On December 9th, divided into eight groups, freshmen of the English Department put on Medea by collaborative efforts in CFL Theatre to have a taste of acting in a professional theater and develop their future interests in performing arts.
Mini Play, a tradition for freshmen to perform a play, is listed as one of the course objectives in Introduction to Literature. Students have to cooperate with assigned group members to discuss how to enact the story on stage. Meanwhile, students also need to attend workshops to be familiar with sound and lighting systems and spare time for rehearsal.
For freshmen who have entered the English Department of FJU for only two months, Mini Play is an enormous challenge. One of the freshman students, tired of weekly assignments from the classes she has taken so far, mentioned that she felt stressed during the preparation because of limited time. “It’s a little bit hasty with the tight schedule, and I am dealing with my Midterm exam at the same time,” said another freshman student.
However, some students appreciate having a chance to perform in a theater. A freshman responsible for prop management said, “I’m having a great time in the theater. With the practice I have with my groupmates, I can gradually improve my performance and enjoy the spotlight. What’s more, Mini Play offers practical experiences we can’t acquire from the regular classes.”
Medea, written by Euripides in ancient Greece, tells the story of Medea, who is abandoned by her husband, Jason, and in turn seeks vengeance by mercilessly killing Jason’s new wife her father, and her own children. Driven by rage and grief, Medea revenges in a way that the audience may feel terrified, and so do the students who play Medea. “The most difficult part of playing Medea is that it’s hard to imitate and turn myself into a woman totally losing her mind. I need to be both mad and sad at the same time. It really takes time to master this character,” students said.
A group's performance. Photo by Terry Lee.
To put on a good performance, seamless teamwork is a must. Nevertheless, most freshman students have never cooperated with so many members in a group, so they encountered some troubles during group work. One of the director said, “it’s difficult to communicate with ten people, and having all the group members agree on some plans is even more challenging.”
As for the aspects of skills, a stage manager points out “I have to adjust my tone of speaking in a way that the actors and actresses will accept when I’m correcting their performance. It helps me improve my communication skills.”
For actors and actresses, they benefited a lot from this performance. “Acting is like role-playing somebody else. I have to drop my identity and personality to be another person temporarily. What’s more, I get to understand the essence of acting by this experience,” said a student who played Aegeus, King of Corinth.
Sound and lighting effects are also essential components for a good play. “Learning how to control sound and lighting effects is more difficult than I originally thought. I also need to communicate with the audio control room about the timing of sounds,” a crew member of sound and lighting effects said. Though she made some mistakes in the actual Mini Play, she said she was quite satisfied with her overall performance.
Many students agree with the advantages that acting out a play brings. “To perform a character of Medea, I need to read the texts thoroughly and understand both the play itself and the background of ancient Greece,” a student said. For those who did not do well in their Midterm, they can also develop literary analysis skills by performing. “By acting out as Medea, I get to know more about its themes, which will be helpful for my final exam,” one student said.
The group put on the best show receives the award. Photo by Terry Lee.
On the day of performance, members of each group were anxious because they were competing with each other, and parts of students’ final grades depend on it. Even though most students felt pressure on that day, they also enjoyed the process of performing.
“Mini Play sparked my interests in theater studies as a freshman,” said Professor Hegel at the end of Mini Play. He hopes students can gain interests in theater through this experience, and encourages students to actively join Annual Play and Senior Play.