On Stage: Performing Arts at our Oneonta Campusesby Rachel Frick Cardelle
It Isn’t Just Who’s in the Spotlight, It’s Who’s Aiming It, Too
Every spring, the SUNY Oneonta student club, Mask & Hammer, produces a play that is put on by students. While there is a faculty advisor assigned, all aspects of the entire production are in the sole hands of students. This year, Mask & Hammer is producing “The Shape of Things”a 2001 play written by Neil LaBute and directed by Stephanie Lynn, a SUNY Oneonta junior majoring in communications.
“The Shape of Things” is an intimate drama set in a college town that follows two couples (Adam and Evelyn, and Jenny and Phillip) whose relationships become entangled in unexpected ways. It brings up issues of ethics and art while asking a lot of questions, including: What are we willing to change about ourselves for the people we love? What does it mean when someone tries to change us? And, why do we try to change those we love?
Often when writing these articles, I interview the cast and director, but when Stephanie told me they were doing a cue-to-cue rehearsal (which I learned theater folk shorthand as “Q2Q”), I decided to use the opportunity to see the unique rehearsal and interview some of the crew.
A Q2Q is a technical rehearsal focused entirely on the transitions between cues—lighting changes, sound cues, scene shifts, or special effects. Unlike other rehearsals, the focus isn’t on the cast and their work, but rather the crew members and their work. The goal is to make sure every technical element lands at exactly the right moment, and that all the departments are in sync with each other and with the action onstage. For a play like “The Shape of Things,” where mood and atmosphere do a lot of storytelling work, the Q2Q is where the design stops being a concept on paper and becomes a living part of the performance. A lighting shift that happens two seconds too late, or a sound cue that bleeds into the wrong scene, can undermine a moment the actors have been building for weeks.
