Walkin in Memphis

So. Since the last time I updated I have finished my summer at The Vane and then opened and closed a show at my new theatre, and started rehearsals for the next one.

I am now the Stage Manager for the Circuit Playhouse at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. What I didn't know when I took the job was that, until February of this year, the theatre that I'm SMing was the mainstage, and the Circuit Playhouse was in another building a few blocks away. They just opened the brand new building across the street, aka POTS, and moved Circuit into the old mainstage, which is awesome for me- I was expecting a dinky little blackbox, but instead I'm in a 250-seat proscenium house (no flies though- boo!) in the historic Memphian Theatre (reportedly Elvis's favorite place to play when he came home to Memphis). How cool is that?!

My first show here was Superior Donuts, by Tracy Letts. I came in for the last few days of rehearsal, and then we started tech! That show was... interesting. All community actors, and I had no crew person backstage. That was a shocker for me- I knew I wouldn't have an ASM, but I was literally the only crewmember on this show. I ran the lights and sound through QLab (I wish so much that Sound Design hadn't been a complete waste of a semester, because it would be really helpful for me to know what the hell I'm doing in QLab), and there was no one backstage. I thought that was a poor decision on the part of everyone running the show before I got here- there were a lot of props in this show, and a few scenic things that needed to happen during Act 1 that the actors had to do. I did the intermission shift by myself, which took 12 minutes- so much for a bathroom break! Donuts ran for 4 weeks (man, it's been a while since I posted anything!), we closed on Sunday.

Now I'm in rehearsals for the next show to go up at Circuit- Black Pearl Sings! It's a relatively new play- it hasn't been published yet, and we're still in contact with the playwright, but it's been performed at a few other theatres (small world, my ASM at OTC saw it at Ford's Theatre when it premiered). It's a 2-woman play with music, and it's posing an interesting challenge with some historical inaccuracies and the utter lack of resources to find this music- the playwright sent us a CD of the songs, but we have been unable to find sheet music for most of it. It's tough going for some of this music, friends.

The work schedule here at POTS is tough- we basically work 10 out of 12's 6 days a week. 10-1, 2-5, 6-10. I work in the office in the morning, with the production manager/PSM, the props designer, and the mainstage ASM (once she arrives!) doing anything from photocopying scripts (which is what I'm doing right now, aka time for blogging!) to production meetings to helping make props. If I have anything I need to do for one of my shows, that's always my priority for the morning shift, and if I finish that then I get a job from the PM or props designer. If neither one of them has anything for me to do (which rarely happens) then I go play with the Master Electrician and the resident Lighting Designer. They like it when I come help- they were shocked to find out I actually know what I'm doing with electrics. The fact that I volunteered to cut their gel also endeared me to them somewhat.

For the afternoon shift, it could be one of two things- more of the same as the morning, or rehearsal. Directors have the option of having rehearsal in the afternoon in addition to the evening, but some (Donuts) don't use it, while others (Black Pearl) do. In the evenings, I'm either in rehearsal or a performance.

I've also run some auditions (A Christmas Story and Grey Gardens, both of which are mine, and Peter Pan, which runs on the mainstage at Christmas).

Also, another small world- a friend of mine from middle school was cast in the ensemble for the tour of Legally Blonde! I was so excited for him, and then a girl who used to work at The Vane was cast as Margot/Elle's understudy as well. I've had at least 3 friends from AU and 1 friend from The Vane that I know of who have seen this show. I wish I could see it so badly, but they aren't coming to Memphis. =/

Theatre is such a small world. Let me see how many times I can say that in this post, but it's true- 2 of the other interns (an acting intern & the master electrician) were on the National Players tour together last year, so I already knew them from OTC. How weird is that??

Set sail on the failboat!

So this whole journal thing epic-failed. Being in rehearsal left me very little time for working on the show itself and still doing homework, as little as I had, so I did not have any kind of time left over to blog every day. I think it's pretty obvious from the dates, but Spelling Bee is over, as is Auburn Pops! which was the second show I SMed this semester (3rd of the year- I did Intimate Apparel in the fall). I got an A on it! ...I think all of us got A's. The only faculty members I got responses from were Dan and Daydrie, so there's that. I still don't know if I got a KCACTF nomination- I don't know if I didn't get one or if Dadyrie just didn't tell me, but the only noms listed on the website are the acting nominations done by the respondent.

In other news, I am officially an Auburn grad, class of 2010!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning to drive to Granville, Ohio- I have an internship at Weathervane Playhouse for the summer! I'm the ASM for 4/5 shows in their summer season, and I'm SM for Alice in Wonderland, which is the 4th show in the lineup. Looking at the rehearsal calendar just about makes me nauseous- 10 days of rehearsal for a 10-day run, rehearsing the next show during the run. Geeze.

My SM for the summer is the same age as me, which is a little daunting, but it's her 3rd summer at The Vane, and she's from VCU so I'm hoping she's a powerhouse. If she's not, well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Weathervane has been around for ever, but they hire really young. I believe my SM's words to me on the phone were "You're over-qualified for this job, so you shouldn't have a problem."

After The Vane, I'm going to Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. I'm a member of the Associate Company there, and while I'm technically an intern, I am the SM for all of the shows in their smaller space, The Circuit Theatre. They're a professional, non-union company that hires AEA artists (Guest Artist Contract? Small Professional Contract? I need to find that out).

I got both jobs at SETC, I'm really excited for them both. Neither is an Equity theatre, but they both had huge draws for me- Weathervane is doing a season of huge musicals (My Fair Lady, The Producers, & Hairspray, along with The Miracle Worker & Alice in Wonderland) and I have a dearth of shows like that on my resume, and that's what big theatres look for- SMs who have done big shows. Playhouse has a really great placement quota for their interns, especially for the Circuit SM- I will have basically spent a year as the PSM of a theatre, working under AEA rules without actually being union myself. I turned down Orlando Shakes for those reasons (and because spending a year as an ASM and only getting half the necessary EMC points out of it made me want to vom), so I hope it's all it's cracked up to be.

I'm going to try and actually blog this summer, and beyond. We'll see if I can stick to it any better than I could before... Maybe the fact that other AU theatre kids are blogging too will keep me motivated.

Intro, post-haste

I am stage managing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as my senior project at Auburn. I have to keep a journal as part of the project, and seeing as how I am a speedy typer and a not-speedy writer, I figured I would start this blog so that I would maybe actually write on a regular basis.

My goal for my project (beyond a successful production, obviously) is to use the counting system I learned in the workshop at SETC last year for the cues.

I started working on it over a week ago, so I'm going to post separate entries on auditions, call-backs, and the company meeting.