The Final Touches

Tech weekend has the reputation for being one of the most challenging parts of rehearsal - tedious at best, excruciating at worst. Over the course of three days, we add in all the lighting cues, sound cues, and costume pieces, a process that requires hundreds of decisions and adjustments, fine-tuning each element to the point that they become barely noticeable during the performance of a play.

It can be especially rough for the actors, who, for these three days, are essentially props, repeating short segments of the play over and over again, waiting for a cue to be fixed, then doing it again, eight to ten hours a day. As I said, this can get pretty tedious.

Not with this cast.

From the start of the tech work of Friday, Nancy and Carl kept us all (and themselves) entertained. We would run a light cue and it wouldn't be quite right, so we would need to wait for a few minutes while it got fixed. Usually, this is just dead time, with the actors standing still and everyone just patiently waiting to be told to run a part of the scene for the third or fourth or tenth time.

However, it turns out that Nancy is a wonderful mimic, and she started entertaining us with her impressions of Katherine Hepburn or of Julie Andrews singing "Nobody Does It Better."

And Carl, who's a natural comedian, kept a running play-by-play commentary of the (non)-action going that kept us all in stitches.

(By the way, if you choose to come to see "An Evening with the Stars of Souvenir" I'm pretty sure you'll get a taste of what I'm describing here.)

And the wonderful things was that when it was time to work again, they immediately dropped it all, got very serious and moved right back into the work of putting all the pieces together.

And what pieces they are. Our designers have really outdone themselves this time. Scenic designer Jeff Modereger has created a wonderful set that is somehow able to take us from a New York supper club to a suite in the Ritz-Carleton to the stage of Carnegie Hall, all without any of the mechanical moves you might see on Broadway. It's a wonderfully elegant and sumptuous set that makes FlynnSpace look huge. And lighting designer Jeffrey Salzburg gives it all a lovely warmth that enhances the emotional impact of the show throughout.

And then there are the costumes. Designer Rachel Kurland has truly outdone herself with nearly a dozen period costumes, ranging from the elegant to the absurd. The costumes are almost another character in this play, and anyone who is a fan of fashion in the thirties and forties is in for a real treat.

As always, I feel so fortunate to have assembled such a talented and creative group of artists. And I'm even more gratified that they all found a way to work through what can be a grueling weekend with so much good humor and easy professionalism.

Guided by the keen eye, open heart and firm hand of director Sara Lampert Hoover , this may be one of the most harmonious group of artists I've had the pleasure to work with. This easy interplay of creative talent that has made this one of the most enjoyable productions in recent memory, and I'm quite sure that that energy will come through in the performance.

I think you're in for something very special.

January 25th, 2010