BCIT Medford students broadcast virtual play
Gianluca D'Elia @gianluca_delia
Quarantining was the theme of the virtual, comedic play that replaced BCIT Medford's canceled spring musical.
MEDFORD — "Could Hamlet teach you how to find toilet paper? No."
That's one of the opening lines of a comedic play that Burlington County Institute of Technology students performed entirely through Zoom videos.
Although the spring musical was canceled, there has been no shortage of performance opportunities for these arts students while they're quarantining at home.
Instead of a musical, students at the Medford campus' Academy of Performing Arts performed "10 Ways to Survive Life In A Quarantine" by playwright Don Zolidis. The comedic one-act play is centered around a group of quirky characters trying to find ways to keep themselves occupied.
"When you look at students, they have all different devices and different internet speeds," BCIT theater instructor Scott Cooney said. "This was all about bringing normalcy to their lives. I sent out a survey to see who had a pet, who had sporting equipment, and based on that, we decided who got what roles."
Recently, Cooney earned the Peter Filichia Award for Pushing the Envelope in Academic Theatre from the 2020 Theatre Night Awards at Montclair State University. Students from BCIT also held seven other nominations in the statewide theater awards for their production of "Macbeth: The Scottish Play in a Galaxy Far, Far Away."
But now, students have been focused on another envelope-pushing performance.
As opposed to a regular play or musical with auditions, any student could take part, Cooney said.
"It was definitely a learning experience," said Riley Konstance, a sophomore from Medford Lakes. "We're used to being together in person with Mr. Cooney giving us notes. Some things, we can't control, like our living spaces and electronics, but we made the best of what we had."
After being assigned to make her room look like a catacomb, Riley recalled rearranging furniture in her room, hanging up a tapestry, lighting candles around the room, and bribing her dog with treats and cheese to get him to cooperate so her scene would go smoothly.
"The play was something to look forward to after a long day of work. My mom and sister would watch me in the doorway, just being a ridiculous person for five minutes."
Qawiyya Haqq, a senior from Westampton, was one of the hosts of the play. To avoid audio delays, they read their lines over telephone with headsets in, while recording themselves on Zoom simultaneously.
"I had to wait for him to say his dialogue on the other hand, and if there was a delay, I'd just be there, sitting in front of the camera cheesing," Qawiyya said.
"If you have the chance to do something like this with your theater department or even your friends, it can be really fun."
After everyone's parts were recorded separately and edited together into one video, it premiered in a two-part live stream on YouTube on May 15 and 16.
Though it's a different experience than what performing arts students were used to, they said it proved to be a great creative outlet for them.
"I was bummed the first weeks of quarantine. I'd just gotten my first lead in a musical," said Jared Jefferson, a junior from Burlington Township. "I was already performing for my monologue class, but doing a play with crazy characters, I got to make up a back story and environment, and I got that sense of normalcy."
He played a character who started talking to inanimate objects at home.
"We all feel like we're about to go crazy," Jared said. "This helped us find the positives in a crazy situation. You have to find the light and the humor."