Lights, camera, action!
This fall, Haldane Drama put on a production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” As students may have seen on the bulletin board, online, or in the program, members of the cast each had a professional photo taken of them in makeup and costume that captured their characters. Additionally, students were photographed candidly during dress rehearsals and shows, immortalizing their performance. Haldane Drama is beyond lucky to have a talented and willing photographer like Jim Mechalakos to capture these moments for the actors and their families. Mechalakos is a keystone member of the Haldane Drama community, working primarily behind the scenes in photography and music production. He is the husband of Martha Mechalakos, Haldane Dra ma’s devoted director. Outside of his volunteer work as a photographer for Haldane Drama, Jim Mechalakos is a medical physicist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and has a PhD in particle physics.
Before Haldane Drama, Mechalakos had no interest in photography and had never touched a camera. His first show was Haldane’s 2013 production of “Our Town” (repeated in 2023), where he set up a white sheet on stage as a backdrop and took headshots with an old point-and-shoot camera. He’s been dedicated to producing his best work for the program ever since.
Haldane’s 2017 performance of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time” is Mechalakos’ favorite Haldane Drama show so far. “First of all, there was so much technical stuff that went into that, and I, personally, put weeks into it. And I just thought the story was just so uplifting. The one thing I remember about that show is when we did it for the middle school, and it’s like, ‘Oh, the middle school, oh my God, that’s going to be the toughest audience in the world!’ They were standing up. They gave us a standing ovation. They stood up and cheered… Oh my God, the power of that show.” This play held personal significance to Mechalakos because of its beauty and emotional and communicative power to move audiences of all sorts.
Mechalakos sees the importance of what programs like these do. “Why do I think theaters are important? It’s the only thing that puts us in touch with our own souls, you know what I mean?” Mechalakos continued, “We find ourselves through finding other people. The theater is live, and I just think that’s missing these days because everybody’s on the phone, everybody’s [watching] television. But when you do theater, it’s life.”
Art is just one of the many things that can bring people together. Not just the cast and crew but everyone who gives their support in any form. Theater brings joy to all parties- it gives the audience something to enjoy and the collaborators something to be proud of. Haldane Drama is lucky to have devoted contributors like Jim Mechalakos, who elevate the overall enjoyability and aesthetics of the productions.
