March 1

It has been a long week as I sit here after 11 pm for the first time to write. I've been alternating between Harriet the Spy rehearsals and The Charity League Follies. I've been asked to speak at the city commission meeting March 11 to represent the Follies show. Follies Chair Leann Stilley has told me she thinks this is the 25th Anniversary production of the Follies.

Thursday night at Harriet rehearsals we introduced the moveable platforms. We have two levels of platforms and they both roll from side to side. The front platform is 18 feet wide. the back platform is 16 feet wide. We have these platforms built up at heights of 16 and 24 inches tall. The platforms allow us to put a table and chairs on it in the off stage position and then roll it into view of the audience as the other side of the platform rolls off the previous set. The only problem is our building is only 30 feet wide and our stage opening is 24 feet wide. So for the front platform only 6 feet will roll offstage out of sight at any one change. That has created some interesting moments. In addition drapes have to be raised and lowered to hide the people offstage moving the platforms as well as raising and lowering to allow the scenery to come on and off without catching. The first rehearsal with the moveable platforms scenery would move on and off during the middle of a scene with the actors trying their best to pretend that nothing was happening. sometimes the wrong set would come and the actors would just stare at it like it was an alien creature.


Friday night went a little better. But we still have quite a few changes to work through. We are developing a lighting system that the stage manager can tell the crew when to move the platforms.

Thursday and Friday I left the Harriet rehearsal as it ended to join the follies rehearsal already in progress. We staged the traveling medley music Thursday night. This medley contains songs like Do You Know the Way to San Jose, Leaving on a Jet Plane, several others and ending with Up Up and Away by the 5th Dimension.


Saturday saw lots of behind the scenes activity on Harriet as well as Footlights classes and an Anything Goes Dance Workshop. For Harriet we had help arrive in the form of Breandan Frederick who came in and painted for a couple of hours . She was able to base coat the entire set. Two high school students came in later- Tess Shelby who will run lights for Harriet and her friend Cody. Tess was nervous asking me how many light cues there would be for Harriet. Since I haven't designed them all yet I told her about 50. Jim Keeney and I using ropes and pulleys raised the false proscenium and secured it into place. It is a 30 foot wide framed panel that hangs above the stage opening. Jim continued to work on building a couple of specialty pieces of furniture we needed as well as trying to reconfigure our masking drapes that move with the rolling platforms. I worked on setting the light cues for the show. I had spent most of the morning hanging lighting instruments working off a 10' ladder. The term Hang and Focus means to hang a light on a pipe. Then plug that light into a special extension cord which then plugs into a special outlet that corresponds with the lighting system control board and aim the light to the area we want it to shine. There are approx. 100 lights that have to be focused on areas that they didn't shine on in the past show. In addition each light has to have a color selected. Color helps determine mood and focus. Focus means helping the audience to look where the directore wants them to look. With the brightest spots where the actors stand. In addition most shadows are made up of darker lighting colors. For instance you could put a pink light on the actors face and fill in the shadows with a deep blue light from the side to heighten the mood. Not only do you have to have a knowledge of electric equipment (because each extension cord is only rated for a certain amount of power to flow through its, but also of physics, color theory and a sense of artistry. I enjoy creating with light. After I finish blogging tonight I will be searching the internet for some sound effects for school bells and saxophones and other effects for the play. While I'm searching I also have several sites that I use to find images for our slides that are projected at the back of the set. Director April Cochran and I have discussed the kinds of images we want at the back of the stage and the types of colors used to paint the stage. April is concerned that the actors be the most colorful thing on the stage. She doesn't want bright bold colors on the walls of the set to compete with the actors. There are some scenes that need to be dark around the edges so we can isolate them.

Tomorrow will be another long day.