SUMMER 1999 ----------------------------In this issue------------------------------------------ The Play's the Thing: A Glimpse behind the scenes of Floyd Collins, Part II, An interview with Dr. Rick Simas, assistant director Rubin's Corner: Coming Broadway Season gets into the sing of things. Techie's Corner by Michael Powers: Fire and more fire Enter Laughing: Production Meeting Buzz - useful phrases for a variety of situations, A great response to rejection, From the Mailbag - A Tonys Night Menu CyberTheatre Monthly: Stealing this Stage - Women in Theatre in '99, Bachus Fringe 'zine, Inkslink, Playwrites.com, Stageplays.com Voices in Contemporary Theatre: Wendy Wasserstein Excerps, Director's Notes: A daily journal as guest writer Querida directs Guys and Dolls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Play's the Thing A Glimpse Behind the scenes of Floyd Collins: An interview with Dr. Rick Simas, assistant director Hello again TRE readers! I bet you thought I forgot all about you and the second part of this interview. Well, I didn't! It seems that the computer and I were at war last month when, as I tried to save the article to my desktop, the computer burped, and BANG, the article disappeared. I HATE those error messages!! But, I have a kind and generous editor who allowed me more time to retype the piece and get over the flu, finals in my classes, and the final run of San Diego State's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. (I wonder if Marie is reading this part - big grin) So since I last wrote I have been quite busy. I did my jury presentation before Edward Albee and a prestigious panel of adjudicators which included: David Hay, Artistic Director or The Center Repertory Theatre in Walnut Creek, CA; Robert Israel, set designer; Peter Maradudin, lighting designer; Rosina Reynolds, President and Artistic Director of San Diego's Actors Alliance; and Shigeru Yaji, costume designer. You know, it is tough enough to face a panel like that, especially Edward Albee, but it is even tougher when the play that is chosen is Albee's own Tiny Alice. The presentation included a scene from the play and rendering of costumes, lighting and set as well as sound samples. The good news is that I survived the experience and even gave Mr. Albee a very controversial idea I threw into the play which he said he could see as a choice although I could never get permission to do. I assured him that even knowing he would say no, I would ask anyway! I also spent the month of April in a special class about Chekhov's plays and the acting principles of Stanslavski taught by Alexandr Zaporozhets who is a leading actor at the Gorky Theatre and is Dean and Head of the Acting Program at the Far East Institute of Fine Arts. He brought 5 of his students with him. At the end of the month the class presented scene work in a program called My Chekhov. I learned many wonderful things from the professor regarding acting. I learned a lot from the Russian students too . . . like never drink Vodka with them! Actually it was a great learning experience to find out how differently each country approaches actor training. Ok, enough about me . . . on to the conclusion of my interview with Dr. Rick Simas and his experiences working with Tina Landau on Floyd Collins. Caprice: Now, how did you get involved specifically in this production? Dr. Simas: When David told me, David Tucker, I had heard from him and some other people that there was a chance it was going to come to the Globe, I immediately called a friend who is good friends with Tina, in New York, a good friend of mine and said, "Look, I gotta get to her because I love her work. I want to work with her. I want to assist her. And I love this show." I had seen it twice, and I knew the CD like the back of my hand. And I said I would be a good person for her. I know the Globe. I have connections there, and it would be good for me to do this, good for San Diego State for me to do this. I would make a connection there and get our students . . . one of our students is understudying there. Caprice: That's Nick Spear. Dr. Simas: Nick Spear. So Tina at the time was at the Steppenwolf, where she is an associate artist in Chicago. So I was sending her my resume and sending her letters, trying to contact her. In the meantime I called the Globe, and I have some contacts there and I said that I want to do this at the Globe. And they said, "Well, you've got to get in touch with Tina." And I said, "Well, I've been trying because I know somebody who knows her." So, through my connection with the Globe, and through this connection with Tina, she e-mailed me back here at the school and said, "I would love for you to do it," before we even met which was great. And then we met and she is fantastic. No bullshit about her . . .[laughs] I don't know if that's the quote you want to use, but I will just tell you that sometimes with women directors it is hard because, as you know, women don't get an equal shake in the theatre. It's hard when you're the director, you're the one in charge. You're the one responsible. Often times, except for usually the costume designer might be a woman, often times the set designer and the light designer are men, and the stage manager is often times a man, and it makes it hard for women. So a lot of times I think they go a little bit the other way to really assert themselves because the know they are not being taken seriously. She's not like that at all. I mean she is fun. She is incredibly bright and articulate. She's a Yalie. One of the things that is interesting about this project is that the Yalies do hang together. I mean the composer's a Yalie, the director/book writer's a Yalie, the musical director's a Yalie, the associate musical director's a Yalie, the piano player . . . there's a lot of Yale people . . . Caprice: It's like a family. Dr. Simas: And that's why I tell people at this school all the time - find your kindred spirits when you're in school, hook up and do your own thing, because it's your most productive, most exciting time. So a lot of these people, that's how they came together as artists, when they were students, and that's how they know each other. She was absolutely delightful from the very first moment. She is funny. She is so giving and nurturing to the actors, because you have to realize she's done this show, before this production, she had done three productions before. Most people, I would say 90% of the directors who come into that kind of situation would open their book like this and say, "Ok, you're here, you're here, you're here. Ok fine, you're going to cross right there." You know, they would be directing by the book. Caprice: The same production they had done before. Dr. Simas: And a lot of the images in their head, how the line should be said and how the show should evolve would be from the way they had seen it before, and how it had been done by other actors that they had worked with before. She came in and said, "I don't know what we are doing here. This is basically the set. Let's just work for a week on improv, on Viewpoints. I'm going to explain what Viewpoints are and so you guys can just get a feel for one another and you get a sense of who your characters are." She gave them tons of homework, a lot of reading. They all read the book Trapped which is the story. They all did tons of research, read all the newspaper articles from that time, read all of Skeet Miller's writings. They went on a cave expedition, where they went caving together to get a sense of repelling and what that felt like. She took them on a journey. It's the kind of thing where you just have to have a journal from the first day. It was a long, arduous rehearsal process. Forty-eight hours a week. They rehearsed six days a week, eight hours a day, for five weeks. That's a lot of time to be in a small rehearsal space, that was downstairs at the House of Charm. It's like a cave, there's no light, anything, together all that time. Fortunately they loved each other. Nobody had done the show before. They all knew the show and loved the show. And they grew together as a group. That camaraderie and sense of ensemble I think is up there. I think you see that, particularly in the relationships between the two brothers and the brother and sister. But also, in a very weird way between the mother and the father, and the parents and the children, which are so disconnected. But in that disconnection, they communicate the disconnection in a very beautiful way. I think in a very clear way. Caprice: The one moment that struck me was when the step-mother and the father were singing and I kept thinking, "Why doesn't she just lean over and touch him?" And it's not until the very end, when the last music is sung, and then she sets her hand on his hand, when she's comforting him . . . Dr. Simas: The song is "Heart and Hand." Caprice: But my heart just broke because I thought how awful to be in such a predicament and to want to wrap yourself around a person, and yet that conveyed everything, that touch at the end. Dr. Simas: What I thought was so great about her was that she [Tina Landau] kept describing their world as 'flinty' and very dry. She didn't want wet. She wanted the atmosphere wet, but she wanted the people very dry in the sense that their lives were very hard and they don't express love easily, so they have to find other ways of getting that satisfaction of the human touch. And she did let them . . . "Heart in Hand" takes place down left and the step-mother, Miss Jane, has a speech later about losing someone and what it means to lose someone and how 'we both know how that is' because Lee, the father, had lost his first wife and she had lost her first husband. At the end Lee's kind of crying through the whole thing, but he wanted to be very emotional and Tina said, "No, no, no, it's not about being emotional. He is crying against his will. He doesn't want to cry. He's just there and probably he doesn't cry very much. He doesn't really know what's going on, but he just sits there." And at the very end they hugged because they wanted to hug, wanted that feeling. And somewhere in the final dress rehearsal she [Tina] said, "You can want that hug as much as you want, but you can't hug." She didn't let them hug. So you get a feeling at the very end and he's there, and there's a sense that they want to come together, but she doesn't let them come together, because she doesn't feel that they can resolve their feelings in that way, these people, because that's not who they are. It's the same thing in that song, that it's just that one touch. They look at each other one time. They sing facing out the whole time. They have one moment when they look together for about two or three bars of music, then they face back out again. And she never even looks over at him. She puts her hand there and he puts his hand on top of hers. But they don't look to one another. They are in two very separate worlds. Caprice: So you would say then, in looking at the production you saw in New York versus the production at the Old Globe that these were really two distinctly different productions? Dr. Simas: The set is basically the same. They are very different in that the size of the stage in New York is half the size of the stage at the Globe. So in some ways, I have to say, that is doesn't feel quite as claustrophobic in this production because there is simply more space for them to move around in. It's very different in that these actors found different things. She didn't make them try and be like the other actors. She made them do their research and figure out who the original people were, as best they could, from what we know of records of them, and made them read the play and learn the music, and delve into it and then try and bring the reality of those people into the world of the play she and Adam had created, and let them be who they were. She almost never said, "No, it needs to be this way." She would instead say things that were much like, "It's flintier, or drier," or "I don't think you can find release or satisfaction in that touch. You've got to find it in another way." And then she would talk to them very technically, "Spatial relationships, you're too clumped over there, too much space over here." So she did those two different things, but rarely did she ever say, "Say it like this," or "You need to be exactly here." She would clean up . . . she does beautiful pictures in it and she would have to clean the pictures later to say, "You're a little bit too far apart, or together." But rarely was her direction like that. Caprice: What would you say, in looking at this production, really puts a stamp on it that this is a Tina Landau production, that her directing hand it in it? Dr. Simas: She has a very artful eye, with use of light, and bodies, simple, stark pieces that represent, rather than trying to show you the whole thing. She'll have one object, something as simple as a bucket, or a flask, and try and let that represent, and let you use your imagination. There is a lot of what she calls 'silhouette art' - the look of a still body against a colored sky. Caprice: It even opens that way. Dr. Simas: Opens and closes. Caprice: Would you consider it more as though she is painting on the stage? Dr. Simas: She paints beautiful, still images. The other thing that is really clear about her directing is that she gives a lot of attention to movement transition. She uses the word tesseract, which I didn't know that word, but it's from a book called A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. That's a children's book, or a young person's book and talks about how you fold together . . . it takes so much time if you are going from point A to point B . . . but if you fold together point A and point B, you have a tesseract. You have a wrinkle in time. That you go, one thing follows another, but it is a totally different time. And she would communicate it that way. She'd say, "Ok, this scene is over - tesseract." Everybody moves, moves, moves, freezes, they're in a tesseract, the way they moved into a mew position. And there are a lot of really beautiful movement transitions. Something else about her directing that I see is the detail in the gestures and the movement of secondary and tertiary characters, where the mother and the father can be down left and small things are happening that don't steal focus, but if you chose to look elsewhere you would see that all these groups of people are doing meaningful activity that illuminates character and relationships of people and is not just making pictures. It really does develop character. The way she is able to do that is that she takes all of the that they have developed in the rehearsal process and looks at them all as ingredients to use in different places. She'll take long, long notes during the improvisational sections and she'll say 'three drunk men walking in a line,' 'three people playing cards,' 'Nellie as an angel,' and say, "That's the point you can do the angel thing," "Why don't you guys do the drunk thing here." She'll find ways of taking that movement that illuminates character that the actors have created and put it in places where they could illuminate who they were, maybe not as the primary action, but as the secondary or tertiary action. Caprice: That was a thing that I really enjoyed about the production too, that even those characters that maybe never even spoke a line were so alive in what they were doing. Nothing seemed random, or just there to be there. Everything was very specific, purposeful movement. Dr. Simas: The actors owned it. Caprice: I think that is something that we lose sometimes in musicals because your so busy, "I'm in the chorus and I've got to do this or do that," that you don't get that richness that happens in folding characters on top of characters. Everyone was vital to that. One person gone may have shifted the way the whole play worked. Dr. Simas: And that was how they were all trained, because if you took one person out, they would all shift in what they were doing, because that's how she trained them in Viewpoints. You take one thing out of it and it changes everything you are doing so you've got to be aware of that. And sometimes things do change on stage and the actors do react to that, and compensate or change what they are doing based on that. Caprice: In dealing with Floyd Collins (the character) himself, in that he spends so much time on the stage not doing anything while all the other action is going on, how did she (Tina Landau) specifically work with the actor to help him with those long periods, to stay in tune with what was going on so he didn't look like he was checking out of the production itself, trying to keep him plugged in constantly. Was that one of the reasons she put him so far forward and prominent on the stage so that you (the audience) are continually hooked back in with his predicament and you feel as trapped as he did? Dr. Simas: One of the things is that, and several of them are obviously just technical things, but some are also thematic and stylistic choices, and one is that the play to her is, I think, about the juxtaposition of what is going on underneath the ground with what is going on above the ground. While all this carnival is going on and all these activities are happening, a lot of times they are all about this man. A lot of times they are in spite of him, as if they have nothing to do with his being trapped there. They've got their own thing going on. Caprice: Like the engineer keeping his thing going. Dr. Simas: Right, and there is a whole point where they all start clogging because they all get so pent up and at the end of that, there is a moment where they have a realization that, "Oh my God, it is like we are dancing on his grave." That was the image that she gave them. Then they all stop and realize what they are doing. So I think part of it is that image of the juxtaposition of below ground and above ground. Part of it is having him so far downstage simply because he can't move and he's constricted, to let you see him as much as possible so that it aids the actor who has a huge job. The very beginning of the play he sings a twelve minute aria the very first thing. Then he is stuck in this position, although he is able to get up a couple of times, and it is a huge challenge for the actor. She did a lot of stuff where he was rehearsed separately through a lot of it so he didn't really know what was going on [in the other sections of the play]. We got into run throughs later, the last week before we opened, and he then came more in contact. She asked him a lot of questions about how this would feel and what he perceives and when does he check out and he'd asleep, or he is in a different consciousness, and at what times is he vitally aware of what is going. He is a fabulous actor. All of them are. One of the actors said to me, referring to how none of the action seems superfluous and that it all seems integral to what they are doing, it is an incredible world to live in. And they do feel like they live in that world when they are on stage. I think they create that. For someone like Roman, who plays Floyd, he loves the music. He is so interested in finding the humanity of this person and what compelled him to live his life this way. I think he feels completely supported and nurtured by all the other actors with whom he works. Even when he is not with them one-on-one until the end of the play, when he is not relating to them in a physical way, they are all very connected to the play and all love being it. And they love working with each other. Caprice: The relationship that I thought clearly spoke the most about that was Skeets being down in the cave with Floyd, and those moments were so clear. Even though they could not physically connect with each other, except the moment where Skeets is able to slide down farther, it was so connected, and you could tell that she [Tina Landau] had really worked on this being his one touch with humanity at that point and how precious that was, almost as though you question if he would have survived those two weeks had he not had someone like that down in the cave with him. Dr. Simas: Every day, listening to him, talking to him, trying to help him. Caprice: And drawing his story out of him. What I got from it was that by Skeets drawing this story out of Floyd when at first he didn't want to talk about himself, Floyd starts to finally open up more and more, brings him to those questions at the end that he is finally able to deal with just before the end. Dr. Simas: What he learns about himself through this experience. Caprice: And aside from anything else that was going on in the play, that's that part that really got to me, when we are able to sit back objectively and speak about our lives and draw conclusions that say, "Now I know why I am who I am." Dr. Simas: Enlightenment. Caprice: For me, that was the most beautiful moment. The other relationship that was really clear to me was between Floyd and his sister. Again, even though they were physically separated by this earth barrier between them, they were still so connected to each other that he could hear her voice in an echo or the wind blowing through the cave. It all represented her. Although he may have been disconnected from many other people, he clearly had a connection with her, and she with him to the point that she is fighting to get into the cave and can't get down there to him, but the earth doesn't stop her. That barrier doesn't get in her way. Dr. Simas: And she says that, "I have always been there, right beside you, the way you were with me at the asylum." Caprice: That is one thing I would have to commend Tina Landau on doing, that in this disconnected world she found ways to make such strong connections between the characters, that you literally walk away caring about everybody. Now, to talk about the work that you did, what was your specific role in dealing with the play? Dr. Simas: I had a number of things. It was mostly to support her. One of the things, in the way she works, because she spends so much time with improvisation and developing things through process that they don't get a lot of repetition so I would do often, once she had set something, was take it in the other room and first let them be in different parts of the room and just go over the lines and not get hung up on saying lines the same way every time, trying different things almost all the way until they opened, to try to find different things. Once you know who the character is and you know basically who they are and what's going on with them, you don't have to be exactly the same every time. You can find other things and they did do that. We worked a lot on that. Then I would just run the scenes, over and over, to give them repetition, because she didn't have a lot of time to do that repetition. That was the main thing that I did. I did a lot of help with dramaturgical work, making available to them, as we did in the dramaturgy class, a huge scroll of all these images. And she had tons of images. They were listed by characters, and by the caves, and then by living the hard life in Kentucky, and going to the big city for Homer and having an automobile. So, having huge scrolls of images for the actors to look at, and getting together lots of files for them. One on caving. One on the headlines from the Louisville Courier Journal. Different things for them to read and different images for them to look at. Having those in the rehearsal hall and then later cutting them up and taking them over to the dressing rooms so that they had that. Caprice: So they were surrounded by the world. Dr. Simas: The images of that world so they could understand that world. So a lot of was the repetition of running the material that she had worked and creating the dramaturgical world for them. I did a lot of, once we got into the Globe, sitting with her and she has tons of notes. That is one of the things about being an assistant. It is like being a court reporter. She right there, you have your little flashlight. You get done and maybe one hundred and fifty notes per act. The you have to go back and make sure they are all readable. I would have a highlighter and the ones that had to be discussed that night with designers, I would put DESIGNER in pink over the note. If it was something that had to be fixed the next day or needed to have rehearsal time the next day, I had to list that as TO DO. You couldn't recopy them all. She had to have everything back and be able to read them all by the end of the rehearsal. Rehearsal would be over by 11 or 11:30, depending on when they started, and all the notes had to be clean and ready to read and prioritized for designer notes that need to be given that night, to do notes that have to have rehearsal time scheduled for the next day, and then all the actor notes. She would then go through and decide which ones she really wanted to give and which ones she didn't want to give. Then she would retype or give those notes orally. Sometimes, if they were secondary or tertiary, she would have me give them. So a lot of it was then giving notes and talking to the actors. Then there was, of course, the odd getting her lunch, or she needed to get a printer at one time so doing some stuff for her as well. I hadn't done a lot of assisting and I have to say that, I guess because I love that show so much and because I have the utmost respect for her and for Adam as young artists who are unique in their vision, that it was great fun and I had a great time with it, without all the responsibility of the show rises or falls on you as the director, which is what I usually do. And I have to say also that I knew about Viewpoints some. I had not worked in that way before and it was a huge learning experience for me. Caprice: And that was my next question. What did you personally learn from working with her? Dr. Simas: I think primarily about Viewpoints and how it works. I don't think working that way would be right for every project, but for a project like this, that is in many ways metaphysical and she wrote the piece herself so she created the world herself, I thought it was an amazing way to work. I thought it was such a generous way to work with the other artists. Rather than coming in and saying, "This is what we did. This is what you do it," that she gave them so much ownership. And the ownership that she gave them is so clear in the work that they do, and also in the way that they feel about her and feel about the material. And that they feel able to continually look for new things in the material. That's the way she worked and that is what she wanted. Caprice: What would you tell people then . . . why should they go see a production that Tina Landau has directed? What is in store for them? What can they take away from it? Dr. Simas: I think they will see the work of a young, unique, vitally committed theatre artist who creates exquisite pictures on stage with bodies and light and stark pieces that represent a whole world and that invite you to use your imagination. They will see absolutely beautiful movement, that the actors will own because they have created it and she has helped them develop it. It is organic and not applied from the outside. They will see whether or not it is their taste . . . I tell people all the time that whether or not Floyd Collins is your taste, if you want something more traditional in musical theatre, you will see great work that is completely unique, original and exciting, whether or not you think you want to go see a musical about a man caught in a cave. It is a beautiful work of art on stage. Caprice: Images are the things that have stuck most with me since I went. I can close my eyes and reproduce it. Dr. Simas: It isn't like cotton candy where you, well a lot of shows you are going, "Oh that felt really good . . . oh that tasted wonderful, yummy," and you go home and never think about it again. Well that was fun for an evening. I think with her work, it does stay with you. That's the greatest theatre when you go home and think, "Wow, that was true," of think that is what it must have been like. That moment when he took her hand . . . Caprice: The other is the moment in the dream, in what has been a very black and gray world, suddenly they are in these beautiful white and cream colored outfits and the look of that was . . . well, it is almost as though you can't describe it without seeing it because it was so dark and then so white and just radiating off the stage what he is going through. We know the end is coming close for him and we are seeing the world the way he wanted it to be. This very clean and protected place for them. Dr. Simas: And that's true in the music too. When they all come on stage singing, "The Great San Cave," they are all singing in a very major mode and it is very celebratory. Then when Floyd yodels it doesn't come back. There is a long moment and then there is a minor chord and the father says, "No son, you're still trapped." Then they sing in a very minor chord, "The greatest caver ever known/Buried with his treasure." The juxtaposition of that beautiful "Great Sand Cave" with "Greatest caver ever known" sends chills down my spine. The way that the sound supports those images is amazing. They are great together, too, [Tina Landau and Adam Guettel] wonderful artists and wonderful collaborators. In a great collaboration you never saw between them the "No I think it should be this/No it should be this." You saw two artists who were just committed to finding the best, most theatrical way, the most efficient way to tell the story. Internet Sites on Floyd Collins, Tina Landau, Adam Guettel and the real Floyd Collins Tina Landau (1) Tina Landau (2) Floyd Collins info and cd order and downloadable sound clips from the CD Review in the LA Times Old Globe Press Release Goodman Theatre Schedule San Diego Sidewalk Review http://alldirect.com/book.cfm?CartID=276539390021798&isbn=0813101530 Trapped, the book on Floyd Collins http://members.tripod.com/~sailordanae/edmonson.html and http://members.tripod.com/~sailordanae/floyd.html Lyrics to the song "The Death of Floyd Collins http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/KYCAVfloyd.html Floyd Collins Museum http://www.lkwdpl.org/beck/floyd.htm Beck Theatre http://www.webpub.com/~jhagee/floyd-c.html Floyd Collins homepage Floyd Collins online monument ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rubin's Corner Coming Broadway Season Gets into the Sing of Things Musicals are poised to make a splashy comeback when the curtain goes up on Broadway's new season in the fall. After a year in which straight plays were dominant singing, swinging, dancing and discoing are set for a renaissance in more than a dozen new musicals and a wave of revivals. Leading the pack is "Saturday night Fever," a musical based on the 1977 John Travolta movie that's expected to be the season's first hit. If 1999 was the year of the play, 2000 is already shaping up to be the year of the musical. What a difference a year makes. This past season saw 17 plays, ten new dramas and seven revivals, and marked the first time in Broadway history that the works of the most acclaimed American playwrights appear simultaneously. But, few theater-goes walked down Shubert Alley humming tunes from any of the five musical revivals and nine new productions in the 1998-99 season. The resurgence of the musical next season is expected to mean new records and box-office gold. This year ticket sales were 11.7 million or $588.9 million. This was a record for Broadway. The average ticket cost $50.45 last season, up from $48.58. Producers predict that admission costs will climb and the $100 ticket, first sold for "The Iceman Cometh", soom could become a way of life. Here is a list of the coming shows. 1. Aida - Disney's musical about a rogue Egyptian prince and the beautiful Nubian princess he enslaves with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. Arrives on Broadway early next year after a run in Chicago. 2. Saturday Night Fever - London smash about the disco-dance craze featuring a cast of 43 dancing fools. The Bee Gees scored musical stars James Carpinello and Paige Price. 3. Wise Guys - a new Sondheim musical about a legendary pair of con men brothers. Nathan Lane will star in the production. 4. A Little Nigh Music and Follies are expected to make their way to Broadway 5. Voices in the Bark - a new American play about a popular radio talk-show psychologist who finds herself menaced by a mysterious caller. Open on August 12th with Judith Ivey. 6. Putting It Together - Emmy winner Carol Burnett in her first musical in 35 years has 35 Sondheim songs. Tuesday the show will star Kathy Lee Gifford. 7. Marie Christine - a new American musical set in New Orleans and Chicago in the 1980's. Described as an operatic version of "Medea". 8. Kat and the Kings - a new South African musical set in Cape Town in 1959. 9. Jane Eyre - a new American musical set in early 19th-century England and based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte. 10. Martin Guerre - a Cameron Mackintosh produced epic about a long vanished French soldier. From the authors of Les Miz. 11. Mamaa Mia - a British smash featuring the hits of ABBA 12. Dane Edna: The Royal Tour - described as a 'one-man, one women show. Things on Broadway could be all music next season. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Techie's Corner Fire and more fire. Last month we discussed what fire could do, some of the moods it could evoke and some situations and reasons for using it. For a review, please read last month's article available in the back issues of TRE. As with past articles, the illustrations are not currently supported by our archive storage. So, if you read the article and would like to see the illustrations, please feel free to contact me and I will send them to you. Last month we looked at a battery operated fire effect. This month I will describe a line voltage (USA 120VAC) device. This device can be made to imitate the flickering of a fire, a TV set or any other low level, random flickering light source. The device involves a 15 to 40 watt, 120 volt lamp, and a fluorescent starter and miscellaneous wiring for each lamp you use in the effect. Note: There are many types and brands of starters and some starters will need a ballast to provide sufficient power to operate the lamp. If your circuit does not work without a ballast, it will be cheaper to buy another type of starter than to buy a ballast. The starters cost between $ .50 and $3.00, ballasts run $15 to $30 each. The starter is the main ingredient in the mix. Starters are the small silver cylinders about 1 1/2" long and about 3/4" around that fits into one end of older type fluorescent fixtures. They are available at most home improvement stores, hardware stores, Home Quarters, Home Depot et.al. A starter is basicly an electrical capacitor that gives a short boost of voltage to start the old style (slow start) type of fluorescent lamps and then turns off. In a fluorescent fixture the starter is then out of the circuit until the switch is turned off and then on again. In our effect, the starter is wired in series with the lamp and is "in the circuit" all the time. When the switch is turned on, the starter is "off" but it starts storing up voltage. At a certain point the voltage builds up and "overflows" causing the lamp to light up. The starter is now "empty" of electricity and "shuts off" causing the lamp to be dark. It is kind of like a bucket under a faucet that is hinged to tip over when the bucket is full and to tip back up when it is empty. In the fluorescent fixture the starter only operates once each time the fixture is turned on, therefore it is not important just how consistent or accurate the starter is. The impreciseness helps in our circuit because no two lamps will blink at the same rate. For most fire effects, at least three or four lamps should flicker and one should be on for a steady background effect. If physical space in your fire unit permits, as many as nine or ten lamps may be used. As you increase the number of lamps you can lower the wattage. However a mix of different wattages makes a more realistic effect. To wire your effect you will need a starter for each lamp, a socket for each lamp, a male edison plug, wire, wire nuts, a plywood (or similar) base. You may wire a switch into the circuit or design the wiring to plug into a switch box that you already have on hand. The most critical part of the wiring is the starter. There are two small prongs on one end, most look like the head of a nail that is sticking out about 1/4". The starter should be fastened down in some way, hot glue, plumber's strap, heavy rubber band, velcro strap etc. The wiring must not contact the outer case of the starter in any way. The easiest way to connect to the starter is to use small, insulated alligator clips available at Radio Shack. This makes changing the starter very easy if necessary. You can also solder directly to the contacts. The wiring is fairly simple as shown in the illustration below. To add color, refer to last month's article for a complete description of using gel (color media, Lee, Rosco, GAM etc.) to enhance the effect. Next month I will be on vacation, but in August's column we will take a look at the centuries old but still effective, "Silk Streamer Fire Effect". Hope you enjoy the articles, have a nice summer. Don't sweat the small stuff and remember.......it's all small stuff! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter Laughing Production Meeting Buzz: Useful phrases for a variety of situations: * I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don't give a damn. * Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view. * The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist. * I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce. * Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental. * I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid. * I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you. * It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of bad Karma to burn off. * Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial. * How about never? Is never good for you? * You sound intelligent and reasonable... Time to double up my medication. * I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter. * I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message... * It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level I'm really quite busy. * At least I have a positive attitude about my destructive habits. * You are validating my inherent mistrust of humanity. * I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public. * Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh nervously and quickly change the subject. A Fabulous way to answer rejection letters: Herbert A Mills Artistic Director, Workshop it to Death Theatre Dear Mr. Mills, Thank you for your letter of March 16. After careful consideration, I > regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me a production for my epic musical: Fiasco! This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually > large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of > candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals. Despite Workshop-it-to-Death's outstanding qualifications and previous experience > in rejecting manuscripts, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs > at this time. Therefore, I will assume a production in April of next year, and look forward to seeing you then. Best of luck in rejecting future applicants. From the Mailbag: Tonys Night Menu (sort of in the spirit of Dinner and a Movie): APPETIZERS (or, Little Shop of Hors d'oeuvres): * Thoroughly Modern Chili * On the Street Where You Liverwurst pate * Sunset Bouillabaisse * Dames at Sea Scallops SIDE DISHES: * The Diary of Anne Franks and Beans * What the Butler Slaw * Jello's last Jam (or, The Most Happy Jella) * Rice Piaf * Ain't Nothin' But the Bleu Cheese Souffle (can also be made with Cheez Wiz) * You say po-tay-to, I say po-tah-to salad * Okrahoma * Carouselery * Shenan-sourdough-ah Bread MAIN DISHES (or, How to Succeed in Braising Without really Frying...) * Big Mac and Mabel * Seven Brats for Seven Brothers * Finian'sRainbow Trout * Damn Yankee Pot Roast * The Music Manicotti * Sweeney Cod * M Butterfly Pork Chops * Tap Dance Kidney Pie * Where's My Other Mushu Pork * Fry Fry Birdie (fried chicken, natch) * Oh, Coldcutta! (from the Hello, Deli section) * Sandwich in the Park with George (Not While I'm Ground Round, with No One is Provolone Cheese and served on a It Takes a Lot of Men to Build a Bun) * Peter Pancakes * Do Re Meatloaf New Lightbulb Joke: Q. How many actors does it take to change a lightbulb? A. Don't be stupid, we don't let them touch the hammers. Submitted by Katy Ullman From the Mailbag: "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is as close to Greek tragedy as anything on the boards this decade--it's got a tragically flawed hero, monotonous rhythmic chanting, and masks." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CyberTheatre Monthly Stealing this Stage http://www.villagevoice.com/features/9920/solomon.shtml "Go this minute to a brilliant, thoughtful article by critic Alisa Solomo on The State of Women in Theatre in 1999" Bacchus Fringe 'zine http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/2116/ Multi-faceted site of Fringe and Grassroots Theatre, Dance, Music and Digital Art. Has a bit of a 'tude, as is to be expected on the Fringe. Inkslink http://www.inkslink.com Speaking of Women in Theatre - Daphne Hull is a prominent member of our Theatre & Film Pros Directory here at 1501Broadway.com and the Int'l Centre for Women Playwrights. You owe it to yourself to check out her new Cyber-digs at Inkslink. Playwrites.com http://www.playwrites.com And speaking of playwrights - www.playwrites.com focusing on a new playwright each and every month, has a new look. Check'em out. Stageplays.com http://www.stageplays.com The focus on their bookshop is a little heavyhanded, but there is a Playwrights' Noticeboard, an e-mail newsletter, and a theatre banner exchange. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voices in Contemporary Theatre Voices in Contemporary Theatre EXCERPTS FROM WENDY WASSERSTEIN'S 1999 NANCY HANKS LECTURE ON ARTS AND PUBLIC POLICY The following words from Wendy Wasserstein's speech at this year's Arts Advocacy Day on March 16th were provided from Americans for the Arts. "For me, the epitome of feminine grace was not the Hollywood idols of my time, like Sandra Dee, but the glorious ballerinas I saw on the City Center stage. Whereas adolescent life was completely chaotic, in the ballet, passion and exuberance were brilliantly contained. In fact, I still find one of the greatest solaces in life is going to the ballet. In a world of spin, image makers and manipulated perceptions, the discipline and artistry of dance reminds me that there is a form of human achievement that is inarguably and profoundly true. I remember the year I won a Guggenheim grant for playwriting. I felt enormous pride as if I had received a mandate to continue my work. But when I called my father and told him I won an $18,000 grant, he said to me, "No, daughter of mine is going on welfare!" It's another funny story. But the truth is that for a grant with the distinguished reputation of a Guggenheim, it is a very small amount of money when you consider what a first year lawyer or marketing researcher is paid in our country. It reflects a question of priorities. How much do we really value our artists? Are we giving them a message that to be successful is to find approval in the commercial arena? Somewhere, has the word elitist crept in because the American public has been skewed to believe that artists don't work for a living? The arts reflect profoundly the most democratic credo, the belief in an individual vision or voice. Our popular culture on the other hand, be it Hollywood or television, is based on a common denominator. Is it elitist not to search for a common denominator? Is it elitist to believe in an individual's ability to craft their talent? Why can't we celebrate the excellence of our artists without the undertow of elitism? There is no reason for our arts culture to be siphoned off to a marginal position from our national culture. I don't believe the arts are extra-curricular. A society is defined by its culture and that culture begins in early education. We must respect the potential of our children as opposed to deciding that only a few deserve to experience the joy of creation. The decision to limit the arts is in fact elitist." Americans for the Arts will soon publish the full transcript of the 1999 Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy. For more information about Americans for the Arts, visit the website at http://www.artsusa.org Directors' Notes, Part I January-April 1999 I have the honor of directing a fabulous musical, Guys & Dolls, for the Oregon Straw Hat Players in Oregon, Wisconsin. It's my first time directing a musical, so I'm a bit nervous about that, but not too much. I've acted in many musicals and am an experienced director, so it's just a new twist.... and one I'm excited about. I enjoy the preparation that goes into a show. When asked to direct, I had no experience with this show. I hadn't seen the movie or a stage version. I only knew a few of the songs and absolutely nothing about the time line or Damon Runyon. I dove in with both feet. I've read the script probably about 15 times already, listened to three sets of audio books written by Runyon to get the flavor or his writing down. I like to stick as close to the playwrite's original "intent" as I can when I first direct a play. (I guess that's the writer in me and the respect for the trade.) In March, I went to Florida and saw a wonderful production of Guys & Dolls by the Broadway Palm dinner theater. I took some time after the show to meet with the stage manager. It was very valuable to go backstage in their production and discuss the production and their staging of it. I was keenly interested in where she (the SM) felt the difficult shifts were and where they had felt technically challeneged. It was a delightful performance and a wonderful way to gain insight. May 1999 Set designs are finalized and most of our production crew is in place. We are still without a costume designer, but hope to fill that soon. Last year with the opening of the new theatre space, we chose to build elaborate "broadway-style" sets. We were doing "Kiss Me Kate" and the entire back-stage set rolled on/off stage in the shifts into 'The Taming of the Shrew'. It was a beautiful set that appeared to glide across the stage. It was, in fact, rolled across the stage with much sweat, strain, and aggrevation of about 20 crew and cast. The set was affectionately (said with great sarcasm) called the "BMF"-I'll let you guess what the acronym stands for. This year, we're keeping it simple and elegant. The focus will be on showing off the actors, not the set. We're bumping our resources into the costume and lighting areas. June 4, 1999 Auditions! I can't believe we finally starting. Auditions were held on the 2nd and 3rd. I was a little disappointed by the number of auditioners on the first night, but the quality was good. Attendance was better on the second night and the quality was stunning in some cases. One actor, in particular, took my breath away! Unfortunately and despite a stunning audition, I can't cast him. He's only interested in one of the two leading roles and he's just too young to play Sky or Nathan given the women available for Sarah and Adelaide. Casting went fairly smoothly....three hours and only a few tense conversations. We've got an interesting pairing of experience and novice. Both actors playing Sky and Nathan are experienced and solid. Both actresses playing Sarah and Adelaide are talented, determined, and green. I'm not too worried about it. They both gave strong auditions and worked really hard in the dance audition. The men are both very understanding and supportive of working with their partners. June 5, 1999 All the YES's are confirmed. Now I've got to make the dreaded "NO" calls. I could shove that off on my stage manager, but I won't. As much as I don't like to hear the disappointment in the voices on the other end of the phone, I want them to know that I truly listened to them. I pulled good things from my note cards and make sure that I can touch a positive in every call. Two auditioners, in particular, were dynamic and make strong audition choices in their readings and songs. They were not the right choices for this particular show or the way in which I see the show... but strong choices that were well done. I've already contacted a friend of mine who directs for another group in the area that does work more fitting to their style. I'm going to encourage them to explore the other group this summer. Their style fits, and they'll learn some really good skills that can carry them forward. June 9 We just ended the second night of rehearsals, and I can already spot some who will be challenges, some who will be bright spots, and some who will work their heart out, and some who won't. Now the challenge is to "work" them all to get the best performance, the best experience, and the best growth from each of them. I had originally set aside this first week (4 rehearsals) for just music and dance. The idea was to let the actors really get a firm jump start into those aspects before we starting blocking anything. On day two, I see this has unsettled some of the cast. They're itching to go and don't know how to handle the wait. Since the choreographer's gone tomorrow, I'm going to take half the evening to start blocking out Runyanland. Hopefully that will ease the itch. I've been meeting with the various designers in the rehearsal space so I can keep an ear and eye on the cast and my choreographer/music director. I've never worked with them before, and it's interesting to see their styles unfold. The music director (Ann) is very straight forward and direct. The results on two days are a testament to her technique and their talent. However, I've observed that she wants things done in a very certain way. And that way is not what I've envisioned or discussed with the actors. They're small things..... I've told the actors to approach a section of a song in a particular manner and character voice, and she's been quite stern about how they are to do it. The actors brought this up tonight after rehearsal and asked who they should follow. My advice was to do it her way until we get it on stage in the blocking/rehearsal process. At that point, I'll listen. We will probably change it to reflect the overall character vision that I have, but we'll give it a listen first. I reminded them that we're only on day two, and she may want to restrict their artist freedom at this point to ensure that they learn the piece solidly. If I decide to change something, I'll let them know and let the music director know. The choreographer (Roger) has a very casual, friendly communication style. He's on-task, but manages to keep things fun and shares in the deep weezes and aches right along with them. We've been unable to secure a second rehearsal pianist, so he's been working from tape... which he hates, but he's being a really good sport about it. At one point when they had reached almost total exhaustion, he hit the fast forward button instead of play. When that was met with a collective groan, he laughed, "Just kidding." Then the batteries (in the tape player) died about half way through The Oldest Established. Instead of giving up, the guys grabbed their scores and sang it (without accompaniment) to keep time while they practiced the dance. They were great. It sounds wonderful already..... not a lot of dynamics, yet, but they've almost got the harmonies nailed down solid. And the fact that they would even think about singing while they were learning the dance sequence by sequence was impressive. There's one young man, Justin, whoqis cast only as a part of the Mission. He sings well, but didn't really show that he could dance at the auditions. Yesterday and again today, he's asked me if he could also (please) join the sinners in Luck Be A Lady and Oldest Established. I watched him a bit today, and he's really trying very, very hard. He may not have been a dancer when he auditioned, but if he keeps his motivation up this way, he'll fit right in at the end. Some of the guys are getting into the ganster mode and picking "names" for themselves. In addition to the scripted, Angie the Ox, we seem to have gained a "Nicky the Nose"... at least that's how he signed himself in on the call board. I hear from the make-up designer that he's begging to get a metal nose plate. (I'll have to think about that.) It's a good group. This is going to be a lot of fun. Quote of the Month: "One goes to the theatre to find life but if there is no difference between life outside the theatre and life inside then theatre makes no sense" --Peter Brook ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1999, Mersinger Theatrical Services