Opening Night
Friday went well. After a hellacious Hell Week, during which we rehearsed until ten-thirty each night, a warm crowd gathered to greet the opening of The Hobbit at the Chesapeake Arts Center.
I run sound and fog for the show, which is a tech-heavy hour-long bastard of Tolkien's work. Imagine: it was produced with eight dwarves instead of twelve, though the 'unlucky thirteen' is made much of; elves are mentioned only once and never seen. The goblins are comic villans; Gollum was cast because the actor could imitate the voice of the movie actor, and did. She is nearly incomprehensible, but moves well. There is no mention of the mines of Moria, and nobody travels downriver in a barrel.
I have a few problems with the script, obviously.
The lighting design is nice, very moody, and helps create a 'set' using few pieces in many ways. The tech booth is crowded with the lighting tech, (Carla, mom to Garrett's pal Angelica who plays Balin the dwarf, and wife to Mark, who plays Gandalf), Stage Manager Extraordinaire Kelly (mother to Matt, playing Thorin Oakenshield, and wife to Tom in multiple roles...storytelller at the beginning, goblin in the middle, and the voice of Smaug towards the end), Tom, doing vocals on the mike, and then there’s me, fiddling with sound cues, both live and pre-recorded. Dot is outside the tech booth manning (womanning?) the spotlight. One whole side of the stage is lost to me, as I'm squashed behind the sound mixer, with the view further blocked by the spotlight outside. Fortunately, only two or three cues come from that side of the stage. The fog machine is also on that side of the stage.
The fog machine is cranky and it hates me.
Behind the scenes is Dee, working set changes, and assorted parents doing what can only be referred to as cat herding.
By Friday, we’re all exhausted. Some of us are sick. But we have a show, and it looks good. Everything runs according to plan, and our audience goes home happy.
After the cast takes a curtain call to the wildly improbable, highly illogical Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, it is time for treats. TechQueens high-five one another. Dot and I share a toast of wine in small pocket-sized bottles. There is birthday cake, it being Tom's birthday today. Garrett and I go to Friendly's for ice cream with the rest of the cast and our own personal entourage: Hawk, Alaina, Mother, and my friends Ginny and Spence. Ginny is my performance partner, Gigi, whom no one knows until she sends everyone a
link to her website where she posts pictures of Opening Night, but Spencer is something of a celebrity. He is Slash, of Hack and Slash, of Maryland Renaissance Festival fame. Groupies abound in this youngish, hip cast. (Not hipcast, Daddy. Hip cast.) They giggle and Spence blushes.
This week, in addition to our regular schedule of Friday night, Saturday matinee, Saturday night we have a Thursday night performance, for a group that I'm not at all sure will actually fit into the small theatre.
Wish us luck.
Er, on second thought, it's considered unlucky. Wish us broken legs instead.
I run sound and fog for the show, which is a tech-heavy hour-long bastard of Tolkien's work. Imagine: it was produced with eight dwarves instead of twelve, though the 'unlucky thirteen' is made much of; elves are mentioned only once and never seen. The goblins are comic villans; Gollum was cast because the actor could imitate the voice of the movie actor, and did. She is nearly incomprehensible, but moves well. There is no mention of the mines of Moria, and nobody travels downriver in a barrel.
I have a few problems with the script, obviously.
The lighting design is nice, very moody, and helps create a 'set' using few pieces in many ways. The tech booth is crowded with the lighting tech, (Carla, mom to Garrett's pal Angelica who plays Balin the dwarf, and wife to Mark, who plays Gandalf), Stage Manager Extraordinaire Kelly (mother to Matt, playing Thorin Oakenshield, and wife to Tom in multiple roles...storytelller at the beginning, goblin in the middle, and the voice of Smaug towards the end), Tom, doing vocals on the mike, and then there’s me, fiddling with sound cues, both live and pre-recorded. Dot is outside the tech booth manning (womanning?) the spotlight. One whole side of the stage is lost to me, as I'm squashed behind the sound mixer, with the view further blocked by the spotlight outside. Fortunately, only two or three cues come from that side of the stage. The fog machine is also on that side of the stage.
The fog machine is cranky and it hates me.
Behind the scenes is Dee, working set changes, and assorted parents doing what can only be referred to as cat herding.
By Friday, we’re all exhausted. Some of us are sick. But we have a show, and it looks good. Everything runs according to plan, and our audience goes home happy.
After the cast takes a curtain call to the wildly improbable, highly illogical Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, it is time for treats. TechQueens high-five one another. Dot and I share a toast of wine in small pocket-sized bottles. There is birthday cake, it being Tom's birthday today. Garrett and I go to Friendly's for ice cream with the rest of the cast and our own personal entourage: Hawk, Alaina, Mother, and my friends Ginny and Spence. Ginny is my performance partner, Gigi, whom no one knows until she sends everyone a
link to her website where she posts pictures of Opening Night, but Spencer is something of a celebrity. He is Slash, of Hack and Slash, of Maryland Renaissance Festival fame. Groupies abound in this youngish, hip cast. (Not hipcast, Daddy. Hip cast.) They giggle and Spence blushes.
This week, in addition to our regular schedule of Friday night, Saturday matinee, Saturday night we have a Thursday night performance, for a group that I'm not at all sure will actually fit into the small theatre.
Wish us luck.
Er, on second thought, it's considered unlucky. Wish us broken legs instead.
posted by Cybele at 1:00 PM
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