By Eliza Stone

On Friday, January 29, I had the pleasure of watching the Honors Theater Class’s winter production of Thicker Than Water, a collection of nine scenes centering around family. The play included actors from all grade levels in the Upper School, and upperclassmen directed each scene.

Due to the pandemic and social distancing guidelines, this year’s winter play had to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions and adjust to an online format. Tickets were free and available by simply filling out a google form, and the pre-recorded play was available to watch from 7:30 to 10 pm on either Friday or Saturday night. While watching this production from the comfort of my living room was different than packing into Oates Theater, something about watching a play that revolved around the concept of family with my family made the play more meaningful. 

Every year, Collegiate’s Honors Theater class produces the winter play. This year, Halsey Hallock (‘21) is the only member of the class, making him the sole producer of the show. Hallock explained his feelings about being the only producer: “The one downside was that all the work fell onto me, but I was able to find a great group of directors and technicians to help me, and we had an amazing cast.” When asked if there were any positives to working alone, he said, “This show was truly my own. Since the start of high school, I have wanted to find my way to leave a legacy on the theater community and on Collegiate as a whole. I was able to do that with Thicker Than Water. I had to find scenes and monologues that revolved around family. While being the sole producer meant more work, it was all worth it as I got to watch it come to life on stage.” 

The socially distant and COVID-safe crew and directors watch the scene “Rabbit Hole.”

Evans Campbell (‘22) and Andrew Eastep (‘21) were two of the student directors. Campbell directed the scenes “Quality Time” and “Rabbit Hole,” and Eastep directed “For Peter Pan, on her 70th Birthday” and “The Dining Room.” When asked about the central message of Thicker Than Water, Campbell said, “I think it involves all aspects of family that are not always portrayed. In some scenes, like ‘Rabbit Hole’ and ‘The Dining Room,’ characters had to deal with difficult conversations.” Eastep explained the goal of the show by saying “we wanted to show that, despite any hardships or difficulties that come up in life, family sticks around.” 

As I was unable to watch the fall production of Almost, Maine, I was unsure what this format of theater would look like. I was surprised that it didn’t feel much different than watching any other play or movie on television. The split-screen editing made me barely realize that the actors weren’t right next to each other. I was deeply impressed with the thoughtfulness and innovation put into the socially distant setup. Campbell described her scene: “We had to have them sitting across the stage from each other, with separate tables looking into a camera instead of looking at each other. So that they could still see each other,  we set up monitors that were below the cameras. The monitors captured the actor’s scene partner, so that the actor could react to them.” 

Eastep said, “it was difficult trying to get actors to feel as though they were next to each other when they had to stay over six feet apart, with a plexiglass wall between them.” I found that in all the scenes with two actors, the connection was evident, even through the screen. Now knowing the details of the setup, I am extremely impressed with the actors’ emotions and connection, even when so far away from their scene partner. Eastep described working through setbacks by thinking, “Will this help tell the story I’m directing? There’s always a way to tell the story you want, even with the limitations.”

Despite all of the challenges facing live theater during the pandemic, actress Pender Bauhan (‘21) found a positive aspect to the new video format. “Because of the pandemic, we pre-recorded all of the scenes. I was actually really excited about this. It took the stress away from the production, because we could always redo the recording.” Campbell, who has been performing in Collegiate Theater productions for years, found herself appreciating the production process even more this year. “It seemed like so many little things needed to come together to make the scenes and monologues work. But when they finally did, it was beautiful, because it took so much collaboration, and it felt like all the pieces were falling into place. It was so much more than just acting this year; it was filming, lighting design, and camera work.” Hallock said that filming the production “made it a little easier to adhere to COVID restrictions, but we were still able to keep the theatrical elements, which I think made this show unique.”

The socially distant filming setup during the scene “The Big Meal.”

While the pandemic may have affected the process of live shows, the Collegiate theater community still maintained their connection and enjoyed putting on the show. Anne Collier Phillips (‘22), who performed in the scene “Uh-Oh,” said, “This was my first theater production with Collegiate, and I could not have felt more welcome into the group. Everyone has such chill and fun vibes. Non-stop laughter!”

One of my favorite parts of Thicker Than Water was that it included something everyone could relate to. With nine completely different family-oriented scenes, I found myself seeing myself and my own family in different aspects of the show. I know my mom can relate to “Quality Time,” where Bauhan plays a mother attempting to reign in her young children at a park. Describing her role, Bauhan said, “I wanted to put off the image that I love my kids, but I also worry about them, but I want to spend time with them, but at the same time they stress me out to the max.”

I also admired how Thicker Than Water did not shy away from serious topics, like loss and disagreement within a family. In “The Dining Room,” a father and his daughter have a tough conversation about divorce and sexual orientation. Eastep described the need to represent these difficult moments in any family, saying “being part of a family is hard. You’ve got a bunch of different people living together with different opinions and life experiences, and you’re basically asking them to just get along. Naturally, you’re going to have hardships. But as much as you might leave an argument with a parent or sibling hating each other, the intangible bond that brings you together will always be stronger.”

When asked about her favorite aspect of live theater, Campbell responded that “theater is all about different people coming together in the same room at the same time to experience something together, whether it’s crying or laughter.” Despite this togetherness not being possible right now, the cast and crew of Thicker Than Water should be extremely proud of the show they put on during these uncertain times. The actors’ emotion and delivery were incredible and they had me hanging on to their every word. I found myself needing to know what would happen to their characters and was left craving more when I wasn’t given the whole story, like in the monologue “Peddling.” From lighthearted and fun scenes, like “The Big Meal,” to emotional and moving monologues like “For Peter Pan, on her 70th Birthday,” Thicker Than Water left me increasingly impressed with Collegiate’s theater program and grateful for my own family. 

All photos and images courtesy of Collegiate School via Instagram.