{"id":4313,"date":"2022-04-06T22:56:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T22:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=4313"},"modified":"2024-08-19T19:58:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T19:58:51","slug":"talking-thunderbodies-with-lucy-mcnees-25","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/home-2\/the-words-april-2022\/talking-thunderbodies-with-lucy-mcnees-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking \u201cThunderbodies\u201d with Lucy McNees \u201825"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Coy-Bjork ’23 and Birdie Keller ’25<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Thunderbodies\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Macalester\u2019s mainstage theater production this spring is <\/span>Thunderbodies<\/span><\/i>, a dark comedy written by Kate Tarker. Through absurdist satire, the play explores themes of war, climate change, and government power. English department workers Patrick Coy-Bjork and Birdie Keller (that\u2019s us!) are serving as the assistant director and assistant stage manager, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with actors, designers, and the management team on this very wacky show has been an absolute blast. It has been incredible watching many different talents come together to create something \u201cgrotesque!\u201d (You have to see the show to find out what THAT means.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucy McNees is one of those super cool talents. She is a Creative Writing major who stars in the show as the character \u201cGrotilde.\u201d We had the chance to sit down with her and get more insight into the experience of approaching the play from an English perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

What has been your experience with Thunderbodies<\/em> so far?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s certainly been a ride! The show is outside my comfort zone; it\u2019s like the opposite kind of theater from what I\u2019ve done my entire life, but I think growth happens outside the comfort zone, so that\u2019s why I auditioned. Since then, it\u2019s been unsettling and wild and very fun.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also think that the absurdity of the show has been a good conversation topic and theme of bonding between cast members. I\u2019m really happy to be back into theater, performing specifically, and I think my experience with the character has been more interesting than any I\u2019ve ever played.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think about the director?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vladimir is incredibly skilled at pulling the character out of someone and allowing them to engage with the character. He knows how to pull it out of them in a way that is specific to the performer, too, like he knows how to work with Zoe [Grigsby] differently than he knows how to work with me, or Louie [Siegel], especially in relation to the character and their physicality and attitude. I\u2019ve been very excited about Grotilde, saying things off script in rehearsal because they\u2019re part of her attitude\u2026 and I think he really nails that, so that\u2019s super cool.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has your experience as an English major intersected with theater?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think in my theater world in general, yes absolutely, because the majority of what I\u2019ve done is Shakespeare, so not only was I reading and interpreting Shakespeare as an English major\/just reader, I got to bring that into my performance a lot.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This show specifically is really interesting because of all the new and strange language the playwright has developed. [Our] heightened language workshops have made me more articulate and think about the words I\u2019m saying.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s interesting to overall look at the different languages that different playwrights use, [even] if it\u2019s all in English, the style of writing and the intonation or even dialect of a play is very clear and distinct for each playwright, so I think\u2026that\u2019s something I\u2019ve been able to pull out because I\u2019m an English major.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can the audience expect from the show or be excited to see?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re having so much fun performing, and I think if the story means nothing to you, come for the sound and lighting design. Even the last two days have added so much and it\u2019s ridiculously fun, so I think be ready for some \u201cout there\u201d humor, and everybody having a lot of fun while doing it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Thanks for the interview, Lucy!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thunderbodies<\/span><\/i> is playing April 8th (7:30 pm), April 9th (7:30 pm), April 10th (2:00 pm), April 14 (7:30 pm), and April 16th (2:00 pm, 7:30 pm). You can reserve tickets for free using <\/span>this Google Document<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep an eye for a dance that Patrick choreographed, and do NOT keep an eye for Birdie because she\u2019s supposed to stay backstage \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Coy-Bjork ’23 and Birdie Keller ’25 Macalester\u2019s mainstage theater production this spring is Thunderbodies, a dark comedy written by Kate Tarker. Through absurdist satire, the play explores themes of war, climate change, and government power. English department workers Patrick Coy-Bjork and Birdie Keller (that\u2019s us!) are serving as the assistant director and assistant […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":4438,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4313","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4313"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9025,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4313\/revisions\/9025"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}