ART & TRAVEL

Inside The Bubble

Senior Trades Spotlight for Music Director Role

By Clara De La O ’27 Staff Writer

From constantly being onstage as Constance Ledbelly in the fall trimester play “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet),” to sitting in the front row of the Hacker Theater taking notes, hands raised as they conduct the actors for the winter musical “Into the Woods,” senior Finn De Vries, has had quite the journey: from the lead of the show to assistant musical director.

Patrick Reardon, the show’s musical director, has been mentoring Finn, who has led many rehearsals, played backing tracks, cued actors for singing entrances, and ensured the music and performers lined up. It was a role Finn, a senior and PMPT (Players/Mandolin Performance Troupe) head, wanted to “step into.”

“It’s very difficult, but it’s really fun, and I’m learning a lot,” Finn said. It was a unique leadership position for Finn, where suddenly students looked to them for answers and where Finn’s little mistakes could throw off a whole song.

“It’s weird that I’m sort of a director and kinda on a different level than a lot of my peers and I’m directing them,” Finn said “It’s a hard balance to have.”

Finn also faced logistical challenges in their role.

“A lot of what makes it difficult is there’s a lot of instruments not playing what the singers are singing, so the singers kinda have to just do it on their own. And this show has a lot of what we call underscoring, so the pit orchestra will be playing music under all the acting in the scenes. And I think there’s about 10 minutes in the show where there’s no underscoring. So even if there isn’t singing, there’s music the entire time.” Finn also had to ensure the music aligned with the blocking. “We are changing a few moments of what the pit orchestra is playing because ‘Oh Little Red needs 10 more seconds to go all the way over to the door to knock.’”

Finn said their favorite part was “getting the music and the blocking together, pressing play on the rehearsal track, and getting to learn how to conduct.”

Finn was already familiar with the play. They played Cinderella in a middle school production of “Into the Woods” where their father was the musical director and mother was the stage director. (The love and talent for musical theater runs in the blood.) That encounter with the Stephen Sondheim musical empowered Finn to come into the Porter’s production knowledgeable and prepared.

Finn participated in the Porter’s and Avon Old Farms musical “Theory of Relativity” and a student-directed version of “Annie” their sophomore year, and they played Spongebob in “Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical” last year. Finn has also gained experience in arranging music as a Perilhette, taking piano lessons, and being a member of Sarah Porter Singers. Finn said they have been singing their whole life.

Due to Finn’s talent on stage, they were cast as the understudy for five characters and had to be ready to step in for ensemble members if needed.

“I don’t think I have fully wrapped my brain around the fact that if someone was sick I would need to go on as the role. But I love the show, and I know it really well so that doesn’t feel like a big thing to me.”

While Finn said their offstage role was fulfilling, they missed the thrill of performing.

“I just want to be on stage,” they said. “ I miss acting.”

Now showing: EthiopiAset’s “Into the Woods”

Documentary

By Dodo Bi ’27 Staff Writer

Something new is in the theater today: a black Canon camera topped by a noise-reducing microphone targets the stage, and its owner is no other person than our beloved head of school EthiopiAset Garvey. Her eyes were on the camera’s display screen, scavenging any potential scene for her documentary–a project showcasing the theater program.

The documentary was first launched when the theater program director Alexandra London-Thompson learned about Garvey’s short documentary on last year’s French Global Intensive trip. Coincidentally, Garvey had been involved in theater in one way or another: she used to be both an actor and a technician. Although she no longer directly engages in theater, Garvey remains passionate about musicals and enjoys watching members of Porter’s theater program put up amazing performances. On her 17th birthday, Garvey picked up the camera her uncle gifted her to capture life and apply her passion for filmmaking. She used the same camera to record the winter musical production “Into the Woods.”

While filming her documentary, Garvey aimed to reveal “the process of making a theater production happen.” This is nothing simple considering the complexity of production, which includes more than 20 characters, 50 songs, 70 sound effects and hundreds of light cues. She values both the theatrical aspect and the filmmaking aspect, all of which need to be planned out beforehand. Moreover, incorporating filmmaking into theater practices also means grabbing every opportunity to film and dealing with accidents. With music rehearsals, acting rehearsals, and tech going on simultaneously, Garvey often travels from front to backstage for filming. In her words, there are truly “a million things going on daily.”

Filming a documentary on theater is indeed challenging, but pleasant surprises always emerge in the filmmaking process. Garvey saw the filming process as capturing “the journey of expression through music,” and seeing how characters are brought to life through acting and singing is simply wonderful. Even the theater itself is a mystery: Garvey has always loved to explore the hidden rooms in the basement, such as the dressing room.

In the end, the product is punctually released, displaying the making of “Into the Woods” through all its rehearsals and tech adjustments. In Garvey’s words, the documentary reveals the “countless hours, effort, and work that goes into making [the product] what [it is].” Preparing for a musical is not easy. Even a short opening can require hours of repetitive blocking, lighting, orchestral performances, and costume evaluation.... Thus, Garvey believes that “crafting a narrative about this work process allows people to have a window into a world they might not think about very often.”

Trying out all sorts of sports, and taking various leadership positions, Garvey has never stopped exploring. The documentary, she said, “allows me entry into a world that I haven’t ventured into yet during my time at Porter’s, and gives me the chance to learn more about the extensive and wonderful process that goes into making it happen.”