On January 31, Jeff Whiting, an accomplished Broadway Director and Choreographer, whose recent projects include ‘Wicked’, ‘Hairspray’ and ‘The Scottsboro Boys’, came to BSS to run a Master Class on Auditioning for Musicals.
Senior BSS Drama and Dance students and UCC actors came out to participate and to have the chance to audition for Jeff’s summer program with open Jar productions after the Master Class was finished. Due to the exceptional nature of this opportunity, invitations were also sent out to old Girls and old Boys who are currently pursuing Theatre as a profession. Six alumni joined the workshop and chose to audition as well.
The BSS Dance Studio came to life as the actors danced, performed, questioned and laughed, benefiting from Jeff’s advice and experience. It was a joyful experience that allowed students to shake off the stressful energy that is normally associated with auditioning and realize that the actor who can own the moment and genuinely commit to every gesture with a true sense of play, is the one who will be memorable in the director’s mind. Jeff’s emphasis was not on perfection or precision, as those qualities develop with rehearsal, but it is the actor who can “raise the stakes” and “take risks” that shows the director that there is potential in what they can do.
It was an honour for the performing Arts Department to host Jeff and we hope that a few of our actors will participate in open Jar’s summer program in New York. The mandate of open Jar is based on the experiment of capturing fleas in a jar with a lid; known as exceptional jumpers, the fleas learn to only jump as high as the lid and even when the lid is eventually removed, they still only jump as high as the lid. Our work and opportunities like this workshop, allow our developing performers to jump and learn as if there were no lid, in hopes that their drive and effort will take them as far as possible.
Brendon Allen, Senior School Drama and Biology Instructor
