Now blogging: Laura Lussier, Assistant to the Director
Thursday, March 23
It’s Tech Week! We had our last
run-through of the show in the rehearsal hall yesterday. It’s always an
exciting time when the crew moves all of the props and furniture into the
theatre, where Set Designer Carole Klemm is putting the finishing touches to
the world of The Birds and the Bees.
Today,
after a safety walk with the Production Manager (Wayne Buss!) and an
exploration of the set, we started the process of what we call “Spacing.” This
is my first time working in a theatre with a true thrust stage in a directing
capacity. PTE’s stage extends into the audience on three sides. It presents
some challenges, but I love the intimacy that it provides the audience. Spacing
consisted of the actors moving through the play with director Ann Hodges and I
literally running around the theatre
checking sightlines and making adjustments to the actors’ movements to make
sure that the audience is seeing as much of the action onstage as possible,
without actors blocking other actors or parts of the set getting in the way of
the audience’s view. (Pretty sure we hit 10,000 steps without even leaving the
theatre!) Spacing is all about finding
solutions to little technical problems in the space, and about the actors
getting comfortable in their new home, the stage.
While the actors get some
well-deserved rest, Ann and I stayed at the theatre for what we call “Levels”. Larry
Isacoff, the Lighting Designer, and Ian Hodges, the Sound Designer, as well as
lighting and sound operators and a “light-walker” settled in for what will be a
long evening. We started building lighting cues last night: the lighting
designer shows the director what he has envisioned for certain moments in the
play and they collaborate to find the right timing and level of light. The
light-walker helps by standing in for the actors onstage, so that we can tell what
the light looks like on bodies and faces in the space. Then, the Director and
the Stage Manager collaborate to determine when to call the cue. It’s a complex
process, but it’s all worth it! The set looks gorgeous under Larry’s lighting
design! 
Tonight, we added sound to the
mix. Ann and Ian Hodges listen to the cues in the space to determine what level
is appropriate, when the music or sound cue should fade in or out, and from
which speakers the sound should be heard. Then, we see how lights and sound
work together. It’s intricate work and we have to be as efficient as possible
because we only have approximately eight hours to build all the cues in the
show – lighting and sound. We’re
talking over a hundred cues, and this isn’t even a tech-heavy show! (I don’t know how they do it in eight hours
for musicals…) The time-crunch of Levels is a bit crazy in my opinion, but it
always gets done somehow. We’ll go through the cues with actors and run through
the show several times, so the work we do in Levels serves as a base for the
work in the coming days. The designers will keep tweaking until Opening Night,
which is in exactly one week!!!
The days until opening are long
and full of adjustments and challenges for everyone. We’re getting higher and
higher on our mountain, which means that the time is shorter and exhaustion becomes
a factor. Everyone has to take special care of themselves during Tech Week and
we all have to take extra care of each other. We’ll be working 12 hour days
with two one-hour meal breaks most days until opening. (We call these days “Ten
out of Twelves.”) But everyone working on this production is so wonderful that
these long days on the climb to Opening Night will be less exhausting that they
will be delightful, I’m sure.
More to come on Tech Week in the
coming days! Q to Q, Quick Change
Rehearsal and more!
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