Gateway Playhouse Presents: Spamalot! at the Patchogue Theatre

Last week, Spamalot opened in Patchogue, NY, directed and choreographed by Keith Andrews. Spamalot is based on the 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and won three Tony awards on Broadway. From killer rabbits to a disco-Vegas Camelot party, Spamalot keeps audiences laughing throughout the evening. Join King Arthur (played by Peter Simon Hilton) and his loyal sidekick Patsy (Jeremy Morse) and their knights, ladies, French enemies, Knights of Ni, and more as they hunt for the Holy Grail (and for various shrubberies, Jews, and damsels- er, gentlemen- in distress!

The biggest challenge about this show has been the distance. Patchogue is about 15-20 minutes away from the Gateway Playhouse, and getting our equipment over there, loading in and completing tech rehearsals, and now constantly traveling to perform the shows, is very tiring for all of us. Not to mention that we've gone into changeover and tech for Tommy, the annual student production, this week; splitting the crews and staff and stretching our gear thin.

Working at the Patchogue Performing Arts Center is definitely a new experience, especially because it is much bigger than most of the places I've worked. The theater has a lot of potential, and were it better taken care of perhaps the Gateway wouldn't have the biggest shows performing on its stage.

I'm running spotlight on Spamalot, which means I spend a lot of time in Patchogue (especially two- and three- show days). It's been very rewarding in some ways for me because this is the show that stood out for me in the Gateway's season when I first applied to be an intern. Seeing Keith Andrews again, a director whom I worked with on many shows at the Saint Michael's Playhouse, was fantastic. I enjoy the run of the show, especially with Matt Crowle on the stage again (he starred in my first show here, 'S Wonderful) as a Broadway-aspiring, tap dancing, cowardly Sir Robin. Almost all of the actors double roles at some point or another. I also enjoyed working with Doug Harry, our lighting designer.

To see the NYTimes review of Spamalot, click here. For more information on tickets, calendar, and who's who, please visit the Gateway Playhouse website.

Upcoming Events

Things are about to get crazy around here at Gateway! We are on our closing week of Legally Blonde: The Musical and will be striking the show this weekend. Our next show, however, will be performed at a different theater in the town of Patchogue; the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts is bigger and has had a long history with Gateway Playhouse, making it the perfect setting for Spamalot. We've started loading equipment in already, and this weekend will be like changeover on steroids because of the distance and the new space.

Luckily Tommy, the annual student show, opening at the Gateway Playhouse while Spamalot is running, starts a week later so we'll have a little more time to actually change over this space from Blonde to Tommy. I'm excited to be running spotlight on Spamalot, though it means lots of trips to and from the Patchogue theater and also that I probably won't get to see Tommy.

Oh, and to top things off...tomorrow morning the childrens' shows start! We have two performances of Cinderella tomorrow morning, which I'll be running lights for before Legally Blonde. It's going to be a hectic nonstop time for a while here, but that's what summer stock is all about!

Legally Blonde: The Musical at Gateway Playhouse

For the past few weeks, we have been preparing for and performing Legally Blonde: The Musical at the Gateway Playhouse on Long Island. Based on the movie "Legally Blonde," starring Reese Witherspoon, the show tells the story of Elle Woods, a blond sorority president at UCLA who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard, and finds her own path on the way. Our production was directed by Tom Kosis and Leah Hofmann.

All photos taken from the Gateway Playhouse Facebook page

Ruby Lewis portrays Elle's surprisingly touching journey very well. As my father said when he saw the show, you find yourself rooting for Elle, despite the fact that she's rich, from Malibu, and gets into Harvard with nothing but a cheerleading routine.

The Harvard acceptance is, however, the only part of the script that sticks out for me as positively ditzy. I learned I would be running the light board for Blonde and was apprehensive at having to watch and listen to the show every day, sometimes twice a day, but I've been pleasantly surprised by how not-tired I am of the songs and the story. It moves along at a fantastic pace and with a huge amount of scene and character changes by almost all of the cast, it's impossible to be bored.Our production also stars Brent Michael DiRoma as Emmett, Ruth Pferdehirt as Paulette (and Matt Nolan as Kyle the UPS guy, together they perform some of my favorite parts of the show!) as well as Kristin Wetherington as Vivienne.

As an electrics intern on the show, I worked on preparing some light-up set pieces called portals (basically false prosceniums) by embedding different colors of rope light inside of them. They are used during the show in several cues, especially the pink (of course!) with a glow that adds to the scene. The scenery was designed by Robert Andrew Kovach for the Ogunquit performance of Blonde in August, where our sets are moving next; we worked closely with Kim Hanson, our lighting designer, to get the lights in place and focused and into cues.

Running the light board means that I come in before the show and turn on the power, unlock backstage doors, turn on all the lights, and go through one at a time to make sure everything is working. Myself and the other electricians- one of whom is running spotlight, and one of whom is our deck electrician to keep an eye on things from onstage during the show- will fix things if needed before the show begins. Then during the play the stage manager calls the light cues for me and I watch from the booth for any surprises, in electrics or otherwise, being one of the only people who can see what the audience is seeing. It's a lot of responsibility, but I love it.

To see Legally Blonde at the Gateway Playhouse, check the website here. Also visit the NY Times review of the production here.

Changeover!

The magical weekend of summer stock has arrived upon Gateway Playhouse: changeover weekend. This is the 3-4 day span starting about half an hour after the first show closes on Saturday night (in this case, 'S Wonderful) and lasts until opening night of the second show (Legally Blonde: The Musical). All of the technicians work crazy hours to strike the first set from the stage and then arrange and finalize the second set- and all the lights- for the next show in the space.

To prepare for this process, the carpenters spend daylight of the 2-3 weeks leading up to a changeover (while the first show is performing nights and matinees) building set pieces so they're all ready to put together. This was a huge set for the space and for our carpenters to finish. It's going on tour to Ogunquit, Maine for the Ogunquit Playhouse's production of Blonde, which opens in late August.

As an electrics intern, I spent the past few weeks running spotlight for the 25 performances of 'S Wonderful. I also helped repair and maintain all the lights used in the show, clean and organize our workshop, and work on the lights embedded in the Legally Blonde set (also known as practicals). Practicals can range from table lamps and flashlights used by the actors to wall sconces, chandeliers, flashing signs, and in this case, rope lights and belt lights, most of which are attached inside set pieces to make them glow.

Today is Tuesday of changeover weekend, so we're done striking the set from 'S Wonderful, done hanging and focusing the lights for Blonde, and the set is pretty much in place and ready. Tech rehearsals have started. These are long rehearsals where the cast spaces and gets used to the stage (like the technicians, the actors have not been able to prepare for the show on the stage with 'S Wonderful performing daily). These rehearsals, however, are primarily for the stage manager to organize all the scene changes and lighting and sound cues. The lighting designer can use this time to write or change cues; often they will come in knowing what they want or having already written basic prototypes, a foresight that makes the rehearsals less tedious.

Tomorrow we'll have dress rehearsal, where the actors will be in costumes and wigs, and the technical elements will be pretty much settled (in an ideal situation, that is). I'm running the light board for Legally Blonde, and while I can watch some of the programming of the cues and moving lights during this process, there isn't a whole lot to be done while the run-through is going on, which is why I have the time to write this blog. I also have a sinus infection, and my boss the Master Electrician, Jose Santiago, has been telling me to rest more. They're treating me really well here, with a trip to the doctor's and all. It's hard to sleep or relax when I know we're in changeover, though: it's the process that we all gear up for ahead of time and drink Red Bull and worse throughout; it's that time when you know you should be doing something or helping out somewhere. That's something that has taken some getting used to here, as opposed to Saint Michael's Playhouse where I spent the past two summers: there's a bit of a division between departments here, so even though the carpenters were short-handed on this show, we electrics interns weren't really sent to help. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, simply different.

Thank you for reading! If you're interested in the changeover process in theater, look it up on Youtube- there are some fun videos of the process, fast-forwarded. More to come on Legally Blonde!

'S Wonderful at the Gateway Playhouse

The Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, New York, is currently producing 'S Wonderful, a musical conceived and directed by Ray Roderick using only pieces by the famous Gershwin brothers. The show is composed of five mini-musical stories set from the 1920's to current day, and each revolves around the theme of love while incorporating historical elements and events that the Gershwin brothers experienced.

Running spotlight for a musical can get tiring, but there are many moments of this production that still entertain me. The highlights of the show for me include Matthew Crowle's comedic acting as Harold in the first story, and his physical presence and movement in a rousing rendition of "Swanee," which is one of those songs I will never tire of watching. Stephanie Koenig is the entertainment of the evening with the tale of Jane, a daydreaming makeup artist who learns to love herself. Deidre Haren and Sean Watkins tell a classic love story based on the 1951 American in Paris movie with a ballet number inspired by Gene and Leslie. And Ashley Betton croons some of the most famous numbers with a more melancholy story of love and friendship, set in 1950's New Orleans. All together the musical captures all those mixed emotions that come with life and love and sets them to words and music.

'S Wonderful runs through this Saturday, June 18th. For a memorable evening of classic American songs applied through the generations, order your tickets here. Up next at the Gateway Playhouse is Legally Blonde: The Musical. For photos and more, visit the Gateway's Facebook page. 

Start of Summer

At long last I'm settled in enough to post a new blog! Since my last post, I traveled for over 24 hours to get home to Vermont, which luckily enough was a fairly straightforward trip and my luggage didn't get lost or anything. I spent two days at home unpacking, repacking, seeing friends, spending time with family, and avoiding rain and huge lightning storms...and then drove 7 hours down to Long Island to start my summer internship!

This summer I'm interning at the Gateway Playhouse, a summer stock theater in Bellport outside of the city. I've been here for one week and have already gone through an overnight changeover and tech rehearsals. We opened 'S Wonderful last Wednesday, the second show of the summer. 'S Wonderful is a Gershwin tribute musical that tells love stories through the generations with the famous songs.

Photo of Harold in 'S Wonderful: Taken from the Gateway facebook page

It's really a fun show. I'm running spotlight, being an electrics (lighting) intern, and this week and during the tech I got to do a lot of hands-on work with hanging lighting instruments, circuiting and cabling things, working on wiring, troubleshooting problems, replacing bulbs... the inventory here is pretty big and involves moving lights and color scrollers, so hopefully I'll get a little more experience in with those this summer.

One last thing that's happened in the past week and a half or so since I've arrived back in the U.S.A. is that my boyfriend Mike and I broke up :( it's been pretty discouraging to have made it so far, only to find that the distance did more damage than I knew. Being at work helps, but it still doesn't really feel real, and I feel naive to keep hoping so much. As my family says, keep looking to the future, and you never know what will happen.

Closure

This week is my final week in Granada, Spain for my semester abroad. I can't believe how fast it's come; just as I have begun to enjoy my time here and appreciate the past few months, despite its ups and downs, it's almost time to go home. I can't say I'm sorry, though; things here are amazing but I miss my home and my family.

I spent the weekend with friends in the Federico Garcia Lorca park in Granada, and then in Carmen de los Martires, a peacock garden near Granada's la Alhambra palace, taking a photo shoot for a friend's senior pictures. I also went hiking in Sierra de Castriles in the next province over from Granada, which was a great trip. This week is final presentations and the beginning of exams, but I'm not really stressing out over them. The relaxed way of life and the simple class activities- all geared towards our greater understanding of Spanish and the Spanish lifestyle- is very calm compared to exam time at our universities at home.

After exams, I board a 2am bus to Madrid and spend all of May 25th traveling. I will arrive in Burlington, VT at 10pm that day and am looking forward to being greeted by my family. I will spend 2 days at home unpacking and repacking and adjusting before I head off to Bellport, Long Island, where I have an electrics internship waiting at the Gateway Playhouse! I will be there for the entire summer, and while it would be nice to have more time at home I really miss theater and the work ethic it requires. Hopefully the summer will put my schedule back on track for my senior year, which won't be nearly as relaxed as this semester has been!