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

Welcome to the technical rehearsals of The Brother/Sister Plays, directed by Tina Landau! The show has moved from the rehearsal room to stage and we are adding the magical elements of lights, sound, props, and costumes.

So, please put on your curiosity caps and join Dixie Uffelman, the Production Coordinator, and Becky Mock, the Production Management apprentice, in a live blog discussion about this exciting, technical process.

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Transcript:1:53 [Comment From Vince: ]
How is everything going with Tech Rehearsal right now?

1:54 Hi there, Vince - thanks for asking! It is going very well - knocking on wood.

1:55 Tech is the time when all the different elements of the production come together - the actors are in costume for the first time, away from the safety of the rehearsal room, light cues are added, sound cues come in, and all in all it is a very exciting time.

1:58 Exciting, but also stressful - when it looks good, and you are cruising through the play, it feels great, but sometimes you come across a difficult part of the play, and it seems like time stands still, as everyone in the room has to work together to make a moment just right.

2:00 [Comment From Malcolm Ewen: ]
Hope it goes well upstairs - we’re getting ready for our 3pm matinee of AMERICAN BUFFALO in the Downstairs Theatre here at Steppenwolf.

2:01 Hi Malcolm! Never a dull moment here - Downstairs we have a gritty old junk shop, and upstairs there is a block party in full swing… Have a great performance, Buffalo!

2:03 [Comment From marja: ]
is it Tech rehearsal for all 3 plays? does the trilogy complicate things?

2:05 Hi marja - Yes - we have to tech all three plays. We added two extra days worth of tech in order to get them done.

2:06 We started up on the longest of the plays, “Red and Brown Water” on Thursday - that day was “an 8 out of 10″ - 8 hours of work, with a 2 hour dinner break in the middle.

2:07 Yesterday was a 9 out of 11 - and today is another 8 out of 10! We are hoping to finish teching through RED & BROWN before our dinner break today!

2:08 There are Equity (the actors & stage managers Union) rules about how long we can work each day, and when we must take a break.

2:08 [Comment From marja: ]
that sounds grueling! so you’re finishing Tech for one before you move on to another? no back to back run…

2:09 Yes - we will tech all the way through the first play, and then probably do a full run through - then we move on to the second play, tech through that, and run it, and then tech the third one, and run that.

2:11 When presenting these plays, an audience might be “Red and Brown Water” - which is a play in two acts OR you might see “The Brothers Size” & “Marcus” - each of those plays are one act long.

2:12 RED & BROWN is the longest play, and also probably the most complicated. There is a lot of singing, dancing and movement sequences.

2:13 All of those elements make the play really beautiful, but difficult to tech.

2:14 Yesterday, we spent some time designing a sound cue that started as music heard from inside a house, then the sound traveled, and the audience felt as though they were now outside at the block party -

2:15 then, a baby cries, and the song shifts - all the while Alana Arenas is speaking a monologue with specific movements. It took a lot of time to get right.

2:17 [Comment From marja: ]
it sounds complicated enough for Tech, managing 3 plays… any of the cast doubling up for the plays?

2:18 Yes - there is some doubling. Something really exciting about the plays is that although each one could stand on its own - characters are repeated in the three plays.

2:18 K. Todd Freeman plays Ogun Size, and that character appears in all three plays, but in difference phases of his life.

2:20 Glenn Davis plays “Little ‘Legba” in RED & BROWN, that character grows up a bit, and is billed as Elegba in “BROTHERS SIZE”, and he plays Elegba’s son, named Marcus in “MARCUS: OR THE SECRET OF SWEET”

2:21 Also, all of the actors are used as a general Ensemble - their bodies and voices create the images and sounds of the places and people that surround the story

2:24 I think tech can be hardest on the actors - they’ve gone from a private rehearsal room, where all attention is on them - and in tech - they get used a bit like pieces of scenery. “move left a little! Just stand there - we’re building a light cue on you!”
2:26 This cast, however, is amazing at making the best use of their time - when we are holding for some reason, they run lines, run pieces of music… One actor - Roderick Covington always has a pitch pipe on hand, and runs the really tricky sequences over and over.

2:29 [Comment From marja: ]
I always thought they would be glad to get out of the room, Tech adds a new challenge… but maybe after a day or two the excitement wears off?

2:30 You could be right - as a non-actor, it always looks like a lot of “hurry up and wait”.

2:30 Right when they might get into the pace of a scene… “HOLD!”

2:31 Most actors are always excited to see the scenery & costumes, though - for sure.

2:32 For RED & BROWN - the cast is all in white or light colored costumes - it looks beautiful, but has given Stage Management so extra work - lots of cleaning the stage, and dusting all of the props, so the white costumes stay clean and pretty.

2:33 Yet another reason that I’m not an actor - I would spill something on myself right away… Wardrobe departments would hate me.

2:36 OK - Get ready for fancy technology coming at you - POLL!

2:36 If you are planning on seeing the Brother/Sister Plays - what is the main draw for you?
I’m a Steppenwolf Subscriber
( 0% )
Tina Landau’s direction
( 33% )
Playwight Tarrell Alvin McCraney
( 33% )
The ensemble members
( 0% )
Something else! What?
( 33% )

2:38 I hope that we did that right - we got a vote!

2:39 Ooh - we just arrived at the final scene! No spoilers here, but it is really intense…

2:42 …and HOLD! I’m glad that I saw a full run of this play on Monday - otherwise seeing these scenes interrupted would be too frustrating.

2:43 [Comment From marja: ]
will you need big set changes between the plays? with the alternating plays I’m expecting similar sets… or maybe that’s naive of me
2:43 Marja - way to bring on the good questions!

2:44 Actually - there isn’t a big turnover between the three plays. The stage is quite bare, with a really beautiful paint treatment on it - it’s a grey/blue/black look.

2:45 I think that it is a really effective look, because it could be anywhere - the swamp, a city - anywhere, really.

2:46 There are also light bulbs upstage, and strung over the heads of the audience - Tina likes to have the scenery and the action surround the audience. They are as much a part of the experience as the actors or storytellers are.

2:47 But, I digress - anyhow - that is the basic look of the stage - in RED & BROWN there are many different buckets that the actors sit, stand, drum on and hold.

2:48 In BROTHERS SIZE - the buckets are gone, and there are yellow work lights, that frame the playing space. In MARCUS - we add a tall ladder that is a tree - a house - many things.

2:48 [Comment From ashley: ]
who is the set designer for the play?

2:49 James Schuette is both the scenic and costume designer - it is a big job! He has worked with Tina many times before, and the two collaborated on a previous production of RED AND BROWN.

2:50 Side note - Someone on the poll voted for “Something Else” - what is it?

2:51 [Comment From marja: ]
it’s the plays being performed in trilogy

2:52 Ah - cool. I also really like seeing plays performed in Repertory - (fancy theater speak for plays being performed on the same stage in a rotation).

2:52 It’s especially exciting when they are as connected as these three plays are - the stories speak to each other in a really exciting & profound way

2:54 [Comment From marja: ]
true… looking forward to seeing them… though I think I’m seeing them out of order… not a big problem to the experience I hope

2:55 I don’t think so - I read them “out of order” and it was exciting to get the backstory after I read “BROTHERS SIZE” & “MARCUS”

2:55 [Comment From jon: ]
are you guys worried about getting everything done in the amount of time you have?

2:56 I would say that we are always worried about getting it all done! For these, there is a lot of work, but we added extra time, and the team is terrific.

2:56 Somehow in theatre it always pulls together - you just hope that it doesn’t happen at the last minute!

2:57 We are doing well, though - so I think that all of us are feeling good about it.

2:58 [Comment From marja: ]
there’s always the previews
2:59 It is true - I love seeing previews when I am an audience member - you never know quite what is going to happen.

2:59 That is actually true of all live theatre - and why I love it - but it is especially true in previews, for sure!

3:04 Alright - the actors are on a ten minute break, and I think that I need a bit of a break myself! We’ll take a pause in the blogging, but feel free to ask some questions, and intrepid Production Apprentice Becky Mock will come back & answer some more questions later on!

3:22 Hi Again - some thoughts from wandering around - the runcrew are hanging out backstage - noodling around on a bass guitar. Props Master Jenny is fixing up some umbrella props for MARCUS; Erin Cook - staff dresser, is doing some sewing…

3:23 AND we finished teching RED AND BROWN! Huzzah! Now we should get a run in before dinner break, and be on track to start THE BROTHERS SIZE this evening!

7:06 And WE’RE BACK! We had an amazing run through of RED AND BROWN this afternoon.

7:09 Now, the actors are on a dinner break and the crew is learning how to do the scenic changeover between BROTHERS SIZE and MARCUS.

7:18 [Comment From Vince: ]
So when you did the run through of RED AND BROWN, did you go straight through without interruption or do you still stop in certain parts?

7:20 We went straight through without any interruptions for this run through, including all the light and sound cues, as well as all costume changes.

7:26 Shortly, we will begin to tech THE BROTHERS SIZE. In technical terms, this is the smallest and simplest of the three shows. It will have fewer light and sound cues and it only features three actors. But trust me…this one is packed FULL of EMOTION.

7:51 Alrighty, actors have been called into costume and they are about to start teching. We would just like to thank all of you who tuned in for our live blog session and for asking such great questions! This has been a blast!

This entry was posted by Becky Mock on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 5:53 pm and is filed under The Brother/Sister Plays. 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.