On the second story of the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex is a small black box theater seating no more than 50 patrons. The venue, which can be rearranged to accommodate for a wide range of performances, is now fitted with faux-wooden flooring and large mirrors to simulate a dance studio. 

Black Box Players, a student-run theater organization on campus, opens its production of Annie Baker’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” Friday night. The play follows five strangers as they participate in a creative drama class. The instructor, Marty, leads the group through various drama games and exercises in a dance studio in the fictional town of Shirley, Vermont. 

Playing the role of Marty is Kat Eaton, a junior acting major. The script is hyper–realistic, Eaton said, with scenes that showcase the characters’ vulnerability and make the audience feel like they are participating in the class with them. She noted director Crystal Heller’s immense attention to detail — everything seen on stage was chosen for a specific reason. 

Heller, a junior theatre management major, first read “Circle Mirror Transformation” after stumbling upon an anthology of Baker’s works in Boston last spring.  

“Circle Mirror Transformation” by playwright Annie Baker is set in a fictional town. Haley Robertson | Feature Editor

“It just struck me as a story that I felt like other people weren’t telling in this way,” Heller said, regarding her first impressions of the script. Baker’s writing is more naturalistic than some other modern playwrights, she added, with dialogue that makes the story easy for audiences to connect with. 

This production is Heller’s first time directing a full show. She started brainstorming casting ideas as early as July before pitching the show to Black Box Players in the fall. To Heller, the script lends itself to The Loft Theatre performance space — a small, 49-seat black box theater in the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex.  

Since using breakable, glass mirrors for the set posed a safety hazard, the crew used mirror plexiglass to line the back wall of the stage. Shannon Bagoly, the show’s lighting designer, said having such large mirrors was challenging. 

“The show takes place in a windowless dance studio with gigantic mirrors, which is a lighting designer’s nightmare,” she said, since the light reflects in such a small space and can be blinding to the audience. 

To navigate the mirrors, Bagoly researched various dance studios and analyzed their lighting. She was also inspired by different artwork and explored different color options. The cast and crew are currently in tech week rehearsals, where Bagoly has been working to fine tune the lighting design along with the timing of the show.  

Anna Henderson | Digital Design Editor

Throughout the rehearsal process, Heller said it has been important to keep the atmosphere fun and playful. The script is rooted in theater and improvisation exercises, she said, so the plot is extremely realistic for the cast. 

“They have to be always playing, and if they are overthinking what they’re doing too much, then it looks rehearsed,” she said, “and it can’t look rehearsed. It has to look real.” 

Jacob Rosen, who plays the character Schultz, said he has loved working with a student director and a smaller cast. He said the stakes are high for student-run projects, so getting to be part of the start of someone’s artistic journey is a beautiful thing. 

In “Circle Mirror Transformation,” the audience is the silent member of the class that’s taking place on stage, Rosen said. The show asks a lot of questions instead of answering them, he added, exploring ideas of life, death and the passing of time. 

“The idea that one of these days, you will step into some place for the last time. You will see someone for the last time and not know it,” Rosen said. “So exploring these little moments in life and how they can affect you later on, whether or not you realize it.” 

Published on April 2, 2019 at 10:23 pm

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