The members of Glenbard North Theater recently put on An Experiment, a show in the round, in the auditorium on October 5th, 6th, and 7th.
The play by Brent Holland is a one-act hunger games-esqe show where five people are placed in an experiment and assigned a trait and the goal is to find out if the trait is learned or inherent. The play was picked last year by director Marissa Talerico as it looked interesting and was thought to be a good fit for the theater program. The cast and crew at GBN theater worked most days after school to put the show together.
Normally a show at GBN theater would be in a proscenium theater, where the audience observes from one side. The theater has not done a show in the round, where the audience sits all around the stage, in five years, but now it’s back. The decision to do a play in the round, director Marissa Talarico said, was made when “[T]he adults were talking about what shows we were going to do and where we wanted to do them. Mr. King had come up with the idea. A few years ago, we had done a show in the round. And he said, ‘Why don’t we do another show in the round?’” Talerico continues, “The biggest benefit is that you get to be in your own space, and you don’t have to share the space with the mainstage.” The format of the round is a more efficient way of doing shows as the separate spaces, the little theater and the auditorium, allow for simultaneous rehearsals, because of the benefits Talerico revealed that most fall studio plays will be in the round in the future. When explaining why she chose to do this show specifically, Talarico said, “I saw it automatically. I said, Oh, this would be perfect. We’re literally in a room. And everyone else is just an observer. … We don’t ever interact with the audience. But I always see it as the audience is those outsiders looking in onto this space, into this room.” In the play, it is implied that there are scientists watching the experiment so by making the audience observe as if they are looking into a room it involves them in the story and makes the experience more immersive.
The acting experience for a show in the round is also very different from a traditional one. The audience sits on all four sides observing the actors in the middle instead of one audience in the front. In order to prevent one side of the audience seeing backs for the whole show, the methods of acting have to be altered. The acting experience in this set up is a lot more fluid and non traditional, Talarico said, “[W]e teach you all as theater artists, about cheating out, making sure the audience can see your face, making sure when you’re blocking that you can see the audience and they can see you.” Talerico continued, “ And when you’re in the round. You get to break all those rules. There’s always going to be one person who’s just not going to be able to see you. And that’s kind of the fun part.” Doing a show in the round allows traditional rules to be broken but it also requires breaking those habits. Instead of walking backward to cheat like actors would do normally they need to turn around. Cheating out is when an actor always stays slightly turned so the audience can see them which is not necessary when the audience is all around.
When describing their experience in the round, actor who played the role of impulsive, junior, Easton Vassar said, “It’s like, since we’re in the, you know, experiment, we’re like exploring and I like that it’s in the round because I can really connect with the audience. I get to spin around like when I’m looking around. Because you’re supposed to look around like in the room.” Vasser explains how the round mimics the actual feel of the room enhancing the audience and actor experience. When speaking of her experience, Actor, sophomore, Emma Glinkowski, who played the role of courageous, said, “We get to break most of the rules by not cheating out… Um, you gotta remember to turn around, face all directions.” Both Glinkowski and Vasser detail their experiences on breaking the habit of cheating out for the round, explaining how as an actor you need to play to all sides of the audience. The show has wrapped up already, but according to Talerico, Vasser, and Glinkowski it was a raging success.