In live theatre, musical performances are often equipped with a team of directors, designers and a whole cast of performers working together in one place, but the COVID-19 pandemic has flipped all of that on its head. Katie Marcelino, a junior musical theatre major at Winthrop University, now finds herself filling many of these roles herself, recording one self-tape after another in her own bedroom, determined to continue to grow with this new digital world of theatre.
Marcelino said she has been singing since the age of 5. She said she then discovered musical theatre in high school and has been working to continue to grow and learn as an artist ever since.
“Art is very important to me,” she said, “in any type of facet.”
As the pandemic has continued to affect the performing arts, Marcelino said she has been challenged as an artist.
“[The pandemic] has definitely made me think of theatre in a different way,” she said. “Anything is art… and you can make art wherever you are.”
And that is just what Marcelino has continued to do. Most recently, she was a member of the ensemble of the new musical Sticks & Stones that had its livestream premiere on Oct. 16.
According to the show’s official Instagram account, Sticks & Stones is “a new musical that uses the story of David and Goliath to address teen bullying.”
Marcelino said that the creative team put a “modern spin” on this biblical story of David by making him a high school student, outcast by the popular kids at school as he is in the original story.
Due to the pandemic, the process of creating this show had to be put on a digital platform, bringing rehearsals to Zoom and performances to bedrooms internationally. While this process can be restrictive in several ways for those involved in creating a show, Marcelino said it is also “making theatre more accessible.”
Audiences were able to view this show online all over the world, and many students and creatives were able to participate in the creation of the production when they may not have had the resources or ability to do it otherwise.
Marcelino said, in casting the show, the creative team “wanted the youth… people who are trying to continue their art through the pandemic.”
In total, the cast was made up of Broadway stars, a featured cast of students, including fellow Winthrop student Gabriella Gonzalez, and the ensemble of 135 students, which Marcelino was a member of. These students represented talent from 34 U.S. states, as well as 13 countries worldwide, according to an article about the show by Andrew Gans for Playbill.com.
Marcelino said that once she and her castmates had done their part of rehearsing and recording their portions of the show, the creative team had 16 days to put over 400 videos together. Unlike conventional live theatre, where the cast actively performs the show for an active audience, Marcelino and the cast didn’t see the show all put together until the rest of the world was watching as well.
Marcelino described this moment, and furthermore the whole process, as surreal. She said the vastness of this show held such an important message of how, “In a group of all these people, how important your voice is and how much of an impact
you can have on the world.”
Just like any ensemble, Marcelino said, “Each and every single person is important in sharing the message of choosing to be kind and to care about the world you’re living in right now.”
This show was produced during Bullying Prevention Month to spread this message to audiences. The streamed performance was free to watch, but donations were encouraged to help support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.
BC/EFA is a prominent organization in the Broadway theatre community that works to help people across the country receive access to lifesaving resources, according to their website. The Born This Way Foundation was founded by Lady Gaga and her mother with the mission to support “the mental and emotional wellness of young people and… create a kinder, braver world,” according to the Broadway World TV article posted on Oct. 14 high- lighting this new musical.
While the show is no longer available to audiences, Marcelino urged people to follow the show on social media, @sticksandstonesmusical, to donate to these organizations, if you are able, and to help to share this message of kindness with the world we live in now.
Photo by Olivia Esselman
