Home.

(left to right) Artistic Director Ken Gass, Assistant Director Briana Brown and Lighting/Set Designer Bretta Gerecke.

Photo by Brad Fraser.

Interview with Actor Andrew Craig

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/theatre/article/699970

Entering the Home Stretch...

All reports indicate that the first preview on Saturday went extremely well. The actors, stage management team and Brad all seemed very pleased.

Today is our day off, and a much needed and deserved one at that. Everyone was simply exhausted by the end of the day yesterday. What a week! I hope we're all taking it easy as we launch into the last few days of rehearsal before opening on Thursday. (!)

We spent yesterday afternoon talking through the script - a return to tablework, but in the comfort of the greenroom instead of the rehearsal hall. Without the table. We reiterated objectives and intentions scene by scene, as well as overall character arcs and growth. It felt good to clarify, and make adjustments to the choices made four weeks ago to represent all that we've learned about these characters and this play since that time.

An audience is the most important ingredient in theatre and obviously we've been aware from the start of the process that having an audience is not only inevitable, but the end goal. But I think taking the intimacy of the work that we've been doing in the rehearsal hall out in front of an audience was a bit of a jolt. The private has become public - people are able to engage with the work, shouting out their opinions of the characters and situations being presented onstage in the form of laughter, silence or the occasional shock-induced inhalation.

And so we embark on a delicate dance. We must juggle the worlds of public and private, ensuring we remain a step ahead of the audience, while concentrating our efforts on finding ways to invite them in, and stay.

Preview number 3 tomorrow night. Looking forward...

from the hippy dippy assistant director

The herbal cigarettes smoked in the show have love and light listed as two of the ingredients, so the cast is sure to have their daily intake.

That said, I would like to send a little extra love and a little extra light to the cast and crew this evening as they embark on their FIRST PREVIEW! I know it will be a great performance.

I shall be thinking of you and wish desperately I could be in two places at once.

xoxo
gossip girl

Friday. Today is Friday.

Just past noon, and everyone has arrived for the day. Tonight is our invited dress rehearsal – the first time the play will be seen by an audience.

At the moment, I’m tucked away in the balcony as the CBC is filming a scene between Andrew Craig (Royce) and David Keeley (David). The camera-man is onstage with them, following them around, and gettin’ all up in their faces. hmm!

The past … three?* days have been long but productive. I can’t believe how many things have happened to get the play closer and closer to production ready. We now have lights, a finished set, props, costumes, music … new haircuts. All of the final elements coming together in one last swoop. The days in the rehearsal hall seem like such a long time ago.

It hasn’t been as smooth as all that. The formula has been a step by step approach with lots of patience. It’s all very mechanical – thinking through each transition in terms of seconds, hand movements, the number of buttons that can be done or undone… but each time we move through the show it gets a little bit easier, a few more kinks are worked out, and the actors have a little bit more freedom to re-focus themselves on telling the story.

-- Bri

* I don’t think I’m alone in this sense of utter disorientation lately. I have no idea what day it is, time it is … or season for that matter. This beautiful burst of summer weather has only added to my confusion.

Show Anthem?

I think it's safe to say this is it.

Tech Week

Brad & Bretta Gerecke (our lovely set/lighting designer) had a meeting yesterday in which light levels were set. I can’t wait to see them this morning!!

On Sunday we did two run-throughs on the stage with the work lights on and I kept thinking about what clarity the lighting would bring – to specific locations, passage of time, and simply to highlight all the expressiveness going on on the actors’ faces.

Today is the first day of Tech Week. Traditionally this means ‘lack-of-sleep-lots-of-panic’ week.

And tonight the actors arrive for our cue to cue, scheduled to end just before midnight.

Here we go!