Grace Geller: Putting it all Together

Happy July 4th to everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. This was the first year I spent the 4th in Boston and it was beautiful! I got a spot with some friends on the Esplanade RIGHT in front of the barge. The fireworks (and Boston Pops) were amazing!

On Thursday I went to help ‘clean’ and add small touches to the set. I was under the impression this would mean sweeping (which it did), but was unaware I would also be given power tools – not my forte but I managed. I’ve been looking at the set model for weeks and enjoyed watching the elements come together. I don’t want to give anything away, but the set contains many surprises. As in “After the Quake,” where the story transitions from fantasy to reality, the set itself is full of magical transformations. Watch out for people and objects appearing out of nowhere!

As for rehearsals, we had a long break and are now in the theater! The set is mostly finished and so today we were able to play with all the different prop and set pieces. Unlike many plays where stagehands move elements of a set, such as chairs, in “After the Quake” the actors are the ones to change things. We spent a while today explaining all the transformative elements to the actors and working out kinks.

Besides using the set, tonight we also rehearsed a full run with music for the first time. We’ve added music to every section individually, but have never run through the whole play at once with all the music. Although we added a lot, the run went pretty well. It was also great to be able to hear the play – actors and musicians – and check the volume in the theater. The incorporation of music tonight went really well. The music feels very fluid and truly is a necessary character in the play.

This week we’re doing full run-throughs of the production leading in to tech next week. Because we’ve already worked in sound and set (which are normally two major components of tech week), hopefully tech will go pretty easily as we will mostly just have to work in lights.

I look forward to watching it for the next two weeks from every seat, every angle, to make sure every audience members gets the full experience. I’m so excited for the show to start! Buy your tickets! It’s going to be a great production.

See you there!

* Grace

The World Comes Together

First off, I just have to say that I forgot how much I absolutely adore walking through Boston at night in the summer. One of my favorite things to do. I was thinking about that as I walked to the T from rehearsal tonight and deciding exactly what I would write in this blog entry.

That being said, the show has grown so much it’s hard to believe we have so little time left before opening. I’ve spent the past week or so away from rehearsals. When I wasn’t off celebrating the fourth (hope you had a good one) I was helping Nick and Mark build the set. Now, I’ll be honest. When it comes to carpentry, I’m much better at building a quarter-inch scale model of a set than the “full scale model”, as one of my teachers fondly refers to it. I can work an X-Acto knife much better than a table saw. Still, it was nice to be back in a scene shop. I find the smell of sawdust oddly comforting. And it was nice to be able really feel progress coming along. I mean, watching the rehearsals you can see the actors get more and more into character each night. They truly are progressing, but for me I was really gearing to go. And it was great to be given a drill, some screws and wood and told to build a step, and then to have that step there. It’s a nice little ego boost.

Problem was, the scene shop was at the rehearsal space which is not near the theater. And so we had that day where we carried every piece of furniture into a uhaul, and then out of the uhaul and into the theater. I was reminded of carrying set from the stage of my high school to the back of the bomb shelter (yea we had one, it was creepy) where we stored things. But on load-in day, when I was doing my best to help carry the bed, I just kept thinking about those long walks with some obscure piece of set. I had a little nostalgic moment there. But once we had everything unloaded in the actual space I jumped immediately back to ATQ mode. Soon enough, this little world we’ve been talking about for months was actually taking shape. And once the painting started it just started to come together that much more. I helped a bit with the texture of the bamboo and Sean did a really great job making the floor actually look like bamboo. Props to him.

But now that I’m back in rehearsals I’m a bit baffled by how far they’ve come. It’s almost a completely different show, but in a great way. There was one moment tonight where Sydney screamed a scream of terror and I had completely forgot it was coming. I literally jumped. And though I’m only twenty, my innate maternal instincts went crazy. And then I was just impressed by the work they’re doing.

You’ll just have to see for yourselves what I’m talking about. I’m really glad I’ve gotten to see this show transform so much.

Have a good one!

Jessica

Nick Tosches: The Technical Side

Hello once again everyone out in internet land. A lot has happened since my last blog and since there is no sense in beating around the bush with pleasantries, so I shall get right down to business.

We started set build this week and things have been going awesomely. Mark asked me what project I would like to take on with the set, and after some thought I decided to work on the archway (it’s going to be a floating Japanese style pagoda roof/arch thing). I chose this project because I wanted to learn how to rig and hang something large that isn’t just a flat piece of scenery. So most of the job will be done during load in, but I succeeded in finishing building the frame work and 3 sides of the facing in only two days. Besides the set building, Mark has been teaching me the nuances of being a tech director from scheduling to what pieces of scenery are a priority and such. He has taken the time to discuss how to deal with designers and directors and how you can make their vision come true while doing your other duties, and this week’s lesson was that something should not fail simply from a lack of trying. Even though your first instinct may be to say no because what is designed or asked for seems impossible, impractical, or over budget, there is almost always a way to execute it.

So next week is looking to be just as fun and tiring as this week was, as we finish the set build and begin our load in. I am also looking forward to the designer run this weekend and hopefully we’ll be able to keep up this awesome pace that we have set for ourselves. See you all later around the blogosphere!

-Nick