March Issue v

8
Arts
Artist of the Month:
Lucy Bonin
Come to support The Wolves on April 22 and 23 on the Upper Field!
By ELISE KAIT ‘21
Most ‘theater kids” like to be in the
spotlight, but not Lucy Bonin ‘21. As
a stage manager, she works behind
the scenes: organizing crew meetings,
keeping deadlines, taking rehearsal notes, and
ensuring that everything runs smoothly during the
show. Bonin enjoyed watching musicals and plays
as a child but never expected to “enter the scene.”
“I got into theater in the 8th grade
when my mom told me I needed something
to do outside of school,” Bonin said.
“I knew I couldn’t really sing, act, or dance, but
then I found out about the tech crew and fell in love.”
For Bonin’s current show, The Wolves by
Sarah DeLappe, she took on a director’s responsibilities
as well; this included casting the
show, planning rehearsal times and locations,
and developing a vision for the production.
“A director’s job,” Bonin said, “is primarily
to have a vision of what you want the
show to look like and know how to teach
that to actors so it appears onstage.”
“Actors typically have one main job,
which is to act and to know their lines. All jobs
in theater have their difficulty, though, and
I have the utmost respect for actors. I could
truly never do what they do,” Bonin said.
Bonin’s favorite part of theater is watching
new shows and analyzing individual technical
decisions’ thought processes. For example,
Bonin tries to analyze how Elphaba flies in
Wicked, or how it rains in Once on this Island.
Though Bonin loves most of everything
theater-related, she dislikes what comes after
“
A director’s job
is to have a vision
of what you want
the show to look
like and know how
to teach that to
actors so it appears
onstage.”
the show: strike. The “strike” happens after a
show’s final performance, and all the sets, equipment,
and props are removed from the theater.
Bonin shared that she dislikes strike “partially
because it’s saying goodbye to something
you worked so hard on, and partially
because, for high school strikes, everyone
participates--including people who don’t entirely
know what they’re doing with power tools.”
Bonin’s passion for theater has catapulted
her into a career path. She will be studying
Stage Management at NYU Tisch next
fall. Her goal is to eventually stage-manage a
Broadway production, but Bonin would be interested
in doing anything in the theater world.
“Honestly, as long as I’m doing
theater, I’m happy,” Bonin said.
Her love of art is evident in her productions.
Over the past few months, Bonin has worked tirelessly
around COVID-19 restrictions to direct and
manage Baldwin’s first-ever student-run show.
The Wolves will be performed on April 22 and
April 23 at 5 PM on the Upper Field! Bonin and
the rest of the cast would love to see you there.
“
As long as I’m
doing theater,
i’m happy!”
The cast of The Wolves
rehearses.
Photos courtesy of Lucy Bonin ‘21
Graphics and design by Elva Chen ‘22