The Jenny Boyd Theatre opens an exciting new space for creativity and innovation for students, faculty, alumni, and theater audiences.
Cabaret is in the books as the inaugural production in the new Jenny Boyd Theatre, and the bell rings soon for the second-round presentation The Royale. The cast deftly delivered Cabaret’s blend of celebratory charm and cautionary tale, boldly flexing the space’s ability to offer an intimate, immersive experience as it launched a new era in the legacy of UT theater.
The approximately 300-seat room’s cutting-edge design and lighting features were well-suited to the artistic and technological test that Cabaret presented. A huge lighted marquis framed the storytelling and let the audience know that they were stepping into the Kit Kat Club, a pre-World War II nightspot in Berlin, Germany. The show was presented with the audience on three sides of the stage, with some audience members even seated at side-stage café tables to enhance the show’s immersive setting.
Cast members mingled in character with the arriving audience, drawing them deeper into the narrative experience. Lurking amidst this scene was Sammy Pontello as the iconic and provocative Emcee of the Kit Kat Club. Pontello, an MFA candidate in acting and a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Theatre, was similarly transported by the opportunity to break through the “fourth wall” and engage with the audience in the theater’s interactive space.
Welcome to the Audience, Welcome to the Cast
“It hasn’t been lost on me for a second the absolute honor, privilege, and joy it is to be one of the people leading this particularly incredible show in our brand-new space,” said Pontello. “Especially since the first words we hear in this show are ‘Welcome.’”
Pontello enjoys acting in close proximity to the audience, blurring the lines of more traditional theater. Their first professional roles as a young actor were in small “storefront” theatres, and the Jenny Boyd Theatre retains that close-up vibe.
“It’s a totally different energy than playing a bigger theatre,” said Pontello. “It is an incredible opportunity for students to sharpen those skills of truly being in the same room with an audience. There’s also this incredible excitement crowds are bringing with them—a joy to revel in the new space and see how we’ve been able to embrace the intimacy of it to really make people feel part of the show. I think that’s something Knoxville audiences maybe haven’t gotten to experience for some years.”
While not performing in The Royale, Pontello looks forward to experiencing it as an audience member.
“My role will be to support my good friend and fellow third-year MFA candidate Denzel Dejournette, who’s leading that show,” they said. “I’m looking forward to getting to watch him shine in the spotlight, and excited for that whole company to feel the incredible energy that an intimate space like this lends you.”
Dejournette returns that excitement as he steps onto the theater’s stage for The Royale.
“To be able to lead a wonderful play in a new and intimate space is something that I am really proud of, he said. “This is a story that needs to be told and I am glad that I get to be a vessel for it.”
Really Lighting Up the Room
The cutting-edge features of the Jenny Boyd Theatre hold lessons for even lighting designer Kenton Yeager, a 40-year veteran of theatrical productions. He leads the Department of Theatre master’s program in entertainment lighting design and heads undergraduate theater studies.
“This was the first time I’ve designed a show that was entirely LED,” said Yeager. “That is quite advanced technology.”
The new system allows for lighting colors and intensity to shift as subtly as the actors’ moods change within the story.
“It is almost imperceptible, but it’s a huge emotional response,” said Yeager. “Everything becomes super dynamic.”
Current theater students built valuable hands-on time with the theater’s lighting systems. Graduate student Miguel Santiago and senior Kayla Moore were associate and assistant lighting designers, respectively, for Cabaret.
“I let them really dig into the technology,” said Yeager. “It’s a level of design sophistication that we can achieve in that space, and now with similar new lighting in the Clarence Brown, that we just never have been able to historically.”
Passing the Torch for Theater at UT
Cabaret is the first show for the Jenny Boyd Theatre, but it marks the last UT production for Yeager, who retires later this year. The production offers a fitting bookend for him.
“It could not have been a better experience, launching the new theater, doing a show that is important to me,” he said. “It was my undergraduate thesis show back at Penn State around 1982, so it was great to end my UT lighting career with the show that I love so much.”
For the theater’s next production, Yeager passes the torch to his former MFA student Maranda DeBusk. Now an assistant professor of lighting design at Ohio State University, the 2017 UT alumnus returns as lighting designer for The Royale, which runs March 25—April 12. She brings with her fond UT memories and enthusiasm for the new theater’s opportunities.
“The old Carousel Theatre holds a special place in my heart,” said DeBusk. “With its local history, unique characteristics, and considerable charm, it was one of my favorite spaces to design in while I was a student. Which is why I’m excited to come back to Knoxville to design the second show in the new Jenny Boyd Theatre. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to create new memories, launch modern histories, and learn about the ins and outs of a brand-new space.”
She looks forward to lighting The Royale, a play that richly examines themes of legacy and impact.
“There’s something beautiful about coming home to make art at the intersection of the past, present, and future,” said DeBusk. “Building on the strong foundations laid while I was a student, applying those skills now as they have evolved over time, and working alongside current students to hopefully make a difference in their lives the way that others influenced my work and my life. It’s definitely something to be proud of, and I’m so thankful to be invited back to join in this momentous season.”
by Randall Brown