are also high schoolers and understand the struggle of an unmanageable workload, rehearsals always end at the scheduled time.
Chapter One I
n 2016, Julie Garber, a sophomore at The Nueva School at the time, found herself unsatisfied with the performing arts program available to her in the community and at her school. She said she found that the content she “wanted to be doing and wanted to be working on just wasn’t being put on by these groups,” and as she grew to be more interested in the directing side of theater, Julie also realized that there aren’t many opportunities for kids to do things such as direction, stage management, costuming, lighting, or any other kind of design for a show. Many programs, especially youth programs, are targeted solely towards
“there aren’t as many opportunities for kids to do things”
acting. Julie wanted to give both herself and others the chances to work on theater outside of acting. After realizing there was a market for such theater opportunities for high schoolers, Julie and another student at Nueva, Zoe Levine, attempted to put on a production at their high school. They had initially planned to use their school for rehearsal space. However, this plan ended up falling through and Julie realized she needed to create something independent. With some help from their parents, Julie Garber, Zoe Levine, and another Nueva School student, Jessa Mellea, created the company Upstage Theater. Though she was able to gather everything she needed to put on a phenomenal first show with Jessa Mellea as stage manager and co-founder, the creation of Upstage Theater obviously came with some hitches. Initially, Upstage had been connected to The Nueva School. When the company became independent, Julie and Jessa
lost the space they were planning to use to rehearse. Julie found herself in a situation where “we have a cast, we have a rehearsal calendar, and we have nowhere to go.” In addition to finding a rehearsal and performance space, Julie and Jessa were faced with the task of directing and producing a show. While they were familiar with the acting side of shows, they weren’t nearly as familiar with the behind-the-scenes directing and stage managing. They didn’t know how to get rights for a show. They didn’t know whether to use a live orchestra or play tracks for their musical. They weren’t even sure how to run rehearsals. When it came to finding space for rehearsals and performances, the Upstage team approached venues directly. Rehearsals are held at either Julie’s house or at Jessa’s house. Julie had a friend at the San Bruno Recreation Center, and the center was very accommodating to the newborn theater company, granting them a room there for rehearsal space as well. 11
Shows are held at the Second Stage at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, where Upstage pitched their idea to the performing arts committee. For their first show, Julie and Jessa wanted to keep the production team small. It was difficult to get people to participate in their first show, and they also wanted to minimize coordination. Julie and Jessa ended up doing both props and costume alongside their direction and stage management. The set was built by a friend of Julie’s dad. Jessa and Julie were doing a lot of the work for Upstage’s first show, and the production process became quite hectic. Although the start was rough, Upstage managed to pull off quite a good first production, one that I went to see myself. Though the stage was small, the performance was not. The show was put on extremely well, and many would be in disbelief to know that a handful of high schoolers could put together a show so professionally.
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Chapter Two A
fter going through the process of getting the company started, plus getting a cast and creative team together, Upstage Theater put on their first show in May of 2016: Heathers: The Musical. Since before the founding of Upstage, Heathers: the Musical was planned to be the opening show. The musical is based off of the 1988 movie, Heathers, and could be described as the 1980s version of Mean Girls. The show is about a teenage girl, Veronica, who joins her school’s popular clique comprised of three girls, all named Heather. The musical follows Veronica as she meets a boy named J.D., who shares her hatred for the Heathers and the status quo. Their next season involved a play called Punk Rock. Julie Garber saw a production of the play in San Francisco and immediately fell in love, knowing it was something she had to direct. Punk Rock is about eight high schoolers in England who are preparing for their university entrance exams. The
characters consist of your stereotypical high schoolers: the nerd, the jock, the pretty girl and her rude boyfriend, etc. The play portrays the complexity of these teenagers as their stress builds to a tipping point. After Julie saw the play, she was able to get the rights to perform it, and it played in October of 2016. Upstage’s second show season also included another musical, Spring Awakening. The musical is based off a play of the same name, written in the 1890s. Spring Awakening takes place in late 19th century Germany, and follows the lives of teenagers as they go through the pressures of school, puberty, following the status quo, relationships with parents, and several other issues. The show was put on from the end of March to the beginning of April in 2017. Although the original play of Spring Awakening was written over a hundred years ago, all of the problems still exist today. This is one of the reasons why Upstage chose to produce this show. It
goes with part of their mission statement, which states that Upstage puts on shows that involve the lives of adolescents that might not be performed at schools or community theaters due to censorship and heavy topics. Heathers, Punk Rock, and Spring Awakening all follow this mission statement by addressing topics and issues revolving around teenagers, going deeper than what society and media normally portray. All three of the shows cover serious issues that are not often talked about, issues that Upstage believes are not talked about enough. The shows involve adolescents and child
“deeper than what society and media normally portray” 15
abuse, mental illness, suicide, rape, and other heavy topics that can elicit plenty of debate. From putting on their first show in May of 2016 to their third show in March 2017, Upstage has grown significantly. For their first production, the word spread mostly through Facebook and through Julie and Jessa’s school. The cast and creative team were all mostly Nueva students. A year later, for their Spring Awakening production, they’re now able to spread the word through cast and creative team members who go to other schools besides Nueva. The creative team itself has also expanded. Julie and Jessa used to handle most jobs such as props and costumes, but are now assisted
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by a choreographer, a hair and makeup designer, costume designer, and other essential positions. The original team has learned to reach out to others for assistance in the production, and the Upstage family has grown substantially.
Rehearsing “The Guilty Ones”
Posters for shows by Upstage, designed by Elaine Wan
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Chapter Three A
closer look at Upstage Theater’s website shows their full mission statement: “Upstage Theater is a completely teenrun theater company that provides opportunities to teens of all backgrounds from across the Bay Area to participate in every aspect of theater, allowing them to hone their skills in both acting and production work. We are dedicated to creating safe spaces to examine what it means to be a teenager through material written by or about teens that they would typically be unable to participate in a school or community theater.” First and foremost, there is a great lack of good theater programs. Generally less funding in schools goes towards the arts, and everyone knows that having a resume full of high school shows doesn’t exactly show off much. In fact, Joan Lazarus, a theatre professor, wrote in her book Signs of Change about how as “funding shifts to other
priorities, theatre education is losing ground. Some states are not offering or are discontinuing certification of theatre teachers” (Lazarus 31). She also writes about how few opportunities there are, especially in smaller cities. In many instances, students have to make an hour’s trip or more to rehearsal and back just to participate in theater. Many theater experiences are available to either professionals or to youth, and youth programs can be unsuitable for teens to work in. Many youth theater programs combine teenagers with elementary school students, and the level of maturity is not enough to challenge the older age group enough. Most theater experiences available to high schoolers mainly provide acting opportunities. Those who are interested in acting can get experience they desire, but those who would rather direct or design aren’t able to get the same learning opportunities. At Upstage, the spots in the creative team are filled by
teens. Teenagers can get the experience they want in directing, stage managing, costuming, and other “behind-thescenes” aspects of theater that aren’t available at schools or community theater programs. Louis Blachman has had this experience himself, being the assistant director for Nina Grigg , an Upstage actor
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Upstage’s third show. While he has had prior experience acting, it was only his third time directing a show. From his time at Upstage, Louis says that “Upstage does a really good job of providing some opportunities and I think that’s really good of them to try to expand their horizon because it’s not just for the acting”. Upstage provides a unique environment, where the cast and creative team are not so distanced. There is something about being the same age, which allows the actors to bond with the director and other members of the creative team in a way that is typically not found in other companies. Upstage is also a place where high schoolers can, according to Upstage actor Eli Melmon, “get a sense of adolescence in a mature way”, and where high schoolers are working together to create a professional production. Eli states that he feels that communication between the director and the actors is also better because they are the same age, and they are able to understand each other more. While racism and sexism are prominent issues, ageism is one often overlooked. According to Lydia DePillis at the Washington Post, prejudices against age groups causes things such as
unemployment to be “markedly worse for workers over age 55 than for the general population.” In media, youth are portrayed as more immature than the age group typically is. For example, it is common for a thirteen year old to be presented with the maturity of an actual eight year old. Teens are usually thought of as untrustworthy, and Upstage Theater refutes that by proving that teenagers can put on a professional production without help from professional adults. Another benefit of a teen-run environment is the new opportunities available to learn. Many learning environments are teacher-centered, where a teacher is lecturing a group of students. Upstage provides a more learner centered environment, where learners can explore and interact with the material for themselves. Paul Bogdan, a math teacher, even stated that “a student-centered learning environment encourages students to become independent learners and ultimately to be in charge of their own education.” The opportunities and atmosphere that Upstage Theater bring are incredibly useful and much needed. A few actors from Upstage have gone a two hour drive from school to rehearsal, and back, almost every day of the week, so
that they can be a part of the production. However, one Upstage Theater is not enough. There needs to be more companies like Upstage, companies that target teenagers and provide them with more learning experiences in all aspects of theater; that challenge age stereotypes; and that allow shows to be performed and messages to be said where they would normally be censored at an ordinary high school or community theater.
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Denouement W
hen I arrived to that first rehearsal in Jessa’s house and the rehearsals after that, the actors and creative team were very kind and welcoming to me. They took me to get dinner, shop around downtown Mountain View, and get bubble tea. Upstage has formed a place where people can bond and opportunities are given, and I was lucky enough to be a part of that. The founders of Upstage Theater are currently in their junior year of high school. After the next season, they will graduate high school and Upstage will have to be handed over to someone else, keeping true to the teen spirit. As for their 2017-2018 season, Upstage is considering doing three shows, two plays and a musical (their first season was one musical, and their second season involved one play and one musical). As of March 2017, they are currently picking out shows for their next season. After the next season, Julie and
Jessa will graduate and hope to pass down the company to a group or somebody to continue. They hope to not only pass down the company, but also, as Julie says, “to continue the legacy and the goal and part of the company.” Julie and Jessa
“people at any level can come in and do things” know that even when they leave, there will still be other high schoolers and other teens who want the opportunities that Upstage so uniquely provides, and they want to make sure that those teenagers have somewhere to go to get those experiences. Of course, leaving a company is
not easy, especially if you’re the founder. Julie states that she has met some of her closest friends through Upstage Theater, and admits that leaving such an amazing and talented group of students will be unbelievably difficult. There is also the more professional aspect to leaving the business, where Julie worries about how the company will continue on without her, and if it will continue at all. She worries about paving the path correctly for those who will come after her. But in the end, she is extremely proud of what she has done for the company and knows that her eventual departure is the right thing to do. Lighting on a stage can be a finicky thing. Light obviously illuminates things to make them visible to the audience, but some often forget about the deliberate absence of light to conceal things. Different colors of light serve different functions, such as setting the mood, or providing just enough light for the actors to move onstage but not 25
enough for the audience to clearly see what is happening. In Upstage Theater’s production of Spring Awakening, blue light made the characters’ gray pants appear red. Light can alter, highlight, and hide what we see. In the end, Upstage Theater is a teen-run company doing teen-run shows, about teenage aspects of life. Like stage lights, the company focuses on certain aspects of theatre. Upstage deliberately highlights what is often left in the shadows: adolescent spirit and capability. It is a place where experience is gathered and typically untold stories are revealed, stories which I have had the fortune of being part of telling. And, above all, one thing that Julie Garber wants everyone to know about Upstage is that no matter what their previous experience or where they come from, “people at any level can come in and do things”.
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Works Cited “A Letter from a Struggling Actor, Now 28.” Psychology Today, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-do-life/201511/letter-struggling-actor-now-28. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. Blachman, Louis. Personal Interview. 21 March 2017. Bogdan, Paul. “Student-Centered Learning Environments: How and Why.” Edutopia, 29 Mar. 2011, www.edutopia.org/blog/student-centered-learning-environments-paul-bogdan. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. Collins-Hughes, Laura. “The ‘Mysteries’ Cast Discuss Life as Struggling Actors.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 June 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/theater/the-mysteries-cast-discuss-life-as-struggling-actors.html?_r=2. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. DePillis, Lydia. “Baby Boomers Are Taking on Ageism - and Losing.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 4 Aug. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/baby-boomers-are-taking-on-ageism--and-l osing/2016/08/03/43d6664c-120c-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html?utm_term=.fa20 d2a0ffb0. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. Garber, Julianna. Personal Interview. 5 March 2017. ---. Personal Interview. 27 March 2017. ---. Upstage logo. 2016. Accessed 24 Apr 2017. “Home.” Upstage Theater, www.upstagetheater.net/. Accessed 30 Mar. 2017. “How the Myth of the ‘Starving Artist’ Is Starving Us of the Art We Need.” Daily Life, 20 July 2016, www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-culture/how-the-myth-of-the-starving-artist-is-st arving-us-of-the-art-we-need-20160719-gq9bmc.html. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. Lazarus, Joan. Signs of Change: New Directions in Theatre Education. Bristol, UK, Intellect, 2012. Melmon, Eli. Personal Interview. 20 March 2017. Ossola, Alexandra. “High-Stress High School.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Oct. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/high-stress-high-school/409735/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. Wan, Elaine. Punk Rock poster. 2016. Accessed 24 Apr 2017. ---. Spring Awakening poster. 2017. Accessed 24 Apr 2017. 29
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Bio Carly Wang is a junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. At school, she takes part in choir and band. In her free time, Carly loves to play the piano, sing, draw, read, and write. Carly is also interested in theatre. She loves to go out and see plays and musicals, and has been interested in acting since she was a child.
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