Sylvia

 Lillian Wilson '12 writes about her experiences starring in a Dartmouth Mainstage Production. Her first time trying out for a Mainstage, she was cast as Sylvia, one of the leads in Two Gentlemen of Verona!

Working on Two Gentlemen of Verona has been an incredible experience. I was nervous about what being in a main stage show would be like, but the process has been so much fun every step of the way.

Auditions were not scary at all. I was sweating and biting my nails in the hall outside, but as soon as I stepped in Peter, the director, made the next ten minutes fun and easy. When I found out I got a part I was ecstatic, I missed my 11 because I was calling mom, grandparents, aunts, friends etc. I couldn’t believe it!

First night of rehearsal the entire cast of 28 was called to hear the vision for how the show would look. Verona would be Dartmouth and Milan would be a Dr. Seuss inspired magical world. We ooooed and awed over sketches for the costumes and sets and cheered when Peter told us he was turning the play into a rock musical and had already hired a band.

Next step was table work. We went scene-by-scene and really dug into the text. We laughed about seemingly non-sensical parts of the dialogue and brainstormed ways to make them work with the rest of the show. We wanted every scene to reach its maximum potential.

Soon we moved onto the stage. Standing on Moore for the first time and looking out into the audience was a bit intimidating, but before long the space began to feel comfortable and exciting. We again went slowly scene-by-scene, trying out every different action until the blocking matched our other work on attention to detail. Professor Rice would join us on occasion and the cast would step back from the show and work on technical issues such as breathing, and delivery. Professor Rice is hysterical so the lessons were just as entertaining as they were helpful.

Outside of rehearsal I was called into the costume shop on occasion to be fitted. The place is overflowing with incredible fabrics and hats and shoes and dresses. It was very interesting to watch my costume morph from a picture, to a muslin pattern, to an incredible silk and velvet gown.

Currently we are going through and rerunning and tweaking act by act. The scenery is slowly being built around us and the fantastic props are popping up everywhere. The show has been so high energy, there was a week when literally everyone was sick but rehearsal was still fun and productive. We are all very enthusiastic about the performance and can’t wait to share our work with the rest of campus!