1. The Lighting Design Process and It’s Uses in Multi-Ethnic Casting Practices
Andrea Leonard
Thesis Adviser: Sandra Goldmark
Second Reader: Shayoni Mitra
Department of Theatre, Barnard College, Columbia University
Drama and Theatre Arts, Columbia College, Columbia University
Drama and Theatre Arts, School of General Studies, Columbia University
11, March,2016
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
2………………………………………………………………………………….Visual research
28…………………………………………………………………………………...…..Paperwork
29…………………………………………………………………………………………….…Essay
40…………………………………………………………………………...Production Photos
45…..…………………………………………………………………………………………..Coda
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VISUAL RESEARCH
Prior to meeting with the rest of the design team or the director, my visual
research consisted primarily of images that helped me to understand the world of
the play. What does the natural light look like? How might the light play off of the
natural and manmade elements that exist in the space? While delving into all of
these questions, I also aimed to capture some of the major aesthetic threads in the
text like the differences between widows and married women. Once I had a chance
to see what the director was responding to, I edited my research and tried to hone
in more on things that would actually be useful and relevant to the text like the
warmth and softness of the light and the high saturation of colors. By the time I
reached my third round of research, I found it most effective for conversation to
gather images that most closely represented looks I wanted to try. I used these
more boiled down images to conduct conversation with the director while
occasionally drawing in past images to help explain my thinking.
Photo Credits:
www.colourbox.com Portraits of Joy by Olivier Follmi
www.dreamstime.com Serenity by Olivier Follmi
www.flickr.com
www.gettyimages.com
www.hglightingdesign.com
www.shutterstock.com
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These Images offer examples of the relationship between the rich fabrics and
lighting/ lighting fixtures.
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An example of the warmth and intensity of light found outdoors→ useful for the
area around the platform.
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A very cursory look into the aesthetic differences between widows and married
women in India during the time period (1901)
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Another example of the widow aesthetic, this somewhat frosted feeling
present in the photograph speaks to the kind of erasure from the more
vibrant social circles experienced by widows. This could be interesting to
capture in color to use somewhere for Raj since she is a widow yet still
permitted to engage in social life due to her having a son.
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More examples of light in conversation with architectural elements → useful to
play up the intricate panel in the doorway.
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These photos are examples of color dominating an indoor space as well as light in
conversation with fabric. → These looks could be intriguing to try and achieve on
stage in one of the bedroom spaces.
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Possible color palette → and indicative of sepia or candlelight in a way. Useful to
create a sense of time in the piece.
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These photos show examples of light in conversation with small but important
details of the face → useful if the actors wear traditional head adornments or
henna.
This photograph depicts the unique light plays off of earthen textures which is
useful to consider given the earthy stage deck that will comprise the area around
the platform.
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This photograph is an example of highly saturated colors as well as light in
conversation with fabrics. → This will be useful as sari colors are chosen and
viewed against the set.
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This photograph is an example of saturated colors and silhouette → highly
useful for the more stylized or fantasy based scenes like the wedding fantasy
and the prologue sequence.
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Outside the Gate:
This outdoor space is seen at a few instances throughout the show, and will
reflect an outdoor light quality directly corresponding to the time of day.
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Allahabad Suite:
Binodini’s fantasy space- dreamlike and technicolor. Will feature many
colors and a gobo effect on the floor to further the dream effect. The use of
highly saturated, bright colors will be important here.
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Prologue/End
A stark, clean environment in which the actors can enter and exit the world
of the play.The area will be white hot and bright like the noonday sun.
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Stage Projection Possible Solution
Deep, saturated color can provide enough light for the action to be seen
without compromising the integrity of the projections → useful in the scenes
where projections are most prominent such as the Kankabati story scene
(where the Washerwoman drowns).
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Rajlakshmi Room
This indoor space is used often throughout the show both in the day and in the
night. Lighting here will be clean and orderly, somewhat sterile yet warm. The
area would then darkened and silent during the death scene specifically.
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Washerwoman’s Area
This outdoor space will be the grounding point in terms of time of day
throughout the play. Lighting here will reflect the mood through saturation
and intensity as well as play off of the water as much as possible.
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Storyteller/Musician Area
This look will help to define a space for the characters doing the telling of the
story. It will allow for the audience to move in and out of the world of the
play as the narrations break the general flow of the business on stage at
multiple instances.The idea of the storytellers not always being completely
formed as is shown in the photo below also compelling.
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Mahendra’s Room
This indoor space is used throughout the play for multiple purposes. In the
spirit of Mahendra, the room will have a slightly cooler, more clinical feel
than Raj’s room.As the more private and privaleged space, it will also have
more dynamic and intense lighting.
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Bihari’s Home
Seen only at night, this bare space will have equally minimal lighting, meant
to accentuate the bareness. *Must be different from all other spaces as it is
the first time we leave the established world of the play (ie Mahendra’s home
and the surrounding areas).
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Train Station/ Train Car
These areas are only visited once, for a brief moment in the play but
represent a huge moment for Binodini and Mahendra. I’d like to isolate it
time and space.
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Paperwork
The following consists of both drafts and final versions of paperwork. Some
are hand drafted. A final version of the plot has been submitted in hard copy
and does not reflect fixtures added during tech whereas the paperwork
reflects these changes.
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The Lighting Design Process and
It’s Uses in Multi-Ethnic Casting Practices
A large part of the allure of live theatre, when compared to a written text,
is the spectacle; the gathering of an audience in a dark room poised to
consume art in many mediums and the energy these circumstances insight
creates sensation incomparable to any achieved through mere reading.
Colors, sounds, textures and sometimes even smells bombard our senses in
the theatre, adding layers to the story that would otherwise be impossible to
achieve. The performances of actors also have a profound effect on the ways
in which audiences come to understand and truly connect with a piece of
work. Whether intentional or otherwise, the physical body of an actor from
their age and build to their perceived gender and skin tone have direct
bearings on how a theatrical work is received particularly in instances where
the bodies of the actors do not suit what would be considered traditional or
appropriate for a certain role. If the colors of the actors’ skin tones can spark
controversy in an audience, it then follows that the other colors and aesthetic
choices made throughout the set, costumes, and lighting should also be able
to elicit a meaningful reaction. Both set design and costume design have the
ability to recreate very specific looks often stemming from the sociohistorical
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background and culture of the world of the play as well as challenge the text
and create entirely new worlds. While lighting design has opportunities to
capture more tangible aspects of the setting, for example, the recreation of
candlelight for a scene, lighting generally tends to make a more evanescent
statement in regards to an aspect of the play, unlinked from any specific
place or time. The tools traditionally called upon in the design process of
color, texture, silhouette,mood, time and history and the specificity of the
choices that stem from the use of these tools become essential in instances of
multiracial casting and thus what is the role of the lighting designer in
particular in creating or avoiding controversy, in creating or revealing
meaning in the work?
As designers, we strive to to elevate the texts with which we work by
utilizing the tools at our disposal. Traditionally those tools include color,
texture, silhouette, history, which includes culture and the representation
thereof, mood and time. These tools allow designers to excavate elements
from the text and mold them into a dynamic aesthetic idea. In his article
Listening to Light, Stephen Strawbridge discusses the difficulty that
accompanies discussing lighting design in the abstract.
“The difficulty is that lighting is essentially visual, but the discussion must
take place without having the actual product to look at. This is like talking
about color without being able to see the color, or talking about music
without being able to hear the music.” (Strawbridge, p.40)
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This point speaks largely to a greater issue of establishing a shared
vocabulary between the director and the lighting designer in order to create
space for lighting to be discussed. That vocabulary is then applied to the
design process. The design process begins with multiple readings of the text
wherein a lighting designer looks for setting, time and mood. The setting is
usually found easily as it is where the story takes place. The time, however, is
slightly more complicated as it pertains both to a time in history both in the
sociohistorical context of the work and author as well as in the world of the
play. That is to say, time directly affects the kind of lighting choices that
make sense. For example, unless the goal is a highly stylized production, one
would probably not choose a harsh white light system for a production meant
to take place before electricity but rather a softer, warmer system more akin
to firelight. Time also refers to the time of day or night in which events
happen in the story and how the progression of time is represented in the
production. For example, Chokher Baliutilized blackouts of various lengths to
signify the passing of time and varying the intensity of light to denote the
time of day. Even more complicated is the location of mood within a given
text as is it is the compilation of all of these aspects and the character to
character relationships themselves. Silhouette and texture are found
primarily in conversation with the set and costumes and are closely related to
the color choices made which are based upon the compilation of every other
aspect of the design process.
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These findings, coupled with a detailed documentation of where in the text
light is mentioned then inform rounds of visual research. Historical research
specific to the world of the play done alongside the visual and textual
research can help to inform the visual research by offering a baseline of
knowledge and insight into the happenings of the play. Color, silhouette, and
texture then spring forth from the marriage of the visual and historical
research as a way of bringing to the stage the proper quality of light. For
example, in the case of Chokher Bali, the research lead to a candlelight-esque
quality of light accompanied by a wide range of colors many of which carried
cultural significance and were complicated with another system of lights
featuring a more gritty texture.
Chokher Baliis a serialized novel by Rabindranath Tagore, adapted into a
play by Partha Chatterjee set in Calcutta, India in 1901. The play chronicles
the public and private lives of one of the rich families of Calcutta over the
course of two acts through the eyes of their dutiful servants. While the story
deals chiefly with issues of the intersection of the public and private and the
difficulties of navigating these spaces as well as the place of an educated
woman in Indian society in the time period, much of the conversation
surrounding the work and its place at Barnard stemmed from the fact that it
would most likely cast multi-ethnically. A recent production of Top Girls
garnered similar backlash from the community at large for placing a
Caucasian student in what was received by many as yellow face. While it was
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not the department’s intention to offend, an important conversation was
started regarding how to engage with works that feature the faces and stories
of multiple races and ethnicities. William B. Worthen, head of the Barnard
Theatre Department is quoted in the Columbia Spectatorarticle by Tracey
Wang saying:
“I think our policy going forward—and this sort of arises from our
meeting—is to be more vigilant on that score, which might mean me and
other members of the permanent faculty working with directors we invite,”
he said. “This is not a critique of Mikhael, but moving from this to the
future, we have learned to respond to the concerns of students raised both
who saw the show and who did not see the show, and did not read the play,
but have heard about it.” (Wang, p.2)
Despite good intentions, administrators, actors and designers alike were
forced to critically examine their process and their own personal relationship
to the work to find a way to do things more tastefully in the future.
Another example of issues with multi-ethnic casting outside of the
Barnard and Columbia University communities is one from California State
University, Sacramento. In her essay Joe Turner’s Come and Gone: An Experiment
in “Race-Conscious” Casting, director Melinda D. Wilson chronicles her
experience with casting an August Wilson play multi-ethnically. In this
piece, she argues that the skin tone of an actor can “set the tone of the
production and change a play’s circumstances, even if the play is not about
race.”(Wilson, p.40) By this same logic, if a work is cast multi-ethnically and
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the skin tone of the actors is being perceived by the audience as a sort of
statement, each design choice, either to highlight or hide must be deliberate.
Directly in conversation with the argument put forth by Wilson, the
idea of a white actor portraying a character of color bringing up often painful
historical memories by William H. Sun in Power and Problems of Performance
across Ethnic Lines: An Alternative Approach to Nontraditional Castingputs a
framework around why design choices in instances of multi -racial casting
must be in conversation with the casting choices in one way or another to
further explain the casting choices by illustrating the importance and
historical significance of such choices. An excerpt from page 87 of his piece
details this significance:
“cross-ethnic casting has been a one-way street in this direction for decades
with few, if any exceptions [because] no one in the theatre wants to mention
the feasibility, or even the possibility of whites playing non-white roles. That
great taboo might bring back the painful memories of blackface minstrelsy, a
despicable example of racism in the history of American theatre.”(Sun, p.87)
In Chokher Balispecifically, the race of the actors was not the primary focus
but rather the underlying theme of exposure throughout the play. What was
private? What was public? In this production, the lighting aimed neither to
highlight or hide the deliberate diversity of the cast specifically. It sought to
accentuate a theme prevalent throughout the entire play, relevant to every
character. Both the scenery and costuming in the case of Chokher Balibrought
forth a dazzlingly accurate depiction of 1901 Calcutta wherein few things save
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a small number of the bodies on stage looked out of place. By highlighting an
aspect of the text that touched every character regardless of their age, gender
or social strata, as well as through the specific use of time in the execution
and looks, the lighting engaged in a conversation with the casting choices.
The lighting, in its ability to transport the audience back in time aligned
itself with the historically accurate set and costumes while simultaneously
bringing the actors into this same space of historical accuracy and belonging
by highlighting an unspoken yet permeating aspect of the text.
A provocative thought to consider when designing for a multiracial cast is
the feelings of the cast itself. What things do they find exciting, troubling,
familiar, foreign, empowering, or limiting within the text? Having a firm
grasp on the consensus of the cast can help to guide what things may or may
not be good to either highlight or hide in terms of the design. In February
2016, the dramaturgical team for Chokher Baliheld a casual meeting with the
cast in which they as dramaturgs candidly shared responses they had
received from the community regarding the multiracial cast putting on an
Indian play. The dramaturgs spoke of having met with students and faculty
both inside and outside of the theatre department. The general opinion
seemed to be one of optimism and excitement- people seemed to be excited
that the school was taking on a work previously seen as off limits. People
were excited to see what the cast would uncover in their work with the play.
Others were concerned with the ever talked about issue of cultural
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appropriation within the work. “It is hard for the people”, one dramaturg
remarked, “to see how we can put this show on without a cast completely
comprised of those whom the story talks about”. This specific point was then
addressed by Professor Shayoni Mitra, the primary dramaturg, with the
question “why are only certain plays responsible for having ‘appropriate’
casts?”
Once the dramaturgs had shared their findings from within the greater
school community, they then asked the actors how they were feeling in
relation to the work itself as well as to the climate of the campus and how
they thought they would be received. One by one the actors expounded upon
what found foreign and familiar about the text and the work. As could be
expected, many of the actors found familiarity in the intricacies of their
character and the play itself such as the curious nature of Ashalata or the
faith and socialized need for male attention, love, and validation that
Binodini grapples with throughout the show. More foreign to them was
having to engage physically with the caste systems as many of the actors
play house-hold hands as well as having to portray an Indian person in India
which is, as one actress pointed out, much different than the Indian
Americans they may come into contact with daily on campus.
In terms of thoughts and projections as to how the work would be received
on campus, many of the actors expressed worry that they would be looked at
harshly for wearing traditional Indian clothing and playing the characters
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when there are seemingly people on campus that could do so and have it be
more culturally accurate. They grappled back and forth with things that they
could possibly say to dissenting members of the public that would
simultaneously put that person at some sort of ease as well as defend their
own hard work. While no scripted answer was arrived at, a general sentiment
was reached that the work itself is meant to be educational and formative and
thus, those working on it should be allowed to explore both the work and
themselves to their fullest potential. Paying close attention to these kinds of
conversations throughout the design and rehearsal process can offer new
points of entry into the text and thus new ways to connect the cast to the
work in intangible ways like in the case of Chokher Bali.
A great deal of the discomforts surrounding Barnard College’s productions
of both Top Girls and now Chokher Baliand at California State University,
Sacramento are centered around costuming and cultural appropriation. The
Columbia Spectator, a student-produced news outlet on the Columbia
University campus detailed some of the costuming in Top Girlsas “racist and
conducive to characterizing it as yellow face”. (Wang, p.1) Similarly, issues of
non-Indian bodies clad in saris and other traditional Indian garb caused
discomfort among some members of the community. The actors themselves
are typically seen as the face of the production and as a result of being on
stage before the audience, are typically scapegoated in cases like Top Girls
where the work is inadvertently offensive. Intriguingly, the role of the
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lighting designer seems to be one relatively removed from controversy. With
the primary aim of illuminating that which is set before them, the lighting
designer is significantly less likely to be blamed for what is put forth on the
stage.It is in these instances that the lighting designer has an unspoken
responsibility to make conscious choices that engage some aspect of the
multi-ethinic cast in order to create a dialogue that offers some insight into
why the choices were made.
Artaud’s Theatre of Crueltydetails the ways in which the theatre is meant to
attack the audience. Certain elements of the spectacle as a whole, lighting
included are deemed most effective when it is all encompassing, encroaching
upon the players as well as the audience. It is the job of the lighting designer
to create a dialogue between the audience and the work that encourages the
audience to engage with the work on a personal level as their body becomes
physically implicated in it. Speaking specifically in terms of multi-ethnic
productions, the traditional design tools seem best used when they are
crafted around the cast itself, either weaving it into or pulling it away from
the text. Their obligation is to light the forms of the bodies and scenery on
stage, to illuminate the story. Illuminating the story, however, can and
should happen on multiple levels, both in the literal sense that the audience
must be able to see the actions being played before them but also on a
metaphysical level upon which the lighting should illuminate the contrasts in
the text and the other design elements. The lighting designer is most
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effective when their tools are used to make a specific comment on the casting
and its relationship to the play, as was demonstrated in Chokher Baliby
playing upon the other design aspects, simultaneously relieving and creating
tensions.
Works Cited:
Strawbridge, Stephen. "Listening to Light." Proquest.com. American Theater,
Jan. 2003. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.
Sun, William H. "Project MUSE - Power and Problems of Performance across
Ethnic Lines: An Alternative Approach to Nontraditional Casting." Project
MUSE - Power and Problems of Performance across Ethnic Lines: An
Alternative Approach to Nontraditional Casting. The Drama Review. Web. 9
Mar. 2016.
Wang, Tracey. "Top Girls' Stirs Outcry from Student Groups." Columbia Daily
Spectator. 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
Wilson, Melinda D. "Joe Turner's Come and Gone: An Experiment in
"Race-Conscious" Casting."Proquest.com. Theatre Topics. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.
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PRODUCTION PHOTOS
The following photos represent looks that occurred throughout the show that
I feel captured many of the elements I gravitated towards in my visual
research from the warm light to the saturation of color to the foggy/frosty
widow aesthetic.
Photo Credits:
All photos in this section are courtesy of Stephen Yang, Barnard College.
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CODA
I was skeptical coming into this process. I was skeptical as I
admittedly had questions about whether or not I was both qualified and
equipped to take on this position at all. It took me longer than most to find
my footing in the department, really focus in on the things that interested
and excited me about theatre, and where could my place be in the theatre
world. For this reason, and perhaps for some reasons that I have yet to
uncover, much of my theatrical work has been a source of anxiety for me,
laden with questions mainly circulating around my lack of experience. I think
that my biggest weakness in this process was my tendency to let myself get
scared and simply take suggestions without holding them up to my vision,
and seeing if they were in my best interest and that of the show. As time
progressed, I felt myself getting more and more brave, speaking up for
myself more, and pushing for what I believed to be the best idea for the spirit
of the production. I was forced to face my fear, and from this freedom I feel
like I was able to get much more out of this process as well as give more to
the creative outcome than I had originally anticipated.
This process taught me much about the design process. From the
importance of gathering effective and pointed visual research, to how best to
navigate production meetings as a lighting designer. I grew exponentially. I
learned to have confidence in my voice and creative ideas throughout the
entire process. I made sure that my vision was as clearly developed in the
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minds of the team through my research and participation just as the scenic
designer, costume teams and other designers were able to do using models
and sketches etc. I took great pride in my visual research and the specificity
within it as well as the amount of it that I was able to incorporate into the
show itself.
One of the most important lessons I learned through this process was
the merit behind establishing a shared vocabulary with the members of my
team. As the only student on the design team, I came in as an outsider given
that some of the people involved had actually worked together professionally
and thus already had prior working relationships and vocabularies to call
upon. As the design process progressed, I felt myself constantly asking for
clarification when dealing with individual designers to make certain that we
were on the same page. This became most evident in my working
relationship with the projections master, Anna. Anna and I worked closely
together to craft a world that could work from a technical standpoint and
once we were able to understand each other’s goals, needs, and vocabulary,
our work seemed to mesh together, allowing us both to elevate our craft in
regards to this show.
Conversely, I think that my working relationship with the director,
Mahesh, was harder to establish. As the process progressed, I realized that
our original conversations were less than useful because we were not talking
about the same things. The problems stemmed from miscommunications
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regarding his vision and mine, but were ultimately fixed. For example, an
original choice of mine that did not make it through tech was the
incorporation of an abstracted water gobo in the place of the window gobo in
the scene wherein Mahendra takes a photo of Binodini. In my mind, and
what I thought was conveyed in my research, the gobo was meant to be a nod
to the Washerwoman as Binodini’s foil. This simple confusion between what
things had to be literal and what things could be more abstract and artistic is
just a small example of how a concrete and shared vocabulary would have
helped my working relationship with the director. Despite the discomfort it
presented at times, it was an invaluable lesson to learn.
This process pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I took on
responsibilities greater than I ever have in the theatre and found a way to
trust myself and my work enough to assert myself vocally in a room full of
professionals as the only student. With each passing meeting and each
problem solved, I felt the fearful freshman, unsure of where I belonged, step
aside and allow me to take strides toward the innovative and commanding
designer I know I can be. Honestly, this was terrifying on a multitude of
levels but I’m better for it. I am grateful for the challenges and victories this
process presented. I am grateful for the late nights, do-overs, exhaustion and
spilled cups of coffee. This process allowed me a chance to grow and explore
in a safe place, and I feel that it has prepared me to go out and enter the
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theatrical world with not only a good working knowledge of my craft but also
with the simple knowledge that I can do this.
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