Opening Night

Well... we have made it to opening night! After 4 weeks of rehearsals and previews, a lot of hard work, a ton of emails, smashing props, purple toes, thousands of meeetings and mini-meetings we have arrived.

I am tired, inspired and ultimately incredibly proud of this show. I think that our wonderful director, our gifted and oh-so-sweet cast, our visionary designers and absolutely awesome technnical team have done Tennessee Williams proud. The show is gorgeous and hard to take your eyes off of. If you are in Montreal, it would be a shame to not catch this production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. It is a show I will always keep very close to my heart and I am sure that I will have tears in my eyes when we arrive at tonight`s curtain call. I am also confidant that we will have many in the audience feeling the same way.

I look forward to sharing with those of you reading, the adventures ahead of us as we run. The show most certainly doesn`t end after we open. This play will continue to grow and deepen with each and every performance and I am very excited to be a part of this ongoing process.

I send out much love, respect and thanks to everyone who have given their all to get us here!! And to all who will support us as we carry on to closing.

Merde!

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.

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!!!

Week One Wrap-up

Well, I am getting ready to head into the final rehearsal day of the week.... and I gotta say I`m dragging my ass a little bit. What can I say? I`m old, I guess. This is a deceptive little process, starting with only 3 cast members and adding more as we hit each new rehearsal week. I expected this week to be fairly quiet with lots of discussion around the table and me being able to get on top of a bunch of things outside of the rehearsal hall.

But no...we have been going at a great pace. As we head into today, we have a little bit of Act II to block and some of Act III, and this afternoon we will stumble through most of the play with our three principals this afternoon! For those who don`t know what blocking is, simply it is the director and cast working out the movements of the characters in each scene and me recording these movements into the prompt script. As well, Lori, my assistant stage manager is tracking how the props are set, used and moved around the set with an eye out for costume information.

This is fantastic!! I think I am going to have a very pleased director on my hands. We will have hit his goals for this week and put us in great shape when we add the next 3 cast members next week....Big Mama, Mae & Gooper. The play largely sits on the storylines of Maggie, Brick and Big Daddy and having worked out much of their paths through the piece gives us a wonderful skeleton on which we will build the remainder of the show.

As well, we have had a production meeting at which all of the departments are present and information and progress is shared, two video meetings as we have a beautiful video element to the show that will enhance the environment of the play and a props meeting...and there are quite a few props in this show, some pretty tricky. We have had 3 initial wardrobe fittings with more to come and have published 2 sets of production notes.

Production notes are put in a document that stage management sends out. We gather any and all information that comes out of the rehearsals and try very hard to clearly describe this information for each department. The writing of the notes is a very important part of my job as I see it. Having a document with accurate and respectful language is key to keeping everyone on the same page and it is always wise to have a record of what information has been relayed to who. (or is it whom?...does anyone else use whom anymore?) I spend a great deal of time on this piece of paper and make sure that my assistant is with me when I create it so that I get all of her information as well. There are always things that I will miss as the rehearsal hall is rocking and rolling and I depend on her eyes and ears very much. It is important to keep in mind that what you write has an impact on those reading it. This impact can be very positive but it can also be very negative as well. Respect and diplomacy always need to be incorporated into this document. Each person on the team is an artist in their own respect and take pride in the work that they do. Someone may spend hours trying to get something just right, only to read their email the next day telling them that it is wrong or it has been cut. That hurts. I think the stage management team needs to always keep this in mind when information needs to go out and it is worth wrestling each and every sentance you put down on the page.

Aside from the written information, I very much believe in connecting with the departments face to face, whenever possible. I always go over the notes with the director before publishing them... a note may be stated in the rehearsal hall that really doesn`t need to go out at that time, or the director may have changed their mind since giving the note. With larger notes....things that may have budgetary considerations like adding or modifying an element of the show, should also be talked about with the production manager and designer whenever possible. Having a conversation can often ease the blow of these bigger notes and further clarify an issue that is difficult to put into accurate wording in a document. Besides this, most people would rather have a conversation than receive a piece of paper that greatly impacts their art and hard work.

These conversations aren`t always possible due to busy schedules and such, but I make the effort whenever possible. I began stage managing long before the internet, email and even cell phones which made communicating all that much more difficult. These tools are invaluable to a stage manager today and give me the chance of having more detailed communication with folks outside of the production notes document.

So...all of this adds up to the fact that it has been a busy week! And a great week as well! I am even more excited and honoured to be a part of this production now. The work in the rehearsal hall has been inspiring and exciting. This play continues to fascinate me and to see these characters come to life in front of me at the hands of a skilled director and very talented actors is.........well, it is why I do this job. I find this process so very interesting and it gets me to drag my tired, 41 year old ass outta bed each morning so I can be there, in that room watching and helping this vision come to life. Our artistic team is also rocking out such a gorgeous space for this story to occur....the world that these characters will inhabit will be poetic, beautiful...from the floorboards to the clothes on their backs.

There is so much yet to do. Many hurdles to jump (hopefully more successfully than Brick does in the play) and many more long days. But I am energized and ready to take it all on. I look forward to my precious one day off tomorrow and will be happy to sit myself down once again on Monday behind the script.