For artists at Choate, gaining insight into the professional artistic world provides them with a sneak peek into what their future paths could look like. On October 5 and 6, theater students were granted the opportunity to meet and work with Mr. Bill Fennelly, a nationally acclaimed stage director.
Mr. Fennelly holds a Master of Fine Arts in directing from the University of California, San Diego, and a Bachelor of Music in musical theater performance, directing, and dramatic writing from The Hartt School, University of Hartford. He is a theater faculty member at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he worked with the current Choate Arts Department Head, Mrs. Sandra Parks.
Mr. Fennelly’s work has been viewed in a myriad of locations: on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on television, and in theaters around the world. Most notably, he worked on The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm, the touring company of The Lion King, Jersey Boys, the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, and Cirque du Soleil.
Upon Mr. Fennelly’s arrival to campus, he visited rehearsals for the two upcoming fall theater productions as well as Choate’s directing and acting classes. In his directing workshop, Mr. Fennelly focused on how directors can use status, or power dynamic between characters, as an active tool in rehearsals. He also emphasized the importance of bringing the director’s point of view into their work in what he describes as a “deeply personal approach to dramatic analysis.”
In his acting workshops, Mr. Fennelly analyzed monologues and musical theater lyrics with students. He also introduced them to “exacting,” an approach that identifies formal language elements in a text that can serve as a springboard for intentional acting choices.
Mr. Fennelly shared these tools with students because they have helped him grow and create work as an artist. “I wanted to share that with the students so they could understand the power to shape one’s work is really in their hands,” he said.
The opportunity to speak with a director of such high caliber deeply excited theater Arts Concentration Students, including Jordan Dodd ’25, Candace Beverly ’25, and Justyce Easter-Butcher ’24, who were able to dine with Mr. Fennelly after their workshop. “I think the opportunity to speak with the director was very enlightening,” Dodd said. “He really dropped some good advice to help us, as he said, and I quote, [to] ‘stay in it.’”
Beverly added, “What I enjoyed most about the workshop that we did with him was all the different terminology that he taught us in regards to analyzing text when you’re getting ready to act.” Easter-Butcher ’24, who was in the directing class that Fennelly visited, praised the central theme of Mr. Fennelly’s lessons. Their biggest takeaway was: “No matter what I do, the way I direct something is going to be very different from the way someone else will, and that in and of itself tells a story that may have been told before and is very much worth being told.”
The students were not alone in their gratitude for the experience. Mr. Fennelly spoke very highly of the students, saying, “I appreciate the intellectual curiosity and rigor that I encountered here. Everyone was deeply curious about what I was sharing with them.”
Mr. Fennelly is passionate about helping young artists explore and reach their potential. “I think one of the things that’s so valuable about what we do in the arts is that we create spaces for people to try new things, and sometimes fail,” he said. “But then, we give them the support and the tools to get back up and try again.”
Both Beverly and Dodd mentioned how Fennelly’s story and message of never giving up on your dreams inspired them. While the theater business is filled with waiting for opportunities and uncertainty, Dodd learned that “waiting is okay, as long as you get to do what you love.”
