A Look Inside 'The Medium': Schwob School of Music Brings Menotti to Springer's Stage

Written by Jada Smith

Images via Schwob School of Music

The Schwob School of Music brings Gian Carlo Menotti's two-act dramatic opera The Medium to the Springer stage! The show itself contains a cast of students from SSOM and professionals who have put in hours of hard work to bring this show to life.

The show follows the plot of Madame Flora, otherwise known as Baba, her daughter Monica, their mute servant Toby, and the trickery they use on their customers. Madame Flora is a ‘medium’ that claims to speak to the dead, using the likes of Monica and Toby to pretend to be her customer’s recently deceased, as we see with the likes of the Gobineaus and Mrs. Nolan. Despite her antics, Baba finds herself driven to madness as she’s haunted and attacked by a spirit amid her sleep, driving her down a mad spiral of fear, confusion, and drunken rage.

Being such a complex show, I took the time to sit down with some of the cast to ask about the process of bringing Menotti to the stage, starting with our guest artist who plays the role of Baba herself, Megan Potter.

When asked about developing and getting into the role of Baba, a character of textbook villainy, she had this to say,

“The thing is, she's not cruel without her own reasoning. She always has her own reason behind it, even though they're what we would consider wrong. Whenever I do a villain, that's always how I look at it, because a villain never thinks that they're a villain.”

In her work as the villainous Baba, she’s found that time with her beloved dog, Rosina, has aided in her work behind the scenes as a means to decompress from playing such an emotionally taxing role, saying,

“It’s been super important to me to have my pet with me, because having her and taking care of her and having someone when I'm doing my staging at home, going like, “Mom, what is wrong with you?”, has been really, really, really helpful. So I've learned that she is invaluable to me.”

Other cast members like Xzavier Mcghee who plays the role of Toby, had other ways of developing their character. Because Toby is mute, I was curious to know how one goes about bringing a silent character to life. Xzavier mentions the importance of working with the characters he interacts with the most, those being Baba and Monica. He says,

“A lot of it has to do with getting one-on-one time with the other actresses that I'll be working with, whether it's Baba for the more angry scenes or with Monica for the more intimate scenes.”

Another thing he points to is the importance of facial expression, saying,

“You have to really connect to a deeper place within yourself because, since you can't speak, you have to do a lot of things with your eyes. The audience has to be able to pick up on that and you know, your face is made of hundreds of muscles. So any little micro movement of anything can have an impact on the audience.”

For other actors like Rachel Ward and Colin Daniell playing the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau, the “couple” dynamic seemed to be easy for them to navigate the nuances of a marriage under strain. Rachel puts it simply, saying,

“It's kind of putting aside the friendship and going into a role where it's more of an intimate setting. But even then, because of what happened to my character, I feel responsible, and I feel like my whole demeanor has completely changed, and it has caused a rift in our relationship, and hopefully, you'll get to see that when we put it on stage.”

For Colin, a huge part of what made their couple come to life was being vulnerable and communicating with one another. He says,

“I think it just helps that we communicate these things, and just based on situations and circumstances as of recent, I know that we have to either dial it back or push it forward a lot more to make each other comfortable. The biggest thing is communication.”

With all the work they’ve put in, the outcome in their personal lives was a topic of discussion. For some, it was a matter of leaving the character on the stage and remembering that even with embodying this person, you aren’t them. For others, like Rachel, it created a greater sense of empathy for their other castmates, along with themselves. She says,

“Music is not something that we tend to look at in the vulnerable sense, but it is an incredibly emotional part of ourselves, and putting yourself out there like that is heavy. Getting to see everybody in those moments where, while we all kind of feel the same kind of way, I for myself, was able to emotionally connect so that we all could see each other at a level that was like, “Okay, we know what we all need.” ◾️

Performances dates are April 12, 2025, at 7:30pm and April 13, 2025, at 4:00pm. 

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