Are you drawn to fairy tales? Dreams? Non-linear stories? If so (and even if you’re not), watching UFV Theatre’s upcoming production Secret in the Wings sounds like the ideal activity for you. Currently in its final weeks of production, the theatre program has been hard at work preparing for opening night on Mar. 19. The Cascade was fortunate to speak with the play’s Director, Anna Griffith, and actors Kira Taves and Lake Butterworth about what that looks like, including details about the play itself and their individual experiences.
According to Griffith, the play’s story contains themes of trauma, but Taves and Butterworth said that alongside that darker theme the play also explores imagination, humor, and transformation. The project doesn’t follow a realistic storyline, it’s surreal, presenting seven dark fairy tales sewn together into one play.
“It’s best to think about it as a dream, or the way that memory works. We have these bits of memory that our brain is putting together.”
Griffith, Taves, and Butterworth proved that the preparations for putting together a theatre production is much more than vocal exercises, costume fittings, and reciting lines over again –– it’s physical strengthening too that conditions the body, not just the mind.
“The first five weeks of work [were] the most intense acting work I’ve ever done,” Butterworth said. “We would usually start class with an hour to an hour and a half [of] long physical warm up that involved cardio and dancing because there’s multiple lifts and physical work in this show.”
Now being past that point, Griffith mentioned that it’s about refining the production’s structure and focusing on details of their performances. Although, with building the confidence to perform also comes an inevitable panic as opening day creeps closer.
“Now it’s the part where we start to put it together and it feels like the wheels are coming off the bus. This is a moment where it starts to feel like we’re running out of time, but everyone has done such a good job … we’re actually at an excellent stage.”
The production doesn’t work unless the team works well together, and in the midst of the prep work, they believe building connections and sharing thoughts and ideas with each other is important for their success.
“There’s a lot of intimate moments throughout [production], and we’ve done a really great job of asking, you know, ‘how do you feel?’” said Taves. “That’s been so helpful, because everybody’s level of comfortability is different and it’s been really nice to have such a good group of people come together.”
During production, Griffith lets the cast take the lead. It’s a team effort, and she believes extending autonomy to interpret the story is important to the script and also her growth as a director.
“It’s not about the director coming in and having all these ideas and saying ‘do it like this,’[it’s] that ensemble spirit where everybody’s contributing their ideas, thoughts, and impulses … [we have] a space where people can experiment and everybody can work together to have a voice and to solve problems.”
Griffith, Taves, and Butterworth had their own feelings about what they’ve loved the most about the process so far.
“The first time we saw all of the individual stories that we’d worked on –– because [we’d] worked on them out of order –– come together, [it was] something totally new that emerged. That was awesome [and] unexpected. Yeah, it was really magical,” said Griffith.
“The most memorable part of the show for me was the first week of rehearsals,” said Butterworth. “So many times I’d go home and cry, and it wasn’t that I was having a rough day. It was so much to deal with, to think about, to bring home with me. It was difficult, but as everything started making more sense for me, it was liberating.
“Going into the space and running through the scenes and doing movements and being able to really be present and allowing impulses,” said Taves.
The production’s hard work will leave a powerful, inspiring message to audiences.
“The conclusions of all these stories never really end on a bleak, sad, depressing note, even if they aren’t a happy ending. There’s a message of continuing to move forward and not dwelling on the past … it never stops moving and I think that’s another important message that goes with the transformation –– to just keep trudging along despite life challenges and difficulties, and even if you don’t get a happily ever after, you keep moving until you do.”
Veronica is a Staff Writer at The Cascade. She loves to travel and explore new places, no matter how big or small. She is in her second year at UFV, pursuing the study of Creative
Writing.