RAFFY T. NAPAY: Woven Dreams

   

             

   DEAR EVAN HANSEN, My First Musical Production

 From the Curriculum of the Bachelor of Arts in Communication in the 1^st Year 2^nd Sem, the Intro to Communication (Comm 100-14) is one of the list of the subjects. This subject was all about the Media of how it started and what the media is all about. Media includes every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV Radio and internet.

By discussing the types of the media, from the College Department of Bachelor of Arts in Communication they had been started the Musical Plays to be performed on stage of communication students in this subject a long years ago. This shows that every students in the College of Communication can also be a good performer on the stage not only in the class.

As we had been enrolled in this subject, last July 2017, we had given the piece that we need to perform. The musical entitled “Dear Evan Hansen”.

Dear Evan Hansen is a stage musical with the music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The musical opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in December 2016, after its world premiere at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC, in Juky 2015 and an Off-Broadway production in March to May 2016.

The titular character, Evan Hansen, is a high school senior with severe society anxiety, which inhibits his ability to connect with other people and make friends. After the deatg of one of his classmates, he fabricates a luie that inadvertently brings him closer to the classmate’s family, while also allowing him to gain his own sense of purpose.

  

Since we are only 15 students in this subject, we appointed our classmates from each character that are needed in the piece. I have been chosen as the leading lady of the Lead and the other are the supporting actors and the others were working on the backstage as a staff. We have started the rehearsal from the 3^rd week of July. It all started that everyone of us was working by helping how to get the character profile of each character. As the days passed by, the directors had to start the blocking and the character profiling.

 In the same ways, there are changes that had happened in the production. Because of the different reasons of the actors, in the middle of the month of studying the piece, the directors decided to import actors from the 4^th Year and one from other department. And I also gave my role to the imports because I cannot make the role because I don’t have the power to sing musicals. So we had another adjustments in our productions by re-arranging the different roles of each actors through having a preview with the Head Proffessor and Mentor of the musical plays in our college department named Proffessor Elson Montalba. We had a great start of the rehearsals because we had also chosen the good actors.

In every productions, there are always circumstances that will be happened before we go to the success of the hardworks. We cannot avoid it. Just like what has happened to our production. Our head director was his first time to lead as a director in the musical plays. Since he volunteered this position, we let him lead the opportunity to share his knowledge and abilities to help the production to be the Head Director. As the days goes by in our rehearsal days, we had a problem about this matter because one thing also that the actors can’t communicate with the Head Director because of how the Director handle the group. I know what is happening those days and I don’t have the power that time to lead them but as much as I can help the director, I helped him what I can. Since our assistant director was having a difficult situation because of her illness, we, the production staffs also helped him to guide and lead the actors. Then our assistant director, assigned me to be the Associate Director since she knew that I am also a part of the Theater Organization of our University. So for that I also lead them in the rehearsals and workshops. I trained them in the acting workshops, which I shared my learnings of acting in my theatre group. It would really help actors on how they will burst out their emotions, on how they will use the proper emotions while throwing their lines. To act normally and to be truthful.

We have experienced the difficulties on how to manage our time, how we will surpass the struggle because we have also different tasks and responsibilities in other subjects and outside the world of academics. We might have been in the point of gaving up and breaking down but we always put in our mind that we are all in One Group that will work as One. Having a good heart to help each one of us.

But by the help of other people, the other students, in this production who helped to mount this production was a very appreciated because if they weren’t there to help us we cannot achieve what the success we have received after all the hardships we’ve done. The Proffessors, Mentors and other Directors from different productions, we are all very thankful for trusting us to performed this piece. We started from scratch but we have a good and successful shows after all. Also the Imports of this production who are always down-to-earthThis is all because with the help of the Almight God. He never let us down even if we try to gave up this production. We are all thankful for the wonderful experience of performing on stage this musical production.