CCT employs atypical filming for streaming productions
Putting on plays during a pandemic is tricky. Putting on two plays involving a total of 56 kids is even trickier.
Columbus Children’s Theatre is managing the feat through strict adherence to COVID restrictions, heavy use of Zoom for rehearsals, and the decision to focus on vignette plays, which allow for a large number of actors in the finished play but normally only require two or three actors to perform together.
The troupe will be offering two filmed productions this spring, “Superheroes” and “Same Room, Different Story.”
“Superheroes,” aimed at pre-teen audiences and featuring actors ages 10 to 13, will be available to stream for the next two weekends.
“It’s very funny, with a lot of slapstick. The gimmick of the show is that it’s the day off for all these superheroes we’re familiar with. So the Hulk is doing
his taxes, and Batman shows up at a fast-food restaurant because they forgot his fries,” said Isaac Steinhour, CCT’S technical director.
Steinhour is producing both shows, and he and CCT artist educator Kelsey Hopkins are co-directing them.
They’re assisted by Natalie Tangeman, 18, a senior at Columbus School for Girls, who serves as production manager and assistant director; and Zuri Clarno, 17, a junior at Metro Early College High School and the productions’ cinematographer and editor. Both also are cast in “Same Room, Different Story.”
“I’m basically stage-managing the shows,” Tangeman said. “I send out schedules and chat with the parents.”
She enjoyed directing the younger cast members in “Superheroes.”
“It’s fun to see when they get the comic timing right on a scene. They get so excited. And it’s fun to see how the younger kids channel these Marvel and DC characters,” she said.
“Superheroes” was filmed in front of a green screen, so special effects could be added. After cast members rehearsed at home via Zoom for a couple weeks, they would come together for masked rehearsals at the studio, and removed their masks only during filming.
“We were able to paint half the studio green and the other half blue for filming on green screen,” Steinhour said. “It’s filmed in a cinematic style, so that when the viewer watches it, it’s more like a movie than like having a video camera out in the audience.”
The production has allowed a lot of new actors to take the stage for the first
time. Not only are many of the actors new to CCT, but they’re also new to theater in general.
“For over 50 percent of the cast, it’s their first show, period,” Steinhour said.
The second spring play will be different both in style and substance.
“Same Room, Different Story” features actors ages 14 to 18, and is recommended for audiences ages 12 and older. It combines elements of comedy and drama.
“It deals with a lot of tough topics for teenagers, but it deals with them in a tasteful, tactful way. It’s very strong material for the actors to dig into character development,” Steinhour said.
The vignettes in the play all are set within a teenager’s bedroom.
“We’re actually building the room in a corner of one of our studios, and we’ll be filming the action from multiple angles,” Steinhour said. “Stylistically, it will be like the way they film a sitcom.”
Much of that filming will be done by Clarno.
She has been involved with CCT for several years.
“It’s my second family,” she said. But before this year, she was out on stage rather than behind it.
She got involved in assistant directing CCT’S “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” in December.
“Then I told them, I’m really interested in the technical stuff, and I’d love to help out again,” she said.
She will be setting up shots and then doing editing to weave the segments of the play together.
These filmed plays have stretched all those involved in CCT in new directions.
“I’m so grateful to be part of the process, and to work behind the scenes,” Clarno said. “It’s not something I’ve ever really done before.”
margaretquamme@hotmail.com