Katherine McCann

Rob Vaughn

THRT 185 Stagecraft

5/14/2019

Cabaret Reflection

Cabaret is a play focusing on the horrors taking place in Germany as the Nazis rise to

power. It’s focuses on a group of people centered around the KitKat Klub and a nearby boarding

house. Our staging of this classic was phenomenal, the set reflecting the nature of the people who

inhabited it, and it enhanced the experience of all who saw it. While this play could be done with

minimal set pieces and fairly simplistic designs, the work that we put in the scene and costume

shops was extremely valuable and the show was better off for it.

With this show, the staging was meant to make the audience feel like they were in the

club. The blocking of Antoine and the cabaret girls helped with this, but by having the seating so

close to the stage and using things unlike our original seating, we enhanced that feeling.

I remember the first time I walked into the theatre and saw the set almost completed, I

was overwhelmed. That’s the beauty of stagecraft: taking a drawing or a concept to life in a way

that even when you know how the final product will look, you’re still surprised and impressed.

On preview night, seeing all the colors and the lighting, the small details in the set and the props

scattered around for set dressings, it was very clear to me how important stagecraft was. This

show was made by our work. The costumes, the fine details, the individuality in the craft,

alongside the incredible structures of the set were phenomenal, on bar with the incredible acting.

This show would have fallen flat if they were in proscenium, ona flat stage moving

around. Without the space we created for them, the impact would not have been the same, the
audience holding their breath wouldn’t have been as intense. If we just pulled costume pieces out

of stock, it would have been jarring, outfits mismatched with the character and theme of the

show and lacking that individualistic flair they KitKat girls had while also uniting them.

All in all, Cabaret was a fantastic performance and a great example in my mind of a

show where the craft that went into it, for the set and the costumes, was extremely vital and

enhanced the show to its fullest potential.