Tonight is our final preview of Triassic Parq, and to celebrate, I would like to share an image that has been a long time in the making.
On the first day of rehearsal, back on May 14th, I took a photo of our set model from the perspective of a person standing inside the theatre. It was my intention to duplicate the photo in the theatre as exactly as possible when the show was done.
And here is the result:
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We start tech tomorrow! If you’ve been following my Twitter, you’ve seen some of my photos from the past week. Here are some of the highlights:
A week ago we had a press event. This is when you invite the Broadway press to visit your rehearsal room for about an hour, and perform a few songs or scenes, and the actors and creative team are available for interviews. This was my flailing attempt to throw my phone in the air and get a picture over the professional photographers.
As I mentioned in my last post, we’ve been very lucky to load into our theatre early, and get some regular rehearsals on the set before tech. On our first day, the lighting package had arrived in the morning, the boxes of which blocked the whole front of the theatre.
Inside, cast, creatives, designers, and crew intermingled in our new and unfinished home for the first time. There were really no surprises, and the show transitioned easily from the rehearsal room to the stage.
A few days later, our posters went up outside the theatre, and that night everyone’s Facebook pictures looked something like this:
We took advantage of a day-off cast party to grab our first complete Team Stage Management photo:
Today was our last regular rehearsal before tech, but we had lighting and sound in the house, to watch our first run-through, and as a result we got to hear a little bit of our sound cues, and see some of the lighting in action. For a good span of time I had green gobos all over my desk.
I’m so excited to start tech. Everyone else has gotten a head start on their job by being in the theatre early, and I would like to finally have some cues to call!
It’s Laundry Day in Poplar Bluff, MO, so finally I’m going to post some of my favorite photos from the tour thus far. I’ve been saving them, and as you will see, I’ve been procrastinating too long!
Meaghan (ASM) and Tim (Sound Supervisor) are the wall-holders for the R&J load-out from Tucson
I really like this picture of Olivia (our former truck boss) dancing on the ramp during load-out in Tucson
Also from Tucson, Tim, Olivia and Mariela (Wardrobe Supervisor) sit in the sun outside the stage door.
One more of Tucson, where we came across an abandoned lot with a creepy abandoned stroller sitting in the middle of it.
When the truck arrived at the Guthrie, Daniel had everything labeled to indicate whether it should be unloaded. He took this opportunity to continue to rag on me about the weight of my workbox.
Tech tables. Mine is closest to the stage, followed by the director's table, followed by sound (house right) and lighting (house left)
I made a sign in the hopes that I wouldn't have to climb over people every time I wanted to get up. It kinda worked.
The view from my tech table (this was after I moved further up in the house)
This cracked me up. This is the label on the rail for our upstage black drop.
After we finished tech on the day of our first performance, we took a group photo of cast, (some) crew and creative team. I'm on the bottom row on the right.
The R&J set in storage upstage during the run of Comedy.
The Comedy set in storage upstage during the run of R&J.
My favorite use for the Comedy set: making a desk out of the Pelican cases that act as counterweights for the towers.
The preset for Comedy, behind the curtain.
The Comedy set, as seen from the down-left corner.
I had a monitor showing the SFX screen at my calling desk. One night I was like, ha, I thought for a minute that cue description said 'peeing!' Of course, given our show, it DOES say 'peeing!'
And the most important thing that happened to me in my time in Minneapolis, I finally got to go to nearby sushi restaurant Wasabi, where my martini was on fire!
The sun sets in Brainerd, MN as seen from our bus.
We are obsessed. Most of us. With the app Hipstamatic. In very brief, this is a $2 camera app for the iPhone that takes faux-vintage photographs. There are a ton of such apps, I already owned a couple of them, but Hipstamatic has been sweeping through our company like wildfire. We have several bloggers, and many more Facebook photographers, and most are capturing life on the road through the distorted lens of this app.
I think the reason is that Hipstamatic prides itself on being random and unpredictable. The viewfinder doesn’t actually show you exactly what you’re framing in your shot (like a real camera), and you can shake the phone to completely randomize the lens, flash and film effects put on your photo — you won’t know until after you take it what it’s going to look like. It’s not the best for accurately documenting things, but the casual photos it creates are much more interesting to look at.
Here’s an example of our truck loading into 42nd Street Studios in the rain last month, as captured by one of our actors:
I finally broke down and installed the app last night (I own the other app by the same developer, SwankoLab, which I’m honestly not that thrilled with, so I was resistant). On my journey of exploration, I went out to the stage, which seemed like an interesting subject. Here are a couple of our set:
Our office door:
Even the most mundane subjects seem more interesting. Check out my hotel room as I write this post:
This will probably get old after a while, but I think it will also result in some photos coming out better than they would have otherwise. I can’t wait till we get to the Hotel Arizona in Tucson. There’s something just not right about that place, and nobody understands what I mean. I think the vintage look of these photos will help to capture the mood it gives me.
We’re in the Money
Dames
Lullaby of Broadway
See, you can even see the tops of everyone’s head on the upper platform.
All photos by Herb Philpott.
