{"id":104791,"date":"2016-12-09T11:29:21","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T16:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=104791"},"modified":"2023-11-21T11:08:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T16:08:17","slug":"bates-at-night-the-pillowman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2016\/12\/09\/bates-at-night-the-pillowman\/","title":{"rendered":"Bates at Night: Backstage with actors in ‘The Pillowman’"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\n\t
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Actors in the production of The Pillowman<\/em> gather in their traditional circle before their dress rehearsal.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Maddy Bruno '17 of Denver applies makeup to Nate Stephenson '18 of Ellsworth, Maine, before a dress rehearsal for The Pillowman<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Director Samuel Wheeler \u201917 (left) and technical director Justin Moriarty watch the actors in a dress rehearsal for The Pillowman<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Lila Patinkin '20 of Chicago plays \"The Little Jesus\" in a scene from The Pillowman<\/em>. <\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Nate Stephenson '18 of Ellsworth, Maine, performs a monologue in the Bates production of The Pillowman<\/em> on Dec. 7, 2016. (Josh Kuckens\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Backstage in Gannett Theater brimmed with intensity on Wednesday night for the dress rehearsal of The Pillowman<\/em>, directed by Samuel Wheeler \u201917 of Skowhegan, Maine.<\/p>\n

For Wheeler, directing the play, which has performances through Monday,<\/a> is part of his senior thesis, and his actors knew the pressure was on.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince it is Sam\u2019s thesis, the high stakes have made us all put in our best,\u201d says Nate Stephenson ’18 of Ellsworth, Maine.<\/p>\n

Wheeler, a theater and sociology major who spent last semester in Dublin studying contemporary Irish drama, was enamored with the level of storytelling in The Pillowman<\/em> and the crafting of the script. \u201cI fell in love with the words,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His thesis process involves lots\u00a0of writing, and “my hours just directing\u00a0rehearsals go from 4 to 7 most afternoons,\u201d Wheeler says.<\/p>\n

Stephenson portrays the play’s central figure, Katurian, a writer whose violent short stories have a disturbing similarity to real crimes committed in his town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the script itself is dark and gruesome in nature, dealing with violence and torture, the play is actually quite hilarious at times,\u201d says Wheeler, who could be heard chuckling during the rehearsal.<\/p>\n

Technical Director Justin Moriarty has been inspired watching Wheeler\u2019s process and being able to help along the way. \u201cHis level of dedication to the craft, commitment to his vision, and thoughtful intention highlight what a Bates education has to offer,\u201d said Moriarty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A visit to the dress rehearsal of The Pillowman<\/em> for a Bates theater major’s thesis play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":104834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,11010,133,223,11012],"tags":[11217,6889,71],"class_list":["post-104791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-arts","category-creativity","category-slideshow","category-student-life","tag-bates-at-night","tag-performing-and-visual-arts","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104791"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104842,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104791\/revisions\/104842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}