Directing Outside the Box
Emma Weller on the set of “Let the Right One In” in Booth Theatre (courtesy of Weller)
Directing Outside the Box
A spirit of collaboration focused on professional growth fuels the undergrad School of Theatre performance experience
The undergraduate experience in CFA School of Theatre (SOT) can be a kaleidoscopic one. A slightly underground part of that experience for BFA Acting and Theatre Arts performance majors is the opportunity to swap out their Rehearsal and Performance (R&P) experience for a semester in favor of exploring other aspects of production. Usually surrounding assistantships in fields like directing, choreographing, dramaturgy, and playwriting, students find a wide range of assistantship opportunities to shift their perspectives.
In their sophomore year, senior Theatre Arts Performance major Kira Gandolfo (CFA’24) expressed interest in directing to her faculty mentor, Associate Professor Kirsten Greenidge, head of Theatre Arts and co-chair of Performance.
It’s thanks to Greenidge’s mentorship that Kira was able to assistant direct MFA directing candidates in the Next Stage Workshop production of Charlotte Weinman’s (CFA’22) new work Salamander and the Impediment. Gandolfo then went on to assistant direct for guest director Patdro Harris in the mainstage production of Fucking A by Susan-Lori Parks.
“I feel like, when we are within the School of Theatre, working with each other, there is a kind of a bubble,” says Gandolfo. “We know so much about each other, and we have a very shared language. But working with someone new and having to understand how they work, what they want out of a process, how they run their rooms, is priceless. It’s what I imagine the rest of my professional career will look like.”
LEFT: The Salamander and the Impediment in the CFA Student Lounge in 2021. RIGHT: Maia Sanaa (CFA’24) as Hester Smith in Fucking A (Fall 2023). Photos courtesy of Gandolfo
This then led to Gandolfo pursuing assisting in her career beyond Boston University, seeking out CFA alum Sarah Shin (CFA’19) to assist in some way on Central Square Theatre’s production of The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh. Gandolfo aimed to work in the same room as Sarah Shin and the other Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) creatives on the project, and so went out of their way to make it happen.
She contacted Shin with her interest and became assistant dramaturg to Alison Yueming Qu. “I really took my fate into my own hands with that: I want to work on this, this is something I want to do, therefore I will,” reflects Gandolfo. And they continue to do so, even while acting working on her final productions at BU, Kira is working with Dr. Kristin Leahey, Assistant Professor of Dramatic Literature & Dramaturgy, in Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of Much Ado About Nothing. All these opportunities Kira has found, in and out of BU, have and will help them continue to branch out through her career.
Gandolfo (second row, farthest left), Sarah Shin (front, center), and the team behind The Chinese Lady, including Ken Yotsukura (CFA’22) (back row, second left). Photo courtesy of Gandolfo
This process is also very familiar to senior Theatre Arts Performance major Emma Weller (CFA’24). Starting out her assisting journey within SOT as a movement/direction assistant to head of movement, Assistant Professor Yo-EL Cassell on Colossal, and ending most recently with Assistant Movement Directing guest artist Alexandra Beller. In between those projects, Weller self-advocated for the opportunity to work as Movement Captain in many of her rehearsal and performance projects, including Mac Beth and Revolt, She Said, Revolt Again.
Yo-EL Cassell (right), movement director of Colossal, working with SOM guest actor Donovan Black (CFA’22). Photo courtesy of Emma Weller
With these projects, Weller says that “it was a mixture of me expressing how much I liked the material my freshman year and just working really hard in the positions I did have, which got me recommended for more,” first expressing to Cassell her love of movement choreography and storytelling which in turn brought her to working on Colossal. Based on her work on that, Mac Beth director Gigi Juras (CFA’22) asked her to be movement captain for the project. All this led to Senior Lecturer Christopher Edwards reaching out to Weller to work on Let the Right One In, a 2022 School of Theatre co-production with Actors’ Shakespeare Project.
There is no limit to the prospects for undergraduates within SOT, and performance majors exploring assistant directing only brushes the surface. These experiences for undergraduates help to propel them forward into the industry, as they hone their own individual crafts.
LEFT: Emma Weller (left) and Christopher Edwards (right) behind the scenes of Let the Right One In; RIGHT: Weller on set. Photos courtesy of Weller
