USI will perform “35mm: A Musical Exhibition” Feb. 6-8 in the Mallette Studio Theatre. The piece is directed by junior theatre major Rayn Miller and features a five person cast.
Although Miller has experience being an assistant director and with choreography, she has never directed before.
“I was very scared and nervous going into it, but I’m also over the moon for the opportunity, and it’s really helped me fall back in love with theatre and the creative act of it,” said Miller. “I’m an actor, so I don’t typically do a ton on the creative director side of theatre, so to have that sort of headspace now has been really awesome.”
Although shows that are directed by students are typically held in the Mallette Studio Theatre, the Performance Center is also an option. However, Miller preferred the Mallette Studio Theatre for this show.
Miller thought that the studio theatre was better suited to the show’s style and that it would make the audience feel more immersed, “I really wanted it to feel like a rock concert and almost like an escape room,” said Miller. “I think the sense of closeness and smallness of that space really helps convey that as well.”
The name of the musical comes from 35 millimeter film, which is commonly used in photography and in film, because the show is based on photographs created by Matthew Murphy. “Each song is a collective description of what they believe is going on in that photograph,” said Miller.
35mm was actually one of three plays that Miller had originally pitched to direct, the other two being “The Birds” and “Next to Normal.”
Miller explained that the music was part of what drew her to 35mm.
“Hearing how it [the music] encapsulates a moment in time and fully encompasses how somebody can feel when you stop and take a picture, like, what is that picture going to represent for the rest of your life?”
The musical also deals with themes of life after death and photographs are used to, as Miller puts it, “capture a soul.”
Miller explains that none of the characters have names. They are referred to by their image, “But within each song and each story we tell, they get a new life,” said Miller. “It’s almost as if they’re being reborn in each song.”
