Borrowed props, late-night rehearsals and collaborative work allow Off Off Broadway to find creative ways to bring theatre to life at the University of South Carolina.
The organization is entirely student-run, not affiliated with the schools theater department and handles everything from set design to fundraising. The 95-member group is working to make the musical "Footloose" come to life, despite having limited rehearsal time and limited funds, according to Inaara Jadavji, a fourth-year public relations student and president of the organization.
Jadavji said the budget of each performance is over $3,000. All of the money comes from student government funds, membership dues and the organization's recently formed booster club, which has helped meet their needs, she said.
“Our treasurer works tirelessly to try and get that funding each semester, and we've been pretty successful. The past four years, (we’ve) gotten that funding every semester,” Jadavji said.
Off Off Broadway has grown in membership this semester, increasing from around 60 students previously, Jadavji said. As president of the student organization, she said the leadership members understand that the group might not be someone's top priority. Jadavji said members can contribute however much they want.
“We've really had kind of a growth and change period over the past few years, so there's been a lot of obstacles up in the air,” Jadavji said.
The student organization has used Town Theatre as its venue for the past two semesters, Jadavji said. One of the only downfalls to using the venue is having late rehearsals because Town Theatre prioritizes its season shows, not leaving a lot of time slots for the group, she said.
“A lot of it is kind of crammed because we don't have a whole lot of time in the space,” Jadavji said. “But we have very capable operations members that are very knowledgeable on the lights, sound and all those things.”
Town Theatre offers Off Off Broadway use of their props, helping the group save on some of the costs, second-year biochemistry student Maggie Largent said. Along with what is provided, she said she has learned some carpentry skills to help build some of the props in her role as set design chair.
“We're never going to be a club that buys every single thing that we use,” Largent said. “Almost everything we use in our sets is borrowed from the theatre that we work at or made of cardboard by our members.”
Second-year environmental science student Hannah Gayo said rehearsals are initially run by the directors, but the stage manager's domain is in the theatre to get everything together. She said she works closely with the set committee as the stage manager to understand where items will be onstage.
Gayo said stage managers have a much harder role than some people think because the role involves a lot of paperwork for others to understand cues.
Being able to put out fires backstage before the audience notices is a big part of the role, Gayo said. One thing that she said she has learned as stage manager is the ability to adapt quickly and lean on the other leadership members for help.
“We've all gotten to know each other working together for the past semester or two, so we kind of have a good dynamic of keeping everyone in the loop and sharing ideas,” Gayo said.
Gayo, Jadavji and Largent said working together as students allows them to explore and learn new skills. That hands-on approach has created a strong sense of involvement in members, developing new abilities along the way, Gayo said.
Gayo said her communication skills have strengthened while being stage manager because she has to constantly work with other committees. Training new members and taking the initiative are skills she said she has grown into.
“I think the fact that our members of leadership are also students makes them really approachable, really understandable with all of the different things that come up in student life,” Gayo said. “It kind of forces us to be a little bit more resourceful because we don't have as many resources as someone who maybe in the theatre department would.”
Information regarding Off Off Broadway’s productions and how to join can be found on its website.