Drama

Tisch Drama Launches Behind the Scenes Series for Production & Design

Monday, Nov 23, 2020

This fall, the TISCH DRAMA STAGE Design and Stage Management teams came together in a series of interviews to talk about their newfound process, and everything that goes into mounting a virtual festival of productions, given the restrictions of the pandemic.

Interview participants included faculty and students from Tisch Drama’s Production & Design Studio (P&D) who worked on Drama’s collaboration with the National Black Theatre in October and the All Department Festival in November.

Director of Production Jeanette Yew, who also serves as Head of Lighting Design for P&D, explained that the current moment calls for greater collaboration.

"In a normal in-person production, we would have a sound designer, a set designer, and a costume designer, but this year at P&D we decided to approach it more from a team standpoint,” Yew said—a point echoed by student Alicia Cabrera. “Theatre-makers are people who adapt rather quickly and face changes rather quickly,” Cabrera said. “We faced each day as a new day, as a new challenge, as a new opportunity to move the process forward—and we successfully did that.”

Kenny Duecker, project designer for FORGIVE US, YOU'RE DYING, noted the challenge that lies in the medium. “We [are] doing something completely different from normal theatre, and completely different from film,” he added.

Reef Liew, project designer on INTER//STELLAR, described the goal of establishing a connection to viewers in the remote space. “I think something I always thought about was the kind of relationship between the audience and the actor,” he said. “Now you have to think of ways to establish that connection in some other way.”

Overall, the groups spoke of collaboration, discovery, problem-solving, and innovation during this unprecedented time of theatre-making.

Watch the videos below.