Student POV: ArtsEmerson’s The Color of Rose
By Ashley-Rose Galligan
This semester, I have had the opportunity to work on ArtsEmerson’s The Color of Rose as the Assistant Stage Manager. It is a play featuring the points of view of Rose Kennedy throughout her life as a mother and public figure. A few typical tasks I had over the course of the production was tracking props, presetting the stage, being on book, running lines, and much more.
This work has been significant because of the great collaboration between ArtsEmerson, professionals from New York and Boston, Emerson graduates, and students. In my opinion, there is no better way to learn and put your skills to the test than to work alongside current working professionals, such as, Melia Bensussen, James Noone, Rafael Jean, Scott Pinkney, Adam Howarth, Karen MacDonald, Judith Roberts, etc. One of my favorite parts of the last few weeks has been listening and gaining knowledge from many of the stories told from their own theatrical experiences.
I am happy to say that my past Emerson Stage experiences have helped me in the environment I encountered with ArtsEmerson through this process. Both rehearsals and tech were a fast paced but smooth atmosphere. We put up the show with a little less than two weeks of rehearsal and a week of tech.
This past week, we started previews where we were able to engage an audience and refine the performance through tech rehearsals we had during those days. Our official opening was yesterday and we will be running until February 13th. It will be exciting to maintain the quality of the work through a longer run.
Don’t miss this historical and aesthetically beautiful piece.
Get your tickets for ArtsEmerson’s The Color of Rose here.
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Ashley-Rose Galligan is a BFA Stage/ Production Management major at Emerson College. She is currently Production Supervising NewFest’s Chops.
