On March 27, Arts Concentration students went on a field trip to the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven. While the main purpose of the field trip was to watch a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, students from all areas of the Arts Concentration Program, not just those involved in theater, attended. The choice to include all students was to encourage bonding within the Arts Concentration community.
The Repertory’s version of Twelfth Night is a new take on an old story left a lasting impression on the students who saw it. Yasemin Cobanoglu ’21 said, “The Repertory Theater made the Shakespeare play modern and contemporary by adding songs and technological aspects. Seeing a classic play with a new perspective reminded me that as a director/writer/actor you can always make a play your own.”
Yuting Wang ’20 said, “I think it was kind of surprising to me about how modern technology can have such a huge impact on a play, especially for a Shakespeare piece.” One compelling aspect special to the play, she added, was the use of costuming,
Iris Parsons ’21, a student in the Arts Concentration Program, also noticed the significance of the costumes. “There were a lot of really beautiful sets and the costumes were amazing,” Parsons said. “It was really cool to see how they used the technology with the original Shakespeare. I think it would be interesting if Choate used more technology and futuristic types of sets in their productions.” The costumes combined contemporary and cutting edge design with historical influences.
For theater students especially, the field trip to the Yale Repertory Theater was a remarkable opportunity to observe and learn from actors in a professional play.
Parsons also noted how impressive the actors were. “It was really interesting to see how involved everyone was with what was happening onstage,” she said. “Even if it wasn’t that actor’s moment, they were so involved and interested in the scene.”
The actors’ abilities also inspired Brennan Connell ’20, who observed, “Twelfth Night’s costumes and set design were incredible. During the performance, I saw each actor combine the embodiment of their characters with the elaborate set before them. For me, I learn the most about my characters when I’m blocking , and Yale’s blocking surprised me because they used different areas of the stage I wouldn’t expect, but it worked. So for my future performances, I want to explore utilizing the whole stage with all its set pieces.”
While the theater students were able to appreciate the more technical elements of Yale’s production, the general beauty of the production did not fail to impress students in other areas of the Arts Concentration Program. Visual Arts Con student Jeanne Malle ’19 stated, “I really enjoyed the play because it was so unexpected. I had seen other modern productions of Twelfth Night but this one was by far the most original.”
The most important takeaway from this field trip, however, was the community bonding aspect. A lot of students in the Arts Concentration Program have expressed difficulty with getting to know people from different areas of study. This field trip was an opportunity for those in a particular concentration to be able to meet others with varying interests as the students also went out to dinner after the play. Matt Lee ’20, Visual Arts Concentration student, said, “There definitely is difficulty getting to know people in other concentrations. But being with varied people and seeing them at the field trip kind of opens us up to each other.”
Eliana Kim ’20, Music Arts Concentration student, expressed a similar appreciation for the get together. “It is hard for music, dance, visual, and theater Arts Con students to bond because each concentration meets at different times, and the things we do do not overlap except during senior recitals,” she said. “Being able to bond in different areas of concentration will strengthen our passion towards the arts more and will hopefully bring more attention to the arts department.”
