Lights, camera, action! Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts students prepare for its annual Christmas Gala to be performed from Dec. 4 to 6.
Behind this spectacle are long hours of rehearsals, fittings and strategic planning, in which more than 300 students and staff from CAPA unite and work tirelessly to deliver four performances during a three-day period.
“They all start prepping with a lot of anticipation or as much anticipation as they can get, this semester we’ve had a lot of shows back to back so it’s a lot going on at once,” Annie Rivera-Flores, a senior double majoring in theatre and communication, said. She is this year’s student stage manager for Gala.
As student stage manager, her job is to be the channel of communication between directors, designers and student performers. She also organizes production meetings, runs rehearsals alongside the director, makes appointments for costume fittings, gives cues and makes sure everybody knows what’s going on. Rivera-Flores has the responsibility to “call” the show, meaning that she calls everything that needs to happen and be brought on stage.
Luckily, Rivera-Flores has two student assistants who help her keep everything organized and moving on track. “They are the ones doing the backstage magic, while I’m doing the magic upstairs calling the show,” she said.
Not only do students play a big role for Gala, but directors also make this performance happen. This is the first year Sean Bartley, an assistant professor of theatre history, will direct the Christmas Gala.
His job as director includes many duties, but the main one is planning the show. His job is to tie in all the performances, establish context and ensure all departments play their part.
“The most challenging part I would say is determining the running order. I also work out the transitions between all of the pieces,” Bartley said. “And that job is about logistics. For example, how can I space out the dance numbers with scenes and songs and will that be enough time to set up for the next act and will that be enough time for the performers to change to different costumes and be back onstage.”
Bartley shared that he started prepping for the show last spring when he volunteered and was chosen to be the director. He has made sure to meet with all the directors once a month since the beginning of this semester to brainstorm ideas and implement their ideas along with his.
He described this Gala as a collage, as it’s going to be a series of continuous small acts, Bartley said. He also shared that the concept of this year’s Gala is the celebrations of old and new Gala traditions.
“So we are both bringing back some Gala traditions that we have gotten away from in recent years and also introducing some new elements, but in particular, new music; there is going to be a large hip-hop number.”
With a large production like this one, tech and sound play a huge part in the backstage of the show.
Robert Richoux, an associate professor of production and design and the technical director of Gala, is in charge of all the technical production needed to run the show. He also makes sure that the backstage production paths are clear and safe for prompts to be brought on stage.
“We are basically putting all of the performers together with the elements of technical work,” Richoux said. “We are putting people on microphones for the first time, running lights, doing sound and mic checks — things like that.”
Technical check practices start the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Richoux said.
Part of helping backstage is not seeing the final production of the show; this is why they have a crew watch, which is a chance for the backstage crew to watch the finished product.
“One problem with working backstage is that you never see the final product so we always try to give our students the opportunity to see the show before they are running the show,” Richoux said.
With limited time, students and directors work tirelessly to make sure everyone is ready for the show.
Director of choral activities Shane Thomas is a testament to this.
“Lyrica and Orpheus only meet twice a week; chamber choir meets four times a week. So some of these groups have had a little more time with the music, some have literally only had four rehearsals, and so I think people think we spend all semester rehearsing, but we truly don’t; we spend limited time,” Thomas said.
Three of the four choral ensembles will be participating in the Gala this year, this will also be Thomas’ first year as the choir director of Gala. The choir will be the largest group participating — individually and as a group.
“Chamber of choir will do a number, Lyrica and Orpheus will combine and do a number and then, finally, all 80 singers will be on stage,” Thomas said. “So this has influenced our rehearsal process.”
Thomas said all 80 students will only rehearse together once before the show due to conflicting schedules and finals week for the students.
At the same time the chamber choir is rehearsing for Gala, they are also having rehearsals for the Natchitoches Christmas Festival where they will offer their caroling services.
“This is the way we give back, even though all of our students are involved, and it turns into a pretty hectic week leading up to it,” Thomas said. “I think it also provides our students the joy of bringing their own season together however they choose to celebrate it.”
Students and faculty are committed to each and every show performed, and the Christmas Gala exemplifies this.
The NSU annual Christmas Gala will be presented Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. To purchase tickets, visit Christmas-gala-nsula. NSU, BPCC@NSU and LSMSA students get in free with a current student ID.
