Thursday, July 23, 2009

Frog becomes frog...

Opening! Hurray!

The opening night performance was fantastical! The audience seemed very pleased and the actors were definitely in the zone. The Frog makeup turned out looking FABULOUS. We spray both his feet and his hair with green makeup so that he matches his green leather jacket and pants and whatnot. I must say that when spraying his hair green every night I appreciate the fact that I learned how to do it spraying my own hair weird colors in middle school and high school, otherwise I would probably screw it up.

All in all I would say it was a very smooth, high spirited opening, and I am super excited to continue with the run, because the way the show changes just slightly each night, is what makes the whole experience fun, even if it doesn't go as well as you had hoped. Now all that's left to do is sit back and enjoy the quirks of live entertainment, and of course watch Superfrog save Tokyo.

Alycia

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The arch takes flight!

Hello again!

Sorry for the absence, I know you all have been sitting on the edge of your seats to hear back from me and your waiting hasn’t been for nothing. In my absence we survived through tech week and opened the show to great success! Tech week was as stressful as it normally is but the good thing about a week long load-in was that it gave us time to really iron out all the little bugs on the set.

My project with the arch went…well. Differently than I originally planned, but with some creative problem solving and brain storming with Mark we managed to get it flying. Instead of using the rigging system I originally planned to use, we found out that safety cables worked much better and allowed us to adjust the height and placement a lot easier than rigging it with airline cable.

This was a fun production to work on, and I think we all did the best we possibly could and created something special and unique. When I watched the final dress I was taken aback by how far we came from the first production meeting. There were many ideas tossed around, some made it to the final product, some didn’t. But everything that did, came together beautifully and I don’t think the show would have been as powerful if it did not have all its pieces. I don’t want to give too much away about the story, set, or music, but I will say that every one of you should go see the show. I want you to see the world that we have created and to immerse your self into the story that is being told. I’m very proud of what we have produced here and I would like to thank Company One for giving me this opportunity as well as Mark for everything he has taught me as his assistant.

-Nick

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Grace Geller: Opening Night Here We Come

“What you see with your eyes is not necessarily real.”

This line epitomizes “After the Quake.” Watching the many technical and dress rehearsals this week, I keep being reminded that this play is a world of fantasy and storytelling. In my past blogs I’ve talked about the many transformations and transitions in the play. Now though, with everything together – lights, set, and sound – I’ve come to see that the transitions between worlds are not as important as the merger of those worlds. “After the Quake” is about a man, Junpei, creating a superhero story for Sala, a little girl tormented by nightmares. As the play progresses, the line between Junpei’s reality and story blurs. His characters are as real as himself. When Frog, Junpei’s superhero, reaches down to grab Junpei’s hand and lift him out of the shock and depression of the earthquake, the audience is shown how Junpei’s story is not just for Sala. By the end of the play, Junpei is changed from his story. He learns his own moral: that everyone is important and no one should be controlled by fear.

I can’t stress how beautiful the play is. The set and lights were designed beautifully. There are so many breathtaking moments created by great poses and use of color. I’ve also recently been struck by the humor in the play. When I first read the play, I thought that it was a fun story; however, probably because I did so much research on earthquakes, the element of fear had really come to the forefront in my mind. Fortunately, for the last two weeks, the humor in the play has reemerged. Although the story is about fear, there is in no way a dark element to the play. The fear happens before the play starts, and the humor is, in a way, how Junpei deals with it. There are so many lines and movements where the audience can’t help but crack up. Watch for Frog’s disappointment when he learns Katagiri has never read “Anna Karenina!” This week, even though I know the actions (and most of the lines), I found myself laughing throughout our dress rehearsals.

As for what I’m doing now, I’ve been helping out during the day – painting and sweeping and taking notes on the rehearsals at night. One of my favorite jobs has been acting as a stand in for the actors. I’ve pretended to play all the different roles in the cast to help the director and designers light the show. I get to jump on the platforms as Frog, hide in the boxes, and lie in the beds. I run around, say the lines, and then am told to move a step to my left.

This will be my last post as Assistant to the Director and Dramaturg. I have loved working with Shawn and Liana and am very sad that this part of my experience is over. Opening night I begin my next post – Assistant House Manager. I’ll be the one helping you in the lobby if you have any questions. I can’t wait to see you all at the show! I’m so excited for the run to start!

See you soon!

Grace

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Tech...Dress...Costumes...

So I just got home from rehearsal tonight and today's was the closest it's been to the final production. We've been doing tech all week but the second run today was with all the lights in the house out and everyone watched it as if they were just an audience. It was great!

Parts that were pretty funny in rehearsal were hilarious this time around and there were little bits here and there that the actors changed, like intonations and expressions, that were great! It really felt like it was coming together. Backstage, it definitely is. We added green to Frog yesterday and after the additions of some snaps, velcro, patches, and other little things, there's not too much left to do. The Big Bear hat might change before opening but really, everything is coming together. Even the bra trick is usually fast enough! Searching for the right top for Giselle was pretty tough and overall, I think most of the shopping time went to that but the top she has now is perfect and I'm glad the color works well for Sayoko, even if it wasn't what was originally planned.

The musicians have their costumes now too and they look great! The style is great on them and the color ties in well with the set without hiding them. Commuting to and from rehearsal every night this week has been a little tougher than I would have hoped but I've learned my way around Boston and the Mass Pike pretty well, which is an unexpected perk. I think my favorite part of this whole experience has been Sydney's comment about her pajamas. It's always nice to hear that a costume you worked on is an actor's "most favorite costume ever" (and she looks adorable in it). I'm really looking forward to hearing what my friends and family think of the show after it opens.

*Paige*

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Grace Geller: Putting it all Together

Happy July 4th to everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. This was the first year I spent the 4th in Boston and it was beautiful! I got a spot with some friends on the Esplanade RIGHT in front of the barge. The fireworks (and Boston Pops) were amazing!

On Thursday I went to help ‘clean’ and add small touches to the set. I was under the impression this would mean sweeping (which it did), but was unaware I would also be given power tools – not my forte but I managed. I’ve been looking at the set model for weeks and enjoyed watching the elements come together. I don’t want to give anything away, but the set contains many surprises. As in “After the Quake,” where the story transitions from fantasy to reality, the set itself is full of magical transformations. Watch out for people and objects appearing out of nowhere!

As for rehearsals, we had a long break and are now in the theater! The set is mostly finished and so today we were able to play with all the different prop and set pieces. Unlike many plays where stagehands move elements of a set, such as chairs, in “After the Quake” the actors are the ones to change things. We spent a while today explaining all the transformative elements to the actors and working out kinks.

Besides using the set, tonight we also rehearsed a full run with music for the first time. We’ve added music to every section individually, but have never run through the whole play at once with all the music. Although we added a lot, the run went pretty well. It was also great to be able to hear the play – actors and musicians – and check the volume in the theater. The incorporation of music tonight went really well. The music feels very fluid and truly is a necessary character in the play.

This week we’re doing full run-throughs of the production leading in to tech next week. Because we’ve already worked in sound and set (which are normally two major components of tech week), hopefully tech will go pretty easily as we will mostly just have to work in lights.

I look forward to watching it for the next two weeks from every seat, every angle, to make sure every audience members gets the full experience. I’m so excited for the show to start! Buy your tickets! It’s going to be a great production.

See you there!

* Grace

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The World Comes Together

First off, I just have to say that I forgot how much I absolutely adore walking through Boston at night in the summer. One of my favorite things to do. I was thinking about that as I walked to the T from rehearsal tonight and deciding exactly what I would write in this blog entry.

That being said, the show has grown so much it’s hard to believe we have so little time left before opening. I’ve spent the past week or so away from rehearsals. When I wasn’t off celebrating the fourth (hope you had a good one) I was helping Nick and Mark build the set. Now, I’ll be honest. When it comes to carpentry, I’m much better at building a quarter-inch scale model of a set than the “full scale model”, as one of my teachers fondly refers to it. I can work an X-Acto knife much better than a table saw. Still, it was nice to be back in a scene shop. I find the smell of sawdust oddly comforting. And it was nice to be able really feel progress coming along. I mean, watching the rehearsals you can see the actors get more and more into character each night. They truly are progressing, but for me I was really gearing to go. And it was great to be given a drill, some screws and wood and told to build a step, and then to have that step there. It’s a nice little ego boost.

Problem was, the scene shop was at the rehearsal space which is not near the theater. And so we had that day where we carried every piece of furniture into a uhaul, and then out of the uhaul and into the theater. I was reminded of carrying set from the stage of my high school to the back of the bomb shelter (yea we had one, it was creepy) where we stored things. But on load-in day, when I was doing my best to help carry the bed, I just kept thinking about those long walks with some obscure piece of set. I had a little nostalgic moment there. But once we had everything unloaded in the actual space I jumped immediately back to ATQ mode. Soon enough, this little world we’ve been talking about for months was actually taking shape. And once the painting started it just started to come together that much more. I helped a bit with the texture of the bamboo and Sean did a really great job making the floor actually look like bamboo. Props to him.

But now that I’m back in rehearsals I’m a bit baffled by how far they’ve come. It’s almost a completely different show, but in a great way. There was one moment tonight where Sydney screamed a scream of terror and I had completely forgot it was coming. I literally jumped. And though I’m only twenty, my innate maternal instincts went crazy. And then I was just impressed by the work they’re doing.

You’ll just have to see for yourselves what I’m talking about. I’m really glad I’ve gotten to see this show transform so much.

Have a good one!

Jessica

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Alycia Marucci, a frog?

Hello again everyone!

Another week down, and I am happy to report that we have made great progress since I last posted. This week has been subject to run-thru's and long work lists of very specific moments. Its working out very well though, the scene between Sayoko and Junpei in college changed a lot this week, and now the moments in that scene are clearer than ever.

I got to play Frog this week! Well, sort of. Mike was not in rehearsal on Monday, so we worked around most of the Frog and Narrator moments, but we had to work a couple of transitions with music, so it was necessary to know the specific timing of the onstage frog to narrator quick change, which means of course that I was asked to put on an overly large mens green jacket, white gloves and the narrator hat. It was pretty hilarious I think, the jacket pretty much swallowed me. I also always feel badly when I have to stand in during scenes, because usually all of the actors are forced to adjust to the fact that I am much shorter than their usual scene partner. If I could I would remedy the situation by wearing super awesome platform shoes, or boots or something, but alas, I am not equipped with such luxuries.

We have the weekend off of rehearsal for the fourth of July, so we will be 4 days away from the show after Wednesday night's run-thru. Usually something falls apart when you take that many days off from a show, so we will see what happens. I am hoping though, that enough has solidified in the last couple of days, and we worked moments specifically enough so that everyone will be able to fall back into it when we come back from the break...and before we know it we will be in tech! I love tech, its my favorite part of the rehearsal process because it moves both the fastest and slowest of all the rehearsals throughout the whole production process. More to come next week!

Alycia

Russ likes Japanese food...

The show is getting closer!! That means a lot of running around for me. In the last few weeks I’ve made some follow up e-mails and phone calls to businesses and clubs in the Boston area that expressed interest in either coming to the show, or buying advertising. Most restaurants that I called were really fun to contact for a couple reasons. First, the people even if they couldn’t make a commitment on the phone seemed genuinely interested in the show. Secondly, I came to realize just how many family- owned Japanese restaurants there are in Boston. Sometimes there was a bit of a language barrier and it was cool to be able to get our message out there despite temporary obstacles! It makes you realize how many small, family-owned companies make an imprint in our city. Third, it reminded me of just how much I love Japanese food.

This week however I start postering and leaving postcards at businesses all around Boston. That way, when someone is waiting to get their hair cut wondering what to do on July 17 there is a poster/postcard right there. This is also great because the owners of the establishments ask about the show, any of their customers also ask, and the word is spread!

So hopefully by Wednesday there will be a green poster with a frog on it saying AFTER THE QUAKE everywhere you go.

-Russ