Alumni News & Events
Interview With NTI and MATS Alum Shauna Lucey
Q: What was your first involvement with the National Theater Institute?
I was an NTI student in the fall of 2000. I was dissatisfied with my studies at the University of Texas at Austin. I didn't know anyone who had gone to NTI, nor had I ever been to New England, but I thought a real risk was exactly what I needed.
Q: So what specifically made you apply to NTI?
I wanted to go to MATS, actually. I called the then secretary who told me that, in general, students who went to NTI had a much greater chance of being accepted to the MATS program. I thought to myself, 'I am desperate to go to Moscow and to the Moscow Art Theater. I'll do whatever it takes to get there, even if it means going to Connecticut.' I attended MATS during the spring of 2002.
Q: What made you decide to return in Russia?
I returned to Russia in 2004. Immediately after the MATS program, I moved to New York City and spent two years working as a teaching assistant at Barnard/Columbia University in the Theater Department. There I worked with Denny Partridge, Steve Friedman, and Amy Trompetter. I was able to process the richness of what I learned at MXT. (Moscow Art Theatre)
I directed a number of my NTI classmates' works and learned a lot about what producing off-off-off Broadway plays is all about. I also became very involved with The Bread and Puppet Theater. Working with Peter Schumann changed my understanding not only of that form of theater but also what the content of theater ought to be.
I knew I wanted to go to graduate school; I researched the possibilities and I was totally dissatisfied with expected debt with no guarantee of the quality of the education. So I thought to myself, 'I'll go back to Russia. It's cheap and the training is excellent. I already speak Italian, your third language is supposed to be easier (HA!), so it won't be a problem.' I really learned my lesson!
Q: Could you discuss a little about your current work?
I am currently assistant director of Stephen Lawless's new production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The responsibilities of an AD in opera are quite different from an AD in theater.
Preparing for an opera, as an AD, means knowing every note of the opera, being able to about it in musical terms (What's a cadenza? What's a tessitura?), and being ready to work in a language that isn't your own; the production is in German with a Russian cast.
As an AD, you end up staging portions of the opera. Basically, anything the director doesn't feel like dealing with. This often means staging the chorus which can be anything from 25 to 100 people. You're responsible for scheduling rehearsals (balancing all union rules which absolutely do not coincide) and ensuring that all chorus hours are used to maximum efficiency.
Not only do you create the blocking book (the movements of every cast member, including specific chorus staging in case of replacement as well as the movement of non-singing actors, of which there are 20 in Der Rosenkavalier) you also problem-solve any technical issues. How to make an entrance with huge pieces of scenery being flown in, or the entrance of singers coming from a trap door, etc.
In addition to all of that, an AD stages the covers. It sounds easy but you must absolutely and precisely stage the 2nd cast into the show with much, much less time than main staging rehearsals. All character choices, blocking, design and production aspects must be explainable because opera singers DO get sick and covers DO go on and if they make mistakes and throw off the principal cast, well, that's your fault.
An AD is also responsible for remounting the opera if it's taken to another house, Covent Garden or La Scale come to mind, I would be hired to stage it. That's an entirely different skill set, as you can imagine.
Q: Did your time with NTI/MATS prepare you for life as a theater artist?
Absolutely! If I hadn't gone to NTI or MATS, I certainly wouldn't be here. I'd be a lawyer in Texas!
Q: Any last words of wisdom for young artists?
Only that the world of theater doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be, dictated by the power of money.