THE BIRDS AND THE BEES - The Next Step: Tech Week!

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!   

THE BIRDS AND THE BEES - The first steps climbing the mountain

Now blogging: Laura Lusser, Assistant to the Director

 

Laura Lussier here.  I’m a bilingual actor and director based here in Winnipeg. What an absolute pleasure to be assisting Ann Hodges on what will be a hilarious production of The Birds and the Bees by Mark Crawford. I must confess: I’ve been a delinquent guest blogger. I’ve been away intermittently for a little less than half of the first two weeks of rehearsal due to a TV gig. (But I promise I’ll make up for it in the coming weeks!) I was disappointed at the prospect of being away from rehearsal for so many days during such a short process, but my absence turned out to be quite useful. I’ll explain why a little later.

The rehearsal process for pretty much any play at a professional theatre in English Canada is three(ish) weeks, which is ridiculously short for such a monumental amount of work. I’m always amazed that we’re able to do it. In the first week, we usually start with introductions and presentations of the set and costume design (Carole Klemm) and then we dive into Table Work, which takes up at least a couple of days. We discuss the play in great detail: the context of the play, the timeline, the characters’ backgrounds, their journeys, their relationships, their motivations and intentions, etc.  For this play, the details of their everyday lives are important. Gail (Mariam Bernstein) is a beekeeper, Earl (Robb Patterson) is a farmer, Sarah (Paula Potosky) is a turkey farmer and Ben (Tristan Carlucci) is an aspiring entomologist. There was lots of research and discussion surrounding those professions to help flesh out details of the characters’ lives and to make sense of certain passages in the play.  I got to be the “Googler” during Table Work. I loved it -- so much learning!  (Yeah, I’m a bit of a nerd.)  ; ) 

After that, we start the process of blocking. This is essentially the process of putting a play “on its feet” in the rehearsal space. It’s the exploration and setting of the specific movements that will become the characters’ physical tracks. Stage management (Michael Duggan and Linsey Callaghan) tapes out the floor to represent the set and we start working with rehearsal furniture and props. This show is exceptionally prop-heavy. The movement and handling of props will look natural by the time we open, but at first, so much brain power has to go into the tracking and management of props.  Not only do the actors have to learn lines and movement and the inside of each scene, they also have tons of little prop and clothing details to deal with. It can be overwhelming.

Sometimes, in rehearsal, as an actor (and as a director), it feels like the mountain that is the play is barely climbable in the short time we have, and it feels like the progress that we make each day is minimal.  But I had the rare opportunity to step back during these first two weeks and return to rehearsal with fresh eyes. And I can tell you it’s astounding how much progress is possible in such a short time. We don’t see it when we’re in it.We’re frustrated that we’re forgetting lines. We get caught up in details. But the play is slowly taking shape and it’s a beautiful thing to witness. My absence turned out to be a useful reminder to trust the process and to have patience. It obviously helps that on this production, we have an incredibly talented and generous company with a brilliant director at the helm. I’m grateful to be a part of such a stellar team. 

I can’t wait for audiences to see this show. It’s well-written and sidesplittingly funny. Rehearsals are a series of guffaws, chuckles and giggles. By the end of this, we’re all going have the six pack abs, I swear.  ; ) 

Coming up later this week: Notes from Tech and Other Delights

LITTLE THING, BIG THING - Setting the Stage, Part III: Bringing it to life, PTE-style

Now Blogging: Sharon Bajer, director of Little Thing, Big Thing

One of the discoveries we made in the first week of rehearsal was that we couldn’t speak as quickly as the Irish actors because of the dialect, and we were using real props and had to move over a larger stage with much physical business. As a result, our version was going to be longer. I decided to put an intermission in the play, where none was written to give both the audience and the actors a breather. I had also decided that we would make everything out of oil barrels, including all of the scenes that take place in a CAR! I knew there would be an element of exploration and we played around in rehearsal with the movement of the barrels for all of the car scenes. One great discovery was that we could turn the barrels from side to side, creating the illusion of driving down those narrow, twisty roads in Ireland. Not only did this look adorable, but it opened up the action in the car to both sides of the theatre. One of my favorite bits is when they drive the barrel around the roundabouts, so common in Ireland.

Now that we’re on the other end of rehearsals, I am very pleased with how the added production elements supported the play. Chris Coyne’s sound and video work is not too much and it just enhances the play without drawing too much attention to itself. The 100 oil barrels that set designer Jamie Plummer and the PTE dream team constructed the set out of work a treat.  I wanted all of the props to be able to appear and disappear within them, which has been delightful to watch. Larry Isacoff’s beautiful lighting was the biggest surprise to me. He was able to create the different worlds of the play and maintain the fabulous look of our imposing wall of oil barrels throughout, highlighting the subtle mood changes and inner thoughts of the characters. And of course our actors Gord Gammie and Jennifer Lyon are excellent (as I knew they would be!) Having Donal at our opening was a treat for me – to show him his play done in our Canadian way. Directing this play has been one of the highlights of my career so far – a great challenge and so incredibly rewarding. PTE has been so supportive to me and I can’t thank them enough for trusting me with this show.

 

Gordon Gammie (Larry), Sharon Bajer (Director), Donal O'Kelly (Playwright),
Jennifer Lyon (Sister Martha)

LITTLE THING, BIG THING - Setting the Stage, Part II: The Irish Experience

 Now blogging: Sharon Bajer, director of Little Thing, Big Thing


Sometimes seeing a production of a play you are about to direct is a bad idea, but in this case I already had a vision of how I was going to do it, which was very important. I knew that they did it with a minimal set and created everything out of two chairs with no props or costume changes. This is always excellent, as it requires the audience to use their imaginations. Prairie Theatre Exchange however is a thrust stage with audiences on three sides and it is a very large stage to fill. I wanted to give our PTE audience and my production of LTBT the feel of using only two chairs to keep the focus on the story and the actors and balance that with set, sound, lights, props, video and costumes that would only support the play and not clutter it up too much. AND I didn't have to worry about making the production able to tour. 


Going to Ireland to see Fishamble’s production of Little Thing Big Thing was a great experience. I was able to meet with Donal the playwright who performs in the play with actress Socha Fox. The two were wonderful in the show and afterwards as we shared in the traditional Irish post show chats over lots of pints that no one would let me pay for! The director Jim Culleton from Fishamble made me a little map of all of the locations in Dublin that are referred to and I followed the story trail – which was fantastic. I took photos of all of the places in order to help the production team and the actors visualize the setting. Seeing their production did not influence how I was going to do mine, but it made it clear to me just how powerful that show can be and seeing it with an Irish audience was very illuminating I had a slight worry that a Canadian audience might get lost in the dialect, the Dublin centric references and the complex storyline, so clarity in the story would be my ultimate goal.

Next: Part III - Bringing it to life, PTE-style

LITTLE THING, BIG THING - Setting the Stage, PART I: Looking across the "pond"

Now blogging: Sharon Bajer, Director of Little Thing, Big Thing

As I write this, Little Thing Big Thing has opened and is enjoying a great run with good reviews and word of mouth. I now can breathe a sigh of relief. A little backstory here: when I first read the play I was hooked by the story but I really had to study the play in order to visualize how it could be staged. Not only do two actors have to play multiple roles, but they speak their inner thoughts, jump from location to location and interact with people and objects that aren’t physically there. It’s funny, dark, unpredictable, part thriller, part mystery and part love story with a political edge. And if all of that weren’t enough, it takes place in Ireland with dialects from all over the country, Irish slang and many references to specific places in Dublin and across the Irish countryside. A challenge for any director, but this was my PTE Main Stage directorial debut. I didn’t want to screw it up!

Donal O'Kelly, playwright

I did some research into past productions of Little Thing, Big Thing and I discovered that the only other production of the play was the original from Fishamble Theatre that was about to make their Dublin premiere. More back story: in Ireland they follow a more European model of presenting. Rather than many different companies producing their own versions of plays, rehearsing for 3 weeks and presenting a 3-week run for a subscription audience, they keep their plays touring, sometimes for years. As a result many of these plays have small casts and very little in the way of set or fancy production elements. The plays tour all over, can be set up in any space and are relatively inexpensive to move around.

So I looked at the tour schedule for Little Thing Big Thing and I realized that I could see it when it played in Dublin. I immediately contacted the playwright Donal O’Kelly and he put aside a ticket for me! I was very excited to go and meet him and see his show, but I needed a way to get there! Thanks to support from The Manitoba Arts Council and The Winnipeg Arts Council, I was able to travel to Dublin and spend 10 days researching contemporary Irish theatre, meet with Donal and the creative team of Fishamble’s production and go to all of the places that he references in the play.  

Next: Part II: The Irish Experience

Donal O'Kelly & Sorcha Fox in the Fishamble production of Little Thing, Big Thing.