By Cassie Martin ’22, guest writer
Chiara Meyers looks up from where she is crouched on Wig and Buckle Theater Company’s stage. The auditorium is silent, save for the silent humming of the backstage ventilation system. The actress has on wire-rimmed glasses, a tight black bandana around her hair, and the surety of stage-presence in her shoulders. She crouches even more and puts her fingers up to her chin, thinking.
“I got involved at Wig and Buckle my freshman year,” she recalled as her eyes light up. “I was in the fall musical, ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’ Now I’m the president of the company my senior year. It’s kind of crazy.”
Chiara had been involved in theater since 6th grade, with some notable roles including Officer O’Hara in “Arsenic” and “Old Lace,” Elsa in “Sound of Music” and most recently Lady Macbeth in Wig and Buckle’s “Macbeth.”
“I enjoy acting because it is a great form of expression,” Chiara said. “I like being able to express myself through other characters and bring aspects of myself to the roles. I discover different individuals and people through acting.”
But Chiara was determined to step outside of her comfort zone. In her senior year of high school, the seasoned actress decided to write and direct her own play. It felt like a natural step in her theater endeavors. At college, her experience landed her as director of “Almost Maine.”
“Being an actress, directing is a great way to connect my skills,” Chiara said. “In ‘Almost Maine,’ I was able to sense how to create a character and block certain moments in the scene, because of my own acting experience.”
But directing was still a challenge. As someone who preferred acting, Chiara had ideas for how her scenes should play out, but soon realized the importance of a collaborative experience between her and her cast. The play was a hit among Wig and Buckle patrons, and to her merit, Chiara had successfully put together one of the theater’s best plays.
The next year, COVID-19 struck the United States. As businesses and homes shut down, so too, did LVC, canceling the rest of their theater season and leaving Chiara and her fellow peers anxious about the future of Wig and Buckle Theater Company.
“It was a scary time. Most of us just thought, well what are we gonna do now?”
In 2021, after more than a year of not being able to do theater, Chiara Meyers stepped back into her role as a director for the musical ‘Bonnie and Clyde,” and was voted in as the new president for Wig and Buckle. As a leader, Chiara was determined to do theater again.
“COVID has definitely made theater more challenging,” she said. “Practices and rehearsals are masked and that can create issues with diction and facial expressions. These are all things we didn’t have to think about before the pandemic.”
With the musical “Bonnie and Clyde” having to be rescheduled twice because of COVID-19 concerns, Chiara says that this theater season has been the most stressful because of scheduling and figuring out performance dates.
“At the same time, I think COVID gave our company perspective,” she said. “A hiatus last year really created an excitement and eagerness to get back into the theater again. It’s made me appreciate acting and directing and made me realize what’s really important to me.”
During the hiatus, Chiara ensured that Wig and Buckle members met weekly on a Zoom call, playing theater games and chatting about their favorite shows. Even without the joy of being physically together, the theater company was able to keep itself afloat through Chiara’s hard work.
From the Wig and Buckle stage, the place that Chiara affectionately calls her “second home,” she looks up to the ceiling and remarks, “There’s nothing I love more than theater. I’m so happy we are back doing what we love. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”