Tech. Week Quickie

I have been feeling a bit guilty for not submitting a new post in a while. Good intentions are the asphalt to hades I guess... but to be very honest, finding the time right now has been difficult.



I do find myself with a few moments this morning, so I thought I`d scribble down a few lines just to keep the old blog somewhat up to date.



A week and a half ago, we were finally joined by our full cast...adding the actors playing the roles of the Reverend, the Doctor and the house servants. As well, our team of kids playing the no-neck monsters were also thrown into the mix. This has been quite a process, to say the least. With 20 actors in the rehearsals, any extra time that I had back in our first week was suddenly gone. With folks joining us so much later in the process than is usual in a traditional rehearsal process, it made last week fairly intense for the stage management team. The urgency of getting fittings done for the new folks and still scheduling fittings for the ones that had already been with us has been pretty intense. Our wardrobe team and costume designer are super-heroes....working so very hard to get these garments ready and working with me on the fly to negotiate the little time we have left for rehearsal has been amazing.



As well, we have been working on our beautiful, complicated and large set since the newcomers` arrival. Making this a safe space in which to rehearse while work continues on it when we are not is a daily and sometimes hourly task. There are pros and cons to having the privilege of rehearsing on the actual set prior to tech. week. On the pro side, we are able to really fine-tune the blocking with a high level of precision. Sight lines can be easily checked, traffic issues and the use of the 3-dimensional geography are all much easier to negotiate for the director, actors and for stage management. Safety issues can be flagged early and solutions found long before we turn the work lights out and begin laying in cues. On the con side, it is difficult for the designer and the technicians to schedule their time around our rehearsals and make progress on the finishing touches yet to be done. Thankfully, with this show and this talented team of artists, most of our set elements are in place and most of the work yet to do is largely cosmetic in nature. Important stuff, for sure, but nothing that has limited our need to progress with rehearsals.



So, last week was yet another week of first days, new discoveries and new friendships being formed. The feeling that one senses from this cast is simply lovely. I was speaking with my director one night this week as we drove home together, following one of our very long days and we both commented on what a very warm and friendly group we have on this production. Not only do we have very talented people to tell this story, they seem to genuinely like each other`s company. I will often woosh through the green room on a break, rushing to the telephone or computer to work on scheduling or problem solve something, and I will catch the snippets of lively conversations and laughter that seems to be a constant thing on our breaks. Being able to count myself as a part of this group makes the long hours and lack of sleep totally worthwhile. It gives me so much more energy as I make the trip into the theatre each morning...I truly look forward to seeing each one of them.



The children add a whole other energy to the room. They have been working for two hours every rehearsal day, with at least one hour each day on the set, with the cast. It has been great seeing their process. They have noticeably moved from being a very high-spirited and at times unruly group to a more focused and hard-working bunch that are obviously pleased to be a part of this production. As they get more comfortable with their roles and all of these adults, the characters that they are bringing to the story are forming and it is getting easier to point them in the direction that we need.



Yesterday, we made it through our cue to cue session...12 hours of painstaking work, laying in the lighting, sound and video cues that will frame our story. We still have much work to do... just ask my lighting designer! With limited time, our goal yesterday was to lay in the large technical sequences in the show. We have things such as a sunset, a fireworks display and a large thunderstorm to create as well as some very stylized blackout entrances for each act to execute. This forced our cueing session to focus on the larger technical points in order to nail down safety issues for the cast who will be traversing the complicated geography of our set in total darkness and problem-solve any issues we have with these larger technical elements. We were successful in meeting this goal...we were able to cue all of these things right to the end of the show. For this, I am very pleased. What we haven`t been able to accomplish is to create and lay in the cues that fall in between these sequences. This is very difficult for the lighting designer. Guesses have to be made as to where we will be in the flow of the lighting when we hit the big moments. This means that we will scrape and scrounge any time in the schedule when we can work on the missing cues. I am confidant that we will find this time and now that I know what the actors have to deal with when they hit the stage in the more tricky moments, I can focus on getting the other cues in the book.



From what I have seen to this point....acting, direction, design and the writing itself, I am so confidant that we are going to have a gorgeous production from start to finish. I have had a very strong connection with this play for a very long time, (something that I would like to create a posting on sometime when I have more time). But for now, for me, who has loved this work of Tenessee`s for most of my adult life, I feel so honoured to be a part of this production. I think we are doing it justice and so much more. Our work moves me daily, and will continue to move me as we go deeper into it and ultimately, begin sharing it with an audience. We are a week away from our opening night. And although very tired and still struggling with this damn cold, I feel great....alive....inspired.