Week 2 wraps up...bring on Week 3

Happy Thanksgiving!!

In theatre, when I am working I often forget about things like stat holidays such as this one. If it weren`t for some of my non-theatre friends & family wishing me a happy thanksgiving, it is possible I would miss it altogether. I think I ended my last posting feeling thankful, at least.

As week 3 of rehearsals begins in only a few short hours, I think I can still say that I am thankful. I am more tired than last week that is for sure but I had an awesome sleep last night and really enjoyed my day off yesterday with my hubby and my pets.

Around the beginning of last weeks rehearsals I got nailed with a terrible head & chest cold...BANG!....super-fast and I had no warnings it was coming. Getting sick in my line of work is not really an option. I have only missed one performance in my whole career and that was years ago at The Shaw Festival, when I had an understudy who could come in and cover my track. Even still, I have lingering guilt about that. There is a work ethic that our business comes with and I think it is engrained in me on a cellular level. The old axiom `The Show Must Go On` is a reality in my world. So, with tissue box at my side, and numerous and liberal usages of hand-sanitizer I forged on with the week but at times, it really has felt like running in mud. My hubby was struck with the dreaded cold a day after me, but luckily he was on a week off and able to take care of the household chores which made life much easier for me. I figure from the time I leave the house in the morning until I get home at night, I am pulling around 12 hours per day....difficult to get healthy with those hours but I think the adreniline is helping a lot. This week he returns to work, so the days will get a bit longer...at least this morning I feel that the congestion has eased somewhat, so hopefully I`ll be past this soon!

The first week of rehearsals hadn`t quite finished when I published my last posting. It is incredible what can change in a matter of hours. Simply stated, one of our cast members decided to leave the production on Saturday. By Monday morning a wonderful actor was found to step into this role and the rehearsals have carried on beautifully. The professionalism and respect deployed by our director and artistic team to respond to this crisis was impressive. Our cast has taken this in stride and have warmly welcomed our new member.

The ability to respond and deal with unforseen circumstances is a key quality that any stage manager needs to have in their skill set. What makes theatre so exciting for me and for audiences is the simple fact that it is live...anything can happen. This adds a whole other element to story-telling that cannot be replicated in a movie theatre or on a television show. Everyone...actors, technicians, audience members, ushers...are all in the same room, at the same moment dealing with the reality of what is happening right then. It is the stage managers role to keep this experience on course, working in the moment to keep the vision of the director as well as the actors and designers intact as accurately and as safely as possible. I have had many crazy things happen on shows that have been up and in front of audiences and have had to respond in the moment to keep it all together. I have had many shows when fire alarms have forced the show to stop and building to be evacuated, I had an actress taken away from back-stage due to a cracked spine during a performance, I have moved a performance to a park and we performed under the glow of car headlights when a blackout struck one summer...I have even had to don costumes and go on stage and perform in order to keep the show going on. All things that are completely unexpected, yet on some level the stage manager needs to expect them and work with his or her team in order to get the job done.

When things happen in the rehearsal period, at the very least you do not have the pressure of being in front of an audience. The thing that does keep the pressure on is the clock. The rehearsal period for English theatre is very time-sensitive. We begin the rehearsal process on a specific date and the date of the first performance doesn`t move. Every day, every hour in the rehearsal hall is valuable. I work very hard with my director and my designers to maximize this time. In French theatre, the rehearsal process is stretched out over a much longer period and although they still have time as a factor, they don`t seem as pressured by it.

On this show, we have the added challenge of having a staggered start to rehearsals. Normally, the entire cast would begin on the first day and therefore be available to me for scheduling of wardrobe fittings, rehearsal of their various scenes etc. Today, two weeks into the process, I will finally have my full cast present and in rehearsals. With 10 children and 10 adults in the cast, this is a fairly big show with alot of work for our costume department. A number of our cast members are coming in from out of town so our costume designer will see some of them for the first time today....about a week and a half before costumes appear onstage with them. The work in the rehearsal hall is incredibly valuable and needs to be prioritized...but costumes are important as well. I have spent a great deal of time wheeling and dealing with my director and costume designer so that everyone`s needs are met. This will get a bit more difficult in the days to come as the clock keeps ticking. Thankfully, we have such a great team on this show and everyone is busting their butts to get the job done.

Also of note, today is the first day we begin rehearsing on the stage. This is an exciting day for me, but also one that contains some levels of stress. Always the first thing I get concerned about is safety. The set for this production is quite large with many levels and potential for accidents to happen. This morning, my assistant and myself need to comb the set for any issues that might endanger any of the people that will be working on it. Of course, this stess is off-set by my fantastic production manager and technical director who have put in many hours to make sure that the deck will be ready for this day. I have worked with these guys quite a bit in the past and feel very confidant that we will have a safe environment in which to work. Still, a stage manager`s eye is honed to detecting issues that might seem fine on the surface, but when you have someone moving around the space with a script in hand and their heads in the story, the smallest things can become a hazard. So we will spend the morning looking for any of these potential hazards, as well as placing various furniture bits and props before the cast members arrive.

The very exciting part of this type of staggered rehearsal period is that today I will be having my third first day of rehearsal.... It is exciting when the new cast members arrive and bring their energy and talents to a story we have been working so hard on to tell. It will be wonderful to hear the right voices be put to the lines that myself and Lori have been reading in for the past two weeks.

So...aside from my stuffy nose and tired bones, I am still very excited and inspired by this process. The long hours all pay off for me. I work very hard to get everything right every day and I make mistakes every day. I try to make each mistake an opportunity to learn and get better at what I do. If I stop doing that, then it would be time for me to move on and leave this work behind. But thankfully, that hasn`t happened. I still feel that tingle of excitement every morning as I begin my trip into the theatre.

So....here`s to week three!!!