On March 13-15, EMPTY Theater will grace the Art Barn with a production of “Big Fish.” After a year of outstanding plays by the St. Olaf Theater Department, EMPTY Theater Company — one of St. Olaf’s student theatre organizations — has put together a very touching musical. As the company prepares for opening night, The Olaf Messenger sat down with Director Ben Seigel ’26, Assistant Stage Manager Maggie Housley ’27, and cast member Hailey Guptail ’27, who plays Jenny Hill. They shared how the production has been coming together and what it is hoping to bring to the College.
Being able to interview members of a variety of roles was lovely. It just confirmed what I already suspected — this organization creates a community within the theater body of this school. The happiness and excitement that each of these people have for this musical will certainly be translated beautifully onstage.
“When thinking about what shows to bring to the campus, we wanted to bring something really fun, but also something profound — and ‘Big Fish’ does just that,” Siegel said. “People on campus are in this stage in their life where they are trying to navigate relationships with their parents while also becoming who [they] are as people, and ‘Big Fish’ is a show all about that.”
“Big Fish” is a student-led production, meaning that there is no faculty to help put on the play. Students alone have created the sets and costumes, but when met with this challenge, EMPTY took it in stride. The student costume designers and set creators have been working tirelessly to either thrift or sew the costumes.
“Our director had a long list of ideas and different things, and then the costumers went off and went down their own train of ideas that have produced a lot of great items,” Housley said. “This creates a tight knit relationship between the whole crew that feels collaborative.”
Just from talking to the members of EMPTY Theater, I could feel the way they all acknowledged each other’s accomplishments and also looked up to each other so much. Guptail exemplified it best when asked what the play is like from a cast perspective.
“I mean, I’m going to rehearsal for three hours every night, but it doesn’t feel like that. I think it’s like I’m going somewhere and I’m hanging out because we’re all so passionate about it, that it’s not like work,” Guptail said. “It’s like we’re having fun, but we’re also working so hard on this, because we love it so much.”
And that’s truly all you want from a production — to bring people together, whether that’s in an audience or with a cast.
“Big Fish” will run from March 13-15 in the Art Barn at 7:30 p.m. There is also an open dress rehearsal on March 12 at 7:30 p.m. For more updates and to follow along with the production process, you can follow Empty Theater on Instagram at empty.theater.co.
