Graphic by Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 via Canva
BY GENEVIEVE ZAHNER ’26
NEWS EDITOR
The Mount Holyoke film, media and theater department opened their production of Melancholy Play on Thursday, March 5. The play, written in 2002 by Sarah Ruhl, follows the main character, Tilly who “is a bank teller with a melancholy so exquisite it becomes magnetic: everyone she meets falls hopelessly in love. But when Tilly suddenly discovers happiness, her joy unbalances the delicate orbit she’s drawn around her admirers,” according to an email from the film, media and theater department. The play is described as exploring “what it means to live inside intense feeling: the seductive power of sorrow, the disquiet of joy, and the strange, shifting desires that bind us to each other,” the department stated.
This play also served as the directorial debut of Emma Platt ’26, and was the first show that she has solo directed at the College. Though Platt directed Eurydice, another Sarah Ruhl play, in her high school career, this was “a huge and rewarding undertaking” as it had the “most moving parts and largest team” she’d ever worked with. Her Mount Holyoke career thus far has been directing short scenes for class and plays for the 2024 and 2025 short play festivals, and said “A full-length mainstage show of which I am the only director was daunting and a lot of work, but also my most rewarding experience at Mount Holyoke” of her experience with Melancholy Play.
The play was chosen by the film, media and theater department in fall 2024, and since the play features a live cellist, this part was cast around this time as well. However, production meetings with stage management and design teams began in fall 2025, with auditions and casting happening towards the end of the Fall 2025 semester.
The entire cast and crew came to campus a week early from winter break to begin rehearsals, including table work, blocking and music learning. “The whole thing has come together in a truly fantastic way, and I couldn't be prouder of the cast, crew, and designers for the incredible work they did,” Platt said. She also expressed her love for directing and the process of working on a play.
“Working with such wonderful artists and collaborating to make something bigger than all of us, and seeing it come to life, is so rewarding. I have always loved bringing ideas to life and creative collaboration, and directing is the perfect intersection between those things,” Platt stated.
Kainoa ChesemoreWalling ’27 was the stage manager for the production, and said of the experience, “Last year I got to work as an [assistant stage manager] on Marie Antoinette which was super fun and I was excited to work on another student directed show here. … We also brought in a lot of supporting artists to help us with the production like Jay Doane, our student fight choreographer, and then a dialect coach and intimacy coordinator, which was super fun to collaborate with all of these artists.”
They spoke more on the process of tech rehearsals, and how that differed from the five weeks of rehearsals they had before starting tech, “At this point I was fine tuning transitions and props shifts so that once we were in tech everything would go as smoothly as possible. In tech we did two days of cue to cue because we had a more tech heavy show. Then by that point we were able to do a full run through some trouble points and then we had three dress rehearsals before we had an audience!”
ChesemoreWalling said her favorite part of stage managing is seeing everything come together, and that “For the most part everyone works on the production separately until tech. The actors are in rehearsal during the evening and the production teams are working on getting the designs created. As the SM I am one of the people who form a bridge between the two, making sure things are communicated and aligning with the collective vision of the show. Once we hit tech it is magical to see everyone's hard work get pieced together.” They also enjoyed connecting with everyone working on the show, and having “silly and fun moments” together.
Platt also spoke on the importance and her appreciation for the rest of the cast and crew, saying, “I want to express my endless appreciation, respect, and love for the incredible cast, crew, and design team. This would have been impossible without them. I want to especially emphasize the importance of Kainoa, Juno and Sabine, our stage manager and assistant stage managers. They kept this whole thing running in a way I never could alone. Also, thank you to Michael Ofori for being an incredible faculty advisor for the project.”
Melancholy Play ran from March 5-8 in Rooke Theatre, and will be followed by the spring production of POTUS in April. Alayna Khan ’28 contributed fact-checking.