By Dalya Eichler, Photographer and Staff Writer
The lights dim, the music softens and the show begins. The rush of that moment, the beginning of a play, is like no other. It is an extraordinary experience to be brought into a new world. As the actors scurry backstage and props are positioned for the opening, the show is ready to roll forward.
But, what if the actors have to scurry through tight halls in complete darkness, careful not to step on rusty nails? What if they have to pass the mess of wood piled backstage to take a tiny and steep staircase upstairs, as miscellaneous objects, unrecognizable to all, are strewn all over?
I am extremely proud to be involved in the Stern College Dramatics Society (SCDS), where our goal is to create a magical experience for those who attend our shows. Being on the stage and creating the story itself is just as exhilarating as watching the show, if not more. Over the past several years, I have experienced firsthand the beauty of storytelling on stage. This year, I was the Creative Head of SCDS’s fall play, The Man Who Came to Dinner.
Once I joined the crew, I developed a huge appreciation for what it takes to create the play behind the scenes. Yes, being an actor is taxing, rehearsals are long and lines are not easy to memorize. However, working behind the scenes is a larger job than people often realize. Actors begin working in the theater a couple weeks prior to the show, and until then rehearse on Beren. The crew begins working in the theater from the moment the play is assigned. Since beginning this new position, I’ve realized pretty fast that the drama department at YU needs a lot more attention than it is receiving.
It’s quite impressive that each show makes it to opening night in completion with the state that backstage and prop rooms are in. Anyone who takes a look backstage will realize just how much unnecessary hard work is done to produce shows such as the ones SCDS have put on.
Accessing props means going to different rooms on both campuses. Thankfully, I know which rooms to go to because of a list made by a student last year. As I slowly went through the tasks that kept piling up, I noticed a lot of holes in the system that could and should have been prevented ages ago.
Was it meant to be that student’s job to make the list, or should there be more official protocols set in place that the board can use to help ensure a smooth process? I would assume there was a procedure ever since SCDS began, but it has since been muddled and lost. The students on the board do their best to give information they know, but I’m afraid that information has been mixed up somewhere along the grapevine.
The props rooms are usually locked and in need of security assistance to access, in a building where the elevator is usually broken. M8 is a room in the Shenk Shul building used for props where items are piled ceiling high, objects balancing on one another so as not to fall, and a bunch of stuff that should be considered garbage by now. Although I am not qualified to assess the safety of the room, having been inside myself, I think the room is a complete hazard. The rooms we are given are more of a storage closet than a space to easily have props accessible and stored.
The theatre itself is set up with an upper level, lower level and main wall. When speaking to a student from Yeshiva College, he shared that the stage used to be a blank space, and many years back, this setup was built for a specific show and hasn’t been changed since. It is a great set up, and I wouldn’t have noticed the theater was meant to be any other way. However, with two levels, this year SCDS needed a staircase to access the upper level from the main stage. This brings me to the concern of the facilities department.
When asked to help build structures for the show, the facilities department was completely silent. We only received a small response to one of the multiple emails sent to them over many weeks, and they were unavailable to help us further once we got a proper hold of them, being that it was close to YU open house. The school policy does not allow students to hire an outside company for help, so that leaves it up to the students themselves to build. I myself have no capabilities to build a sound and safe structure for students to climb, nor do I even know how to use an electric saw. Only through asking around did I learn that some students, mainly on the Wilf campus, know how to do such things, and even fewer were available to help. This leaves the theater department in a highly difficult situation, where the easy solutions are not the safest ones.
Lastly, the theater goes untouched from usage to usage. Classrooms and auditoriums get cleaned, but when going through the backstage area, I found a slurpee from who knows how long ago. Cleaning and maintenance need to be happening in the theater. Of course students have a responsibility to keep the spaces they use clean, but it goes beyond that. Where is the maintenance team when we need them? The school is aware of show dates, and the theater should be ready and clean for usage by tech week.
The backstage bathroom is nowhere near as clean as other campus bathrooms, and in the wood storage room I have seen many spiders and cobwebs. The theater should be a comfortable space to work in. This should be especially true for a school that prides itself for being in New York City, the heart of live theater.
I don’t write this piece to bring down SCDS, I wrote it to bring attention to a department that produces incredible art. Recently the Office of Student Life called me in to chat with them, and what was first a meeting about reimbursement for the show, turned into me sharing so many of these points. Right away we dove into talking out solutions and now there is a plan set for a meeting regarding all of this, and I am thankful for this very good first step.
I highly encourage students to continue their involvement in the arts. It is such a privilege and exciting experience, and we are blessed to have a theater department at YU to do so. It needs recognition, but even more so, it needs attention and to be cared for. There is much that is overlooked when it comes to this department, which causes many stumbling blocks for cast and crew members who simply want to put on a show with as few hurdles as possible. A theater with no proper maintenance and funding will only produce as much as it is able, and for now, that is limited.
Photo Caption: Storage rooms for props and wood piles backstage
Photo Credit: Dalya Eichler