More Fiddlin’ Around

Stolen right from the Evansville Community Partnership website:

E-ARTS presents:

“ONE HOT FEBRUARY NIGHT”

A cabin fever relievin’ variety show!

Evansville Performing Arts Center
640 S 5th Street
Saturday, February 25, 2012
7 PM
Evansville, Wisconsin

Tickets are free. but a donation is requested.
Only 600 tickets available.

Evansville welcomes the famed Cajun fiddler, Ken Waldman, and David Greely, as well as the Madison, Wisconsin duo Barley Brothers, which means fiddler, Brian O’Donnell and multi-instrumentalist Colin Bazsali.

Ken Waldman has drawn on his 25 years in Alaska to produce poems, stories and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his own. His six full-length poetry collections and his one memoir have been widely praised and reviewed. His nine CDs have received widespread radio airplay nationally and internationally. A former college professor with an MFA in Creative Writing, since 1994 he’s toured as Alaska’s Fiddling Poet, performing at leading festivals, arts centers, and clubs.

Expect a most excellent string-band variety show, which will take you from Evansville to Anchorage and back, by way of Lafayette, Louisiana.

E-ARTS is dedicated to bringing the best in live entertainment and the arts to Evansville.

In the Summertime…

Last summer, as the dust was settling from striking Fiddler on the Roof, the ECT Facebook page discussions started almost immediately with “what should we do next year?”

The responses were numerous with a lot of terrific suggestions. But after a long discussion, the board made the decision at the last meeting to take the summer off and work on other projects. It wasn’t an easy decision because we all love putting on a show, but many of the key production crew members needed some time to recuperate after three straight summer musicals.

Earlier posts to this blog illustrate just how much work and time is necessary to produce a play. Add to that the small group of dedicated individuals that work real jobs, have families, and even participate in other hobbies that give up their summers to make it all happen. It is time for a break.

One Board Member's plans for the summer.

Plus, as much fun as it is to produce shows, there is the business side that needs the Board’s attention.

It’s not like ECT will be dropping of the face of the earth, we’re  involved in Evansville’s Rally Round the Flag Civil War coming in May. We’ve signed up for the Chili Cookoff in March and are already planning the float for the 4th of July parade.

Plus there’s plenty of great shows coming–Stoughton Village Players is presenting The Odd Couple in March and the Tommy Award winning Evansville High School Drama department is presenting Once upon a Mattress in May. Plus, MadStage e-mails indicate there’s lots of great theatre coming this spring and summer.

The ECT Board will be meeting regularly to deal with the mundane issues of finances and fundraising, storage and scripts, and all the other details that need to be dealt with but aren’t when we’re in the midst of a production.

And, of course, we will be thinking about the summer of 2013, and deciding what will be next in our summer line-up.

Tags: evansville high school, high school drama department, rally round the flag, summer musicals

It’s a Wrap

I was looking at the administrative side of the blog; it’s where all the statistics of the blog are kept–things like the how many views it gets in a day, search terms that were used, which posts get read how often, and the list of posts for editing. It was a little discouraging to see that during the week of November 20th, three posts got started but have since languished as drafts waiting for my attention.

Dog blam it! It's a flat.

Tom and Tris relax.

They’re outdated now so that’s where they’ll stay. It was Thanksgiving week and the week between shows and I kept trying to get something posted so people wouldn’t forget about the play. Sadly, between all of it I couldn’t finish anything so nothing got posted. In the end A Christmas Storywent off without a hitch which is always a good thing. Especially in the  ancient but capable J.C. McKenna Auditorium. The lighting system is old and unreliable, the sound system is made for a microphone at a lectern, and there are no wings to store set pieces that need to be moved on and off. The green room, which gets overrun with all the set pieces, including an open ’47 Plymouth, is also used for band lessons (thanks Mr. Z!). In other words, everything has the potential of going horribly awry.

Back Stage Crew

 

But it worked out and now it’s packed up. The “house on Cleveland Street” has been disassembled and moved back to storage along with the other set pieces. The lights borrowed from the high school have been returned, a few pieces still wait to be returned to their rightful owners. The cast and crew have gone off to work on other things and only a few e-mails have been exchanged.

Labeled Light Board

It’s the time that all who were involved need to decompress and relax, which apparently the blogger took to heart.

Sound Guy?

Listen to the Stage Manager…or else!

Oh Fudge, It’s Opening Night!

ECT’s production of Gene Shepherd’s A Christmas Story is finally ready to go and tonight’s the night! Performances are 7 o’clock tonight along with 2 o’clock matinees on Saturday and Sunday. There’s no show Saturday night so you can attend the Evansville High School’s Big Band Bash! A Christmas Story returns next weekend with a show Friday night and two shows on Saturday.

So come see Ralphie on his quest for that Red Ryder bb gun, the Old Man’s major award, the rise and fall of Scut Farkas and if Flick sticks to the lampost!

Tickets for A Christmas Story are available online at ectstagelights.org or at the Evansville Piggly Wiggly, Bank of Evansville, or the Evansville Pharmacy. Tickets are $8 for adults or $5 for students.

Photos by David Rhoda

Cast and Crew

A bb gun is a very good thing to have.

"Watch your margins!"

Watch out, it's Scut Farkas!

Meanwhile, at the High School

The e-mail went out last week, and suddenly we knew the High School fall production was upon us. The e-mail was directed to the parents of the cast and crew of The Enchanted Attic, stating that we needed to feed the 46 hungry teenagers involved in the play during “hell week.”

On stage, the set crew is still painting and decorating. Last Friday the light crew was working on recording cues and the sound crew was working on the sound effects. The pirates need to have their hair braided by Wednesday. Costumes, makeup, props, it  all has to come together this week.

It’s amazing what goes into it. And in this case, it’s amazing how the kids juggle their schedules and make the commitment. Last week marked the end of the quarter and they all had finals on Thursday and Friday. The kids had to juggle the rehearsal schedule and their studies as well as any other commitments. And now this week, long nights at the theater will be the norm as the production hits the home stretch.

The PAC takes on a shabby chic feel

The play opens Friday and runs for four shows this weekend. In order to give more kids a chance to participate, Melissa, the Director, decided to have two casts. Producing a play with one cast is crazy enough! The first cast will perform Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, and the second will take the stage Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. Then, just like that, the stage will be struck and work will begin on the winter student production.

Break a leg, kids!

Eat first, act later.

The painting continues.

Photos by Sharon Cybart

In Fits and Starts

Last week was the first week of running through A Christmas Story from beginning to end . The set built, the kitchen table and

Where's all this stuff go?

chairs, along with the couch are all in their place, all of which help give the actors a sense of space and reference points for the blocking. It all seemed to go smoothly.

This week however co-stage managers Justine and Andy were there working on the back stage necessities. I suspect that most people who come to watch live theatre have some concept that the actors rely on cues–the lines of the other actors–to know when to deliver their next line, or when to start moving to a different location, or even when to appear on stage. The back stage crew, as well as the sound and light crews, too rely on cues to let them know when to take action.

So when the tech crew shows up and begins work it requires patience on the parts of the actors. “Does this scene happen with the curtain closed? Can we bring the car and the Christmas trees out and then have Ralph move the trees over there? Maybe we should do the school scene with the curtain half open. That’s going to be a quick costume change! Did we cut that part?” All of this slows the actors down and breaks their timing.The actors end up standing around waiting for the inevitable discussions that ensue.

Stage Manager Lynn makes notes while Director Dave watches the action

Once the decisions are made and the scripts are marked the actors resume, maybe for a whole scene, maybe only for a line or two.

And then there is the mysterious flow of scripts. As of this week the actors are supposed to have their lines memorized and be off book. In theory, their scripts should be gone.  Members of the stage crew, however, always have theirs in hand along with a pencil somewhere on their person. The cues that come out of all the discussions must be recorded  in pencil as all are subject to change tomorrow.

And even though the progress on stage moves in fits and starts, there is also the feeling that we are rushing headlong toward opening night.

Scene changes of a different sort.

A Good Day’s Work

There’s a “jargon tool” buried somewhere in the WordPress application that is supposed to identify cliches and such. I don’t have it turned on but after this weekend of rebuilding the set all I could think of were trite phrases. “It rose like a Phoenix”, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas (Story)”, and so on. I could have overloaded the electrons that drive the jargon tool and brought the whole system down. But I refrained.

After 2 hours of work.

It was impressive how quickly we went from a bare stage to a nearly finished set. Last year it took weeks to frame it up, sheath the walls, build steps, ponder over problems, come up with a basement door, and paint the thing. But in six hours we reassembled the pieces, still mostly sheathed and painted from last year. Clark was even wise enough to draw a map of the pieces that make the floor of Ralphie’s bedroom.

Diagram of the floor pieces.

Oh there were problems—how did we attach the stairs to the platform? What was next to the basement door? How come the load bearing posts don’t touch the floor? Bob and Lyman conferenced at the computer looking at pictures from last year and finally deduced how it was done. After a couple of well-fed, middle-aged men got onto the second floor there was a realization that there must have been some cross bracing somewhere to take out the sway.

How'd we do that?

Finally we hung the cupboard in the kitchen, moved the sink into place, and by 2 o’clock in the afternoon we could sit in the cheap seats and admire a job well done.

Oh sure, there’s still lots to be done–touch up the paint, make a lightpost, round up the stove, refrigerator, and the car (yes a car!), put together the Christmas trees but, as Director Dave said, having the set rebuilt made it feel like we never left.

(Photos by Sharon Cybart)

A good day's work.

All Hands on Deck!

Early Saturday morning Director Dave and Lightman Lyman spirited off in a borrowed truck (thanks Rich!) to begin moving some of the set from a storage unit to the middle school auditorium. (Okay, in the interest of honesty it wasn’t that early, more like 10 in the morning but that’s plenty early for a couple of middle aged guys.) We brought over the table and chairs and the couch so the actors could get use to the those pieces during rehearsal. Then there was a pile of lumber that needs to be reassembled into “the house on Cleveland Street.”

And there’s where we need help. On Saturday October 22nd and Sunday October 23rd we will be reassembling the house and we need your help. All experience levels are welcome and it’s a great way to get involved in ECT!

We will start Saturday morning at 8 o’clock hauling the rest of the parts from the storage unit to the middle school as well as starting the construction. Because the framing is already done and Master Carpenter Bob will be there, we fully expect that it will all go back together quickly. This part of the process will be done to the symphony of cordless drills so if you have one to bring along and like to use it please do so.

Once that’s done we will move on to the touch up and decorating of the set so we will need people with a lighter touch and the ability to handle a paint brush. Also we will be trying to organize the props and other sundry tasks that come along.

So if you have a few hours free and want to come help contact us, either through ECT’s Facebook page or contact us  and let us know when you will be there. If you want to come for the construction phase of the workday bring along a cordless drill if you have one.

Coming to the Table

It's a major award!

About two weeks ago, quietly and without much fanfare, a group gathered at the J.C. McKenna Middle School cafeteria, pulled up chairs, dusted off their scripts and did a table read. A table read happens after the casting and before the blocking, it’s where the actors try to find the characters and the director throws in his or her ideas.

This table read was a little easier since most of this crew had been together before. For a second year in a row, ECT is presenting A Christmas Story and, for the most part, with the same cast. While the kids have grown a few inches–most of them are now taller than Miss Sheilds–it appears that they can pull it off again this year. If ECT does the play next year, we will need to recast.  The actors that played Ralph, Ralphie, Ralphie’s Mother, The Old Man, Flick, Schwartz, Esther Jane, Miss Sheilds, Scut, and Randy have all returned. The young actress that will play Helen was chosen from those who auditioned last year and Santa had to be replaced. (I know, I know, there’s no replacing Santa.)

The prevailing thought is that it ought to be easier the second time and in some respects it is. Director Dave had put together a rehearsal schedule that allowed a lot of time to go through the blocking for each scene and then each evening the scene would be done in just a few minutes so they would do it twice and three times. Dave went back to the schedule and cut the blocking portion of the rehearsal schedule.

We also can learn from past mistakes. Last year we found that the show ran for three hours which is a long time for any show, especially this one that draws a lot of  kids. Some scenes and lines were cut, some scenes will play in front of the curtain to reduce the set changes or allow the backstage crew to preset the next scene. The hope is to cut the play down to something more reasonable.

But in some respects this has lulled us into a false sense of security. The set is waiting in a storage shed akin to a bucket of Legos. It’s all there in pieces waiting to be reassembled. Once the pieces get to the Middle School they should go together fast but there’s always the unexpected.

For now though it ‘s refreshing to see the kids back on stage and the lines coming back to them. Once again the excitement of doing a play is in the air.

Raising the Dead

Looking at my last post I see I took a month breather to finally clear the Fiddler on the Roof playlist (shuffle setting) out of my brain and do somethings wholly unrelated to the theatre. But break time is over, things are starting to move again as we have another play in the works and the Evansville Harvest Windmill Festival is two weeks away!

Dave and Melissa portray Dr. Evans and his wife during the Evansville's Civil War Days last May.

John, Jim, and Melissa are busy writing scripts for the Historic Cemetery Theatre to be held at 2:30 on Saturday, September 17 at Maple Hill Cemetery. This is the second cemetery event this year, the first was during Civil War Re-enactment in May. (See When the Spirits, in the May archives of this blog.) The committee picks out a group of Evansville historic figures, researches and writes a five minute monologue or dialogue for each. Volunteers are costumed to match the era of the depicted figure and placed at the gravesite.

Visitors can hear about the character’s life and role in Evansville’s history as they are ushered around the cemetery.

And on a sunny day Maple Hill Cemetery holds its own historical charm. It still sits in a mostly rural setting in the rolling land on the east side of Evansville and is filled with the who’s who of Evansville’s existence. Not being an Evansville native, none of my family is  there but the woman who commissioned the building of our 1898 Queen Anne house is. While she too was an import, in her case from Brooklyn, Wisconsin, 10 miles away, and her name isn’t on any of the downtown buildings, she too had an impact on the town. When she decided to move to Evansville for the sake of the education of her children, she added one more home of historical significance and added to the beauty and expansion of the town.

Find out more about Wisconsin history by attending Evansville’s Harvest Windmill Festival September 17th and 18th.