Theatre Director Faith “Flawson” Lawson chose a short, vignette-style comedic play to accommodate new actors, as many of their theatre company performers graduated last year. The style of the piece allowed Flawson to break up rehearsals into groups, providing individualized attention and instruction. “I also like the piece because I've gotten feedback before that people want to see a little bit more comedy, which people don't realize is actually harder to do than just straight up drama,” Flawson describes, “It's not easy to be funny. Funny comes from being very intentional and very present in the moment.” 

And the play begins…donned in vintage 80s track suits, the audience is first introduced to Vanessa (Doris J. ’29), Lindsey (Sophianandini M-B. ’28), and Claire (Maxine W. ’29) as they embark into the woods to tell ghost stories by the lake. They stumble upon Dani (Lyla S. ’28), a timid fellow camper, and pitifully ask her to join them. Each camper tees up their own unsettling ghost story: The Lady in White (featuring Zander P. ’29, Zola P. ’29, Amber T. ’29, and Emma B. ’29 ) about teens who break into an abandoned and supposedly haunted house, Sullen Summers and the Case of the Dead Dame (featuring Callie H. ’26, Sophie T. ’29, Claudia T. ’29, and Zola P. ’29) which follows a detective who finds himself in multiple types of trouble, to The Tale of the Golden Arm (featuring Zander. P. ’29, Amber T. ’29, Hermione Z. ’28, and Claudia T. ’29) which follows grave robbers who are joined by unexpected characters. Afterwards, the three campers start to taunt Dani, until her true identity is revealed… but there won’t be any spoilers here!

The stage design was simple yet striking, allowing the lights, sounds, costumes, and acting to shine. Split into two, the left half of the stage acted as the lakeside, adorned with wide boulders and tall trees, while the right side evolved as it portrayed the scenes of the ghost stories. Bennack Studio Theater has provided our theatre department immense flexibility when it comes to setup and design. Kudos to Technical Theatre Director Rachael Robison and the lighting, sound, and stage crew, comprised of Lisa B. ’27 (stage manager), Eden K. ’27 (assistant stage manager), Bella L. ’28 (light board operator), Renata L. ’26 (assistant sound designer, box office assistant, usher), Theo M. ’29 (deck crew), Sophie M. ’28 (props crew), Annie P. ’27 (associate lighting designer, box office assistant, usher) and Alice Z. ’28 (sound board operator). Special shoutout to Mx. Robison’s son, Viktor, for assisting as a stagehand!

The characters and costume design pulled you right into the scene, whether that was back in the early 1900s, or in a present-day graveyard. The styling of these characters was wonderfully done by Katya B. ’27 (costume stylist and seamstress), Sophia M. ’27 (hair and makeup stylist), and Koda N. ’28 (costume stylist).

Assistant Director Hanna H. ’27 worked on this production as the research component of her own special project in the arts for theater directing. Working with actors in addition to managing a creative crew team to bring the experience to life was integral to her project. After working on this production, Hanna will begin working on directing an original play written by her this spring.

As the second production housed in Bennack Studio Theater, Flawson shared that “this show definitely gave us a better sense of our limitations, whereas the first one in this space, we were like, “Oh, we can do all these things in here!” [...] I can't tell you how long it took just to figure out what was the best way to set this up for the experience.” It is easy to forget how much planning and preparation go into each element of a theatre production. Flawson, Mx. Robison, and their team of talented students work tirelessly to make these details unnoticeable, while still learning the ins and outs of this new space.

For more photos from this production, check out our SmugMug.