Tonight was our second preview and it ended up being sold out! What a great crowd-they definitely seemed to know the play well, laughing a lot and making for a terrific audience. It was lovely to see an audience enjoying the show so much. Let's hope all future audiences are this good.
Before the show started, I ended up backstage having my dinner and being amazed by all that was going on an hour before the show started. I got my own little Preview Backstage Show. Vivian and Camilla, the amazing assistant stage managers, who have also spent hours and hours at the theatre, were presetting props, vacuuming, organizing the food for the show, checking running lists and doing a million other things that only they and our organized stage manager, Tori, know have to be done. Molly was steaming the costumes, while Ashley preset the costumes needed in all the different places for the show. The actors were all onstage warming up and doing their fight call, which means they mark through all the fights onstage before the show starts to ensure everyone feels safe and prepared. Stuart was checking the sound, Tori was checking the lights and Front of House was briefing the ushers on all they need to know before the house opens. It truly is amazing to see how much has to get done in that short hour before the audience arrives. It was a show in itself.
Kristen van Ginhoven
Assistant Director
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tech Weekend Success
We did it! We teched the whole play over our two 'ten our of twelve' days! This means we had Saturday and Sunday, between 11am and 11pm to get through every single cue in the show that involved technical elements; lights, sound, costume, props, violence, movement, etc...
Leading up to tech weekend, Scott, the lighting designer, and his team had been in the space hanging and focusing lights while Molly and Ashley, the co-costume designers, worked extremely hard (while Molly was sick with the flu!) to pull together all the costumes. Not to mention Elizabeth, the props master, who was out searching for the final props, things like a popcorn machine and dog biscuits! Adam, the sound designer, has been in and out of rehearsal since the beginning, playing with sound and finalizing the locations for the speakers, while Jason, the set designer (as well as production manager of ASP) would often start working on the set as we were finishing rehearsal! So, suffice it to say, everyone has been working very, very hard to get this show ready for tech weekend. The result of that is that it all went very smoothly. Melia was pleased with all the looks and the production meetings each night were the shortest I've ever experienced. For those of you who don't know, the actors get to go home at 11pm, but the whole production team has to stay behind and have a production meeting, where Jason leads a meeting to go over any details that still need to be looked at by the team. Amazingly, these only lasted about twenty minutes (I've sometimes been in some that run over an hour). A real testament to how hard everyone has been working.
For me, I think the best thing about tech weekend is always how everyone really has time to be in the space and be with each other. It is amazing to see the show come together with all its elements and to put the final touches on the acting moments and the design elements. It is always a special time for those involved in a show and this one was no exception to that. There is always a magical feeling about tech weekend.
Onwards and upwards to the dress rehearsals and then, the previews where we get to share what we've created with an audience. Cannot wait!
Kristen van Ginhoven
Assistant Director
Leading up to tech weekend, Scott, the lighting designer, and his team had been in the space hanging and focusing lights while Molly and Ashley, the co-costume designers, worked extremely hard (while Molly was sick with the flu!) to pull together all the costumes. Not to mention Elizabeth, the props master, who was out searching for the final props, things like a popcorn machine and dog biscuits! Adam, the sound designer, has been in and out of rehearsal since the beginning, playing with sound and finalizing the locations for the speakers, while Jason, the set designer (as well as production manager of ASP) would often start working on the set as we were finishing rehearsal! So, suffice it to say, everyone has been working very, very hard to get this show ready for tech weekend. The result of that is that it all went very smoothly. Melia was pleased with all the looks and the production meetings each night were the shortest I've ever experienced. For those of you who don't know, the actors get to go home at 11pm, but the whole production team has to stay behind and have a production meeting, where Jason leads a meeting to go over any details that still need to be looked at by the team. Amazingly, these only lasted about twenty minutes (I've sometimes been in some that run over an hour). A real testament to how hard everyone has been working.
For me, I think the best thing about tech weekend is always how everyone really has time to be in the space and be with each other. It is amazing to see the show come together with all its elements and to put the final touches on the acting moments and the design elements. It is always a special time for those involved in a show and this one was no exception to that. There is always a magical feeling about tech weekend.
Onwards and upwards to the dress rehearsals and then, the previews where we get to share what we've created with an audience. Cannot wait!
Kristen van Ginhoven
Assistant Director
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Stage Combat and Sausage Tests
The other day at the boutique where I work, my boss came by as I was reading the rehearsal report from the previous evening. She noticed on Tuesday's schedule that there would be a sausage test and a water throwing test and asked me what that meant. I told her that they were planning to do bits with those objects in the show and had to figure out/practice the most effective way of making them happen. The actors, Melia, stage management and possibly even the designers had to take time to figure out what method cleans up the most easily, what is the safest for the actors and the audience, and what looks the most real. To illustrate the point, I told her about a rehearsal where I watched Robert Najarian, the violence designer, teach Sarah (Kate) how to look like she was kicking Ben (Petruchio) without hurting him. Quite bit of time was spent showing Sarah where to safely place her foot, having her practice bending her knee mid-kick which made it look crueler but was actually safer. During my rather animated descriptions (including a demonstration), a co-worker of mine began laughing. "You have the coolest, weirdest job ever," she told me.
Katie Rasor
Dramaturg
Katie Rasor
Dramaturg
Monday, October 5, 2009
My first ASP Open Rehearsal
This past Saturday was my first experience with an ASP Open Rehearsal. What a great idea! We had about forty people show up to watch an hour of rehearsal, where we presented about twenty minutes of the show and then had a question/answer session. It was very illuminating for us as we had some specific questions about sightlines/comprehension of our 'frame', etc. Plus, we got to eat some great snacks!
No one mentioned any problems with sightlines and Melia is continually sitting in different places to see how the staging works for all audience members, so it seems we are on the right track with the staging. There was an inspiring discussing about how we use the induction in our production. Some audience members remained unsure how they felt about our choice of frame for the 'play within the play' and some were enthusiastically encouraging us to go 'as crazy as we could' with it because it is a part of the play as William Shakespeare wrote it and without it, we wouldn't be doing William Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew'. A dynamic discussion to be sure and well worth having.
Hopefully all those who came today will return to see the full production. It would be great if we could then have another question/answer session with them as well to get their thoughts after seeing the full production post opening!
Kristen
Assistant Director
No one mentioned any problems with sightlines and Melia is continually sitting in different places to see how the staging works for all audience members, so it seems we are on the right track with the staging. There was an inspiring discussing about how we use the induction in our production. Some audience members remained unsure how they felt about our choice of frame for the 'play within the play' and some were enthusiastically encouraging us to go 'as crazy as we could' with it because it is a part of the play as William Shakespeare wrote it and without it, we wouldn't be doing William Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew'. A dynamic discussion to be sure and well worth having.
Hopefully all those who came today will return to see the full production. It would be great if we could then have another question/answer session with them as well to get their thoughts after seeing the full production post opening!
Kristen
Assistant Director
Friday, October 2, 2009
What's in a Name?
Last night as we were working Act V, scene 1, I was enjoying Lucientio's speech about how his love for Bianca changed him into Cambio (his alias as her tutor) and then back again. An Italian speaker in the cast (I believe it was Ben) pointed out that Cambio means "change," which we all thought was cool. It got people wondering, what does Hortensio's false name as the music tutor mean? It must have an equally symbolic origin!
Thus began my hunt. My first breakthrough was that a typo in our version of the script had had me on the wrong track from the start as I thought that the name was spelled "Licio" when it should have been "Litio." I think this explained why my intital searches didn't yield much! Armed with the correct spelling, it didn't take long to find the answer: While "Cambio" highlights the literal and metaphorical changes in Lucentio on his quest for Bianca's love, "Litio" simply means "onion."
Katie Rasor
Dramaturg
Thus began my hunt. My first breakthrough was that a typo in our version of the script had had me on the wrong track from the start as I thought that the name was spelled "Licio" when it should have been "Litio." I think this explained why my intital searches didn't yield much! Armed with the correct spelling, it didn't take long to find the answer: While "Cambio" highlights the literal and metaphorical changes in Lucentio on his quest for Bianca's love, "Litio" simply means "onion."
Katie Rasor
Dramaturg
Welcome to Taming of the Shrew!
Welcome to the first blog post for 'Taming of the Shrew'! We are now in week three of rehearsal and there are more and more laughs every day. Without giving too much away, this is definitely going to be a funny show! For those of you out there who know the play, the induction plays a big part in our production. Many times, the induction is cut out of the script, but Melia (the director) came into this show with a really imaginative idea about how to use the induction to serve our production and we've been having fun putting that into practice since rehearsals started. It's been such a blast seeing the actors, designers and crew playing around with the idea and creating this terrific environment in 'The Garage' performance space at 38 JFK Street.
Just last night, for example, two of the actors had us in stitches as we staged Act 5 scene 1, where the real Vincentio and the fake Vincentio come face to face. The two actors playing the parts, Michael Forden Walker and Craig Mathers, had such a blast playing around with what actually happens when the two men see each other for the first time that those of us watching got a great show for free!
Suffice it to say there has not been a lack of laughter in the rehearsal room. Hopefully the audience will have as good a time watching it as we are having putting it together.
Kristen van Ginhoven
Assistant Director
Just last night, for example, two of the actors had us in stitches as we staged Act 5 scene 1, where the real Vincentio and the fake Vincentio come face to face. The two actors playing the parts, Michael Forden Walker and Craig Mathers, had such a blast playing around with what actually happens when the two men see each other for the first time that those of us watching got a great show for free!
Suffice it to say there has not been a lack of laughter in the rehearsal room. Hopefully the audience will have as good a time watching it as we are having putting it together.
Kristen van Ginhoven
Assistant Director
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