New to theater at IU, she is an ensemble member for IU Theatre’s upcoming production of “Romeo and Juliet.” Before she walks into every rehearsal, Relyea-Spivack said she mentally ?prepares herself.
“I like to do a really quick and dirty run through of all of my staging and blocking,” she said. “Where my entrances and exits are, where I stand and what cue lines make me move from one side of the stage to the next.”
A sophomore majoring in French and theater, Relyea-?Spivack has performed in and studied Shakespeare plays since she was in fourth grade.
Being an ensemble member in “Romeo and Juliet” will not only allow her to pursue one of her favorite types of theater, but this is her first role where she will be able to play a woman, something not common in Shakespearean plays.
“It just adds a different approach to it for me because I get to be a woman, and women back then are so different than women now,” Relyea-Spivack said. “Because I don’t have many lines in this production, a lot of my character just comes from my body and movement, which I’m not used to. I’ve developed my character from the outside in just figuring out how I work physically on stage.”
In order to learn how to use her body while acting, a motion specialist came to the rehearsals to teach them etiquette of the era as well as warmup posture exercises.
During rehearsals, Relyea-Spivack caressed her hair and watched the actors onstage while the other actors did homework in between their scenes. Relyea-Spivack said she’s never been able to do that because she doesn’t want to lose focus and miss her next entrance.
“If you aren’t keeping up with the production, you’re gonna be on stage and you’re not going to be with the action and you’re going to be two ?different people,” Relyea-?Spivack said.
Although Relyea-Spivack is not a main character, she said she still feels the ensemble carries the life of the show, and there is a certain pressure to bring the energy to each scene.
“As we come in and out, we’re providing bursts of life to the actors who are onstage all the time,” Relyea-Spivack said. “We’re giving them new elements, and we’re helping move the story along.”
Relyea-Spivack said she is able to shake off pre-rehearsal and pre-show jitters with the intense level of focus she achieves while acting.
“Your heart starts beating a lot faster, and you just get anxious, but once you’re onstage there’s not really time to be nervous and show those nerves,” Relyea-Spivack said. “If you’re present in the ?moment, you don’t feel it.”
Moving forward with future rehearsals, Relyea-Spivack said she is confident in playing around, being in the moment and discovering something new about her character each time she runs the show.
“This is a new experience for me where I solely have to rely on telling a story with my body,” Relyea-Spivack said. “I do a bunch of singing, but that’s the most exciting for me, is discovering relationships to each character as I go through this production.”
