How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
When Tisch junior Erich Rettstadt was in high school, he came to NYU for a summer program in film and television, a subject he didn't know much about. At the time, his life revolved around theater. But by the end of the program, Rettstadt was sure he would be back in New York after graduation, finished with theater, studying film.
But old habits die hard.
After spending his freshman year at Tisch behind the scenes working on film projects for class, Rettstadt missed the thrills that come along with live performances — the late-night rehearsals, the warmth from the spotlights on stage, the instant gratification of the audience's laughter.
"My first year went by and I really missed doing theater," Rettstadt said. "So I started to look into what theater opportunities were available for non-drama majors at NYU."
On campus, he found too few opportunities to produce shows at a professional caliber similar to the ones put on by the renowned drama departments at Tisch and Steinhardt.
"I thought that NYU should have something its students do that should be as good, if not better, than what the school organizes and what the professors put together," Rettstadt said.
"C.A.S.T. and Gallatin Theatre Troupe are very good," he quickly added. "They put on shows and that's what we need. The more theater shows we can do, the better."
But Rettstadt, 20, envisioned NYU students putting on shows on a larger scale — say, at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on campus. He believes non-drama majors with a passion for theater, or even an interest in the craft, deserve a student-led theater club that would let them deliver Broadway-quality performances in professional venues.
Thereby begins the story of Tisch New Theatre, the club Rettstadt founded during his sophomore year.
After pitching the idea to two friends, who remain on the club's board today, Rettstadt said, "We figured out what we wanted to do, like stage readings of student works, master classes, events and then a spring mainstage."
As artistic director of TNT, Rettstadt would direct the club's first production, the 1960s British sex farce "Move Over, Mrs. Markham," and eventually give other students the opportunity to direct. Actors and crew members would be cast from all across the university; and though the club targets non-drama majors at NYU, drama students would not be turned away.
Before "Mrs. Markham" was performed this past April, no completely student-led theater production had ever bowed on the Skirball stage. The venue had previously hosted shows featuring all-student casts. But until "Mrs. Markham" opened last spring, Skirball had never presented a production designed, directed and performed completely by NYU students.
According to Rettstadt, a lot of "bureaucratic things" had to happen before TNT could book the venue for its inaugural production. Finding university-approved ways to raise the $13,000 the club needed to pay for rental of the Skirball space (for two nights alone) was a challenge. They were told the club could not accept donations, for example, because the school requires that money to go through the university's development office.
So after receiving a $3,000 Profunds Grant from Tisch, Rettstadt and his board sold advertisement space in their program, charged people who attended their master classes and held multiple fundraisers. "All that went toward it," Rettstadt said proudly.
Rettstadt and his Tisch New Theatre company members ultimately produced an incredibly hilarious, beautifully performed and immaculately designed "Mrs. Markham." The endless hours spent on the production paid off and this year, Rettstadt is ready to do it all over again with a button-pushing interpretation of the 1937 musical "The Cradle Will Rock," directed by Tisch senior Zi Alikhan.
Rettstadt has created NYU's most inclusive and professional student theater club to date. Whereas you may see a show by other university theater clubs because a friend is in it, you will want to see a TNT show because it's some of the best theater NYU has to offer.
Sitting atop the grand staircase at the Kimmel Center, just steps away from Skirball, Rettstadt said "Move Over, Mrs. Markham" was "the biggest thing I've ever done in my entire life."
He added: "And now the goal is to do that for other people. I want to keep that going in Tisch New Theatre."
