This is a longer Director’s Note than usual, but there is much to explain about this special project. Unlike any other production Northwest Theatre has undertaken, A MEMORY OF SPOON RIVER: A TRIBUTE TO EDGAR LEE MASTERS is unique in many ways.

The theatre season actually began with another play on our schedule, but that script became impractical when COVID struck and we were forced to re-think our production abilities and strategy for the 2020-21 academic year.

However, several unique factors also seemed to emerge at that point. First, I recognized that a significant portion of professional theatre was already beginning to incorporate digital/electronic media in its preparation and presentation activities. And second, it occurred to me that the increased use of technology in our academic classrooms might be adapted or incorporated into our production activities.

So, to keep our students safe while still practicing their craft, to help them remain current in the field, and to help position them strategically to be more competitive in professional circles after the current COVID mitigation measures are loosened; I thought that a show featuring individual performances could both meet appropriate safety mitigation procedures and could provide our students with a tangible and unique experience culminating in a product that could be used for their professional audition “reel.”

First, we needed to find material to create this. Building on experience from last year’s production of UNDER MILK WOOD, I began to look for material that could be similarly developed and remembered teaching SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY many years ago in public high school. Special recognition must be given to our dramaturg/playwright, Cory Busch, who took the more than 300 poems in the original “ANTHOLOGY” (as well as several original works submitted by students and faculty which deal with similar themes but from a COVID-conscious perspective) and selected the pieces you will see in this production as well as writing the narration which accompanies them.

My main focus throughout was on giving our students a rudimentary exposure to working in the field of film recording as opposed to their familiar live performance experience. To that end, and because video is not an area of emphasis in our department, we brought in several film professionals to help us learn performance techniques for that medium. Two major ZOOM workshops, including a full master class in audition techniques by Barry Shapiro, President of Herman & Lipson Casting in New York City, and a “Tricks and Tips” presentation with a Q&A session hosted a Hollywood producer and two working professional actors, helped our performers in character development and video techniques.

As to production elements also; we had to learn much as we went along; and though not entirely self-taught, we were all working outside of our normal professional expertise. Filming monologues in front of a green screen, editing video, adding audio narration and music were all new to us; and while acknowledged elsewhere in the program, a special thanks must go to the people and organizations which allowed us to record or film “on location” adding a richness and texture to scenes which could not have been realized on a normal theatrical stage.

And especially to our own production crew including location scouts, location managers, transportation coordinators, camera operators, sound and lighting engineers, digital recorders and myriad others who had no experience and little training in this medium; I believe that this has been one of the most varied learning experiences we have ever undertaken and (although unexpected at the beginning of this academic year) one that will prove to have a significant impact on the professional training and career development of all our Northwest Theatre students.