November 30, 2021

That’s a Wrap on “The Late Wedding”

From November 23rd-27th, 2021, Theatre@York presented Christopher Chen’s The Late Wedding, directed by Jamie Robinson, performed by the 4th year BFA Acting Conservatory, and designed, built, and produced by the students of Theatre Production & Design and the first-year Introduction to Stagecraft class.

Director Jamie Robinson (Top Left) with the cast and creative team of “The Late Wedding”.
Trinity Lloyd in “The Late Wedding”.

The Late Wedding was produced in person to be livestreamed online for 10 stellar performances. The Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre was converted to a video soundstage with a Set Design by Wasifa Noshin and a move to live camera work covering every corner of the theatre and then some as the scenes expanded to ancillary spaces.

From the Chair of the Department of Theatre, Marlis Schweitzer: “After a long year away from our ‘in person’ performance spaces, we’re thrilled to be back working in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre in the Centre for Film & Theatre, producing Chen’s playful riff on Italo Calvino’s post-modern storytelling. And it’s a historic moment for us!! The Late Wedding marks the first time in our department’s history that a mainstage production has been fully conceptualized for livestreamed presentation.

Eliza Smith (foreground left) and Johnny Thirakul (foreground right) with the cast of “The Late Wedding”

Like all our productions, The Late Wedding was designed, produced, and realized by a group of incredibly talented undergraduate Theatre students; and features a wonderful cast of 16 actors from the BFA program in Acting. Of course, none of this would be possible without the unwavering support of our faculty and staff, who bring their skill, professionalism, and love of theatre into the classroom every day – whether teaching remotely or in person.”

Jordan Jerry Kuper in “The Late Wedding”.

“Director” is a term I am wary of,” said Director and Assistant Professor in Acting & Directing, Jamie Robinson. “It takes much more than just a director to make any production possible, as you can see from the list of incredibly talented students, faculty and staff who tirelessly plunged into the depths of these thrilling new waters with me. From choosing the play itself, to discovering what this World might be about, to piecing together the marriage of live and streamed performance, it truly was a collaborative endeavour to get to this point, and we were never late for the party!

As Theatre finally begins to thaw from its months of indefinite closures, I have faith that you will embrace this new frontier of digital theatre. You will begin to understand how we are reaching a larger audience, while maintaining your love of experiencing it live. You will become the future of our medium and your relationship with us here and now will determine our fate.”

Happy Closing to the cast and crew of The Late Wedding.  While the production was only livestreamed with no extant recording, you can still see the full digital program of the production here:

https://bit.ly/yorkulatewedding