Meet Liam Clancy, our Twelfth Night Stage Manager, who has been making waves throughout the Encore season! From his first time on stage, to his many roles backstage, Liam Clancy has been nothing less than awesome.
Hello, my name is Liam Clancy and I am the stage manager for Encore’s production of Twelfth Night. I attend Trinity school at Meadowview, where I am a sophomore. I was first introduced to Encore a couple of years ago when Act 3 was doing Pirates of Penzance. Although I hadn’t auditioned to do tech for that show, my brother had and I were working in the scene shop helping out. After pestering from my brother, I auditioned for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I got in with the role of fly-man and have been on tech ever since. I still remember during intermission for that show I would have to sweep up all the fake snow I showered on the actors during one of the scenes.
Skip forward a few years and I had my first acting role for Encore. I had acted before with my elementary and middle school but I had never acted for Encore. Receiving the role of Dr. Livesy (described in the script as “mildly ineffective doctor”) I remember thinking “Great, since I’m not a doctor myself I think I can be a mildly, or even a very ineffective doctor.” Rehearsals for that show certainly had their obstacles, but with the help of our Director and Stage manager, we were able to get through them and put the show on stage. I suppose I’ll act again eventually, but you’ll have to wait and see when.
Last December, I was the Set Designer for Fairy Tale Christmas Carol. I never really had learned how to set design, but I had built so many set pieces that I had a good idea what I was doing. What I didn’t realize is that I had been building for the large stage of Thomas Jefferson Middle School, not the small black box at Gunston. In the end, I had built a set almost too large to fit in the small wings we set up in the theater. During tech week we faced that problem and figured out the storage of the set pieces, and the show looked good and ran smoothly.
From all of my Encore experiences, I have learned the skills to build objects from scratch, to speak in public, and to manage stress. For the first skill, I remember having to build a large round picnic table and benches for my backyard with my brother. We had both built sets for Encore, so we easily planned and built the picnic table and benches in about 6 hours. The second skill, public speaking, is one of the most useful that I have learned. The skill to be able to speak to other people and have your point be clearly understood is rare, and the fear of public speaking often ranks higher than that of death. To have and be able to use this skill is invaluable. Finally, the skill of dealing with stress is the most important thing I have gained from my Encore experience. Theater is stressful. So is school, or a job, and being able to manage it is a skill that everyone needs. Working in a theater, you need to react quickly and effectively when something goes wrong, and stressful moments like that make or break a show. Once you can deal with things like that, you can deal with anything. I love Encore for all that is has done for me, and I stongly encourage anyone reading this to come see William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I’ll certainly be there.
