Here are JPEGs of the costumes renderings for those who can't see/download the .PDFs referenced in the previous post.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
39 Steps: Costumes
Good Evening,
One integral part of the process for all involved in the show is costumes. This show, being one with only 4 actors but dozens and dozens and DOZENS of roles, is an amazing task for a costume designer and their crew. Quick changes, multiple character changes on set during the show and costumes needing to be on top of other costumes are only part of the Herculian tasked asked of THE 39 STEPS costume designer.
We've been blessed on this production to have Val Snyder. She's really been an absolute angel. She's asked the right questions, she's been flexible as we've been finding things in rehearsal and requesting changes. Really, I couldn't have asked for better.
So, I wanted to share with you her early renderings. Val worked in a new way on this show apparently. She sketched the basics and then scanned them in and colored them digitally. Note: the characters are necessarily to scale in terms of which actor is playing which role. This will give you a beginning glimpse at what she's after. We have made many changes since these sketches.
See what the actors are actually wearing and how they manage these amazing quick changes in...18 days!
Monday, September 5, 2011
39 Steps: Halfsies
Good Evening,
Happy Labor Day to all! The official end of summer as they say. Juneau apparently has had ten more inches of rain than normal and we all surely can recognize that fact by the fact that it's been raining non-stop basically since our rehearsals began August 16th.
It's the day off today and well deserved by all!
We just ended our third week of rehearsal yesterday. We completed our staging of the second act and this week we will begin working thru whole acts and then running the show before we make the big move into the theatre on Friday night. Then we have two days of play in the theatre before we begin technical rehearsals next Sunday. We'll take more about that change later in the week.
It's time now to shift our focus to soldifying the beats and beginning to make a cohesive whole. We will be making jumps in terms of the pacing of the show and bumping the style of the piece into a higher gear.
Today we rest...tomorrow we fly...and in 19 days we welcome you to join us...
39 Steps: Nikki
Good Evening,
And now a word from our stage manager, Nikki Dawson. She how she puts it all together in 20 days!
---------------------------------
Juneau. 2007. March. It was dark and rainy and I was driving down Egan Drive one evening when I heard Jeffrey Herrmann on the radio. He was looking for people to help backstage on Perseverance Theatre's production of The Who's Tommy. I'd always wanted to work on a play so I called him up and thus began my theatrical adventures that are continuing with The 39 Steps.
The 39 Steps is a great adventure! Our main character meets a mysterious woman and is soon involved in an international plot. There are narrow escapes, close calls, and dangerous moments for our hero. There are also hilarious situations, memorable characters, and a heart warming romance. This play is fun!
I am the production stage manager for the show. My job is to help take care of the administrative and logistical details so that the director can concentrate on the artistic details. I'm also the actors' representative throughout the process and will run the lights and sound effects during performances. It's a fairly time consuming job but very rewarding. I get to see the play take shape and move from a bunch of ideas and words into the final product you will see on stage. There are so many wonderfully creative and talented people working on this show and it is amazing to watch all of the parts come together to make a whole.
And our whole is coming together quite nicely! We just finished our third week of rehearsal and it won't be long till we move to the main stage and start adding lights and sound. Pretty soon after that we'll be putting the finishing touches on everything and getting ready for opening night. See you then. We can't wait to show it all to you
- Nikki Dawson, Production Stage Manager
Sunday, September 4, 2011
39 Steps: Progress
Good Evening,
This post is a little late tonight. Let's pretend it's not past midnight here and this is Saturday's post...k?
We worked for the first time on the last scene of the play! We then had time to go back to the start of act two and begin the process again. Working through the scenes, giving the actors the chance to remember what we had done. Part of the process in the rehearsal room is to allow the actors the freedom and time to build what one could call "muscle memory", other's might say "get it in their bodies". It's basically to allow space for the movements to become second nature. An actor shouldn't have to "think" about where they are supposed to move, or really even what they are going to say. It's part of the magic of theatre - the illusion of the first time.
See it for the first time in...21 days...
Friday, September 2, 2011
39 Steps: A Stile, Handcuffs on a Punchy Friday Night
Good Evening,
Tonight was a good night. We are well into working on the second act of the play, and being about half way thru the process of rehearsal, we are all feeling a bit punchy. Much of that energy worked itself into much laughter and giggles tonight as we were reviewing scenes that we had worked on yesterday.
TIme in reherasal is important, but at certain times, laughter is more important. As an actor I'm always in a strange place mid-way through, so as a director I can respect what it is they are all going through. One is trying to solidify the lines, remember where in the world they are supposed to move and be. And especially in this play, but really in all plays, trying to make moments as specific as possible. This play is physical and there are so many characters and so many moments, that it's a big challenge. These wonderful creatures (I dare not speak for them, but can mightily praise them) are doing a fantastic job! The play demands a great deal of them in terms of energy and creativity and they, if I do say so myself, have been meeting these challenges in a big way. We've got much work to do ahead of us. They know this and I know this. So, tonight as we approach the half-way point, doesn't it seem just right that we laugh so hard that we cry - at ourselves, the process and with each other. Yes, I say, yes!
Tonight's laughter serves as a release. At least, for me it does. I know I'm punchy. As the wheels of time keep turning and more and more decisions have to be made, I long for the moments that release into joy.
Over the next weeks as we finish our rehearsals and get to move into the theatre with the set and costumes and everything else, this world that is so alive right now, will grow and thrive and begin to take on a life of its own. I will revel in all these actors are doing and marvel at their energy and passion - even as I'm asking for more of it!
And our final desire is to share this world with you and look forward to you joining in with your own laughter in...22 days.
- Bostin, Director
Thursday, September 1, 2011
39 Steps: Jed
Good Evening,
Jed Hancock-Brainerd, here. I am the last 1/4 of the acting crew on 39 Steps to post on the blog. I'm also the final member of Strange Attractor Theatre Co. to do so, the theatrical outfit Aram, Roblin, Rebecca, and myself make up. As Aram and Rebecca mentioned in previous posts, working on this play is a huge leap from the way we normally work together, as we tend to generate all the material we perform through improvisation. In our world if something isn't immediately fun it can be tossed out or morphed into something else. In the world of "straight" plays however, of which 39 Steps is a part, it is the actors', director, and designers' job to make everything on the page "work". This is a huge challenge with The 39 steps, where in addition to dialogue there are also physical bits that have become part of the DNA of the show.
It's fairly rare, I think, that you find a "straight" play that has as strong a proposal for the physical world as it does for the verbal. These so-called "bits" in the play have become as popular, if not more so, than the snappy dialogue that this play employs. In many ways working on this play is akin to being asked to recreate a scene from a Marx brothers movie and to make it "work". It can be fun as the challenge for me is not to re-invent the wheel, but to allow all your own playfulness to shine through while executing the physical writing that is so much a part of this play. In this piece making the part my own has been and continues to be figuring out the timing, rhythm and breath necessary to make all these physical moments live in much the same way an actor would do with a piece of well known text. Once one of the moments is figured out you get to ride this crazy train on tracks that have been so well laid by the writer and team of actors that originally developed this piece six years ago.
The final ingredient to this puzzle will of course be the audience and that's when we all get to really ride this roller coaster together. Look forward to seeing you all on the rails!
-j
See Jed and all the Strange Attractor folks in The 39 Steps in...23 Days!
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