Senior Project - Meadville Community Theater

Performances 6 & 7

2009-12-13T20:03:00.006-05:00

This weekend was the last for our performances.

Our Friday night house was very large. There were about 21 reservations, and probably close to 40 people in the audience. The performance itself went exceedingly well.

The Saturday night audience, for our last show, was small, but seemed to enjoy it greatly.

We've received dozens of compliments on the show. The audiences really seemed to love the performance.

It is tradition for the cast to give a gift to the director, and for the director to give the cast gifts.
Phil gave the girls necklaces, and the guys received a book.

For Phil, we decided to get creative. Todd made sticker labels reading "George & Martha's Home Brewed Bergin", as well as a label listing humorous ingredients. There was also a blank label, which all of us signed. Between Act Two and Three, I go on stage to grab the brandy bottle. On Saturday, I also took the Jim Beam bottle with me. Nerissa helped me peel the label from the bottle, and I placed all three new labels on backstage. We gave Phil his gift after the show. He got a great laugh out of it, and was very happy.

Overall, the show was a success. Our audiences were very small, however, those who did come seemed quite satisfied.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the show being over. I am happy to not be spending mass amounts of time in the theater after long hours of school and work. On the other hand, I will greatly miss being with the actors every night, laughing at little mistakes on stage and talking in our free time.

Performances 3, 4, & 5

2009-12-07T15:59:00.002-05:00

Once performances begin, regular rehearsals end.

Instead, a "brush-up" rehearsal is held the night before the show. They are used to refresh the minds of the actors. Some directors run the entire show, and some only run lines. Usually, they are not taken seriously. It gives the actors a chance to play around a bit and have some fun with their lines for once. As long as they know what they're supposed to do for the show, these brush-ups are still very beneficial, regardless of the amount of fun being had.

For our Thursday night brush-up, the actors ran lines. Phil injured his tooth, and left rehearsal in my hands. Dave was in Pittsburgh, so I also read his lines.

The Friday night performance went very well. The crowd was very small, however, they were extremely responsive.

The preparation for the performance was a little more complicated. The jug of tea I use to fill the alcohol bottles got cracked on the bottom. I had to fill the bottles while tea leaked all over the floor. It made quite a mess. Then, as I was picking up bottles to put them on the bar, I dropped one of them. Luckily, it did not break. It did spill all over the floor underneath the bar though. Todd had taken home the glasses to wash them in the dishwasher the night before, which is the only thing that saved me time-wise.

The Saturday night performance also went very well. There were only about 15 people in the house. Everyone on stage, however, said it felt as if we had a full house because of how energetic everyone was.

Sunday was our matinee. The show began at 2:15 instead of 8:15.
The crowd was miniscule, with around 10 people. They seemed to enjoy it greatly though.

There was a small mishap during the performance. Before the show, Phil gets on stage to make an introduction speech that informs the audience of where the exits are, the upcoming performance, and to turn their cell phones off. Abbey turned the lights on stage all the way out, instead of partway, and the actors were signaled to go on. Phil wasn't on stage when this happened thankfully.

All in all, this weekend's performances went well on stage. Unfortunately, the audiences have all been very small. Hopefully next weekend, our last weekend, will bring in more people.

NOTE: I apologize for the lack of pictures in this update. There isn't much to photograph backstage during the show, and so, I didn't take any pictures this week.

Performances 1 & 2

2009-11-29T13:52:00.003-05:00

The Meadville Community Theater has many traditions. The Pop Kear and Bob Beck awards are a part of these traditions.

Every show, the director chooses someone to receive the Pop Kear award for the actor who has gone beyond the call and done an excellent job. The director also chooses someone to receive the Bob Beck award for outstanding technical work.

The recipients are to wear the award during every performance. They are given a permanent medal after the show, and also have their name put on a plaque in the hallway.

Phil awarded the entire cast the Pop Kear award, and I was awarded the Bob Beck award.

The opening performance went very well. There were plenty of mishaps, but the cast maneuvered their way around them quite proficiently.

The crowd was small, but that's to be expected on a holiday weekend.

The second performance went even better than the first. The audience was about the same size as the first night, but they were much more responsive.

Everyone who has come to the show seems to have enjoyed it greatly so far.

Tech Week

2009-11-27T16:55:00.015-05:00

Tech week, in my opinion, is the most hectic week of a show.

Within one week, the set was completed, the lights were set, the music was set, the programs were made, the props were finalized, the costumes were finished, and the actors went off book.

The set was designed by Richard Steigerwald, and completed by Richard, Ed Ramage, Jason Sakal, Jim Snyder, Emily Anderson, Todd Fox, Debbie Ormston, Jessi Surdyk, and Bill Fuller.

Brian Pulito was named producer for the show.

Jessi Surdyk helped adjust our light settings after they were set by Richard.

Sharon Matthews acquired costumes for the entire cast.

We were in the Meadville Tribune, Erie Times, and the Go Crawford County newsletter.

Thursday night was the first night that the cast worked through the show completely on their own. There were a lot of slip-ups, but everyone was able to cover up for each other when it was necessary. Luckily, the audience doesn't have a script.

There were some minor difficulties this week. The first night of rehearsal was canceled due to Dave being ill. Todd, Abbey, Nerissa, and I searched the prop room for items to go on the bookshelves.

On Wednesday night, I cut my knuckle open on a chipped glass while cleaning.
And, on Thursday night, the speaker at stage right started working incorrectly. Of course, it's the speaker that's most important for the show during Act Two.

Despite the issues, the show will go well. I have confidence in everyone's abilities.

Tonight is opening night! Break legs!

Rehearsals - Week Five

2009-11-22T21:26:00.006-05:00

This week was a continuation of preparation for the show.

The cast continued to perfect their blocking, while more intricate details were added.

The set is being constructed, and the cast is getting used to maneuvering about it.

Sunday night, I brought in a friend of mine named Abbey. She expressed an interest in theater work. I decided to have her run lights for the show. My friend Megan, who is very skilled with the light board, is going to be her trainer. The lights have not been set up yet, but it seemed logical to bring her into the theater and get her used to long nights.

Only a little under a week until opening night....

Rehearsals - Week Four

2009-11-16T16:32:00.006-05:00

The construction of the set for Virginia Woolf has finally ensued, giving the actors more to work with. The director has also begun bringing in furniture for the cast to use.

The director has been tweaking his blocking instructions as he sees fit. He has also begun adding small details to the blocking. The actors are working on getting the finer details of the movements to a science.

The actors are progressing very quickly. Most are working on learning their lines, but still use their script during the show. Soon, their scripts will be out of hand, and they will have over a hundred pages memorized.

The show opens November 27th. The countdown is inching closer and closer to opening night.

Rehearsals - Week Three

2009-11-09T22:38:00.005-05:00

First off, I apologize for the delay in updating. I've had difficulties in gaining computer access due to my personal laptop being sent in for repairs.

On Sunday, the cast was measured for their costumes.

Earlier that day, the crew from the show prior to ours tore down their set, leaving us with an empty stage. The cast marked the floor with chalk to give a sense of where things will be once the set has been constructed.

This week, the cast continued to practice their blocking. Phil, the director, has been making minor tweaks to his blocking directions.

Although plays are written with very specific characters in mind, the cast portraying said characters doesn't always resemble what the author wanted.

For example, the character Nick is blond. The actor playing Nick, has dark brown hair.
Honey, who is played by Nerissa, weighs slightly more than the character written by Albee.
Jim's character, George, is written as being lean. Jim, however, doesn't quite fit such a description.

Sometimes, the theater prohibits certain activities in the building. In the show, Martha is a smoker, and there are a couple of references to said situation that had to be altered.

It is usually pretty easy to change lines in order to fit the needs of the cast and theater. The important thing is to make sure that the changes don't change the meaning of the content.

The cast ran through the entire show on November 5th, for the first time.

Act One ran from 7:25 to 8:25.
Act Two ran from 8:33 to 9:3.
Act Three ran from 9:44 to 10:30.

Rehearsals - Week Two

2009-11-01T20:55:00.004-05:00

This week, the cast continued to block and run through the rest of the show.

Act Two took two nights to block, and one night to run through. Act Three took one night to block, and one night to run through.

On October 27th, the plans for rehearsal were to run through Act Two. Blocking had been completed the night before. This night proved to be a good example of how flawed live theater can be, even in the rehearsal stage.

First off, Dave, who plays Nick in the show, managed to leave his script in his car, which so happened to be at the car dealership for repairs.

Then, Phil, the director, arrived in the theater parking lot complaining of a stomach ailment. He handed me the keys, along with his script, and informed me that I was to run rehearsal for the night.

Dave ended up using Phil's script for rehearsal.

One rule to theater has proved to be true on many occasions. "Any performance can become an improvisation".

In rehearsals, and often times performances, situations arise that cause conflicts during the show. It could be that an actor misses a line, an actor doesn't up on stage at the right time, or even that a prop goes missing. Any little mistake can affect the rest of the show. This is the magic of live theater though; one never knows what could happen next.

Rehearsals - Week One

2009-10-23T16:32:00.006-04:00

Rehearsals for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" began about a week ago or so. I joined in October 19th as blocking was being put into the show.

Blocking is the process of planning when, where, and how the actors in a play will move around the stage as the play is going on.

To block the play, the cast reads through their script. The director interrupts them when he has a direction for them to take. The actor writes the direction down and follows through with it.

There are many terms and symbols used when applying blocking directions to a script. To understand these, one must first understand stage directions in general.

All directions are given from the actor's point of view, facing the audience. If the actor is told to move to stage left, they move to their left. From the audience's perspective, however, the actor moves to the right.

The actors can also move up or down the stage. If they are told to move downstage, they are to move toward the audience. To move upstage is to move away from the audience, toward the back of the stage.

The symbols are as follows:

X - Cross
L - Stage Left
R - Stage Right
U (can also be an up arrow) - Up Stage
D (can also be a down arrow) - Down Stage

For example, if the director tells an actor to cross to stage right, it would look like this in the script:
XR

The director can also tell the actor to cross down right:
XDR

Although this seems simple, it can become very tedious. In some scenes, almost every line requires movement. In others, there is very little to no movement. It took three rehearsals, or five hours to block and run through the entirety of Act One.

The actors must be aware of their own blocking, as well as the blocking assigned to others. These directions must be memorized along with all of the words to the script. If movement is messed up during the show, it can throw the entire scene off easily.

Next week, Act Two will be blocked.