In Box - and other bits

It's a busy week...

Today is first tech for Boleros for the Disenchanted by Jose Rivera. So I'm sitting at my tech table in the Wimberly keeping an eye on the proceedings while following up on some email ignored earlier in the week, proofing a few documents, and catching up on my online reading.

A couple of my department heads have dashed over to the BU Theatre where How Shakespeare Won the West just closed. Lights, Sound and Props will clear everything off the deck tonight so scenery can come in and strike the rest of the set tomorrow. I've still got to post some embarrasing and self depricating photos from opening night... just you wait.

We'll start getting ready for Wishful Drinking on Wednesday. The production arrives on Thursday, with a short tech on Friday afternoon. Both Boleros and Wishful will have their Boston premieres on Friday evening.

The Boston Globe sent Megan Tench to Hartford CT last month to talk with Carrie Fisher in Wishful Drinking. Little did Megan know that Carrie would give the interview from bed... read it all here. The Herald also has an interview.

There's been a little news re: Nicky Martin. The Globe ran an update, and local blogs the The Hub Review and The Mirror up to Nature sent their best wishes. One reader - read the last comment on the the Mirror post - also took the opportunity to chide me for not posting often enough. He's right - but hey - the blog had it's 2 year anniversary this week - and we have an average of 2.7 posts per week over that period. I don't feel too guilty. He also expressed his disappointment in the Boston press for their lack of coverage.

ANYWAY...

I've heard that they had to move Nicky to a larger room to accommodate the abundance of floral arrangements, and I've had several first hand confirmations that Nick is in good spirits and is receiving many visitors.

In other news - Campbell Scott is remounting The Atheist in NYC. Playbill has a nice interview here.

Photo Credits

Boleros: (l-r) Jaime Tirelli, Socorro Santiago, Monica Raymund, and Elliot Villar portray two generations of the same married couple in the Huntington Theatre Company's production of Boleros for the Disenchanted playing October 10 through November 15 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. Photo: Eric Antoniou
How Shakespeare Won the West: The company rests on their journey to California in the Huntington Theatre Company's production of How Shakespeare Won the West, playing September 5 through October 5 at the Huntington's mainstage, the B.U. Theatre. Photo: T. Charles Erickson.
Wishful Drinking: Image of Carrie Fisher in the the Berkeley Rep production of Wishful Drinking. Photo: Kevin Berne.

How Shakespeare Won the West - what audiences are saying

Playwright in the House

Richard Nelson, the author of How Shakespeare Won the West is in the house. Right now - on the day before our press opening - making an adjustment to the opening of the play. And he was here for the first rehearsal. And practically every day in between making daily tweaks and corrections. That's five weeks thus far.

I'm not complaining, mind you, just making sure your understand.

It is standard practice, whenever we do a new play, that the playwright visits and participates in the process. The level of involvement, however, can vary greatly. Even with Richard. He wrote our adaption of The Cherry Orchard a few years back - and I think he was here for just a few days. I expect we'll see a lot of Jose Rivera and Richard Goodwin this season - maybe even Tom Stoppard - who knows.

I think it's pretty cool having these folks in the room. It's when I get a little star struck. I mean really... Richard Nelson, Teresa Rebeck, August Wilson, Tom Stoppard? How can that not be exciting. And then there are folks like Melinda Lopez, Ronan Noone, and Sinan Unel... people who might not (yet) have Tonys, but who you know and root for and talk to like a friend.

You spend a couple of weeks in tech and preview with these folks and you have a new appreciation for their craft - it's amazing how much the experience can heighten your emotional attachment to the work.

What we try to do at the Huntington is create a comfortable environment for our artistic team (the actors, director, designers, and playwright) in order that they can do their best work and bring you the best of their work.

The relationship a playwright has with their play, the director, and the theatre and it's staff is different on each production. Some are primarily interested in the text, some in the direction, some in the technical elements, and some even in participating in casting the production. Some actively seek feedback from the team - and some don't. For most it's some combination of all of the above. Part of the fun of my job is figuring out what that dynamic is and how to best navigate it.

One of the things I like best about my job is that it brings different challenges on a daily basis... this is just one more example.

I would love to hear from those of you out there who have participated in the creation of a new work - people who have been there in the room helping form a new play. Designers, directors, artistic directors (yah you DuBois!), staff, actors, audiences, and even yous playwrights. Yep - I know you are out there...

What kind of collaboration suits you best?

What makes for a productive and valuable relationship between the playwright, director, artistic team and staff? What gets in the way?

What else have you to say on the topic? Click below and let me know...

How Shakespeare Won the West - Video

Inbox

The fall previews are starting to hit the papers - here are a few links:

Curtain Rises on a New Director - on Peter DuBois in the Boston Globe

Boston Theatre brings in Young Blood - on Peter DuBois in the Patriot Ledger

BU Today - on Peter and our BU Community Night


Theater's Journeyman - on Richard Nelson in the Boston Globe




Tom Stoppard's Rock n Roll at ACT - on Tom Stoppard in the San Francisco Gate

Easy Does It - on greater Boston's fall theater scene in Theatre Mania



Prop Drops - on Adam Pascal in Playbill news



Mother and Daughter Keep the Show Going On - on Wishful Drinking at Hartford Stage

How Shakespeare Won the West - Final Dress

Tonight was our final dress rehearsal - the show begins previews Friday Night (9/5/08). It was an excellent run after 4 days of tech. We had a good turnout of staff in the house to experience the fun - and we'll share it all with good sized preview audiences this weekend. When are you coming?

I've been thinking about what to focus on here in the blog for this production.

There is some fun tech stuff as usual. The set is a big open wooden structure - pretty cool of itself.

The tech challenges have really been a test of our theatre curtain rigging 101 skills: We have roll drops, and we have curtain on a traveler track - which opens to reveal another curtain behind it. We have curtains that fly, we have a curtain that look like a Tee Pee, and we have bunting that swags. We have a drop that that rises up from the floor - it's on a winch. We have a curtain that falls down, and one that's hung like a clothes line. And then there's the one that's called an Austrian Curtain (def - a curtain that is raised (opened) with bailed lifting lines and is sewn with both vertical and horizontal fullness). 15 feet or curtain have to appear out of no where. We're still working on that.

I think I've got them all. Oops one more - a banner that had scene titles projected on it. The projected titles were cut tonight. We'll see what happens to the banner tomorrow.

Need a refresher course on your rigging terms? Click here.

Then we have some glorious period costumes - city wear, western wear, and even some good olde Elizabethan Shakespearean garb. Yep - even the horse has a ruffle around it's neck.

The crew cleans up tonight as Richard Nelson (playwright) and Peter DuBois (Huntington Artistic Director) talk onstage after tonight's dress rehearsal.

But I'll talk more about that stuff when the pictures that Charlie Erickson took tonight are in hand. 'Cause all of that isn't really what I intended to write about in this post...

What I think I'll try to explore is what it means to have the playwright around when you're doing a world premiere (or otherwise rehearsing their play). Yes - we're doing Shakespeare, but this is a new play by Richard Nelson. I've also had the pleasure of being in tech with Melinda Lopez, Roonan Noone, Teresa Rebeck, Sinan Unel, Jon Robin Baitz, Noah Haidle, and August Wilson (just to name a few). It is a very different experience - and not just for the tech staff. Heck - the director and the actors get more notes from the playwright than I ever do.

But more on this idea later. It's one AM - I am unwound and ready for bed - and I have to be back at work in about 8 hrs. Stay tuned for more. I'll be looking for your thoughts on the subject, too...

"How Shakespeare Won the West" - Casting

I could copy and paste the press release - but it's even easier to point you towards Playbill to read the news... click here

I'm back!

No I have not given up blogging. I've had some time away - spent two weeks away on vacation with family in trips to Ottawa and then the Lake Winnipesaukee region in southern New Hampshire. I got back to work on Tuesday and I still have yet to get through the backlog of email. Sorry if I have not got back to you yet!

We have two shows in rehearsals now! How Shakespeare Won the West started on Tuesday here in Boston with playwright Richard Nelson and Director Jon Moscone. Rock 'n' Roll also began rehearsals on Tuesday in San Francisco. Long time Huntington friends playwright Tom Stoppard and director Carey Perloff will open this production first at ACT and then we'll ship the whole thing across country to bring to you later this fall.

I can't short change Boleros for the Disenchanted here. Alexander Dodge has been busy designing another gem for us to put into our jewel box Wimberly Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion.

Subscriptions are available NOW, and single tickets go on sale on Tuesday, August 19th. I really mean on SALE too... just $27 each for the one day only.

We also announced a couple of fun fall Huntington Presents productions. Adam Pascal will be at the Calderwood Pavilion and Carrie Fisher will bring Wishful Drinking to the BU Theatre. Playbill has the news here.

And, while I was in New Hampshire, artistic director Peter DuBois and playwright David Grimm got together on the Cape to work on The Miracle at Naples. This is an insanely funny, smart, and bawdy play - getting ready for it's world premier production here at the Huntington this coming spring - and where else but Provincetown could these two get together to spend some quality time on the play. They then got a cast together and brought the fruits of their labor back to Boston for a reading for Huntington staff and guests at the Calderwood Pavilion. The ONLY regret I have at being away for 15 days was missing that.

Get more info and ticket information about all of these shows at huntingtontheatre.org

And, hey, I gotta crow a little. The blog directory blogged.com recently evaluated this here blog and gave us an "great" rating... putting us right up there with some of our institutional peers! They say they based their rating on "Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style". Thanks!

There's a lot going on - and a lot of excitement around having Peter DuBois in town. I'll be getting back in the blogging groove over the next several weeks letting you in on the backstage news about it all. It's going to be one heck of a year.

To do list

Why do I keep telling myself that the summer will be nice and relaxed..

We have a lot of planning to get ready for next season - and Artistic Director Peter Dubois is now (officially) here and giving us lots of things to think about. And it is a massive season with large shows in both theatres.

Here are just a few items from my project list:

How Shakespeare Won the West - final scenic designs (by BU almuna Antje Ellerman) are complete - very old West - it will be fun. It's an epic cross country journey and this world premiere will fit in the BU Theatre just fine. We should see Costume prelims soon and the scenic build should be underway this week!

How Shakespeare Won the West has at least 24 scenes. Designer Antje Ellerman took photos of the model to create a story board for the director (and us). The above is page 3 of 8. It's an exciting wooden structure that can become anything from a tavern, a theater, even the plains of the Midwest.

Boleros - Scenic designer Alexander Dodge brought us his prelim designs after several weeks of work with Director Chay Yew. Beautiful work - as usual from Alexander - nailing the feeling of the play while firmly locating us in Puerto Rico for the 1st act and Alabama for the second. We also asked Alexander for some advice on how we might liven up the dowdy lobbies at the BU Theatre. He had a lot of great ideas. And now I've got a lot of organizing to do.

Act I of Bolero takes place in Puerto Rico. The above photo is a rough model photo by Alexander Dodge.

Alexander is also designing our spring production of The Miracle at Naples. This will be the show to see to cure spring fever. It's funny, and it's funny, it's naughty, and oh yeah, it's funny. IMHO anyhoo.

Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher will be paying us a visit in October with her show Wishful Drinking... our buddies at Berkely Rep are sending it out on the road after weeks of sold out performances. Yep - Princess Leah. Post AA. Looking forward to that too! My associate Adam gets to load that one is as most of the rest of production will be in tech for Boleros.

Rock n Roll - ACT in San Fran is building this one as they perform it first, but we've been keeping an eye on the design process. It's coming along great.

The above sketches of the scenic design for Rock n Roll are by designer Doug Schmidt.

The Corn is Green - We're ahead of the curve here - we'll be building the same set (by Jim Noone) that some of you saw in Williamstown last summer, so the design process there is all done. And it's our only single set show in the BU Theatre this year - piece of cake. Except for the costumes. It will be nice to spend a few weeks with Nicky come mid season.

The tale of the Pope takes on Galileo plays out in the Two Men of Florence written by Richard Goodwin will get it's American Premiere come March. We hear that Richard and director Edward Hall (yep - Sir Peter's son) have been working on the script for the last few months - resulting in a title change as well as tweaks to the script.

I'm really just getting rolling on this one - but - I have to tell you how strange it was seeing (Richard's wife) Doris Kearns Goodwin on the Today show one morning this spring, and then getting a phone call from her a day later about the scenery from the 2004 UK production. I may be getting into international set shipping. We'll see!

Enuf for now.