Tech Rehearsal

I applaud my designers and director. Paper tech, dry tech, and wet tech all in one day? It is a feat. Yes, we have a total of roughly seven light cues but still, wonderful work. We've had some issues with the set here and there, and we still don't know exactly where we are getting chairs for seating but it'll come together. Our actors were dismissed after just an hour and a half tonight. Now that's efficiency.

I will say this: ah, the perils of a found space. I think the cast is really getting settled in nicely to finally being in the performance space but set up and tear down is quite the process. According to our contract through our producing body Student Theatre Productions (STP), we have to be able to tear down and store our set every night so as not to be in the way of any thing else that might be in that space (usually classes or other productions). That is true of all levels of productions through STP because we simply do not have a space of our own to use. The College of Fine and Preforming Arts (CFPA) is kind enough to let us use this weird space, but, of course that means some extra interesting challenges to work through.

Behind our playing space are three massive mirrors that need to be covered. If we do not cover them, the light will reflect off the mirrors and interrupt the actors and distract the audience. So there is a necessity to cover the mirrors. The challenge is not really how to cover the mirrors or what to cover them with (black paper, if you are curious) but coordinating the schedule of set up and take down. Danielle is prepared with jobs and we have sufficient time. Then the issue becomes storage. Being, once again, in this weird space we don't have any storage at all. We will be storing props and set pieces in our stage manager's (Kayley) car.

Today, all of it seemed to come together. We're moving into dress rehearsals tomorrow. We have a preview scheduled for Wednesday night, and our shows are Thursday and Friday.

(I've decided) The tagline for the shows:
The apocalypse is coming...
But don't worry. It's a good thing.

meet the family

As of Decemebr 6th our entire team was set. Since then, however, we've hit our first snag as a production team. Our lighting designer had to drop out due to some conflicts. Crisis averted quickly though. Within a day or two we had another lighting designer ready to step in. Then, a couple of days ago, our set designer told us she will be spending a couple of quarters at another college in California but was still willing (and exciting) to work on this project. It would just have to be via email and other electronic communications. Although she will not be here in body, I breathed a sigh of relief that she would still be involved. Currently, we're discussing adding an assistant designer to make sure her ideas come to play even if she is not here. So once again, it seems we are set with our production team. I will admit, however, I hold my breath for a minute every time I open my email.

Due to the non-traditional space, it is important that we have all of our designers. Our lighting desiginer has a challenge as we do not have lighting instruments already in the space. Instead we are banking on the fact that we can borrow instruments and make interesting use of the lighting already provided by the space. The same concept applies for the set designer. The space is a lobby into the theatre meaning, that while architectually interesting, there are no set pieces that come as a function of the space. Furthermore, contractually, we have to be able to strike the set after every rehearsal/performance in the space, finding some place to store them or returning the pieces to their original home.

These are obstacles I am confident we can overcome and will ultimately add to the production. And with that our production team is as follows:
Stage Manager: Kayley Page
Set Designer: Audrey Ugrin
Lighting Designer: Ryan Bahm
Costume Designer: Natalie Kruger

Props Designer: Bethany Fromong

Sound Designer: Jeremiah Paulsen

And of course, myself (Samantha Cooper) as the writer and Danielle Pettet as the director. When I started thinking about proposing this project to Student Theatre Productions (STP) here at Western Washington University, I knew it would be important to find a director who I could trust. Before this last summer, I knew very little of Danielle. Then, we spent two weeks together traveling through Italy and Greece with a few other people. For 13 days we were probably no more than 10 feet apart. After that, it's either love or hate. But we found that we got along really well. As the trip came to a close, I mentioned this project and Danielle seemed immediately interested. Once school started up again, I contacted her to see if she was still interested. She was and from there we've been working on these plays for (what seems like) non-stop for two or three months. We worked through finding designers together, talking to STP board members, and ultimately submitting the proposal together.

Working with new works is a challenge in and off itself, especially with the playwright in the room. And also, when you begin the process as friends. As we began our working relationship, we strove to make sure we both act professionally and hold each other accountable for our actions. From the beginning, we discussed past experiences in theatre and what we wanted out of this project. Together, we drafted a Playwright/Director contract to give some guidelines to our working relationship and hopefully open honest lines of communication.

Danielle and I both have a lot to learn, this being our first times being on the "other side of the table", so to speak. As actors, we usually have very little contact with the production team or what goes on in those meetings. Now, Danielle will be running these meetings and I'll be trying to figure out how to participate creatively as a writer. We both discuss how our challenge is really letting go and remember that we have people to help us: danielle with the production team and me with Danielle and the production team...and soon the actors.

Our first production meeting is January 5th. And so the journey begins...

P.S. You can follow Danielle's journey as a director at http://apocalypseplayz.blogspot.com/.