Words in the Wild: English and Creative Writing Majors Taking on Theatre
by Jizelle Villegas ’26
The Words took some time to talk with Lucy McNees ’25 (she/they) and Peyton Williamson ’27 (she/her), both English and Creative Writing majors and both having worked on the “Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really” production this spring semester. McNees was the dramaturg and Williamson was the stage manager. We were super excited to hear about their experience working on a theatre production that flipped the script on Bram Stoker’s literary classic Dracula.
As the dramaturg, McNees had to conduct a lot of literary research about the historical contexts of Dracula, and that research lasted for a whole month. She provided me with a fifteen page-long Actor Reference Packet she created for the actors to study while they rehearsed the play. It breaks down everything from Dracula’s adaptations, global vampirism in other cultures, historical and cultural contexts, maps, character analysis, a glossary, pronunciation and links to various articles about themes found in the original text. Being a dramaturg for a production that draws inspiration from a book is very English major coded. They acknowledged that Dracula has been adapted over hundreds of years, having a rich history, and people will have connotations of the text, either from the book or the movie retellings. “I want to learn how to be [a] dramaturg with no literary foundation,” expressed McNees.
McNees said that being exposed to dramaturgy felt like a place where she fit. “It’s literary research, working with the actors and the director on storytelling. So a very tangible task that I had was to cut the script… Figuring out how to cut scenes and time down while still maintaining the story that we want to tell was the biggest task,” said McNees. She got to work frequently with the actors, answered their questions, and helped deliver the story’s cultural context to them. They were even able to help the actors with vocal training and how to emulate British accents. McNees studied abroad at the British American Drama Academy in London, so vocal training was another thing she brought to the Dracula production.
When I asked if McNees sees themselves pursuing more theatre post-graduation, she said that she applied for some dramaturgy apprenticeships in Minneapolis. “I would absolutely love to continue [theatre]… I’ve contributed to theatre from a lot of different aspects, which I think has really helped me because I can think about how that literary work benefits the designers, the actors and production team.” Theatre to her blends her skills and passion in creative writing and research in a space where these skills come together in a grand artistic endeavor.
Williamson got into stage managing this play because she had prerequisite experience as an assistant stage manager, which includes interacting more with actors, for other productions at Macalester. She simply responded to an email from the technical director saying she would be interested in working on this Dracula production, and the rest came to fruition just a few weeks ago when Dracula ran from February 28th to March 7th.
“As the stage manager, it was a different experience [than assistant stage managing] because I was more in charge of the process as a whole, making sure that rehearsals went smoothly and I had to write down blocking,” said Williamson. Blocking is actors’ movement for a scene. “During the actual show, I didn’t have much actual work to do. I kind of just called the cues. It was a lot less hands-on involvement and much more mental note taking and knowing when things happen.” It was definitely a new experience for her, but still fun.
Being a stage manager for the show required a lot of time and energy from Williamson, including four rehearsals a week — and those rehearsals started during Macalester’s J-Term. It was required for Williamson to be at four rehearsals, and then the assistant stage manager was supposed to be at ones that she didn’t attend. However, the assistant couldn’t make the J-Term rehearsals. “I had to be at pretty much every single rehearsal, and then by the time the semester had started, I was just like ‘it’s easier to come to every rehearsal to know what’s going on.’ So I ended up going to almost every single rehearsal throughout the entire show,” said Williamson. Rehearsals were from 5-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. It was a lot of mental work and having to balance the preparation on top of schoolwork, but Williamson made it work.
Though this role was very time consuming, the most rewarding part of being in this role for Williamson was to see opening night and seeing the whole show come together from the booth, where she had a “perfect view of the whole stage.” “We had our week of tech before the show [opened], which is where we program the lights and sound, and then run through the show as many times as we can to get used to it before opening night,” said Williamson. All the preparation led up to a great opening night. “Well, we have to do the show now, we can’t stop now since we have an audience,” joked Williamson.
McNees’ and Williamson’s roles for this production were different, yet their passion for theatre was palpable during each conversation. It also became very clear that theatre has been equally important to both of them throughout their adolescence. For McNees, their introduction to theatre began when they were eleven years old. “For the majority of it, it was professional acting and acting training,” said McNees. She then moved onto scene carpentry for other productions. As for Williamson, theatre has been in her life ever since her freshman year of high school. “I was involved in some way in every single show my high school did from freshman to senior year.” Her high school consistently had a Fall and Spring production, senior directed show and competition play every year, so she contributed in any way she could throughout sixteen plays over the span of four years. Speaking with McNees and Williamson highlighted how theatre can be a gratifying creative outlet and has a role for everyone to be involved. We are so proud to have English and Creative Writing majors be a part of different initiatives on campus and involve themselves in things that bring them joy, like theatre. Thank you to McNees and Williamson for giving us insight into their work on Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really!
