Layer Cake

Jason Bowen, Magda Spasiano and the Boston Arts Academy students have started their tech process!

I went to rehearsal on Tuesday afternoon to sit in on their last run through before going into tech. The previous week, Jason and Magda had met to go through the script and pencil in where they envisioned light and sound cues being placed. So I could already see some of the layers being built around the text. At least on paper. Tuesday I walked into the theater first, not knowing where the rehearsal was to take place and the new layers started to jump out at me. Jenna Lord, the scenic designer and one of the tech teachers at BAA, was in the theater painting the floor with three of her students. And it is stunning. The floor consists of swirls of bright color with poles of brightly colored limbs to represent the forest into which the lovers flee. The energy Jenna has managed to convey with this set exactly matches the energy the actors bring to Shakespeare's text.

After exploring the set, I walked over to the rehearsal room to watch the run and work a bit more with the student Stage Manager. The work she has done is just fantastic for a first time stage manager - her blocking can be understood by everyone who needs to reference it (actors, the director, designers), she keeps track of where everyone enters and exits and where they hide in between. We worked on creating props tracking paperwork and we talked through how to write sound and light cues into the stage management book. (SQ A & LQ3!). Russ Swift, the lighting designer for BAA, sat down with us at the stage management table to watch a run through and penciled the lighting cues Magda & Jason had placed into his script. So before the run through had even started, I could see two more layers being added to the text - set and lights.

The room, full of teenagers and adults, felt like a top spinning out of control - the students started their rehearsal time by warming up, Jason checking in with different people, everyone seeking his attention at once...and the NOISE. The kids have SO much energy and it is simply uncontrollable. Uncontrollable, that is, until Jason called places. It started to get more quiet and then the Stage Manager called "lights up" and complete silence fell. As soon as the actors started speaking Shakespeare's words, every single eye was glued to the stage, every word spoken in the room was Shakespeare's. The change was, quite simply, astounding.

As they moved through the play, I could see other layers that have been added. The first fairy entrance consisted of singing and dancing so I knew Sarah Hickler, choreographer extraordinaire had been there to work with the fairies. Then Oberon entered, wearing pieces of his costume - that would be Seth Bodie, costume designer and another tech teacher at BAA, hard at work. The actors executed the fight choreography that Robert Walsh had taught them a couple of weeks ago beautifully and different props started to make their appearance (a collaborative effort between Jason, Magda, Seth, Jenna, and ASP's Production Manager, Jason Ries). So even before the production started tech, I could see at work just how many people it took to bring the words to life. The kids could have stood in the dark in their street clothes speaking the text and it still would have been beautiful and their passion and talent would still have shown through. But now they have a foundation of the work of other gifted artisans to work upon. Tech started this morning - I can't wait to see it all put together as a whole!

More soon.
Adele Nadine Traub
Manager of Artistic Operations