Today was the first full run through of the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat which was performed in-front of a random primary school. While personally i was physically prepared for my role too push on the pyramid and boxes i wasn’t as physically prepared as i hoped. I only joined the musical at very late notice 2 days ago and i had only done Act One once. So my heart was racing and my mind everywhere, so was my mouth…i asked what to do next at least half a dozen times before i was confident enough to even step on stage and pick up a simple piece of clothing. Even though my primary purpose while attending the musical was to learn from the Stage Manger, i still was focused on the job. I knew that by tripping over in the dark or falling into the pit i would either be killed by the fall or by the cast and directors later. My mind was truly focused on my purpose of being there, learning how to become a better stage manager.

 But thankfully today all went mostly according to plan and i learned a lot by having to trust people i never talk too to help me to my job. And now i have a day off to recoup my thoughts and prepare myself for Sunday, its going to be a real audience and you know that by making one wrong move will get the whole Jewish community ranting on how so and so’s son did this and that. Yes what a wonderful world we live in.

Until next time,

moondy

Its been a bit of a rough week although its been fun and pretty damn funny at times, and yeah i do agree with Scotty, Dympie is gonna have a lot of hate mail when the audience finishes watching her (lol). Anyway so far i’ve been trying to help Kim with the tables and chair hiring which seem to be in place for the most part. I’ve spoken to scott and it seems as though we both agree on having a Ready Steady Act shirt for all cast and crew, of course we’ll have to see if anyone else agrees.

Now for the low down on my part. Lighting looks like its going to be very basic with little to no effects which will make my job a little easier, but then again i want this too be a challenge! Still i think i need to have one final meeting with Kim and Scott so i’m able to finally negotiate if we all really want to have the ‘mock’ band with flashing lights. So far i’m not happy with the level of response im getting on ideas as i have no idea whether its final or not because my ideas do need a bit of participation of a few other people and if they’re gonna come back saying “when did you decide to do this?” then i dont want to start inputting out of the box ideas. This needs to be delegated and discussed with the rest of the gang in order to make sure we have no pointless arguments.

As an added note i recommend we get onto writing down every little piece of info somewhere in the studio so we’re able to look at each others progress (vineblogs doesn’t seem to be working in my opinion, if i even get 1 view or comment besides one from Scotty ill be happy).

Moving onto Stage Management and it seems like my job will become a lot more utilised when the performance period comes along. At the moment its getting a basic jist of every scene and marking off where, when and how people enter and exit. Further ill be making sure the light and sound ques (when gartner starts making some) are on time. Sound effects might be difficult (eg. the slap) when working in synchronization with actors as im not sure how the sound will be controlled. Ill probably have to talk about that with Scotty.

My two -sub- roles, Multimedia and Acting appears to be on track with nothing further to add besides the fact i think i would like to get the Waiter a little more involved. To me it would be a waste of an opportunity considering how much effort the girls put into trying to receive the waiters attention. I personally would like to add a little bit of character to the waiter in showing what a real prick this guy is and how poorly he cares about the treatment of his customers. I could see him as chatting with other members of staff while walking along oblivious to all his surroundings. Maybe adding a smoke (somehow replicating a real cigarette with out the added 40,000 chemicals) to my mouth while walking right along the tables. The idea of having a bar on the side with my serving drinks (quite literally) could be a good idea if im able to control my Que calls from there.

Now to my main point of writing this blog, my involvement in the school musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. My role, as suggested by Scotty, would be to get a good idea of what exactly the backstage is like in a major production and to see how the staff and the technicians are utilised behind the scenes. Of course this will be mainly contributing my knowledge of my job as Stage Manager and to a certain extent Lighting. However, i dont intend on standing their all night watching 3 hours of madness before and after the show. My actual job seems to be pushing more to helping getting backdrops on and off the stage as there looking for big strong men to push them around (i hardly fit into that criteria but hey who cares im sure its gonna be fun…).

I’ll keep you guys posted on my upcoming run throughs as being apart of the staff.

Well until next time,

moondy

As week 3 comes to an end i can safely say i have made enormous progress as far as stage management and lighting is concerned. The group in general are really getting their act together and it seems to me they’re really enjoying it.

I have completed a small number of tasks that will allow to me continue working on a bigger scale throughout the long weekend. Much to the delight of Kim i have finally feasted my eyes on what looks to be a final draft of the floor plan. There are still a number of issues which i might arise with her during the course of the next week. That basically sums up my progress for the lighting as i will now be able to have a decent idea where and what to set the lights on or around. However there is still the issue of exactly what our director Scott wants me to perform, something dramatic as the play looks to be or should we stick with simple fade on fade offs.

Ill do a sum up for the rest of the cast and crew (except Kim and Scott):

• Goofy: My homie seems to be going along well, ill be collaborating with him to work out what sounds (FX) he’ll be wanting to incorporate. Of course as stage manager goofs my main man for the technical stuff and he needs to begin working on his FX soon so I’m able to put down which scene i need to call the shots in.
• Mel: I haven’t seen many props from mel as of yet but i’m not complaining as she has plenty of time to get what little things she needs to obtain. However, Ill be needing to get a full detailed list off her asap to add those to my running sheet.
• Elise: Elise has awesome acting ability and she really does show it when people give her a go. Make-up isn’t really related to any area of stage management. As long as she can get it done before the play begins ill be happy.
• Naomi: I’ve seen some pretty cool stuff from her lately and she sells herself when she is playing Monika. So far i can safely say she has just about everyone costume and has successfully made me get my own waiter costume.
• Yaniv: Yaniv is very funny when acting and it seems as though the character role was actually made based on his real life attributes (not in an offencive way!). Not much to add about his role other then the fact i still dont really have any idea what dramaturgy really does but ey it dont matter

Until next time,

moondy

Yesterdays lesson was the first blocking session and the first official day of production. It was a great double period that got me to work out needed to be  set out. Firstly, i was able to speak to Scotty on how to find ways to layout my script. We basically tore it apart and put it back together again in a folder, making note taking much easier. With my folder set out i was able to draw a simple 2d set design for every page. I simply drew 2 tables with 6 chairs, of course 1 remains empty for the entire play. At the moment my idea is to simply go through each and every page and work out the lighting effects i could use. Having had a master session on lighting and having talked to a few friends who are wannabe technicians, the past week i have learned more about lighting then i have in my life.

Now the stage managements role throughout the play can be compared to as much work as the director role. Scotty’s been explaining to me just how challenging the task is. The upside is that lighting works directly with stage management which just makes my life a bit easier by not having to go through a middle man.

Throughout the lesson it was mostly quite and productive with Scott (our director) proclaiming that we had completed the preset amount of pages and that we had 30 minutes to go over our 10 page introduction. The lesson consisted of me trying to plan a table for each page and having 2 columns:

• LX (Lighting Effects) and
• FX (Sound Effects)

Those columns are basically empty as we are still uncertain of if we are looking for a ‘eye candy’ effect or a ‘naturalistic’ effect. Personally, i would opt for the eye candy effect as in my opinion it would add a more personalised effect and could really be used by our ‘over acting’. My idea was to simply use a complex string of lighting events that help direct the audiences eyes to points of interest. For instance, if i was walking in with a tray with my waiter role, the spot light would instantly fade on me, follow me and fade off when i walk off the stage. This could be used with an intelligent light if we have them available.

Another idea i brought up was to have cardboard cut outs as our ‘band’. Then the lighting effects will take care of the rest by using Gels for different colourful effects and combinations while lights focus on certain ‘band members’ to give an almost life like effect. Most people in my group appear to dislike this idea as they think we shouldn’t have any band at all and just get the actors to ‘pretend’ while they are listing to the song (preselected from the script). Boring anyone? I mean seriously now who would want to sit there for 3 minutes staring at the actors looking behind the audience? So all i am asking is for someone like Kim to attempt to get 3-5 life size cardboard cut outs and i would take care of the ‘light show spectacular’.

Nevertheless i will abide by the majority vote on a lot of my decisions as this play is a team production and it should really stay that way. For now though, i am going to try and complete a workout plan for each of the pages and find out the various lighting effects and help goofy with his sound.

 Until next time,

moondy