On With The Show!

In between the chaos of rehearsals and planning, Alexandra Minnis caught up with some of the cast and crew from this year’s HBS Show: Mean Girls [& Boys].  Read on to learn more about the dramatic inspirations and preoccupations of Tara Hagan (NI), writer and director; Gina Yu (NI), vocal director and assistant director; Amelie Foz-Couture (NG), assistant director; Abhishek Shrivastava (NG), producer; Steve Gorodetskiy (NI), stage manager; and Tracy Massel (ND), stage manager.

Tara,Gina, & Amelie replica watches uk

How did you get involved with the show this year?

Gina: I have always been interested in the arts before this, so I decided to audition for the show. That was until Tara came along and said that she needed an ear for the singers – I said I’d help out for one audition.  One audition quickly became many auditions, and I realized I was having a ton of fun. I had never been exposed to the management side of the arts before, and it is a challenge that I wanted to try.  What started as one audition quickly became taking on the roles of Vocal Director and Assistant Director.  Might as well put all my chips in!

Amelie: I have always enjoyed theater, so while I was applying to school, literally the number one thing everyone that went to HBS told me was that I had to be in the show.  When I should have been working on my applications, I was procrastinating by watching every major MBA program’s show.  I even wrote about it in my application.  Somehow, they let me in!

Tara: The club fair had an HBS Show booth, and I applied to be a writer with 6 ECs and 1 other RCs. They taught me a lot about life as an RC HBS before I experienced it.  At the end, they needed a director.  Why not?  It is my first time directing anything.

Which part of this year’s HBS Show are you most excited about?

Tara: The fact that we put so much time into for about a year, and it will come and go in a flash.  The crazy thing is, it is still worth it.

Amelie: My line about the Cloudflare CEO.  And my nap on April 23rd.

Gina:  When we make it to Broadway. And winning a Tony Award.

Tara, Oh, and I love having a legitimate reason for why I haven’t been participating in class. And to my discussion group for why I come unprepared…

What’s the most embarrassing thing that has happened while working as part of the team?

Amelie: I was filling in for a character with a European accent during a rehearsal and accidently read an extra half page because I was so into it.  I was great as a tall European man!

Which character do you identify with the most?

Amelie: Bjorn.  I had to stand in as his character for two weeks, although I never really perfected the accent.

Gina: Youngme Moon.  I am Asian. And I like Marketing!

Tara: I like Reggie.  He has a lot of snarky lines!

Are you drawing future career aspirations from your involvement with the show replica breitling?

Amelie:  I am definitely going to become a European prince.  Do they have a posting for that on Career Hub?

Gina & Tara: We wish this was our FIELD 3 company.  We could have made it past the failed business track.

What has been most challenging as you prepare for this year’s show?

Tara: Applying the concepts of TOM to rehearsal schedules.  Then pulling the andon cord!

Amelie: Trying to apply everything I have learned in FIELD about negotiating and giving feedback and failing miserably at all of them.

Gina: What was that LEAD concept?  Congruency Model?

Any advice for showgoers?

Amelie: Don’t drink!


Abhishek, Steve, & Tracy

How did you get involved with the show this year? Have you ever produced a musical before?

Abhishek: I had experience of directing and producing musicals at undergrad. And then I thought, where will I get the opportunity to manage 100 CEOs together?  I just hope none of these CEOs appear in an LCA case.

Tracy: Someone dragged me and threatened my life to join the show. Seriously. These people are crazy.

Steve: FOMO. I mean, everyone else was doing something cool…

What aspect of this year’s HBS Show are you most excited about?

Abhishek: Building the stage – it makes up for all the gym time I’ve missed because of rehearsals.

 Tracy: Reggie (Jim) wearing a gold shirt or seeing Adam (Sunish) sing a song on the stage.

 Steve: Seeing Andrew Boston, a 7 foot tall guy, dance.

Are you drawing future career aspirations from your involvement with the show?

Abhishek: Well, I am using a lot of marketing 2 by 2’s and I used 4P’s for pricing and promoting the tickets. Now I understand why pricing London Olympics was so difficult.

Steve: My dream profession has always been to be a construction worker.  I am very close to it!

Tracy: Now I want to be an HBS professor so I can be “featured” in the Show.

What have you liked most about preparing for the show?

Abhishek: Hours and hours of watching actors make up lines they don’t remember.

Steve: How much of the script is influenced by Game of Thrones season 3.

Tracy: Finding out that I see Steve my co-stage manager more than I see Steve my fiancé. I get confused sometimes.

And what have you liked least…?

Steve: Going to Shad (where we had a lot of rehearsals), but not working out. So close, yet so far.

Tracy: Security kicking us out of Burden.

Abhishek: Spending an extra hour in Burden for EC transition.

 

What has been most challenging about the Show prep?

Steve: Confusing real lyrics with HBS Show lyrics at karaoke.

Abhishek: Explaining what HBS Show is to a few classmates. And why are tickets $35.

Tracy: Reading all my cases in class.


You can buy tickets and find out more at www.hbsshow.org.  Shows are April 18th, 19th, 22nd, & 23rd.