Joel Suarez
Hello, my name is Joel Suarez, an aspiring filmmaker from New Haven, CT. I am currently a student in Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School and I have been granted the opportunity to blog for the many events that take place in the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
On April 16th 2010 the Fellows, including myself, were given a tour of one of the most historical theaters in New Haven: the Shubert Theater. On this adventure we learned how the Shubert Theater was essentially used to try out plays that would later land on Broadway. In other words the Shubert Theater was a playwright laboratory where playwrights and producers could perfect their plays such as Oklahoma!, The Skin of Our Teeth, and Carousel. My favorite parts of the tour were learning about all the architecture, how they must keep up with a theatre that was built in 1914, and going backstage. The backstage of the Shubert Theater is like an art exhibit that consists of posters painted on the walls by the cast of the many plays that have performed in the Shubert Theatre. One particular poster I remember was the poster for Grease, it was one that imitated a t-shirt, within a 3D biker leather jacket halfway zipped up that was somehow glued to the wall. It was one of many clever and multi-dimensional posters on the backstage of the Shubert.
Hear more from Joel and the rest of the Festival Fellows throughout the month of June!