By Aliza Flug, Senior Layout Editor and Social Media Manager
As the spring semester progresses, students have been busy with their new classes and countless assignments. But in the Schottenstein Theater on Yeshiva University’s Wilf campus, the directors, cast and crew of the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society (YCDS) are hard at work preparing for their annual play in early March.
This year, YCDS will put on Game Show, The Comedy (You) Play, written by Jeffery Finn and Bob Walton and set during the taping of a live TV game show. Bearing witness to the drama and antics that are involved in the taping of this show, the audience will serve as a live studio audience. The theater will be set up to look like a game show, with camera operators in the audience and screens to project the audience jumbotron-style. With real trivia questions and prizes, the show will give the audience the opportunity to participate as game show contestants. “What’s unique about Game Show is the fact that besides the tremendous amount of technical cues there are with lights and sound, there’s also this element of choosing audience members to play a role in the play as game show contestants,” YU Professor Reuven Russell, YCDS director of five years, told the YU Observer.
These unique attributes are what prompted its selection for this year’s play last semester. “We were looking for something that would appeal to the YU audience and something that hasn’t been done by YCDS before,” Meir Hass (YC ‘27), YCDS president and technical director, told the YU Observer. He added, “When we came across the script for Game Show, we felt it was a unique concept and would really push our limits from a technical standpoint but also challenge the actors in ways a more typical show would not.”
As the show’s technical director, Hass is overseeing a crew of close to 15 students working on lighting, sound effects, set building, videography and installing technology such as speakers and TV monitors. To build the set, he began by drafting a concept of the set design, figuring out how the design would integrate into the theater and then purchased any necessary building materials and equipment. Now, he is working with the crew to construct the set and install audio-visual equipment before the show opens. “I think Meir Hass has really stepped up his game this year and will provide quite a realistic looking television game show for all audiences to enjoy,” Russell said.
As the crew works hard, rehearsals are keeping the cast just as busy. Shimi Rothman (YC ‘28), the show’s lead, is playing the host of the game show, Troy Richards. It isn’t easy to balance studying hard for classes and rehearsing, but Rothman and the rest of the cast are making it work. Despite being a pre-med student, he appreciates YCDS giving him the opportunity to express himself creatively and feels that YCDS is particularly understanding of his busy schedule. “They’re really understanding of the dual curriculum and how much pressure I’m under,” Rothman told the YU Observer.
Being a live game show that requires audience participation, the play involves improvisation, specifically for Rothman, the host. He will need to work off of what the audience says instead of relying on a script. “Even when on script, I’m able to kind of lean off of it and just do my own thing and I think that’s really what the character Troy needs,” Rothman said. “He needs somebody who’s just gonna go off and do his own thing, and you know, be a game show host.”
Professor Russell is working with the actors not just to rehearse their lines but to prepare for this improvisation as much as possible. “You never know what an audience member is going to say, you never know which direction they are going to go into and the actors actually have to sort of reign it in and channel it to fit the play so the play can actually move forward,” Russell said. At the end of the day, he added, “We’re going to have the audience members come in and we’re going to sort of let it fly from there.”
The show’s technical and improvisational elements make it unique compared to past YCDS productions. “This is probably the biggest technical show we have in terms of lights and sound and the number of cues and what it’s actually going to look like,” Russell said. Despite these challenges, YCDS will no doubt pull it off. So, as the cast and crew take these last few weeks to rehearse and construct the set and technology, audiences should prepare to experience a YCDS play like no other.
YCDS will perform Game Show at the Schottenstein Theater (560 W 185th St) on March 8, 10 and 11. Tickets are available on CampusGroups: https://yeshiva.campusgroups.com/ycds/home/
Photo Credit: Meir Hass