Museum: Trust the Weird
Soft thunder rumbled through the theater as Emily looked up, horrified, clutching a broken hand. Her prop, a sculpture of hands and birchwood, had shattered during her performance. I watched as Caroline Howarth let the co-director, Cris Edmonds, reassure Emily. Even destruction can be creation, and here I saw the creation of trust going from Caroline, through Cris, to Emily.
The play they are producing is called ‘“Museum” by Tina Howe. It is an absurd and chaotic show with more than forty different characters. All the students I interviewed had at least three roles. I would have thought this would be stressful, but they were excited about the opportunity to portray so many different characters. One actor, Remy, told me how this will be the first time he gets to portray a woman on stage. For him, this was an opportunity to take a risk and try something new. Another student, Madi, had worries about how her family would react to the show, but she bubbled with happiness as she described rolling around on stage during her performance.
This production has as much going on behind the scenes as it does on stage. There is a phenomenal number of props and costumes to be designed and made. Josiah Hiemstra, the Production Manager, is directing most of the behind the scenes work, while Betty Kolodziej manages the costumes, but students are taking on big roles throughout the process. I got to meet Axel, the Head of Props, and they told me about how getting to make all these props was letting them enjoy art in a way that they hadn’t for a very long time. “Even though I’m not on stage, I’m playing two characters,” Axel told me.
“Me and Caroline are the sculptors out there. Sometimes we’re wrong, but it’s a lot of fun.” Cris Edmonds, co-director of “Museum.”
The play is more of a mosaic than a traditional storyline, and that has mirrored the way the students are experiencing it. Cris is exploring their role as a director and learning to trust their instincts. During one rehearsal, I saw Cris speak up and suggest a change to the script. It was a small, powerful adjustment that produced an electrifying dynamic between the actors. Delan described the ‘spooky’ experience of switching hats between assistant stage manager and two different stage roles, one entirely in French. Emily vibrated with energy while she spoke about the nerve-wracking and emotional process she’d gone through in learning her roles. Remy never stopped smiling as he described how hilarious and absurd the play is. Madi looked like a flower just beginning to bloom as she talked about learning to be comfortable in her own skin.
Once opening night comes around, how will this chaotic play weave through the audience and what magic will they get to experience? That is the final piece of this production, the trust between cast, crew, and audience that could produce a creation beyond what is on the pages. Maybe this play can help us destroy the illusion of ‘normal’ and accept our ‘weird’. Maybe we can connect to the characters within the play, and to the actors portraying them. Maybe we can learn to love ourselves as much as these actors love their ridiculous characters.
And if not, at least we can have a good laugh.
