Featuring Shay Calliste-David
By Alana Doherty
Just a few weeks ago, the halls of Depauw’s Green Center for Performing arts were filled with people, all trying to get the best house seats for the opening night of Into the Woods. The musical was a huge success, filling the small auditorium nearly every night. For those who may have missed it, the musical features four familiar fairy tales: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood. Don’t let the musical deceive you, however. These stories are not the happy Disney tales we’ve come to know, but rather their originals, by the Grimm Brothers. Cinderella doesn’t run off with the prince; instead, her sisters deceive the prince by cutting off their toes and heels to fit into the slipper. For Rapunzel, she gets freed, but becomes more and more hysterical as the musical goes on, eventually leading to her death in the second act. The musical itself follows the story of a baker and his wife who are trying to break a witch’s curse to be able to have children. They must venture into the woods, as the title suggests, to find four items to bring to the witch so she may lift the curse. The problem is that each of the other characters has something they need, and many don’t want to give them up. I was so lucky as to get a one-on-one interview with a member of the cast, Gretel, played by Shay Calliste-David. She was able to provide more insight into the behind-the-scenes aspects of the musical, including, but not limited to, the audition process, preparations for the musical, and post musical tasks for the actors.
The first topic we covered was the audition process at Depauw, specifically for Into the Woods. The process is a lot more complicated than it seems, as Shay points out. There are separate auditions for singing and for acting. Preparation for these auditions also looks different, and many of the actors have their own techniques for learning their music. Shay jokes how she would call her family and run lines with them. She mentions her favorite spot to rehearse the music, though she does not disclose the location, has a small stage and lights where she can practice singing with light shining in her face. When you arrive at the acting audition, you pick which characters to audition for. Shay says she auditioned for Little Red and sang for the Witch, ultimately landing the role of Gretel. Those who wish to audition for both, like Shay did, must attend both sessions. Auditions for Into The Woods took place before the academic year began, and actors arrived early to campus to get in more preparation time. Shay says the actors were encouraged to work on memorizing their lines over the summer, but nobody did!
Once school started, their schedule changed yet again. Call time was at 6:30 pm every night and ran until 9. The actors signed in and began their vocal warm ups. Shay said the first week or so was spent doing read-throughs of the script. This is where the actors don’t do any work on placement or movement and focus solely on the script and timing their lines with each other. They then began to learn the dance choreography and blocking, or movement across stage, as the actors ran scenes together. Two weeks before opening night was orchestra week, where the cast arrived an hour earlier and spent the entire time working solely on orchestra timing with the actors.
It seems like a lot of work, but Shay says she still found time to do school work throughout the week. She says it was quite enjoyable sitting in the rehearsal room listening to the cast running through songs as she worked on her homework. She loved the experience of being involved in the play. She also loved meeting all of the actors, whom she says were like her idols, from other musicals she had seen as a first-year student, and being able to sing alongside them. They were all so welcoming and made her all the more excited to get to perform with them. Her favorite part, however, was mic checks. Shay commented that a different prompt was picked for every night’s mic check. One night it would be Wicked and the next would be Les Miserables. When you walked into the girls dressing room, the atmosphere was lively and noisy, with everyone singing and dancing around as they got into hair and makeup. To my dismay, Shay informed me that they weren’t allowed to keep anything from the set, but if she could have, she says she would have taken her lollipop from Hansel and Gretel, or her tailored corset. She loved how it fit and had never had something made to fit her so perfectly; it was hard to leave behind.
The corset wasn’t the only thing that was hard to leave behind. Shay comments on how it was sad after the last show, and the next day when they began to strike the set. Their director, Caroline Good, gave them a note after the final show, stating her gratitude and love for their performances that only added to the bittersweet atmosphere. To begin strike, or the taking down of the set, cast members were assigned different areas to work on, including the dressing rooms and the set. Sure, it was sad taking down all of the set pieces that held such fond memories, but Shay says it was also a helpful part of the grieving process. Being able to take down the set piece by piece, with all of your friends, was healing.
But there’s no need to worry! Another production is already in the works. The theater program will be showing Vinegar Tom from November 7-9 at 7:30pm and on November 10 at 3pm in the Moore Theater at the GCPA. As described on the Institute of Music’s site:
“In a seventeenth century rural village a young woman named Alice takes as a lover a married man who lives on a neighboring farm. After she rebukes the man’s further advances both Alice and her widowed mother are accused of witchcraft following their neighbors’ growing family strife and agricultural failures. The two women eventually must submit to the doctors who would cure them as well as to the land speculators who covet their meager farm. Another kindred spirit, a betrothed young daughter of a prosperous landowner, is judged to be insane and is locked away because she doesn’t wish to marry. And in the minds of the local villagers, behind it all is Vinegar Tom, the stealthy black cat who is often seen lurking about, boldly plundering barns and milk sheds.”
Don’t let the synopsis fool you; there are no witches in this play, only rebellious women, resisting the social control of a patriarchal society. Auditions have already passed, but there are many other ways to get involved! As Shay points out, if you wish to be involved in theater but not be on stage, you are welcome to join the stage crew or lighting crew. Stage crew includes stage managers and moving crew who help with set changes mid show. Lighting crew designs lighting for the show and works with cues during the show to create that magical atmosphere we all love. Or perhaps you are a skilled seamstress or cosmetologist, there are roles for you in hair and makeup! All you have to do is show up to the interest meetings for the shows and tell the directors how you would like to help. If they can’t help you, they will surely know who to point you to! Or you can check out the board in front of the theater in the GCPA. There, you can find contact information for all things theater going on in the GCPA. If you are interested in seeing shows coming to the GCPA, there are also many ways of finding tickets. You can start on Eventbrite to find tickets for upcoming shows. You can also find events on the Institute of Music’s site by clicking HERE! That’s not all though; as the show approaches, keep an eye out for posters throughout the halls with QR codes linking to Eventbrite to purchase tickets. And if you miss all of these, don’t worry–there is a box office open at every show. There is no guarantee that there will be available tickets, but Shay says Thursdays have the least amount of tickets sold, so there will likely be tickets left by opening night!