A drama-what?

In one of my first entries (it may have been the first one... but I'd have to go back and check...) I told you that the second half of my summer I would be a dramaturg. In case you didn't see it before, check out that link. At the end of the paragraph you'll find the most accurate description of what I'll be doing -

"At larger theatres, a casting director hires the actors, a literary manager helps with play selection and editing/workshopping, and the dramaturg works on the historical and cultural research into the play and its setting. A dramaturg will create a workbook for the director and actors (usually these are different) and work extensively with the director prior to the first rehearsal."

Most people have no idea what a dramaturg is... usually I get incredulous looks and "... you're a drama-what?" "No... not a dramaTURD... a dramaTURG..."

So what does Minnetrista, more specifically, Faeries, Sprites and Lights, need a dramaturg for?

As I think I said at one point or another, the starting point for Faeries, Sprites and Lights was Elisabeth ("Betty") Ball and her love of (maybe belief in?) faeries. When she was little she had faerie tea parties, and she wrote that poem about faeries that I shared with you when she was 19 years old. Faeries were a big part of her childhood. And basically, they'd like to know what inspired her love of faeries. What kinds of books did she own when she was little? What stories would her parents have read to her? What sorts of things did she do when she was little? And then, based on all those things, what would the faeries in Betty Ball's head have looked like, more or less? That's basically what it's my job to find out.

On top of Betty Ball research then, I'll also be doing some generic research on faerie lore through the centuries and trying to fill in whatever gaps we can about faeries... trying to establish a precedent for "Minnetrista faeries." And then I'll also be writing a sort of history of the Faeries, Sprites and Lights event at Minnetrista, and helping to establish a little bit of a precedent for the event itself and different things that have been done within the event.

So it's back to the library, getting reacquainted with the stacks of books and online article databases. :) By the end of the summer though, I should be pretty much an expert on faeries. So if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them!

I do believe in Faeries! I do I do I do!

I'm very behind with blogging...

This week starts my seventh week at my internship and this is only my fifth blog post. Hmm.

This past week has been really crazy. Production weeks always are. :)

Faeries, Sprites and Lights 2011 was a huge success! I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. It was much more fun than I ever imagined on that day when I was interviewing for the stage manager position.

The week before last and this past week started to get a little stressful for some crew members because things weren't falling into place as fast as we would have liked them to. The set was still quite a way from being completed, there were still some costume pieces we were scrambling to try to find, and lighting and sound fell into place a little later than Josh would've liked. But somehow the magic of theatre always prevails and things get done even though it doesn't look like they will.

Tuesday was an interesting day for me that I spent running around. I found the dry cleaning place and dropped off costume pieces, bought a couple of dowel rods, a tarp to cover the set, and 40 hangers for clothes (which ended up being way too many, but oh well). Considering the fact that I am directionally challenged, do not know Muncie at all, and did not have my GPS, the fact that I found the dry cleaners (with road construction smack dab in the middle of Muncie I might add), Walmart, and Lowe's and everything on my list within an hour and fifteen minutes doesn't seem so bad. Ha. Maybe there's hope for me after all!

Josh ended up taking over directing the scripted production - "The Golden Touch." George wrote the script and blocked the show but handed the production over to Josh after that while George managed the eight actors and the improv character work that they did.

Josh, George and I discussed this in a meeting but there really wasn't any way to fully prepare any actor for what Faeries, Sprites and Lights was like. Having 30 people (14 of them being little girls wearing wings and glitter) come at you and bombarding you with questions and comments isn't something that you can really prepare anyone for. So it makes sense that the first night seemed pretty hectic and the second one seemed  a little calmer.

Unlike stage managing a show at IWU or a theatre company, I didn't call cues for the scripted show. For most of the event I ran around with radio in hand checking in on the actors and making sure that everyone had enough water, enough paper, enough markers, etc. There were pockets of time when I would be at the theatre tent (the big central tent where the stage and seating were located) and Josh put me to work more than once running lights or helping him out. One of my jobs was to keep track of time and make sure that the "Larke" family - the three actors who performed the scripted show - were in their places on time. It was also one of my jobs to re-set the stage and props with Josh after every show. The show was performed three times each night. The event went from 6:00 to 9:00 and the show began at 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30. It ended up running about 17 or 18 minutes long.

We had a couple of technical difficulties with the show. On the first night, the 6:30 performance went fine, but right as we were about to begin the 7:30 performance, one of our actors, Kaitlin Burch, tripped and did a nose dive off the downstage right corner of the set. I froze momentarily but un-froze in time to run over, help her up, and walk her over away from the stage to check and make sure she was okay. After a minute to catch her breath she told me that she'd just had the wind knocked out of her but that she'd be fine. She bounced right back and played it cool, telling the audience that it had been "just a test" and even making the comment "that's what Briar's been talking about - tripping hazards!" which was a reference to one of the other characters, Briar White, who was constantly checking things to make sure they were "regulation" and warning against uneven ground and "tripping hazards."

After Kate got on stage and the show began, I left the theatre tent to make rounds and make sure all the other actors were doing all right. When I got back around to the theatre tent, Josh urgently asked me to go get a bag of ice and asked whether or not I had an Ace bandage in my stage manager kit. Apparently one of the rose bushes (the set was an enormous plywood pop up book complete with castle, rose bushes, and table), which was held in place by a wooden foot that popped down into a notch, had fallen over on another member of the "Larke" family (and set designer) Sarah White. I got a bag of ice and fished my Ace bandage out of my bag in order to ice Sarah's ankle. Fortunately that was it for mishaps that night.

As far as the rest of the evening, one of the characters, Tessie Meadow (who loved books and stories), had a little book-making craft that she did with the visitors. But there were so many people in and out of the cabin where she was stationed that she needed at least one or two volunteers to help people make the craft so that she could focus on being in character. The first night, because of some miscommunications, she didn't have any volunteers and seemed like she wanted to pull her hair out the first couple times that I visited her. Eventually, after a few radio calls and some scrambling, George and I found her a volunteer or two and things seemed to go a little smoother. A couple of our other actors seemed to be getting fatigued quickly and asked for breaks, so at one point I stood in one actor's space and talked to people for awhile while he got some water and sat down for a bit.

Over all, the second night went much smoother than the first night, though we had a scare at the beginning. Sarah slid down the flight of stairs in the building where our green room was located and hit her tailbone pretty hard. When we asked her about it she didn't act like it was a big deal but she seemed like she was in quite a bit of pain. George ended up taking her to the First Aid station. After taking her over there he came back, found Josh and me and said, "We have three options. Option 1 - she deals with the pain and the show goes on. Option 2 - if things look serious we take her to the hospital and we cancel the shows for tonight. Or... option 3..." and at that point he gave me the same look that the Grinch gave Max when he was looking for a reindeer for his sleigh. So... I spent the first part of the evening looking over Princess Rose's lines and blocking. To my immense relief, however, we ended up going with option 1 and I was off the hook. Poor Sarah was in pain all night even with pain meds but I think everyone pulled through all right.

Saturday night, after everything was over, we cleaned up a few things and had the actors clean up their props and set dressing. The actors got their checks, and everyone went home. Then, Sunday afternoon, we had strike - tore down the set, sorted props and costumes, stored lighting/sound equipment, etc. Afterwards we had pizza and some pop and a little cast party. Not everyone was there but it was fun just the same. :)

It was a fantastic whirlwind of a weekend that was so much fun. It was great to see all the families, all the little girls in glitter, tutus and wings, and all the smiling faces. I could definitely tell that the community really enjoys and looks forward to this event.

And, even though this weekend would have made a fantastic grand finale, the best news is that my internship isn't over yet! I'll still be there two days a week for the rest of the summer. And even though FSL is over for the year for everyone else at Minnetrista, it will have to stay fresh in my mind for awhile because I'll be working on the FSL style guide and spending the rest of the summer figuring out what faeries are like. :)

So here's to getting to be a kid and believe in faeries again!



And here are some pictures from the event -

The patio with tables where you could sit and eat your "fair"-y type food

Me running lights while Josh runs sound

Full house!

The Larkes handing out bells to the kids

Note: my radio is clipped on one side of my belt and my phone is tucked into the other. Don't judge. It worked.

Toadstools set up in the gardens made great photo ops for families with little girls in wings

A faerie house that I set out :) There were 40 at my last count spread out all over the gardens. Maybe I'm silly and sentimental but at twilight with candles burning in jars along the path, fireflies glowing, and music floating through the air you really could almost see faeries flitting in and out of houses and through the leaves of trees.