Meet Walsh Wild Woman Casey Dinaro! This campus celeb hails from Texas and is known for her deep love of english literature, her Whovian affiliation, and of course, her dedication to the stage. A member of two student groups and with an upcoming production of Pericles on her hands, read on to see how this theatre junkie manages it all!
Name: Casey Dinaro
Dorm: Walsh
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Major: PLS and English
North or South Dining Hall? South
Extracurricular activities: I’m co-president of Student Players, a student theatre group here on campus, and I’m a member of the Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company.
Use three adjectives to describe yourself: Passionate, curious, unfinished.
In the sparse free time you have, you like to:
I spend too much of it on Tumblr, but, other than that, I have an unhealthy addiction to any and all superhero TV shows and Doctor Who, so I love to watch those. I also occasionally try my hand at writing stories and (bad) poetry. Otherwise, you might find me planning movie nights with friends.
As a stage manager, what’s the best part about the job? What’s the most stressful?
The best part about stage managing is the the unpredictable things that happen and make a “typical day” atypical, like the time a director and one of his actors spontaneously performed a duet from Les Mis, or the many times scenes I’ve witnessed over and over take unexpected turns. The most stressful part is trying to balance all the time I put into it with the time I need to do my homework.
Can you describe a typical day as a stage manager?
For me, a typical weekday night involves running to the dining hall after classes for either a quick dinner or a dash through Grab and Go (depending on how much time I have between my last class and rehearsal), then heading over to the rehearsal space. Ideally, I’ll arrive a few minutes early. During rehearsal itself, my first priority is to make sure that things run smoothly, and that can translate into many forms. Most typically, this involves keeping track of actors and making sure we accomplish things in a timely manner. I take notes about the rehearsal, prompt actors if they’ve forgotten lines, and assist the director in any way I can. After the rehearsal, I fill out a report that goes out to all of the members of our production team. I might also attend a meeting with the marketing team or the production team to make sure the technical aspects of the show are moving forward.
What’s one of the best productions you’ve worked on so far?
I’ve loved every production I’ve ever participated in, so choosing one is tricky, but for the purposes of the question, I’ll say ShakesFeare. As a “Halloween-themed Shakespeare variety show” it had the most unique premise. (As an added bonus, I got to play Second Witch from The Scottish Play.)
Can you tell us a little bit about the upcoming show, Pericles?
Pericles is one of Shakespeare’s wackier plays; it’s tricky to summarize it without giving away the entire plot, but I can say that it involves shipwrecks, pirates, Greek gods, and a narrator who may or may not be a ghost. It’s a lot of fun watching the actors piece together a world populated by diverse and dynamic characters, and I’m just blown away by our director’s very human approach to a text that has challenged everyone who loves Shakespeare for centuries.
What’s your favorite Shakespeare play and why?
I love Hamlet best for a very personal reason. My mom still owns the copy she read in one of her high school English classes, and, when I was six, she took it out one day and introduced me to one of the ghost scenes. I was already a goner. It took me three tries over the course of the five years after that to read it all the way through, but I had already fallen in love with the Bard and sealed my fate as a Shakespeare nerd ever after.
I know this is likely the most question but, what is one book that you would always recommend?
I stand by my deep love for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. That book taught me how to love reading.
Where do you see yourself in ten years? Holed up in a library somewhere surrounded by sources on either Shakespeare or twenty-first century Irish lit. (I want to go into academia.)
Favorite quote?
“Do I dare/ Disturb the universe?” — The title character in T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
Thanks, Cassandra!
XOXO, HCND
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Images: Provided by interviewee