What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1362736
Our volunteers THANK YOU! For more information on becoming a part of our volunteer family visit waltonartscenter.org/volunteer. have stood side by side with us this past year to ensure we could continue our mission of bringing world-class arts and entertainment to Northwest Arkansas. The show could not have gone on without them. 4 WHAT'S UP! APRIL 18-24, 2021 FAYETTEVILLE Boats Continued From Page 3 we would never do this kind of work. Every production is going to be like learning a million new things at once, so that's where our brain goes. And we've had a little bit of a dip this year, so it was really exciting to jump back in and figure things out." Hicks says the cast and production team were overjoyed to be working in person in a theater again after a year of canceled shows. For theater students, missing out on the practical application of your craft — performing in front of an audience — has made for a heartbreaking and frustrating year. "It's been a hard time for them," says Hicks. "We've had some virtual productions that were really great opportunities for the students to explore roles, do analysis, do research and do all of those things. But it wasn't quite the same. Acting with somebody on Zoom, when you can't make eye contact with them, when you're not in the same space with them, is different. Most of our rehearsals for this show were on Zoom. When we got into the space, and the actors could actually see one another, when they could touch one another, that's when I think they realized how much they had been missing. And so it was sort of a bittersweet night of saying, 'Oh, how happy we are to be together,' but, also, kind of grieving what we've been missing at the same time." "Acting and performing for classes in front of my laptop proved to be difficult," says "Men on Boats" cast member Chloe Haroldson. "When we figured out how to do this show, it was initially going to be over Zoom. Then, through vaccinations, testing and safety measures, we got to come together to film and perform this show on an actual stage. Looking, touching, breathing the same air as everyone who worked so hard on this project! "Acting is about 'living truthfully under imaginary circumstances,' as we're taught here at the UA. I had to learn how to act in imaginary worlds in my bedroom this year. Finally, I once again got to be in an imaginary world in-person. … This is, by far, one of the most meaningful productions I've ever done. Here's to all of us actors hopefully soon getting to go back to the stage, the studios and picking up from where we left off. Here's to all the future stories we get to tell."