Keeping it Real

On September 9, 12 NYU Shanghai students took to the stage at the Himalaya Art Center for a 90-minute musical performance that has become an NYU tradition.

The Reality Show, which is performed by upper-classmen at the beginning of each academic year, draws on personal experiences and issues reflecting the broader NYU community to raise awareness of the university’s 24-hour hotline service that provides counselling and support for students.

The actors performed sketches to highlight a range of situations new students may encounter,  from academic pressure and homesickness to relationship issues and cultural collision, handling the topics with humor that had the freshman class in stitches.  

After the performance, student publication Flame Dialogue caught up with three actors from the cast -- Jack, Zeyao, and Miki -- about their inspiration and preparations for the show.

Q: How did you create the show from scratch?

The performance topics that we touch upon are decided by the three campuses. Each cast makes adaptations according to each campus’ unique situations. After getting the topics, everyone begins to compose, write lyrics, and brainstorm ideas. We continue to discuss the lyrics, composing, choreography, and screenwriting during the whole process. It is all about teamwork.

Q: What are the most challenging difficulties during rehearsal?

During the three-month rehearsal period, we encountered lots of difficulties. For example, how can we explore the best ways to handle and present sensitive and serious topics? We wanted to be thought-provoking but also keep the right balance. When the audience watched our performance, what they saw might have looked happy and trouble-free, but the working process was very difficult. Some topics can be heavy, but the songs were written with a light touch. Because our Reality Show is categorized as musical comedy, we wanted to convey positive and happy spirits.

Q: Last year at this time, the sophomore cast were also freshmen just entering college. From sitting in the audience to acting on stage, you must feel differently.

Completely. When you watch a show, you sit there feeling relaxed and unworried. But when you stand on stage acting, you feel every minute, every second passing by. The director of the show told us, “even if you stand at the back of the stage where audience can barely see you, you should still devote one hundred percent of your passion to acting.” So when we do a scene about the topic of the internet, the actors who are standing behind keep taking selfies to be a perfect backdrop. As an actor, you should want to interact with people. Every second on stage is sacred.

One of my sophomore classmates said that last year they only half-understood what the show was about, but this year they were able to laugh at all the jokes. I think this is not just happening because of their English has improved, but also students accumulate a lot of life experience after one year studying at NYU Shanghai.

This article was first published on Flame Dialogue and has been edited. Flame Dialogue (weilu_flame) is the WeChat account co-founded by students from NYU Shanghai, the University of Hong Kong, Fudan University, City University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong.