Summer Spotlight: Eliana Tate

    Our final student summer spotlight is Eliana Tate (she/her, ‘24), who attended the National Stage Combat Workshop this summer in Ruston, Louisiana! This year, Eliana was accepted into the Advanced Actor Combatant Workshop after four years of training with the Society of American Fight Directors. Over the course of this three-week intensive, Eliana was able to renew three of her weapon certifications, take the theatrical firearms certification course again, receive 30 hours of training in four different weapon disciplines, and then at the end of the workshop, test and receive certifications in those four weapons.

    This was Eliana’s third time attending the NSCW and she says she keeps going back for “the incredible people you get to train with. You make so many new friends from all over the place who love creating the same art as you. Then, you get the chance to play and explore together for three weeks which makes for a simply incredible experience. This year, the AACW had sixteen students and it was the best cohort I could’ve asked for. We also had the privilege of having two Fight Masters as our instructors, Geoffrey Kent and Robert Westley. They brought an atmosphere of graciousness, patience, and humor, not to mention decades of professional knowledge and skill, to class which made our very long days zany and constructive.”

Having a cohesive and energetic group of people to learn from and train with made the stressful elements of the workshop, mainly rapid renewals and multiple tests, far more enjoyable and worthwhile. In reflection, Eliana has realized that “while receiving multiple certifications in such a short amount of time was rewarding and fulfilling, the friendships and connections, memories, professional knowledge, training, and the opportunity to grow as a performer were what made this experience especially valuable.”

If you’d like to explore more of Eliana’s stage combat work and training, you can do so here!

Summer Spotlight: Brian Bond

     Our next student spotlight is Brian Bond! Over the summer break, Brian (he/him, ‘23) produced and directed a ten-minute play entitled Post-Audition. If this title sounds familiar to you, that’s because it was written by Brian and performed at Bloomsburg University during the Fall 2020 showcase of The Screen Plays! The Screen Plays were all written to be performed in a virtual setting, so producing this piece live required significant edits to the script. Additionally, Brian served as the director and producer in this iteration of his play which brought on new responsibilities and challenges, such as finding sponsors, casting actors, advertising, arranging a venue, editing the script, and budgeting both time and financial resources.

Though independently producing a play can be tedious, Brian found the experience to be fulfilling and worthwhile. His favorite thing about the project was “being able to work with my cast and crew. We had people who had very little theatre experience to people who've been doing it since elementary school. It was a pleasure hearing everyone's thoughts and inputs about the script and letting everyone help each other in their own unique ways to better our goal.” As for a specific favorite moment throughout the process, Brian recalls two events in particular, the first was during a rehearsal where “it began downpouring rain, and since it was an outside venue, we had nowhere to hide really. However, through lightning and water, we kept on rehearsing, with everyone's consent. Secondly, on the day of the show, I came out to do the opening speech and I instantly noticed four individuals from Bloomsburg University, professors and friends, and seeing them made me feel very good as I was not expecting them, and it showed me how strong of a bond I have with my BU family.”

            If you’d like to check out Brian’s work, you can view the BU Players performance of Post-Audition here!

Summer Spotlight: Johanna Gelbs

As the fall semester is getting underway, we’d like to take some time to share and celebrate some of our theatre students who spent their summers honing their theatrical skills. In the coming days, we’ll be highlighting their experiences and what they learned during them!

Up first is Johanna Gelbs! Over the summer, Johanna (she/her, ‘24) played “Ermengarde” in The Shawnee Playhouse's production of Hello, Dolly! Johanna has been performing at Shawnee since she was twelve, so she was quite excited to return to that stage after Covid led to a temporary sixteen-month halt of performances. Her favorite part about this project was “by far the people. In every aspect. This show is so special and getting to do it with people who cared so deeply about this process inspired me to do the exact same. Seeing the audiences’ faces after not seeing theatre for over a year will be something I will never forget. The energy was palpable and getting to create something that positively impacted so many people for the first time in so long is something I am so appreciative of… It is honestly so impossible to pick a favorite moment during this process. I enjoyed every second I got to tell this story. If I had to pick though, it would be the insanely strong connections between my castmates. They are family now!!! Isn't theatre the coolest?”

Johanna is a sophomore theatre major with a concentration in performance, so this project allowed her to stretch her in-person performance muscles after performing in several virtual BU Players productions her freshman year. Johanna is also an active member of both the Bloomsburg University Concert Choir and The Leading Tones and loves intersecting her love of music and theatre. We are very proud to have had Johanna represent the BU Theatre Program this summer!

Photo credits: Kenneth Card