Last of the Red Hot Lovers

The Hangar's first show of the summer season has opened! The Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon is a three-part comedy that, while it has a few dark moments, leaves the audience feeling good. The scenic designer for this show is Ken Goldstein, who I have worked with before. We had to assemble a lot of scenic elements for this show: platforms and walls, and a special new audience seating area that turned the 3/4 thrust stage into an almost theater-in-the-round setup.

An early look at our load in of the set. Photo: Meg Hurley

The set included a ceiling piece, a working door and deadbolt, molding, a shelving unit, and some window seats, all of which provided my shop with interesting and challenging projects. Being in charge of the shop interns means that I did not get to work on any one project by myself...but worked with all of the carpenters to bring the set to completion, and to install it.

Photo: Meg Hurley

It's amazing how carpeting can make a set look so much more finished! Photo: Meg Hurley

On this set, we also have the first Kidstuff show, Pinkalicious. We had to build some custom pieces for this show as well: a pink nestling ottoman and a table that rotates around a center point to flip into several different positions. Our experimental line of shows, the Wedge shows, is also performing with a show called Bodies. We installed this set into the lobby of the main theater (a 'found' space). This involved some large, muslin-covered screens and a real tree overhead. All in all, a successful first round of plays at the Hangar!

For more information on the Hangar theater, tickets, and designs, visit their website.

Thank you for reading!

Week 1

Now I am in Ithaca, NY, working at the Hangar theater as their Master Carpenter. Week 1 has been a blast! It is so good to be back. I am living with one of my best friends, Meg, and working closely with her, our awesome TD, and a great staff and crew this year.

We are currently working on The Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon, scenic design by Ken Goldstein, a familiar face for me at this point. The set is a pretty interesting combo of walls and doors, columns, and a large ceiling piece, as well as lots of platforming, and some added audience seating to make an especially unusual configuration. We started load in this week and it is really starting to come together. I will take some process pictures to post soon!

Moving up from the staff carpenter position into the Master Carpenter job is a great transition. I have 2 interns and an apprentice in the shop, as well as Meg, who is the staff carpenter. Handing off projects to her is great. Finding jobs and helping my interns is definitely more of a challenge, but it's one I am enjoying so far. There is certainly a balance between delegating tasks and not having something to do myself....it is strange. I hope my 'ducklings' will continue to do well because they have impressed me a lot so far. I draw a lot of inspiration from our MC last summer, Papa Steve, because he bonded well with everyone in the shop and always had a list of stuff ready for people to work on, which is an incredibly handy thing to remember and use.

More soon! Thanks for reading!  

my Mini was pretty well packed for the drive up here!

Meg and I decided this is our official summer sweet drink

My geranium is actually blooming! I am really good at killing plants...so this is a big deal. 

 

 

Updates!

Wow, it has been a BUSY month since I last wrote! Between buying a car, getting a new baby nephew, working multiple gigs in the Boston area, and moving out to Ithaca last week for my summer stock, it's been pretty crazy. I worked with the Hunt and Emerson a bunch, and also did some traveling: my first trip to Las Vegas to visit my boyfriend, George, who was working a gig out there in May.

I really enjoyed visiting Vegas, and can't wait to take a road trip out west sometime to really explore the country we live in more.

And of course, the highlight of my blogging hiatus was meeting my nephew! Bram Liptak was born on May 22nd to my sister in law Megan and my oldest brother, Andrew. (check out his super sappy, sweet blog post from that day).

my parents...new grandparents!

I was so happy to meet Bram before leaving for Ithaca; had he arrived on time instead of early, I would have been 6 hours away when he was born! Needless to say, I booked it up to Vermont from Boston that day. Holding a newborn baby is an incredible feeling, and I can't wait to see how their little family will grow and to be a part of his life.

Keep coming back for some updates on my summer!