Kara E. Kaufman ’08 has a difficult time staying still. As she walks briskly past the stage at the Loeb Drama Center, the former rhythmic gymnast may just as well have been on a landing mat, about to launch into a somersault. She sits down on the edge of a seat and restlessly gazes at the stage.

The senior has been stage-managing for the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) for the past four years and served as president last year. In addition to learning more about the process of theater production, Kaufman has grown personally from her experiences behind the scenes. “I’ve definitely become more confident, and I’ve developed a much louder speaking voice, necessary when trying to quiet down a cast of 20,” she says.

Kaufman’s attention detail and caring attitude makes her especially sensitive toward her cast and crew. She is aware of every detail of a particular show, down to the most important items to bring to a rehearsal. “Painkillers and tissues are top of the list,” she says.

Though Kaufman acted in small roles in high school productions, she never planned to actively pursue theater at Harvard. Upon the encouragement of several Freshmen Arts Program (FAP) proctors who were involved in theater, Kaufman auditioned at Common Casting and soon found herself in the positions of assistant producer, assistant stage manager, and stage hand for various productions.

By the spring of Kaufman’s freshman year, one of her FAP proctors asked her to stage-manage his thesis production of “The Oresteia.” Since then, she has stage-managed every show on the Loeb Mainstage.

As stage manager, Kaufman has the administrative role of organizing the cast and crew. While the director provides the vision and driving force behind a show, Kaufman makes sure that everything runs smoothly.

“The stage manager is the one making sure that it all happens,” she says. “I execute. It’s making it happen, and making sure it happens right.”

Whether she sits aloft in the booth to call light and sound cues, takes notes on blocking, or schedules rehearsals for her cast, Kaufman focuses on the technical and logistical aspects of production to allow the director and actors to realize their creative vision.

“Even though it’s not my baby, I feel like I’m the one caring for it,” she says about working on a production. “It’s really the stage manager that knows the show best, I think.”

Kaufman is always first to arrive before rehearsals to check costumes or sweep the floor. As stage manager, she knows a show the best and is sensitive to the subtle gestures of an actor or cadence of speech.

A good production, Kaufman says, may derive its greatness from the audience’s personal involvement in the show, the acting quality, a cohesive design, or the story-telling experience.

“It’s different for everyone,” she says. “Good theater is impossible to describe, but you always know it when you see it...It’s the one kind of art that is never the same twice.”

That said, Kaufman at times has felt a lack of enthusiasm toward theater from the Harvard community. This feeling is sometimes amplified by disappointing turnouts for Mainstage productions.

“We have this huge beautiful theater, 556 seats. . . I’ve never seen a full-house student production. We’ve had houses in this theater of 20 people,” she says.

Despite long hours rehearsing, Kaufman has no regrets about her devotion to the theater community.

“We all are obviously here for academics, but I think coming into the rehearsal room after class and working together to create something physical, to bring something to life is really different from the work most of us do academically.”

Kaufman has “vague” post-graduation plans, though she would like to work in the production or administrative side of theater. When thinking about the prospect of not being involved in Harvard’s drama scene after graduation, she pauses and blinks.

“It’s almost impossible to think of not being here next year,” she says. “It’s weird to think of doing this sort of work anywhere else.”

Four years of immersion in the HRDC community has created lasting connections. Kaufman met most of her closest friends through HRDC, and the literature concentrator’s thesis even involved a translation of a French play into English. But for Kaufman, nothing rivals the moment of satisfaction when a production comes together.

“Seeing something that beautiful and moving that you’ve envisioned in your head actually come to life in front of you is unlike anything else,” she says.

Kaufman looks away, gently placing her hand against her chest as though feeling for an answer. “It’s magical.”

—Esther I. Yi