Behind The Curtain

Peace In Our Time 

The Upper School production of “Peace in Our Time” unveiled its last performance a few weeks ago in Richardson Theater.  But many recent audience members may not know that a lot of the preparation actually happens months before the show. The first steps in the fall play started months before anyone even set foot on our campus this school year; in fact, researching, choosing the show, licensing and planning the production began around six months ago last spring. It also starts with a simple request. 

“We go through the site that owns the rights to that particular play and fill out an application to produce the play,” Ms. Greenway said.

6 Months Ago 

While it wasn’t a Broadway show, it was a Greenway show, and theater director Erin Greenway led the charge of bringing the play to life.

For those who don’t know about the play, “Peace in Our Time” is an alternate history of the conflict in Germany during World War II, and it details how the citizens try to cope with being under the rule of the Nazis.  Written by Noel Coward in 1946, it’s not a very modern or well-known piece; therefore, it’s not often chosen.

However, this also means that there was an opportunity to have a very original production. Woodward’s production of “Peace in Our Time” wasn’t made in a day, nor was it the result of one person’s vision. To have an outside perspective on how some sensitive themes should be handled, Ms. Greenway consulted faculty like German teacher Seth Meyer. 

“This is a work of art, a work of historical art that’s [presenting these issues] in a way that’s not as [an] endorsement of the language, and in fact, with the narrative of the play, they ultimately have the perpetrators of that language defeated,” Herr Meyer said. “I think, for all of those reasons, what the play and what our performance of it did really well is show the evil that was being fought at the time and the evil that was rightly defeated.”

Even through constant surveillance, the townspeople find community and national pride in the setting of a bar; those who have survived the invasion show resilience. Again, they do not conform to the hateful ideology that the German officials are spreading throughout the town. Ms. Erin Greenway described the work and why she thought it had a compelling message for those who choose to see it. 

“This particular play is a fiction,” Ms. Greenway said. “It’s not truly what happened in England during the war, but it is what happened in a lot of other countries. And what I would love for the audience to gather from their experience is just an understanding of how the world can change very quickly without us realizing it, and, when things are happening that we don’t agree with or that aren’t humane, what would we do if we were in that situation, and how would we handle that situation with compassion and empathy, so that people who are different than us or are perceived as different than us, aren’t harmed and persecuted against?” 

Transitioning from the original idea, the next step is to translate all of it onto the stage. Ms. Greenway, Director of Technical Theater John Brandhorst and Associate Director of Theater Hannah Barnhart come up with a plan to coordinate everything before starting sets or costumes. At this point, Mr. Brandhorst, along with his set design class, began constructing the sets.

“So we have to kind of tune that in–we talk about the color, the mood, what we want to try to convey conceptually, and then, when everybody else comes, then we figure out how we’re actually going to physically put it together, get the actors on stage, see how it functions, test drive it a little bit, and then when it’s ready…switch over to paint from carpentry, and that’s when I think the real magic happens,” Mr. Brandhorst said. “It stops being wood and boards and becomes an actual place.”

Ms. Barnhart is in charge of costume design. For each play, her job involves researching the time period, ordering new costumes, digging through old ones and assembling or hand-making each costume. 

“[I do] a lot of research,” Ms. Barnhart said. “In particular [for] this show, [research] into the fashion of [the] 1940s in Britain, among the working class, on top of what soldiers in the 1940s looked like, particularly female soldiers. [Then I create] an inspiration board for that and then [research] each of the characters and their kind of class and what they’re like and what they do, and [create] costumes that fit with who they are in the show.

Start of the school year 

Once the school year starts, casting takes place. It is a quick process, usually taking a few days. As a part of the process, students needed to memorize two different scripts in a German or British accent, and this is how they were placed for their final role. 

“I cast the show right after auditions which took place in August right after students returned back to school,” Ms. Greenway said. “It was a pretty quick turnover, since we needed to start rehearsing as soon as possible.”

Actor’s process

Leading up to the weeks right before the performances, actors are still trying to figure out how to relate to their characters. “Peace in Our Time” presents an interesting challenge as it requires actors to learn a British or German accent along with memorizing lines. One actor, Damion Tomlinson ‘27, reflected on his personal experiences of how he overcame this unique obstacle. Damion played Alfie Blake, an older man. 

“I feel like, mentally speaking, there’s a point where I should get the grasp of not only the lines, but what I’m supposed to be doing, how I’m supposed to be reacting,” Damion said. “Because, in the scenes, I sort of know how to act, what to start reacting to, like in Act Two, Scene One, like, I know at a certain point I gotta start paying attention to Kennedy [Peace] and Quinn [Millner].” 

So how do actors get to the point of being able to focus on such details? Rehearsals start at 3:45 p.m., and getting there on time is very important. At the start, Ms. Greenway briefs the cast on what they are doing that day, and those involved in the scene being rehearsed go on the stage with the rest of the cast going into the audience. They often rehearse until 6:00 p.m. with a few short 3-10 minute breaks. Despite the long rehearsals, Apollo Netherton ‘26 was grateful for the abundance of stage time she got.

“I was able really to learn from everybody else on stage,” Apollo said. “But with that comes the inability to learn lines off stage, which I struggled with until we got to the end, but I pulled through. I also enjoyed just getting to continue to work–and by being on stage, I get to work on my technique and all that.”

The rehearsals clearly add up, and Tele Akarakiri ‘27 feels having friendships with cast members is necessary to get through the long days. 

“Being there for, like, that extended period of time after school was tough, especially for the days where I was tired,” Tele said. “But..I love being in rehearsal. I love being with my friends, so that makes up for it.” 

One challenge of the play was having to learn to speak German or with a German accent for various lines. Ari Meeker ‘26, who played Albert Richtler, experienced this learning curve. It helped that she had previously taken German. She also highlights her preparations that helped her out.

“Saying four monologues back to back in German or with a German accent, was a new challenge that I was not expecting,” Ari said. “And honestly, it was just like, I would always be ready 20 minutes before I needed to be ready, and I’d be running lines like… my whole life was just that script and running lines. I think that was the biggest difference. It used to be like, oh, like, even for this show, we all have little scenes that we do, and I’m just like, I knew my lines before I even memorized them because there were so few.”

By the same token, actors each have their own interpretations of their character’s personality based on the character descriptions given, and their own message they want to relay to the audience. Kennedy Peace ‘27 feels a special connection to her character, writer Janet Brand. 

“I guess I’m able to relate to her because she feels passionate about her cause a lot of the time,” Kennedy said. “And so my friends can tell you that, like when I have something on my mind, I’ll be willing to fight for it.”

Last days before the performance

On the tech side, Mr. Brandhorst works with his classes to work on sets and props. The Tech Crew comes in about a week before the play to prepare for Tech Week. William Rose ‘27, member of the Tech Crew, shared his first-hand experience. 

“Tech week is basically the week leading up to the show, so, during tech week, that is the first time the actors get to run the show using all the costumes, makeup, sounds and lights that the crew has been working on,” William said. “That week we stay later, till 8, and spend time getting the actors used to using the lighting and sound because it can be a bit of a learning curve for both actors and crew when we first add it in.” 

After the Play 

While the preparation of our plays can be drawn out, the life cycle of Woodward Academy plays and their performances can be very short. It’s been only a few weeks since the final performance of “Peace in Our Time,” and the performing arts department is already moving on.

“Now that the play is over, we will strike the set, put away all the costumes/ props, and move on to the next one that opens in less than a month!”  Ms. Greenway said. 

As of the time of this publication, this next play, “Community Garden,” will have its final showing this afternoon at 4:15. 

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One of the authors of this story, Kolby Isom, was a part of the production “Peace in Our Time.”