We finished reviewing all of the scenes last night (Thursday), and are now ready for a run through on Sunday afternoon - or, as I call it on the rehearsal schedule, a stumble thru. The cast has worked hard to learn their blocking, develop a character - or characters in the case of the ensemble - and now simply needs to finish memorizing their lyrics and gain the confidence to do it right on the first try.
We worked for 30 minutes on the death of Javert last night - Drew Anderson (Javert) is going to fall off the back of the bridge for his character's suicide, and seven men assist in "catching" him as he falls. We thought we could do it with just five men, but we're using two spotters to help with any problems. I think it will make Drew feel safer and we need to keep all actors confident in their performance.
The crew is working very hard on a wonderful set. MCT was not allowed to use a turntable for the show - well, we could have applied to use one if they approved our design but we decided not to use this option. As a result, Eric Beeck has come up with a very imaginative design for the show. We took pictures for the Midland Reporter-Telegram last night in front of the barricades, and I think the set is going to work out great. Stay tuned to see how the crew works on making all of the changes in preparation for opening night.
Update on Monday regarding the Sunday run through...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Education
Yesterday, I was driving past the drive-in movie theater and I saw that they were showing Bride Wars. This reminded me of my first visit to Midland when I was interviewing for this position. One of the first groups that I met were the Pickwick Players. This troupe performed several songs and acting scenes, and they were very impressive. The first couple of years I was in Midland, I spent a lot of time with the Pickwicks and even travelled to Ireland to perform Godspell in Irish Catholic churches with them. The original troupe of Pickwicks - when I arrived in 1997 - included Michael Arden - who stars in Bride Wars, toured with Barbara Streisand, was the star of the Broadway production of The Times They Are A'Changin' and returned to Midland in 2007 for a MAAS fundraiser; Matt Hinkley - an amazing musician and performer who has his first record out (www.matthinkley.com) and returned to Midland in 2008 for a MAAS fundraiser; Dan "Clark" Hodge - who got his Equity card after getting his MFA in Acting; Justin Tate - who has starred as the Hero's Sidekick (along with Phil Tytanic) in Summer Mummers for the past several years as well as many other MCT productions; and a young Jay Rathbone - who appeared in the movie Twilight and is making a name for himself in Hollywood. I am amazed at the talent of that group of Pickwicks, and I am constantly impressed by the hard work and dedication of all of our Pickwicks.
This week, MCT started Theatre School classes and Pickwick classes. For those who don't know about these programs, Theatre School is geared toward K-6 with after school classes. There is a class for Kindergarten and 1st graders on Mondays (where you can have fun with my son Zach), classes for 2nd and 3rd graders on Tuesdays and 4th, 5th and 6th graders on Thursday. These classes are an hour long, and this program is run by Judith Giebler with assistance from Bill Williams and Elissa Russell. In fact, we've had great enrollment this year and been able to split some groups into two classes - for example, the K and 1st graders are actually two classes running at the same time. We just started session III, and the final session is limited to those people who participated in the first three sessions, but if you have kids who want to "join the fun" we will be signing up youth for Fine Arts Camp (March 16-20) and summer theatre school soon - write Judith (judith@mctmidland.org) or Bill (bill@mctmidland.org) for more information about these upcoming opportunities.
Pickwick Players are 7th through 12th graders who audition to participate in after school classes and workshops and produce three shows each year. Classes started this week for the spring, and auditions are coming up for the spring production of Pinocchio, which is a part of our 2009 membership season. Although we are always thrilled when these young people "make it" in the business, I truly believe that the program - under the excellent leadership for Bill Williams and Judith Giebler - works hard to improve the talent, skill and confidence of all 50 youth participating in Pickwicks. Auditions for 2009-2010 Pickwicks will take place in early May - contact Bill for more information (bill@mctmidland.org).
This week, MCT started Theatre School classes and Pickwick classes. For those who don't know about these programs, Theatre School is geared toward K-6 with after school classes. There is a class for Kindergarten and 1st graders on Mondays (where you can have fun with my son Zach), classes for 2nd and 3rd graders on Tuesdays and 4th, 5th and 6th graders on Thursday. These classes are an hour long, and this program is run by Judith Giebler with assistance from Bill Williams and Elissa Russell. In fact, we've had great enrollment this year and been able to split some groups into two classes - for example, the K and 1st graders are actually two classes running at the same time. We just started session III, and the final session is limited to those people who participated in the first three sessions, but if you have kids who want to "join the fun" we will be signing up youth for Fine Arts Camp (March 16-20) and summer theatre school soon - write Judith (judith@mctmidland.org) or Bill (bill@mctmidland.org) for more information about these upcoming opportunities.
Pickwick Players are 7th through 12th graders who audition to participate in after school classes and workshops and produce three shows each year. Classes started this week for the spring, and auditions are coming up for the spring production of Pinocchio, which is a part of our 2009 membership season. Although we are always thrilled when these young people "make it" in the business, I truly believe that the program - under the excellent leadership for Bill Williams and Judith Giebler - works hard to improve the talent, skill and confidence of all 50 youth participating in Pickwicks. Auditions for 2009-2010 Pickwicks will take place in early May - contact Bill for more information (bill@mctmidland.org).
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Welcome
Welcome to my MCT blog. I have been the Executive Director of MCT since August 1997. In this blog, I will share some insights into our community theatre. We invite you to become a part of our family - you can perform onstage, work backstage on a show, sell tickets and seat patrons, construct the scenery, props and costumes, or assist us with board and committee work - it's all important and we couldn't do it without our great volunteers.
This year, MCT is producing Les Miserables as our 2009 opening musical. MCT is one of the first community theatres to produce the show, and I thought that it might be interesting to hear a little about producing this musical.
We started with auditions in the summer of 2008 for the "leading" roles - we were looking to cast Valjean, Javert, Fantine, Marius, Eponine, Cosette, Enjolras, Little Cosette, Lesgles, Joly, Grataire and Prouvaire. We had lots of people audition for these roles - we did it over two days and had people audition individually. Honestly, I could have cast the show twice - there were so many good people. In addition, we had a lot of new people audition, and several of them were cast. This initial casting was completed by September 1st.
In September, October and November, we had a rehearsal on a Saturday once a month to sing through the show and start learning the parts. In addition, those cast had their scripts and scores and were able to start learning (and memorizing) their part. In November, we held ensemble auditions, and had a good turnout again - although it's more difficult when people know that the leading roles have already been cast. We cast an additional twenty-five people from these auditions, and started Tuesday and Thursday evening music rehearsals in December. Before we stopped for the holidays, we had cast the show and learned the music.
After New Year's Day, we started blocking rehearsals. When putting together the rehearsal schedule, I found that this show was difficult to break up into sections. In past musicals, I might have started with all of the big group numbers and then picked up the smaller scenes as we moved forward. I ended up deciding to block the show in chronological order - I started at the beginning and worked my way to the end. For those who know the show, it's a very long show so blocking took two weeks - I was usually able to block three numbers each night. After two weeks of blocking, we went back and reviewed each scene and cleaned it up - that has taken us to tonight. On Sunday (February 1st) we will run the show downstairs in the rehearsal room, and then move up to the stage and start adjusting to the scenery and getting ready for our opening on Friday, February 13th.
This year, MCT is producing Les Miserables as our 2009 opening musical. MCT is one of the first community theatres to produce the show, and I thought that it might be interesting to hear a little about producing this musical.
We started with auditions in the summer of 2008 for the "leading" roles - we were looking to cast Valjean, Javert, Fantine, Marius, Eponine, Cosette, Enjolras, Little Cosette, Lesgles, Joly, Grataire and Prouvaire. We had lots of people audition for these roles - we did it over two days and had people audition individually. Honestly, I could have cast the show twice - there were so many good people. In addition, we had a lot of new people audition, and several of them were cast. This initial casting was completed by September 1st.
In September, October and November, we had a rehearsal on a Saturday once a month to sing through the show and start learning the parts. In addition, those cast had their scripts and scores and were able to start learning (and memorizing) their part. In November, we held ensemble auditions, and had a good turnout again - although it's more difficult when people know that the leading roles have already been cast. We cast an additional twenty-five people from these auditions, and started Tuesday and Thursday evening music rehearsals in December. Before we stopped for the holidays, we had cast the show and learned the music.
After New Year's Day, we started blocking rehearsals. When putting together the rehearsal schedule, I found that this show was difficult to break up into sections. In past musicals, I might have started with all of the big group numbers and then picked up the smaller scenes as we moved forward. I ended up deciding to block the show in chronological order - I started at the beginning and worked my way to the end. For those who know the show, it's a very long show so blocking took two weeks - I was usually able to block three numbers each night. After two weeks of blocking, we went back and reviewed each scene and cleaned it up - that has taken us to tonight. On Sunday (February 1st) we will run the show downstairs in the rehearsal room, and then move up to the stage and start adjusting to the scenery and getting ready for our opening on Friday, February 13th.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
