Theater Hangover

"Between the late nights and the pollen, I feel like I have a hangover," So said the Master Electrician this past weekend during one of our long days of tech for The Seafarer.

And I realized that that is how I felt as well.

Teching a show means adding lights, costumes, the set, real props, sound and everything else to the performances of the actors. It can be a slow, painstaking process as we set levels for sound or adjust lights so they are just right. Sometimes, tech can go quickly; the actors rehearse the show and the lighting designer might change lights around them. We work long days, however. Actors' Equity allows a theater to call actors for 10 hours out of 12 on two days preceeding the opening of a show. While these 10 out of 12s seem long to the actors, the rest of us are there much longer prepping the stage, lights, props, etc.

It can make a person go a bit batty as well. Spend hours in a dark room and then step outside into the blinding sunlight of spring. You forget that there is an entire world that exists outside of the play.

Of course spring means pollen which only adds to our woes as allergies are triggered. Late nights, dark rooms, pollen (and dust from the theater itself) and you can see why we sometimes feel hungover.

The upside though is that this play is going very well. We've been able to run the show quite a bit during tech. The director has moved on from tweaking lights to tweaking performances. Because things have run so smoothly, he is able to take apart certain scenes that have not worked well to find the truth in them. Perhaps it is a blocking thing: would that character move on that line? Perhaps it's an intention: when Richard asks that question, is he provoking Sharky? It's fascinating to watch as each moment is broken apart to find the honesty in it.

So hangover be damned! We have a show to put on. Although, I do wish that if I have to feel hungover, I at least had a couple of beers the night before.

What a Long Strange Tech it Was

For the past two weeks, I feel as if I have done nothing but live, eat, and breath Candide. It truly is one of the most grueling productions I have worked on. Terry Nolen, the Artistic Director of the Arden and the director of the production has said that this is the hardest of all possible musicals. And on top of it, we're doing it in the round and with chalk.

Yes, chalk...the actors write all over the set with chalk which means cleaning up the chalk. So the actors also mop up the stage. Much of tech week was spent working out what type of mops we should use and how damp the mops should be. I now know more about mops than I ever thought I wanted to.

But tech week wasn't just about mops, we also had to add in the fly cues, the sound cues, the costumes, the props and the light cues--all 400 of of them. It was a slow and tedious process but it had to be that way to ensure not only artistry but safety as well.

During the week of tech, actors are allowed to rehearse for 10 hours out of 12 on three consecutive days. This is in accordance with Actor's Equity Association (the union for stage actors and stage managers). Those three days spent in the darkened room of the theater can make one a bit loopy. I forgot what day it was and couldn't remember if I lived at the Arden and visited my home or if I was visiting the Arden.

The hours spent paid off though and the production is amazing. The team of designers, directors, orchestra members, cast and crew deserve a standing ovation for the feat they have pulled off while keeping their tempers under control. I don't even have any stories about people losing it and screaming.

At the opening last night, we said good-bye to many of the designers and directors who are off to other projects. We've left them at this station but the rest of us, the cast, orchestra, crew and I are going to chug on toward closing.