Student performed productions give hope for the future
In terms of theater, if you are seeking something positive to come out of this pandemic, I recommend you check out either or both of the recent digital theater productions offered by young area performers.
Both “39 Steps” produced by the Theatre Institute at Russell Sage College and “Little Women” offered by Playhouse Stage Company at the Cohoes Music Hall are proof theater will survive. They are available through the weekend and are worth your time.
To be completely honest, neither show is a must see. You know, the type that will make you sorry to miss it. However, each is pleasant, well performed and enjoyable. More to the point of theatrical survival, underneath these basic virtues is a more important value.
Seeing young performers participating in theater knowing the safety hoops they had to jump through to act on stage is truly inspirational. The cliche that gives an A for effort is truly in play here.
Watching the Sage students appear to be having so much fun performing “39 Steps” as a 90-minute radio play suggests that any college credit they get for their efforts are secondary motives to be on stage. They all seem to love the process in which they are involved.
Whatever their motives, to see students channel the sly humor Alfred Hitchcock included in most of his films is a joy. It’s more of a joy when you realize that by doing it as if it were a radio play they are working in a format that is completely unfamiliar to anyone in the cast.
They are asked to take a film that is probably as old as their grandparents and present it in an entertainment form that likely was out of date when their parents were kids. Yet they are as natural with both genres as teenagers are with today’s digital technologies.
If it’s fun to see college age performers at ease with archaic forms of entertainment, it’s no less of a pleasure to see high school-aged performers embrace a traditional musical adaptation of a timeless, beloved novel written about 150 years ago.
That’s what you get with Park Stages two-hour digital offering of “Little Women.” It’s a telling of the story using a contemporary young woman to imagine the past as a way of discovering her storytelling skills.
Except for a few awkward roles that require mature actors the cast is adept at capturing the frustrations of being an independent woman in any century. It’s all set to music with a score that offers a couple of impressive moments. The entire cast makes the most of the material.
As for personal gain, the cast of “Little Women” by performing in the show, the youngsters have little to gain more than love of the theatrical process. And love it they must to go through frequent Covid testing and social isolation from anyone outside the cast.
As a labor of love, both as as much fun as the process is heartwarming. The experience is made better as each works really well in a digital format. As a viewer, you cannot help admire the determination of young performers to create theater in the toughest of conditions. You know the future is in good hands.
Helping guide that future are the directors of the offerings. Both Ashley Simone Kirchner and Chuck Kraus guided the students in “Little Women.” Professor David Baecker led his students in “39 Steps.”
Neither “Little Women” or “39 Steps” is a show you have to see. But if you need a taste of feel good you should give them a try. The charge is $10 for a 24 hour rental and in terms of believing in the future, it’s hard to find a better value.
“Little Women” can be had by going to brodwayondemand.com
“39 Steps” is available at theatre.sage.edu