BOOM!

The Vermont Stage Company started its 2012-2013 season with a boom...quite literally! Written by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Boom tells the tale of a nerdy biologist who predicted the end of the world...and in preparation, stocked up his underground bomb-shelter-turned-lab and put an ad out for a date. Little does Jo, the punk chick who responds know that Jules' real intention is to preserve the human race.

Genevra MacPhail and Alex Koch as Jo and Jules. Photo Source: http://www.vtstage.org

 Directed by Cristina Alicea, the Artistic Director of VSC, this production is a quirky glimpse into the future and appropriately liberal for Burlington, Vermont. Working in the Flynnspace is always a welcome challenge to VSC's directors and designers: it is a small black box space with support columns and a low ceiling to work with. The stage is set as a three-quarter thrust for Boom; the staging carries the actors all over the space, often in unusual and interesting ways. Alex Koch turns a sweet geek into an impressively motivated character when it comes to surviving; when his limits are finally pushed by the often offensive Jo, we see Jules as he had never been seen before in probably all of his tragic life. Genevra MacPhail plays a captivating Jo whose vulnerability changes in very interesting ways throughout the show. I liked her immediately. Carol Spradling plays Barbara, the character who provides a mind-blowing plot twist with increasingly opinionated interjections.

Working on this show has been fun. I met Jim Dougherty, the technical director, back in January at the American College Theater Festival, where I was a technical intern and he was our supervisor. Working with him again to load in the set and flooring was a blast.

Load-in for Boom

Jenny Fulton's scenic design certainly captures the scientific-turned-home-turned-stockpile setting, complete with cold metallic architecture, homely Star Wars bedding and mismatched rugs. Sue Wade's props and dressings complete the space: filing cabinets and crates of important survival things (right down to the baby knits and diapers, tampons, and red Solo cups). I worked later with John Forbes and Sarah Simmons on hanging and focusing lights to create wonderfully diverse effects and a shadowy atmosphere that only furthers the feeling of being underground.

All in all, this is certainly a show worth seeing in the Champlain Valley area. Whether you are interested in the sleeping habits of fish foreshadowing the end of the world; side-splitting laughter and entertainment at the simple facts of life; or the astounding possibilities of human existence and perseverance, Boom is not a play you want to miss. For information on tickets, calendar, and more, please visit the VSC website. 

Thank you for reading!

The Fall

There is something fascinating about the end months of the year. We aren't quite into what I like to think of as the dead months-- after the leaves are gone and everything is brown and grey and black, just waiting for the covering of snow-- but it's coming. After the crisp, sunny days of September and October, when the colors burst against the sky and summer says its last good-bye, dreary November will haunt the blackened forests, the leaves soggy and cold underfoot. A shallow wind creaks through the trees and the rain never really stops coming down.

This is the worst time of year to watch scary movies, to live in rural Vermont, to be alone. I used to be afraid a lot during this time of year. Somehow I am taking solace in its depressing discomfort this time around, and I suspect it has to do with my unhappiness at where I am right now.

After the summer, I wanted to start my post-grad life right away somewhere other than Vermont. I've been here for my whole life and worked with a lot of local companies. I want to experience new places. I love and miss my family, especially my extended family, who I don't see often. They are always there for me though, a short email or a quick phone call away: my parents, my grandma... and with my brothers settling down I don't feel the need to stay here.

So it's time.

But I don't have the money to move to the city yet, and the couple of places that made offers would probably have made me more miserable and bored than ever, so I'm staying at home, saving money, and getting my union card. It's reasonable. Logical. I'm just not patient enough, I guess. I want my independent life to begin now.

At least I'm not afraid anymore.

The End of Summer

It's been a busy month or so since I last wrote... the summer season at the Hangar theater ended with Trip To Bountiful, the story of a woman in Texas trying to get home. We had a lot of very detailed projects for this show, which was interesting and often challenging for the scene shop. With interns and apprentices leaving for school, our numbers were reduced, but many of the projects we worked on were portfolio projects for each of us to display our work, and so the fewer people in the shop, the easier it was for us all to work around one another.

Ticket booth

I worked on a beautiful ticket booth with our Master Carpenter, making a finished old-fashion booth that lifted and wheeled around with a handle mechanism. I also made a window piece and frame, which was great practice for some intricate fitting of pieces. I made a little roof piece and worked on huge, rough-hewn posts. During the load-in, I was a carpenter for the changeover and worked on a lot of the pieces that flew in and out: the roof, the window, the apartment wall. This show was a great way to the end the season because of the practice we all put in on detailed work.

Finishing touches on the ticket booth: routed edges, molding, all sanded and plastered or puttied

The window pane and frame I made! Becca made the bottom frame, which we put in later.

I made this day bed at the last minute for props, and am very proud of how it came out.

We were working right up til opening night on this show finishing things and especially working on these bench platforms that were controlled with casters on a pressurized air system to raise & wheel or lower & brake. It was quite a process. But the show opened successfully, and we all celebrated and then packed our bags and headed our separate ways, minus a skeleton crew to run the show and strike later in the month. 

I really enjoyed my time at the Hangar theater this summer. I learned a lot, grew in confidence about my skills, met a lot of contacts and friends, and solidified the fact that I love summer stock theater. Despite some rough patches-- as any theater, any job in the world, will have-- we produced an awesome season. Each show, we learned new things: we had Lend Me A Tenor, which was a hotel interior with big walls and basic scenery practices; Titanic the Musical, which we worked almost exclusively with metal; Full Gallop, which had a small set; Next to Normal, which combined wood and metal working; and Trip to Bountiful, which had finished pieces and furniture that really challenged our skills. Not to mention the kids' shows and the experimental line...it was a busy summer!

Thanks for reading!

Next to Normal

Our current production, Next to Normal, is by far my favorite of the season! A fairly recent musical, N2N tells the story of a family who works their way through mental problems displayed by one family member, and how that issue affects the entire family. It does an incredible job of addressing what modern medical and therapy practices can do and also explores the fears that many people have about loss, grief, middle-class living, familial relationships, and traumatic events. Andrea Burns stars in this moving production directed by Tracy Brigden.

The Hangar's N2N is slightly different than the original, with a fascinating new scenic design by Anne Mundell that fits the height constraints of our space nicely.

Lighting Design: Matt Richards

I really enjoyed building and watching this show. Check out my previous post for more information about the build process and load-in for Next to Normal. Ticket information, calendar, and more can be found at the Hangar website.

Photo Credit: Rachel Philipson, Hangar website

 

Photo Credit: Rachel Philipson, Hangar website

Building Next to Normal

The past few weeks have been busy at the Hangar Theater! We opened Full Gallop, a one-woman show about Diana Vreeland (founder of Vogue magazine) on August 3rd and it ran for just over a week. Dee Hoty kept audiences riveted with Vreeland's funny and interesting revelations.

The set for Full Gallop was relatively simple for us. The entire show took place in an upscale apartment, which the designer Michael Krass chose to represent with a giant swoop of red set paper instead of walls, as well as with furniture and elaborate dressings and rugs. The real challenge was for stage management, who had to strike the set for the children's show every week.

While Full Gallop was performing, we started building for Next to Normal. This was another large production with a workload similar to Lend Me A Tenor or Titanic, but it combined woodworking and steel. We have all been excited about this show since it is very new and also the initial design drawings looked amazing. Anne Mundell designed the world of Next to Normal with a series of platforms and stairs flanked by three houses of various sizes, hanging upside down. The entire set is encased in drops and flats of clouds.

Parts of the set during load-in

We had a lot to build in a shorter time than usual (since Full Gallop had a shorter run of performances than the other mainstage productions). We started with the houses, since they are unusually shaped flats and paints needed plenty of time to work on them. I cut out all of the lauan facing one afternoon, which was a fun project. Framing the pieces with 1x3 was less fun, since the houses are such strange shapes and need to be supported unusually for how they are hung, but we got it done.

Other projects included steel platforms and supports, steel staircases and finished lids for each stair (I worked on those for a long time), hanging the cloud drop and masking flats. During this changeover, I got moved to electrics, so I worked on a set of double-decker trunions for the ground row of lights in preparation.A carp-elecs swing position is my ideal anyway, so this change wasn't unhappy for me.

Stair lids: 3/4"plywood with masonite facing

Trunions-- the black pieces on either side supporting the long strip of lights

This was a different changeover than usual for me. Having worked primarily in electrics and stage management before, I was ready for the challenge of switching departments and found I could make myself very useful to our young ME and electrics crew. It was a pleasure working with Matt Richards, the lighting designer, and Felicia Hall, the lighting design fellowship and Matt's assistant on Next to Normal. The changeover/tech week presented plenty of challenges, however, and I learned a lot about management and preparation, and infectious attitudes.

Some load-in photos: 

Nia & Cecilia installing the stair lids

Boom pipe and masking flats off SL...this pipe was later repositioned elsewhere.

Hanging the first house!

Focusing lights

I will post more photos and my review of the show soon! Thank you for reading!

creative writing #2

Lightning strikes all around me, picking off names I almost know. Who will be next? Where is the reason? Just out of sight, just out of reach

their silence echoes down hallways, in rooms and halls and stalls and houses, through trees down sidewalks under bridges until it fills the sky, asking

why?

Titanic the Musical at the Hangar Theater

Ithaca's Hangar Theater is currently producing an adaptation of Titanic the musical, a touching rendition of the historical event that looks especially at the relationships onboard and how lives were affected by the disaster. The story focuses on 4 couples from different classes, the leadership aboard the ship, and the hopes and aspirations of various passengers. Our production is carefully downsized from the original version, featuring just 20 actors and actresses playing multiple roles.

Building the set for Titanic was a big challenge because it is almost exclusively made of steel. Designed by Jo Winiarski, the scenery is an imaginative combination of steel framework and platforms, quite reminiscent of a ship, complete with railings and a swing-down, climb-able mast. Everyone in the scene shop worked overtime and learned much about metalwork during this process.

The main part of the set: a leaning frame wall & inset platform

The obstacles we faced building this show were more than the welding, cleaning, grinding, and treating of the steel materials, however. We received our order of steel 3 days late into the build, which is a big delay because it put us behind schedule and the paint crew, who paints the set as we finish it, was also affected. Transporting the huge wall frame and heavy platforming onto the stage was hard work as well, and the platforms had to be bolted and welded in the space during our changeover time. Other departments faced challenges as well, sometimes holding us up, but like any theater company learns, sharing space and time is an important balance and requires patience and communication. Luckily, we have a pretty solid team in the shop this summer.

The mast, also tilted, swings down to allow an actor to climb up it.

The final large component of the set: platforms over the entrances in the audience. Here is us at load-in installing one of them.

Other events at the Hangar these past few weeks have included more Wedge shows in our experimental series (Happy Days, This is Our Youth) that we have built and loaded in to the local high school's black box theater, and Kidstuff shows (Little Mermaid, Dish and the Spoon, Pirates) that are built to perform on top of the Mainstage sets. Currently, we are waiting on designer plans for the next mainstage-- Full Gallop, a one-woman show about the founder of Vogue magazine-- which opens next week. Hopefully that process will be moving along soon!

Thank you for reading, and as always visit the Hangar Theater's website for more information about the shows we produce.

I spent an afternoon welding on the main bridge platform!