Winthrop had its opening night for the play, “Pipeline” written by Dominic Morisseau on Feb. 9. The play was directed by Kalaylah Chisolm, a senior theater performance major. This is Chisolm’s second time directing a project here at Winthrop.
Chisolm was a part of the student workspace program where Winthrop puts on three to four theater pieces a semester. “Pipeline” was the play that stuck out for her.
“I started my proposal process, I guess you could say in 2019, which is wild. Because I knew I wanted to propose a piece, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was taking Directing 1 at the time. And I was talking about, I want to propose something. So I was given a list of plays and ‘Pipeline’ was one of them,” Chisolm explained.
“And that consisted of me talking about my vision for the play. Any type of challenges that may be why I wanted to direct it, I wanted to bring it to Winthrop. The set was that like, there’s a whole packet of stuff I had to present.”
Chisolm knew she wanted to direct a play that inspired others to have conversations with students who are studying to teach and what expectations they should have.
“I knew I wanted to direct something that sparked conversation and change. Because I feel that for someone who’s going to be an educator, that Winthrop doesn’t give us enough of the realistic world of education before we go out there,” Chisolm said. “So, ‘Pipeline’ definitely does that, in my mind. It tells you what we are to expect in the classroom and how we will be teaching students who don’t get all the resources that every other student in the world will get.”
Professor Daniel Gordon, the chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, has had the pleasure of seeing Chisolm bring her own vision of this adaptation to life.
“Her (Chisolm) proposal was excellent, it met a lot of the needs of the department, meaning serving students, being able to cast it well, being able to tell a story that’s important to us. And the quality of her proposal was just so high that it was a no-brainer to do this,” Gordon said.
“So, we’re happy to award her this. This opportunity, really, because it’s above and beyond the normal curriculum. This isn’t something that we simply allow any student to do. It certainly is for advanced students who’ve proven that they have the capability to do this well, and for us to embrace it as part of our season.”
This play is Chisolm’s second time directing but this is the first time she’s been given all of the responsibility of being a director.
“The first time I directed was in the class, I had a little more guidance. It was very scary this time because I didn’t have that much guidance. I did have my advisors and their guidance, but it wasn’t like in a class. This time it was a ‘you’re on your own’ checkpoint. So, it was very nerve-wracking in that aspect, because I’m in charge now,” Chisolm said.
“It was exciting to do that, and I think comfortability for telling the story and directing and having a vision I felt absolutely just passionate and ready for because it’s something that means so much to me. So yeah, I’d have to say it’s been a great journey, for sure, from the first one I directed to now. It’s just, it continues to show me how much I love directing and how much I love doing this.”
