I Love Tech
Posted by Karen Callaway on 8/14/2007I love tech.
I know, I know — actors reading this are going to groan or roll their eyes, maybe both. Those to whom I’ve said this always get an “are you crazy?” look on their faces. For them, they say, it’s usually the most boring part of their process: very repetitious, very tedious; a long, long, long day.
But I’m not an actor; I’m a just a First Look 101er, a theatergoer with a passion for the theater and for learning more about the process to get that play on stage for me to see.
For me, who never had been privileged to be able to watch part of a tech rehearsal before the First Look 101 program was offered in 2006 — it’s beyond fascinating. To see the precision needed. To see the collaboration of all the tech staff among themselves, with the director, actors and playwright. To recognize the tedium the actors talk about: Over and over, they go through the motions/words of the scene being teched, in real time, in costume with props, so the sound and light directors can work their magic.
But also, once in awhile we are privileged to see the acting, too, as the director wants to work on a scene simultaneously with the tech work.
Thus, during the Gary tech period we watched, we got to see “The River” scene — and consequently the amazing pitched, emotional, connected work between Tommy (Madison Dirks) and Annie (Rani Waterman). Ditto “The End” scene between Annie and Mark (Brad Bukauskas). Over and over each scene they went, all the while putting director Jonathan Berry’s suggestions into play, so that each repetition had small or medium or large tweaks, often simply in positioning. The acting, though, remained at the same level through each reworking: intense, always enthralling.
The portion of the tech we watched of When the Messenger Is Hot was equally interesting, and different: Director Jessica Thebus and some the cast (Kate Arrington, Lauren Katz, Amy Warren and Coburn Goss) were working a lot on positioning, too — but they also took advantage of the 101ers’ presence. For the scenes they were doing, they used us (so to speak) — and we were happy to let them. Some characters occasionally address the audience, so while we were there, sitting on the left and right sides of the stage, the actors were able to practice their eye contact with the “audience.” This, obviously, meant yet another type of engagement was present for the actors and for us: As lights and sounds were tried and set, these actors were acting, too, not walking through the scenes. And the 101ers became more than “students,” learning; they became an audience, reacting. Neat, all around.
The tech work for Tranquillity Woods was basically done by the time we got there. Because of its structure, this play had the least to do, re setting the lights and sounds. So after checking some final things, the director wanted to see the play run, in its entirety. Lucky us! Again, I’m sure we were “used,” to give the actors a chance to play to an audience — but, more important, to test their projection. The only rehearsal space they had been in up to tech is a small, intimate room. Now, the Garage isn’t that big, but to call it “intimate” would be inaccurate. Ditto calling it “small,” in terms of where the actors’ voices now had to go so everyone in the audience could hear — though it is relatively low-ceilinged. And their tech day (the one we attended) was the first time they’d been in the Garage space, with the set. So not only did the actors have to deal with light and sound work, they had to make sure their lines could be heard center, left and right. Consequently, there were official people sitting all over: The main tech folks are in the center, and, for the run through we observed, director Sandy Shinner sat on the left (as you face the stage) and the dramaturg, assistant director, playwright Joel Drake Johnson and Ed Sobel sat on the right. (I was on the right, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I had no problem hearing everything Mary Ann Thebus, Annabel Armour, Laurie Larson, Velma Austin and Usman Ally had to say.)
This is the bonus to our tech sessions: If everything gets set quickly enough, the play might get a complete run through, taking advantage of our presence.
For me, watching a run through with the sounds and lights in place means I can stay in “student” mode, concentrating on how the piece plays with the added “characters” of light and sound in place, analyzing these components and how they — as much as the actors, set, costumes and props — create a whole. Then, when I see the play in performance, I can put my mind to that whole and allow the play to be the experience it was meant to be: everything, animate and inanimate, coming together, enveloping me.