This semester, Oberlin Opera Theater presented Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. When auditions rolled around last semester, I decided I was going to take a little opera break so I didn’t audition… but I quickly realized over the summer that I still wanted to be a part of it. I have become very interested in directing throughout my time at Oberlin, and have been able to explore it in many different ways both on and off campus. I heard assistant directing on the opera productions is very intense and time-consuming, but totally worth it, so I decided to reach out and throw my hat in the ring.
Luckily, I got the gig! The first 4 weeks of classes were music rehearsals, so my job during that period of time mostly consisted of scheduling and administrative work. Then the last week of September, the fun began (on my end haha). We had 3 weeks to block the entire show before moving to tech week post-fall break. This was a giant feat, but I enjoyed every second of it.
The visiting opera director this semester is Kevin Newbury. (If you don’t know who he is, google him. He’s insane.) His directing approach is very different from anything I had witnessed before. He truly pulls the actors into the creative process with him instead of just telling them where to stand and when. Kevin lets his actors use the rehearsal space for experimentation, and try scenes out on their own before he starts giving his input. He gives an outline of what the scene should look like, and the actors get to fill in the rest.
What I really appreciated throughout the process was how much Kevin let me voice my opinions/give input. I have never seen an assistant director get to have a say on major creative decisions, and it felt so awesome. I got to work with the actors when they missed a rehearsal to get them caught up, and I even worked with some of them on how they could physically embody their characters more.
Once we got to the stage, everything really started coming together. This show was VERY prop and set piece heavy, so it was getting a bit difficult to continue making progress in the rehearsal room when our food truck was being played by a rehearsal cube and our giant magical spoon was being played by a prop sword. A lot of things changed once we saw all of the different pieces, and it was really amazing how quickly the whole cast was able to adapt and retain the information. As tech began, I was entrusted with taking notes on EVERYTHING from the actors to the lighting cues to costumes. I swear, I have never been so hyperalert in my life than when I was watching those tech runs lol! But again, the fact that Kevin trusted me enough to take care of these things meant so much. And it allowed him to watch the show from an audience perspective and catch everything that I was missing.
Once we got to the show days, it was such an odd feeling getting to just sit back and watch. I tried my best to turn my director brain off and just enjoy the show we created. This cast honestly made that so easy. I found myself cackling in the audience even after watching this show a million times because our cast was always making new, interesting choices.
I learned so much from this experience, and having Kevin Newbury as my mentor has honestly changed my artistic life. I am so happy I took a chance on this experience, and hope you are inspired to try something new as well. :)
