C/O Kevin Patrick Robbins
MSU clubs that had to improvise during online school reflect on their first year back in person as they look forward to fall 2022
Last September, many McMaster Students Union clubs restarted in-person meetings after a school year spent online. During the pandemic, some MSU clubs found it difficult to maintain their numbers and had unique challenges to work around because of the nature of online connections.
With online school, Mac Improv did their best to continue the spirit of improvisation over Zoom calls and shows. Vice President of outreach and soon to be Co-President of Mac Improv, Dabeer Abdul-Azeez, spoke about how online meetings may have hindered improv, but also allowed the team to try new things using technology.
“[We] held online practices still. They were held over Zoom, so it was very awkward because a lot of improv has to do with being onstage and body language. [It’s] very awkward when you're just sitting [and] the camera can only see so much of your person. But we tried, nonetheless, and still held practices,” said Abdul-Azeez.
Despite the added challenges, Mac Improv still put on a few virtual shows during the year using new types of online games they wouldn’t usually get to use to improvise with such as Among Us.
“There were some digital games that we tried that we normally wouldn't have done in person. [We used] technology to help provide suggestions for the scenes or things like that,” said Abdul-Azeez.
This year, Mac Improv was almost back to pre-COVID practices, with exceptions for McMaster’s COVID safety rules. After meeting together twice a week this school year, Mac Improv is working on putting together an in-person show on April 14 at the Westdale Theatre.
Absolute Pitch, McMaster’s official show choir, also felt a hit to their club during online school. Unfortunately, their 2020 annual show was scheduled just one week after McMaster closed. Club President Haleigh Wallace expressed that having a year’s worth of work not end up on stage was frustrating, but that the club was able to adapt using individual recordings and mixing them together virtually.
“Our vocal directors ended up getting really good at audio mixing and we all would sit alone in our rooms and record our own vocal lines and then they would all get mixed together so that we sounded like one in person choir,” said Wallace.
Wallace also mentioned that there were fewer new faces during the online year, but is hopeful that with in-person meetings coming back, first-years will be excited to join new clubs. Their show this year, Retro Rewind, took place on April 3 in person live at Kenneth Taylor Hall.
“I think the two main things we're really excited about are hopefully an in-person clubs fest or some sort of similar event where we can recruit a lot more new members because our cast is very small this year,” said Wallace.
The McMaster Musical Theatre opted to keep their show online this year. Carly Black, Vice President External of McMaster Musical Theatre, spoke about keeping members during their year online.
“Our plan and our hope was to be back in person . . . We got to go back into a few rehearsals in-person, but by that time, we lost so much rehearsal time already because of McMaster pushing back its opening day to February. It was just going to be so difficult to pull together the show when we lost so much time,” said Black.
The Musical Theatre also saw a drop in students auditioning during the online school year similar to Mac Improv and Absolute Pitch.
“I definitely think there were less people that auditioned when it was online. Just because, you know, lots of people want to do an in-person show. It's just very different online . . . [For] a lot of people, things changed in their lives during the pandemic. So, a lot of people just didn't do as many things [or] join as many clubs, which is completely understandable,” said Black.
A consensus across clubs was that recruitment dropped significantly throughout the pandemic, as it was difficult to predict whether we would be online or in person or what the clubs would look like.
However, with McMaster soon to drop mask mandates campus-wide, MSU clubs may look very different come this upcoming fall. Hopefully, more in-person engagement and connections are to come.
C/O Kyle Head
Clubs reflect on the previous year and prepare for a new year as students are welcomed back on campus
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and conditions rapidly change, students have also been doing their best to adapt their extracurricular activities. Starting Sept. 9, 2021, McMaster Students Union clubs are to follow a new set of guidelines tailored to in-person events.
Although in-person events are permitted, events are limited to 100 people outdoors or 25 people indoors. Students must always adhere to any physical distancing or room capacity limits as well.
Following the same format as the year before, MSU Clubsfest took place online. For the virtual Clubsfest, MSU Clubs features a variety of clubs from the five divisions—academic, cultural, recreational, religious and social issues — across their social media.
With over 300 clubs under the MSU, many clubs do not require students to gather in person. On the other hand, there are also clubs that operate heavily with in-person events.
Absolute Pitch, McMaster’s show choir, is one such club. As a show choir, the club involves singing and dancing for live performances. This year, Hayleigh Wallace, Absolute Pitch’s president, said that all auditions and rehearsals will be done in person.
However, the club will still be following all protocols and thus, the cast may be smaller than usual in order to abide by the 25 person gathering limit.
For performances where the club can’t have a live audience, such as their annual coffee house performance in November, those will be recorded beforehand.
Looking back on how the previous year went for the club when everyone had to be done online, Wallace said the club learned a lot about being flexible.
“I think we also just learned a lot about flexibility and we’re going to try not to enforce really hard deadlines this year, or like, we need to have this number perfected by this day. We understand that it’s okay to be flexible,” said Wallace.
“I think we also just learned a lot about flexibility and we’re going to try not to enforce really hard deadlines this year, or like, we need to have this number perfected by this day. We understand that it’s okay to be flexible.”
Hayleigh Wallace, Absolute Pitch President
Auditions for Absolute Pitch are being held Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 for both the vocal and dance cast. The club is also currently recruiting band members.
Similar to Absolute Pitch, the McMaster Musical Theatre is another club that bases its operations heavily on in-person gatherings. This year, the MMT will also be having their rehearsals in person and will be recording any performances that cannot have a live audience.
Due to the fact that MMT’s cast and crew will likely be over the 25 person limit, Isabel Diavolitsis, MMT’s president, expressed that the club plans to split up the cast and crew for rehearsals in order to follow the protocols.
Last year, with everything being done online, MMT asked club members to record individual videos of themselves reimagining and reenacting songs or scenes that they love.
Although there were some challenges, Diavolitsis said the club was able to learn from the experience.
“[There] definitely was a learning curve I'm sure like at the beginning of the year just sort of getting into it how are we going to do this and I’m sure lots of clubs had that sort of awakening. But then, after that, things started to run a bit more smoothly. I think folks have now learned that there are some things you can teach virtually which is kind of cool and maybe will reduce the amount of time we have to spend in person, especially if we want to keep limiting contact,” said Diavolitsis.
"I think folks have now learned that there are some things you can teach virtually which is kind of cool and maybe will reduce the amount of time we have to spend in person, especially if we want to keep limiting contact.”
Isabel Diavolitsis, Mcmaster Musical Theatre President
Mac One Act, a club that offers students the opportunity to participate in a variety of short plays, is also planning on incorporating in-person performances this year.
Toluwalase Awonuga, president of Mac One Act, said that the club plans to do in-person plays, but will also have some virtual plays to allow those who can’t make it in person to join.
Each play involves a group of typically no larger than six, so Awonuga believes the club should have no difficulty adhering to the COVID-19 protocols during rehearsals.
The club is looking to include both virtual and in-person plays in their final showcase in the Winter semester. Awonuga expressed that their hope is to offer the showcase to a live audience, but also online as well.
Currently, the club is reviewing scripts for their plays this year and auditions will begin at the end of October.
Aside from performance-based clubs, other clubs such as the Mac Soup Kitchen, also involve in-person activities.
Mac Soup Kitchen is a club that advocates food security, fundraises for various food accessibility programs and helps organize volunteers for local food banks and soup kitchens.
Vanessa Wong, one of MSK’s co-presidents, said that last year, the club shifted from volunteering and fundraising to more advocacy-related activities. This included online events such as a games night and coordinating a virtual food drive.
“Asking students to provide monetary donations is kind of [something] we didn't feel like was the right thing to do, knowing that everyone was you know going through hardship last year, so we wanted to just shift our focus to spreading awareness of food insecurity,” said Wong.
“Asking students to provide monetary donations is kind of [something] we didn't feel like was the right thing to do, knowing that everyone was you know going through hardship last year, so we wanted to just shift our focus to spreading awareness of food insecurity.”
Vanessa Wong, Mac Soup Kitchen Co-President
Arushi Wadhwa, MSK’s other co-president, said that a positive from last year was being able to reach out to a wide range of people through social media. However, conducting synchronous online events posed a challenge at times as the club is used to advertising for events on campus through posters or drop-ins to classrooms.
“[T]here were definitely some drawbacks, but given all of that we've definitely learned a lot [from] hosting like completely online events last year and we're really excited to implement new changes and see where MSK goes this year,” said Wadhwa.
This year, due to the difficulty of contact tracing, Wong and Wadhwa said they plan to remain mostly online.
“Keeping everyone safe is our number one priority, so we are going to remain mainly online, explained Wadhwa.
However, the club will be facilitating some in-person volunteering at food banks and soup kitchens if any club members express interest in doing so. MSK will not be heavily involved in the entire volunteering process but will help inform volunteers of when food banks or soup kitchens need volunteers.
McMaster’s musical theatre community is opening the (virtual) curtains on its 2021 season
Following a musical theatre season that was cut short in 2020, McMaster University’s musical theatre community is back and looking forward to a 2021 season full of song, dance and fun-filled departmental productions.
“[Last year], our opening night was our last. It was the eve of school getting cancelled, so we got one show. Afterwards, having to see our cast’s heartbreak at the show being cancelled and seeing how sweet and supportive everyone was was really hard. The whole joy of theatre is getting to be in the space with people and building those relationships . . . it makes me feel good to think that we’re keeping things going, even if it’s not ideal,” said Gillian Maltz, a third-year arts and sciences student and the script supervisor for the ArtSci Musical.
The majority of faculty musicals have adopted an asynchronous viewing platform for their musicals, where the final show essentially is a Zoom window. The dialogue will be simulated by editing the cast’s individual videos together. The timing of dialogue became an issue online because, when recording from home, cast members don’t have each others’ cues to bounce off of for timing.
“[I]f you want to talk to somebody you pretend they’re on your right or your left. It’s the funniest thing ever when you’re filming and basically telling everyone “hey, can you look in that direction when you say something to them?” It’s obviously not something that we would tell them in person, but now [the cast] has to imagine that there are these people around them and they’re just in their bedrooms,” explained Khoi Hoang, a fourth-year chemical biology student and director of the MacSci Musical.
To rectify the problem, the Health Sciences Musical and McMaster Musical Theatre found a solution where they record dialogue while in a Zoom meeting with the cast. They would listen for each others’ cues through headphones, while simultaneously recording themselves on a separate device.
Music production is also a challenge in an online environment, given that cast and band members’ home audio quality is largely variable. In a band, musicians also face the issue of no longer having each others’ cues to work from.
“Speaking from a band perspective, usually you hear everyone playing together and hearing what other people are playing gives me a cue for where to come in . . . On Zoom, what we do is we split off into different sections based on our instruments, and then we'll record,” said Wendy Yu, a third-year health sciences student currently playing trombone in the Health Sciences musical band, as well as assisting their executive of promotions and events.
Another challenge that the departmental musicals are facing is learning and teaching choreography online.
“[I]t’s a lot harder to learn [choreography] over Zoom, especially because a lot of us sometimes struggle with internet connection as well. I’m one of those people, so learning these dances that are sometimes really intensive, while making sure you have enough space in your room and all this making sure the cast is in sync when we record it, has been an ongoing struggle,” said Zach Thorne, a fourth-year computer engineering and society student and assistant director for the Engineering musical.
Between the difficulties of learning choreography through the screen, constraints with space, internet connectivity issues and timing issues, choreographers have had to adapt to the barriers to teaching dance online.
“For me, the biggest challenge was definitely following and learning the choreography and all the dances. [Our choreographers] did literally the best job choreographers could do online, by providing us with a guide video for basically every song,” said Felix Hu, a first-year health sciences student and cast member in the Health Sciences musical.
Given that musicals will no longer be showing in person, crew and backstage contributors have had to take a backseat this year. Where lighting, props and set design once played an essential role in musical production, McMaster musicals have had to become creative in their approach to incorporating the crew.
“We were concerned about how to incorporate crew because normally crew works all semester to make a ton of cool props . . . We have some physical props, which I actually drove all around Hamilton and the GTA to pick up and drop off at cast members’ homes. Then, we're also taking advantage of Zoom and making digital backgrounds so that people can have digital backgrounds on Zoom,” explained Maeve Johnston, director of the Engineering musical.
A brand new component of creating online musical productions is video and sound editing. The student-produced musicals have had to navigate the technical barriers of camera setups, different recording environments and video and sound quality.
The online sphere has also provided the opportunity for musical theatre to not only adapt to producing a musical online but also to reinvent what it means to put on a show. McMaster Musical Theatre and the ArtSci Musical took brand new approaches to musical theatre production.
This year’s McMaster Musical Theatre showcase entitled Reimagining Musical Theatre aims to address the musical theatre industry’s history of excluding Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, 2LGBTQIA+ and disabled voices.
“The idea was to really interrogate and question the ways in which specific marginalized communities have been left out of Broadway musicals and theatre spaces. Find a way to look at musicals we know and love and question: can we reshape this to be more inclusive for different audiences who have not been able to access the stage in the same way as cisgender white people who are currently on Broadway?” explained Khaleel Gandhi, the McMaster Musical Theatre president and fourth-year theatre, film and multimedia studies student.
The showcase will consist of a number of classical Broadway songs, reimagined through McMaster Musical Theatre’s lens. For example, one of the showcase pieces will be presented entirely in sign language.
The ArtSci Musical took a completely different approach, instead deciding to focus on creating a radio drama series and a fringe show. The radio series, entitled Storytime, is currently on Spotify and Apple Music. ArtSci students submitted stories and concepts that are told by a narrator and a few student voice actors.
The fringe show, which has the theme An Artistic Exploration of the Meaning of Home, will be a collection of scenes, dance, music, song and poetry connected through narration. The show is student-produced with an original script and entirely original music.
“I think the goal is partly to produce something that is somewhat similar to a musical, but it's more so to keep the spirit of the musical alive and also to foster some kind of environment similar to a theatrical environment for the community,” said Chloe Sloane, a second-year arts & sciences student and co-director of the ArtSci Musical.
With the disconnect that students so often feel when distanced due to online learning, Mac’s musical theatre families have found connection and community in their shared love of the performing arts. Current first-year students have gotten a chance to get involved from last summer, providing an avenue to meet others and engage with the post-secondary community.
“The sense of community is really valuable . . . I really do appreciate everything people give not only in terms of the creativity and the participation but also just being themselves and the fun stories that came out as a result,” said Sean Lyeo, a fourth-year health sciences student and script supervisor for the Health Sciences Musical.
Currently, the MacSci Musical is available for streaming online for $14, where all profits are in support of the Aboriginal Health Centre. The Health Sciences Musical hopes to release their productions in late spring, while the Engineering Musical plans to release their musical as an episodic series in September. The McMaster Musical and ArtSci Musical teams are still planning when to release their final products.
While you may be confronted with all the coursework you neglected over reading week, the rest of this term promises more than just late nights at the library.
Spring is nearly upon us, and with the fairer weather comes show season at McMaster for many arts-based initiatives.
Students involved in performance arts events, from musicals to a capella spectacles, have spent hundreds of hours rehearsing since September. As the end of the school year nears, many of these projects are coming to fruition.
Take a break from essays, assignments, and quizzes, check out some of the upcoming events on Mac’s calendar.
This year, McMaster Musical Theatre is putting on Pippin, the beloved Broadway classic about a performance troupe telling the story of a youthful prince in search for his place in the world.
MMT’s rendition of the Tony award winning musical Pippin features an abundance of dark humour, dazzling choreography by Bob Fosse, circus tricks, as well as various surprises that only audiences will have the opportunity to experience.
The reviews are in! #MMTPippin is "a thing of beauty...spontaneous, theatre-of-the-moment experience... 4/5 stars!"https://t.co/0FTsryhtBT
— MMT (@McMasterMusical) March 1, 2017
Pippin quickly racked up rave reviews, with shows selling out before MMT even began its run.
Although each performance between March 2 and March 4 is technically sold out, you can be added to a wait list by emailing mmt.tickets@gmail.com, or try your luck at the door.
Since its inception in 2011, McMaster University’s show choir, Absolute Pitch, has put on a slew of memorable performances. The latest offering they have is called “It’s… A Musical!” and will be staged at downtown Hamilton’s Lincoln Alexander Centre on March 10 (7:30 p.m.) and 11 (1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.).
The night promises a ton of fun for everyone involved, with plenty of Broadway and Disney songs to be performed. Whether you’re hoping for a fun night out with friends or even a chill thing to do by yourself, you’ll find loads of chances to sing along and dance in your chair at Absolute Pitch’s annual show.
Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for adults if you buy early; prices at the door are $12 for students and $18 for adults.
While McMaster Musical Theatre may have the edge when it comes to pure experience and technical expertise, many faculties make up for this gap with exuberant passion and talent.
The musicals that these students put on are always chock-full of faculty-specific jokes that will have those familiar laughing, while expanding the perspective of those outside of the respective faculty.
Mac Engineering Musical will be putting on Dr. Wonka from March 16-18. The Health Sciences program will be putting on HSM: The (Unofficial) Origin Story from March 16-18.
The faculty of Science will be putting on Outside In from March 10-11. Keep an eye out for the chance to support your fellow Marauders in their artistic pursuits.
A refrain throughout the hit musical Spring Awakening is the melancholy verse,
“O, I’m gonna be wounded / I’m gonna be your wound / I’m gonna bruise you / you’re gonna be my bruise.” These poignant lines capture the pain of love and life; a pain that McMaster Musical Theatre’s production of the controversial play powerfully portrays.
Set in Germany circa 1892, Spring Awakening chronicles the struggles of sexually censored and socially oppressed young adults who express their anxieties and frustration in modern rock musical numbers. The clash between setting and musical style in the production, which is directed by Mac student Brad Dunn, is refreshing and gives the issues the characters experience timeless relevance.
And what a slew of issues they face. In a mere two hours, Spring Awakening covers incest, masturbation, child sexual abuse, suicide, queer sexuality, domestic violence, teen pregnancy and abortion. It’s an ambitious agenda, and can be both dislocating and exhausting for the audience. With so many heavy subjects to cover, not enough time can be afforded to each, leaving some depth to be desired as the play jumps from one topic to another.
Stringing the tragedies together into a linear plotline is the doomed teenage couple of Wendla and Melchior. Played sensitively and sang beautifully by Haley Midgette and Shane Bowley, this ill-fated pair suffer more than their fair share of sadness. In the context of a society that demands innocence and ignorance, this duo find each other and unintentionally shake up the status quo of their conservative town.
Their friend Mortiz, commandingly portrayed by the immensely talented Jason Wolwowicz, is also haunted by sex, family relationships and ultimately suicide. His story, along with that of several supporting subplots, covers vast territory in the world of teenage tribulations.
Amidst the heavy drama, it’s the beauty of the musical numbers and the moments of comic relief that prevent the show from being bogged down by its subject matter and keep it within the sphere of entertainment.
Expert choreography by Jennifer Enchin makes each song visually engaging and assists in powerfully conveying such significant messages. A sparse set design also makes the dance and dramatic physicality feel natural to the scenes.
The band behind the musical numbers also deserves commendation. Their well-chosen placement upstage in clear view of the audience adds interest to the background of the set and better fosters audience appreciation on the live music that they’re hearing.
Putting on a production of Spring Awakening is an act of bravery. It’s not commonplace to have sex, domestic violence, suicide, a gay makeout scene and group masturbation all explicitly take place on stage, never mind to be able to pull it off.
But somehow, McMaster Musical Theatre takes a heavy, complicated show, and does just that.
Spring Awakening continues this weekend in Robinson Memorial Theatre (CNH 103) on Friday at 2 p.m. (8 p.m. is sold out), Saturday at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. (8 p.m. is sold out). Tickets are $12 for students, $20 for general admission and $25 for on-stage seating. Email mmt.tickets@gmail.com to reserve tickets, or purchase tickets at the door.
