Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

Greetings from the basement of Steppenwolf Theatre! I am Karyn, the 2009-2010 Downstairs Stage Management Apprentice. I am currently working on Fake, the new play written and directed by ensemble member Eric Simonson. This is the first world premier show I have ever worked on, and it is quite a change of pace for me!

One of the largest tasks that I work on is keeping track of all of the script changes. We started our rehearsal process on August 11th, and since then I’ve been keeping track of every change, no matter how small… and there are some small ones indeed! For example, a line went from “I didn’t think you’d remembered” to “I didn’t think you’d remember.” It was a change so small, but it matters!

It is fascinating to watch the actors and playwright discuss each line change. Any slight alteration could affect the meaning of a line, from the inflection of the actor’s voice to the blocking the actor is doing onstage. Therefore, each line change is discussed in detail. The stage management team keeps track of the line changes and the day it was corrected. If the changes are large enough, like a new scene, we copy new pages for everyone on a different color in order to keep track of when the changes were made. So far, we have a multicolored script of pink, green, blue, lavender, orange, yellow, gray, and lime green. We also keep all of the old versions of the script, just in case we change our mind and go back to something we had before.

Eric and the artistic team are constantly tweaking things to make sure it turns out just right for the audience. As always, theatre is a constantly evolving creative process: one that is sure to keep you on your toes!

This entry was posted by Karyn Labbe on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Fake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.