Informed Consent - Opening Night

It’s been fun as a Cohort to watch the play evolve – not just as the actors grew into the characters they were portraying, but as the playwright, Deb Laufer, rewrote whole scenes, and as the director molded the ever-changing ingredients into the terrific show that opened Saturday night.  Gone entirely were the first several minutes that I had watched them rehearse so many times (as witty as the original introduction was, it was perhaps too confusing to convey to an audience).  The play has been distilled to the story of the geneticist, rather than a myriad of story possibilities that settle on the geneticist. That focus has tightened the show considerably; it moves forward at such a fast pace that an intermission would only distract.  When the cast took their bows to a standing ovation, several audience members were choking back tears along with the actors, still fresh from the drama of the final scene.

Pre-performance Toast

Even though I knew some of the jokes that were coming, they were still funny, and I was heartened to hear the rest of the audience laughing with me.  What I didn’t anticipate were the audience gasps at certain character revelations, or the head-nodding in empathy with Arella, the “Native American” character, in her assertions about “the white man.”  The entire cast was wonderful, but I was particularly taken with Larissa Fasthorse’s ability to jump effortlessly between portraying Arella and the geneticists’ 4-year-old daughter.

For a play about science, there is quite a lot of religion and mythology. I suspect, however that the playwright is winking at us, asking, literally, “but that’s just a myth, right?  I mean…you don’t actually believe that.”  At one point, Arella recites the creation myth of her Indian tribe, and its version of the universal ‘flood story.’  Gods creating children out of earth are surely just stories.  Could there be a parallel with the stories of creating a man from dust, talking snakes and a family building an ark for pairs of all the animals to save them from a flood?

Deb Laufer graciously posed with me

This production of Informed Consent deserves a large audience on so many levels – not just for its fine acting and directing and staging, but for the big ideas it wrestles with – how we define ourselves and our society, how we reconcile religious belief with scientific facts, how we determine the ethics that should accompany technological progress.  The show is in Rochester only until April 13, and then it moves to the Cleveland Play House.

Geva Cohort – “Informed Consent” Part IV – Rehearsal Week 3

(Informed Consent, directed by Sean Daniels, runs from March 18 to April 13)

Now the hard work begins – learning all those lines!  I watched as the cast started at the top of the show, several times.  Most of the actors said many of their lines in almost a monotone, sometimes looking off in the distance, as if they were mentally picturing the script.  As they repeated them, I could almost see them working to internalize the words, to make them feel natural and spontaneous, instead of rote.  Anyone who’s ever had to memorize a song or a poem can probably relate.  Not only must the actors learn their lines, they also pretty much have to know the entire script, because their dialogue depends on that of all the others.  And they must be able to be interrupted mid-stream, whether for a correction or a break, and jump right back in, without returning to the beginning.  Stephie Kesselring and Frank Cavallo were overseeing this rehearsal in Sean’s absence (he and the playwright were at an ethics conference at the U of R), supplying missing or correcting lines.  Stephie was very encouraging, when they stopped at one point and she said, “you guys are really close.” 

The beginning of Informed Consent must be particularly difficult to memorize, because it’s not a conversation;  it’s strings of stories, and sometimes just a snippet of a story, interrupted by another actor’s story.  Jessica Wortham, who plays the anthropologist, likened it to a song, with each actor having little solos, interspersed with some unison lines.  And in fact, they refer to the opening and a few other parts of the play as a chorus.

At the second run-through of a different section, Stephie warned the actors that she was going to stop them at mistakes, because the “actors weren’t helping themselves” when they erred or lost the pattern.  Fajer Al-Kaisi, who plays the anthropologist’s husband (and reminds me a bit of Kal Penn), needed a lot of lines, but interestingly, knew when it was his turn to speak!  At one point, there was this amusing exchange:

Fajer:  Is that it?

Stephie:  That’s kind of it.

Fajer: That's me, Captain Paraphrase!

Rehearsals are generally about 8 hours, with an hour lunch break, and union-mandated 10-minute breaks periodically.  At one of those breaks, I asked a couple of the actors what they do during their evenings.  Right now, it’s mostly homework – memorizing their lines.  They also connect with their loved ones, since all of the actors are ‘out of town.’  What an odd profession, to be someone else’s entertainment, and to be away from home and family for weeks at a time.  I felt a bit guilty when I snuck out after only 2 hours to return to my own home, knowing they had hours more to slog through before returning to their Geva apartments out by the airport.  And I felt lucky to live in a city with a first-rate theatre that can attract such talent, show after show, and grateful to these people who have chosen this (to me) strange and difficult way to make a living...

Geva Cohort – “Informed Consent” Part III – Rehearsal Week 2

(Informed Consent, directed by Sean Daniels, runs from March 18 to April 13)

rehearsal space, with taped and table 'levels'

“Great!  But I don’t think we can charge money for it yet,” Sean quipped at one point.  Obviously, since it’s only the second week of rehearsal, and the show doesn’t open until March 22.  But the progress they’ve already made in that short time is considerable – the actors are already deep into their characters, and you can really feel the power of this very complex play, and get a sense of the emotional impact it will have when they finally do have an actual (paying) audience. 

model of the set

The different levels in the play are mirrored by the levels of the set, which also evokes the Grand Canyon, which is one of the play’s settings.  Since this is not a traditional set, with rooms and furniture, motivation for moving or sitting has to be found in the dialogue (for example, at one point, Sean asked a seated actor to stand, to give the scene more energy, but to sit an another point to communicate more intimacy).  And since the actors will need various props to indicate the different characters they portray, great attention is being paid to where those props are stored and how they are retrieved and returned, by whom and when.  Very complicated!

I attended parts of two different rehearsals this week.  The actors are in the process of memorizing their lines and their blocking.  At the same time, they are working to breathe life into their characters, for example, by:

- discussing “clockwise” vs. “counterclockwise” tribal dances (apparently the Havasupai are a “clockwise” tribe), and the implication for stage movement,

- exploring different accents (and sometimes translations) to associate with different “stories,”

- determining who they are, when they are just sitting and watching other actors in a scene,

- using Sean’s insightful and often humorous direction to help them understand their subtexts.

The upcoming premiere of Informed Consent is extremely timely.  Just this week, the New York Times ran an article and op-ed about the FDA’s current deliberation of “genetically modified babies” – embryonic mitochondrial manipulation, which would give a child genetic material from three parents, rather than two, and eliminate inheritable mitochondrial disease.  I would have loved to talk to Sean and the cast about that over the drinks that he kindly invited all 9 of us cohorts attending Thursday's rehearsal to, but luckily for them, I had dinner waiting for me at home.  

Geva Cohort – “Informed Consent” Part II – First Rehearsal

(Informed Consent, directed by Sean Daniels, runs from March 18 to April 13)

It isn’t often that you have the chance (or the desire, frankly) to read the script of a play before seeing it performed.  And it’s rarer to be able to watch the process of creating a play from scratch.  That’s what Geva’s Cohort Club is about – providing the prospect to a fortunate few of being flies on the wall, to understand the creative process, and to communicate the experience to their ‘communities.’ And if we motivate two friends to see the show, and they motivate two friends, and so on, and so on…

One of the things I’ve learned so far is that the script is just the starting point.  Since Geva’s shows don’t usually travel in from somewhere else (as RBTL’s do), the cast and crew are creating something fresh, which is a responsibility as well as an opportunity. In the case of Informed Consent, which will have its world premiere here in Rochester, the script is still open for rewrite.  The playwright, Deborah Zoe Laufer, is at the table with the cast and director, helping to interpret her intention, and also listening to the cast as they put their stamp on her lines, and adapting the dialog to their questions and needs.  

As I learned in the kickoff ‘meet and greet,’ the play has been workshopped 8 times around the world, so it’s already had the benefit of being read, responded to, and reworked.  And after it closes here, it will go to Cleveland.  I haven’t even seen the play performed yet, but I’m already excited about its potential, not just locally, but, perhaps, in a larger theater somewhere downstate? 

The charming Ms. Laufer explained that the play is based on an actual story involving genetic testing of an Indian tribe, and that, to give a “personal way in for the main character” she has created a story for her that involves early onset Alzheimer’s.  The sense of a person’s ‘story’ is so central to this production that, as we went around the room introducing ourselves, Sean Daniels, the director, asked us to tell a little bit about ourselves, and our heritage.  It wasn’t a surprise that most in the room shared (sometimes humorous) stories of ancestors, close or distant, who had emigrated from Europe or the Slavic countries.  It was interesting, then, when one of the actresses, who actually has a Native American heritage, shared her horrified reaction to these stories, which all implied colonialism of her ancestors’ land.  I can’t help but think that her perspective and participation in this premiere will make the play even stronger than it already is.

Sean also explained that for Informed Consent, Geva has formed relationships with several local interest groups: the Alzheimer’s Association, The Friends of Ganondagan, and the University of Rochester, which is teaching the script as part of their medical ethics courses!  This is definitely a play that will have universal appeal, as it asks “what it means to be alive today,” and how we manage and react to rapid changes in technology.  It’s so great that Geva has reached out to the community to participate in the dialogue that this show will generate.

Unfortunately, I could only stay for a read-through of the first several pages, as the actors and director explored different ‘voices’ for the introduction to the play’s stories.  But even so, I just know that this group of talented people is going to produce an incredibly thrilling and compelling production that people will be talking about.

(Other cohorts are just as excited as I am by Informed Consent. To read more from their perspective, visit the Geva Journal:  http://gevajournal.wordpress.com/  )

Geva Cohort – “Informed Consent” Part I – The Script

(Informed Consent, directed by Sean Daniels, runs from March 18 to April 13)

I was so flattered that Sean Daniels invited me to ‘cohort’ again, and this time on a drama!  In advance of the initial meet-and-greet, he sent out the script, which I read on my iPad on a plane. I wished I were reading it in old-fashioned hardcopy, so that I could highlight passages that particularly resonated with me.  Although it’s a relatively short play, it’s dense with thought-provoking themes.  As Geva’s website explains, Informed Consent is based on a true story, and “explores the question of just how much knowledge is too much.”  For example, if you are at risk for a deadly disease and could be tested to determine the likelihood, would you do it?  One of my favorite exchanges between two of the characters involves who gets to choose the knowing or not-knowing, and why one person’s fear trumps the other’s.

In addition to the “how much is too much” question, the play also examines the implications of that knowledge (or lack of it), on behavior and on an individual’s or community’s Weltanschauung.  As science and technology continue to advance at a breathtaking pace, how do we define and weigh the ethical implications of that progress?  Just because we can screen embryos, or genetically engineer them in vitro, for disease risk or gender selection, should we? 

Part of the play revolves around the revelation of the history of an Indian tribe being screened for diabetes.  In the process of testing for the illness, the geneticist discovers the tribe’s genetic origins, which contradict their “creation story.”  The tribe would rather stick to its belief than assimilate the facts.  I couldn’t help but be reminded of the similar way that Christians stick to their beliefs in the face of scientific discoveries, which they either ignore (as the Creationists do evolution) or incorporate reluctantly (as the Catholic Church did the idea that the Earth was not the center of the universe).

And the play introduces the question of who we are – are we our genes?  Are we our memories?  Even though it has been proven that our memories are not static, like snapshots or movies, but that our mind can modify them without our being aware?

I already have tickets to the show, and I’m very much looking forward to watching it evolve from the page to the stage.

For more information about the play, visit Geva's website:

http://www.gevatheatre.org/shows/informed-consent/

The 39 Steps - Part IX - Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight!

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, is in production until 11/17/13 on the Geva Mainstage)

I finally had the luxury of sitting out front, with friends and family (I went not only with my husband, but his sister, and our friends/neighbors Eric (a Geva first-timer), and his wife Kathy), happily part of a sold-out performance.  Watching the play unfolding, I was reminded of the opening number in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum:  “Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns; bring on the lovers, liars and clowns!  Stunning surprises, cunning disguises…” This play has all of that, in 90 fast-paced minutes.

I’ll never know how much my enjoyment of the show was enhanced by the ‘cohort’ experience and having become intimately familiar with the script.  But judging from the response of my companions (who were incredibly impressed by the talent, versatility, and professionalism of the cast, and that it wasn’t simply a copy of the Broadway production), and the rest of the audience, I suspect I would have loved the show even if I’d had no knowledge of it going in.  There are so many wonderful moments in this production – the train scene with its rapid changing of hats, the vertiginous chase scene involving the actors lying on the floor, the silly nods to Rochester (I’m not sure everyone could hear when Aaron, as the Usherette, offers someone in the audience a garbage plate) – the list goes on.  The set was beautiful and simple, and the lighting and sound really enhanced the play’s action – things I wouldn’t have given much thought to before.  It also never occurred to me that these actors work without understudies.  I was a bit worried after yesterday’s production note that Monica injured herself slightly, but there was no hint of that in her performance today.

It has been a true privilege to serve as a ‘cohort’ on two of Geva’s productions, and I will miss the daily e-mails from the production managers with notes on how the rehearsal or performance went, house counts, notes to the various departments about things that have broken, etc. The daily recaps even comment on the audience’s reaction – how quickly they warmed up to the show, or whether their attention held, or whether they didn’t laugh in anticipated moments. (And Frank Cavallo's summary of the performance I attended reached the same conclusion I did: “The actors fed off a big and appreciative audience and delivered a very fresh and funny performance.”)  Unlike traditional jobs, where you might get an annual review, cast and crew get nightly performance feedback, and strive daily to improve their job of helping an audience suspend belief for several hours in order to be entertained.

One of a comedy’s measures of success is a full house (with the same number in the audience after intermission as before…) and laughter.  From the production e-mails I’ve seen, and the favorable reviews I’ve received from friends, The 39 Steps has been a great success. So it turns out my friend Nanette was right when she said I’d enjoy this show.  But perhaps it’s just as well that Mary Beth dissuaded me from seeing the Broadway production, so that I could see this one with no preconceptions. 

The 39 Steps - Part VIII - Watching from the Wings

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, is in production until 11/17/13 on the Geva Mainstage)

On Wednesday night, I had the rare opportunity of seeing a show behind the scenes – literally!  I had jumped on this invitation from Geva to get a backstage appreciation of the effort it takes to sustain the energy of a show, and luckily, I was the only visitor this evening.  Theresa Campbell, the assistant director (and one of the talented cast members of All Your Questions Answered), met me in the lobby and escorted me to stage left just after the train scene in Act I.  She directed me where to stand so that I would be invisible and out of the way, yet still be able to see the action on stage. 

It was fascinating to observe the assistant stage managers and props people, all dressed in black (some with Zorro-like black masks), scurrying around, talking to each other softly, listening to the voice of Frank Cavallo (the stage manager, who was out of sight, calling the cues to everyone) in their headsets (what did theatres do before wireless communication?!), using flashlights to check props and costumes.  There were more people backstage than on, helping the actors in and out of costumes and wigs (it was wonderful to witness Aaron’s transformation into Mrs. Jordan, as he nonchalantly applied lipstick in the dark while someone dressed him and adjusted his wig) and readying props and sets.  

I particularly enjoyed watching the actors perform the puppet scene – yes, they are actually lying or crouching on the ground, working their marionettes, in addition to providing the voices. I didn’t want to interfere with the actors’ concentration by waving like a groupie, so I behaved myself (although they did recognize and smile at me…).  I will admit, though, to feeling a bit like a groupie – I’ve watched the show evolve from words on a page to action on a stage – and I was silently rooting for them as I stood there, willing the audience to laugh at the right moments, and feeling relieved when they did. And I found myself rooting for the crew as well, to get the curtain closed without hanging up on something, and not to have the fire alarm go off accidentally (because really, who pays attention to those instructions from the fire marshal at the beginning of the show?!).

I can’t wait till this weekend when I take my husband and sister-in-law to see it for their first time!

The 39 Steps - Part VII - Tech Talk

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, opens October 26 at Geva Theatre (previews October 22))

So in the middle of one of the day’s tech rehearsals, Sean also had to factor in a “thing for the donors.”  One of the benefits of supporting Geva at a certain level is a periodic invitation to peek behind the scenes, and this is potentially distracting from business as usual. About 20 people gathered in the Nextstage for a presentation by Matthew Reinert (director of production), Michael Raiford (scenic designer), and Apollo Mark Weaver (charge artist). 

Michael’s concept for the set, “a sophisticated playground with the sense of richness of an old movie theatre that everything else moves in,” incorporates various Hitchcockian elements. Light and shadows play an important role in this production, and the set should give the audience a sense of vertigo, between the upside-down candles and the pattern on the marble floor (Apollo described the effort it took to translate the design into practicality – to get the marble effect, as well as the reflectivity of some of the wall tiles, which will aid in the play of light).  Michael and Matthew likened the building of a set to the building of a house – you start with an idealized design, then adapt it for the realities of time, budget, and technology.  While the team starts planning months in advance, the set is actually build in just 4 weeks (offsite, about 2 miles away, so it has to be transportable, but the pieces also have to fit together seamlessly), and installed in the theatre in 3 days.  Matthew explained that, especially in a fast-paced show like The 39 Steps, there are lots of cross-departmental conversations about costumes and sets to ensure they work together when they finally meet up.

Then we were invited into the Mainstage to watch the final 15 minutes of tech rehearsal before their dinner break, and Sean answered questions from the group.  I asked why, in a theatre this small, microphones were necessary for the actors.  He explained that because of the cinematic quality of the show, they are experimenting with the mikes, determining how much amplification is needed in order to hear the actors’ dialog over the underscoring or in scenes where they are out in the house.  They can always make changes in preview if necessary, and he compared tech rehearsal to going camping – it’s better to throw lots of stuff in because after that you can always take something out, but it’s too late to add anything!

In this roughly 100-minute show, there are over 1000 different light/sound cues, set moves, and costume changes.  You can do the math, so no wonder Sean said at the beginning of this journey that the show is “built to break.”  But given all of the talent and effort that has gone into this production, it’s also build to withstand.  

The Thirty Nine Steps - Part VI - Tech Rehearsal

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, opens October 26 at Geva Theatre (previews October 22))

Lights, music, action!  Then stop.  Then the actors stand around while the crew adjusts light cues or the angle of a doorway or the location of various props.  Finally – rehearsal is in the main stage, with costumes (I hardly recognized the actors!), sets, props, mikes (mikes? More about that later…).  The actors have their lines down and it’s time for the unsung heroes of theatre to get busy making sure the spots are in the right place, the sets don’t interfere with closing the curtain, the doorbell rings (wait – we need a doorbell!), and so on. 

This is where it all comes together, and adjustments are made (like installing a doorbell, or discarding a bit of a costume that interferes with the action).  Watching it take 20 minutes to get through a 1-minute scene, I tried to calculate the staggering amount of effort that goes into producing a mere 2 hours of ephemeral entertainment.  Thousands of man-hours, counting the time of not just the actors and director, but also stage managers, set designers and builders, costume and prop shop, lighting and sound crew, and many others who work literally behind the scenes.  And for many of them (as with, perhaps, many of us in other careers?), if they do their job right, you won’t even notice.  Only if a spot ends up on empty space next to an actor, or music plays too early and drowns out an actor’s lines, will the audience be aware of the people behind the curtain pulling the strings.

In addition to attending to details like making sure a rotating doorway clears the hanging lights, Sean and the stage managers were also diligently wandering around the orchestra and balcony to make sure that even ‘the cheap seats’ had good visibility for certain scenes where sets might impede a view of the action. Sitting in this particular rehearsal reminded me that theatre is truly a labor of love.  There’s an incredible amount of technical expertise required to stage a show, in addition to the obvious talents required by the actors and director, and what there is to show for it is fleeting.  

The 39 Steps - Part V

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, opens October 22 at Geva Theatre)

Wow!  I went to my first full run through today and was blown away.  It really felt as if I were watching a show, not just scenes.  This was also the first time I’d been present where the number of people facing the ‘stage’ (rehearsals are still in the rehearsal hall, not on the actual stage – that will only come later this week, less than a week before the first performance!) vastly outnumbered the four actors. The excitement was palpable. 

I don’t want to give any of the antics away, but I have to say that some of the scenes I hadn’t seen before, like the end of the train scene or the sideways floor chase (and if that makes no sense, it will if you see the show…), were absolutely wonderful.  And I finally saw how a big barrel stuck with odd bits of houses and trees worked, which I’d seen before but not understood - it’s for the shadow puppet sequence, and if you’re curious, since you won't see it from the audience, you can see it in this blog entry:

http://gevajournal.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/shadow-puppets-roc-geva39/.

It was clear that this rehearsal went very smoothly, with only a few forgotten lines. I cannot imagine how difficult it is to memorize so much text, but the biggest kudos have to go to Aaron (Clown #1), who is charged with something truly daunting: reciting a bunch of mathematical gibberish that is funny because it makes absolutely no sense! I was also impressed by how physical the acting is for each of the actors. Handcuffs hurt, so both Monica and John wear some bandaging to protect their wrists. Joel (Clown #2) and Aaron are both on their knees quite a bit, hence the use of knee pads.  Joel, in particular, has some pretty gymnastic moves to make switching between two characters in one of the final scenes.  All four actors are outstanding (John and Monica have some sensational facial expressions; Monica reminds me a bit of Julianne Moore or Cate Blanchett, and her facility with accents makes me think she would be a terrific Kate Hepburn in a revival of The Philadelphia Story), but the clown characters are definitely written to steal the show, and Aaron and Joel are more than up to the task.

Sean’s feedback at the end was extremely positive.  He remarked that it looked as if the actors “were having fun, whether they were or weren’t,” and that for the first time, they really seemed to know exactly what came next, which allowed for little improv moments without breaking the tempo.  The actors had “taken the air out” (the little pauses where previously the actors had been concentrating on “what comes next”…), and they kept up their energy and momentum for the entire show.  Sean’s exact words were that “the energy was consistently high, and all of the scenes felt like they were from the same show.”  He must be really pleased with what he and the entire team have created so far, and it will only get better when they move to the stage proper and have all of the real sets, props, and costumes.  Stay tuned, and if you haven't bought your tickets yet, here's the link:

http://www.gevatheatre.org/shows/the-39-steps/

The 39 Steps - Part IV

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, opens October 22 at Geva Theatre)

I was recently fortunate to attended a presentation by Mark Cuddy (Artistic Director of Geva), Sean Daniels (Artist at Large), and three of the four cast members (Aaron Munoz was out of town) of The 39 Steps, where they spoke not just about this particular show, but also about Geva in general.  Before turning things over to Sean, Mark explained that one goal of the presentation was to enable the audience to get to know, and therefore root for the actors, as well as the show, just as one would root for specific players, in addition to a sports team (I love a good performing arts / sports analogy!).  He introduced the three actors: John Gregorio (who plays Richard Hannay), who is from Camden, NJ (this elicited no response from the audience, but having lived for 10+ years in northern Jersey, I am familiar with that city as being among, if not the poorest and most dangerous in the country - so hurrah, John, for making it out!); Monica West (who plays most of the female characters), who received thunderous applause for growing up in Honeoye Falls, of all places; and Joel van Liew (Clown #2), who hails from Buffalo (close enough!). So it’s sort of like having two local players on the team to cheer for.

Sean, John, Monica, and Joel

Sean and the actors spoke extemporaneously and interacted quite a bit with the audience.  He called the play not just a spoof, but a tribute to Hitchcock, and referred to it as “a vehicle for celebrating all things theatrical,” with “the excitement and danger of having four performers do the entire show.”  He and the cast are busily watching Hitchcock’s films, so they can insert little “Easter eggs” – references to those films throughout the play, for the audience to hunt for.  As he and Mark both explained, Geva shows aren’t traveling shows, they are actually built and rehearsed in Rochester, just for Rochester, and they begin and end here.  This means that we get to see these particular artists’ interpretation of the plays, not someone else’s conception of the show, and not Mark’s or Sean’s ‘copy’ of what they may have seen elsewhere.  In the case of The 39 Steps, we should see many more Hitchcock references than were in either the London or New York productions.  Sean is also playing with shadows, since they are such a central role in Hitchcock’s films.  Usually a theatre set is lit specifically to avoid shadows, so the actors and set can be seen from all angles.  I never thought of that, but will certainly pay attention from now on, and to the different effect the shadows will create in this show.

Sean also addressed how the actors plan for or react to audience laughter (or lack thereof), and explained the special role the preview audience plays as a sort of “focus group.”  Since it’s difficult to predict exactly what an audience will find funny (or what they will not, that in rehearsal seemed hilarious), the director pays particular attention to the preview audience’s reaction.  The actors adjust as necessary, giving the audience a bit more space for laughter, or setting up a joke better so it doesn’t fall flat.  One of the biggest traps in comedy, apparently, is “playing to last night’s audience” so the actors take care not to assume that every audience will respond exactly the same. 

When asked about the challenges the actors faced in preparing for this show, John said something that seems obvious in hindsight – that, as the only actor with a constant character, he is basically the “passenger” of the play. Hannay is the person things are happening to, and John’s challenge is not just to react to the other characters, but to react differently to different characters being played by the same actor (e.g., the three different “beautiful women” portrayed by Monica).  Monica’s answer complemented John’s, in that she has to differentiate those three different women (plus run around the stage in very high heels!).  Joel cited the physical and vocal challenge of portraying multiple characters, especially when he needs seemingly to be more than one person at the same time.

We could have listened to Sean, Mark, and the actors all afternoon, but unfortunately, it was time for lunch to be served, and we had to let them eat.  I know the audience's interest was piqued, and that they, like I, am eager to attend a performance, to see how it all comes together, and to be entertained, and yes, to root for John, Monica, Joel, and Aaron!

The 39 Steps - Part III

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, opens October 22 at Geva Theatre)

"Line!"

Lego Alfred Hitchcock *

At the third rehearsal I attended, that was the word I heard most frequently. Since Sean was still on his way home from opening another show in London (because I guess having one show running and another in production here in Rochester isn't quite enough to keep him busy!), the actors decided to use the time to run through their lines in Act I.  There were definitely some missed and muffed lines - sometimes the actors drew complete blanks, in which case they'd ask for help from someone reading along in the script and call, "line!" (or sometimes pleadingly, "line?").  Many times when they made mistakes they were actually paraphrasing the script (e.g., "frankly" instead of "actually" or "the thing is" instead of "the point is"), which you would think wouldn't matter so much, but it has the potential to confuse another actor's cue, and it is important to be consistently correct.  I couldn't help wondering, though, after an actor made the same mistake several times, if he hadn't already 'learned' it incorrectly, and it would be difficult to change.  Like when I make a wrong turn going somewhere downtown, and after that the wrong way becomes familiar, and then I don't know if it's because it's wrong or right!  At one point the person making a correction even cautioned the actor about "getting married to the wrong lines."

Lego Hitchcock closeup of the nose

It was fun watching the actors review certain scenes they were having particular difficulty memorizing, and there was one passage that an actor had such a block against remembering that by the sixth time through, even I knew the line!  I know when I see the actual performance, I am going to be holding my breath at that moment, even though I'm sure that by then it won't be an issue.

When Sean arrived, the actors reran Act I on their feet, and it was fantastic to watch certain scenes evolve, in just a few minutes, with the addition of some pratfalls and other bits of humor.  One of the "clowns," in particular, is very adept at physical humor, and I was close enough to overhear him and the other "clown" working out, sotto voce, how to coordinate the details and timing of the lamppost scene to make it funnier.  In a play as popular and in the public eye as this, it's incredible that there is still such latitude for creativity and originality.  So even if you have seen the play in London, New York, or elsewhere, this will still be fresh and fun, and it will have the distinct stamp of this director, cast, and crew.

And frankly/actually, the thing is / the point is, that's what live theatre is all about - seeing something new, even if it's old.  Otherwise, you could just...watch the movie!


*since no photos of the actors are allowed, I've included artwork from The Art of the Brick Exhibit by Nathan Sawaya at the Discovery Times Square Museum.  Definitely worth a visit if you're in NYC.

"The 39 Steps" - Part II

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, opens October 22 at Geva Theatre)

I caught the tail end of the third rehearsal, and it appeared they were just finishing up their first full run-through; they were working on the final scenes of the show.  It was wonderful watching these professionals doing their jobs - not just reacting to Sean’s direction, but contributing their ideas, many of which got incorporated.  And when they didn’t, Sean wasn’t dictatorially dismissive, but explained his reasoning (no “because I said so”s here!).

The actors still had scripts in hand, of course, but they did a marvelous job of envisioning the stage and sets.  The scenery is in the process of being built elsewhere in the building, but in a show as tight as this, its construction is not independent of the rehearsals.  The actors made at least a couple of requests for modifications in order to make their performance work better.

It’s also amazing how something as subtle as a turn can make a difference in the humor.  In one case, Sean simply asked an actor to do a 180 away from the audience instead of toward it – basically the same movement but in reverse, and it was incredible how just that small change conveyed the action better and appeared funnier.  In another, Sean asked the actress to twirl, and it was hysterical just watching her practice how many times in order to end up facing the correct direction.  Of course, in a performance, she’ll probably get it right, and the twirl itself is adorable, but maybe she won’t, and that could be funny as well. 

And timing is a large part of the humor of the show – not just the intrinsic humor of the script – but, as Sean put it, “the actors will just make it to their marks in the nick of time.”  Unlike a drama, where you aren’t supposed to see the effort the actors are making to portray their characters or to get from an exit to an entrance on the opposite side of the stage, here we should, and we will, and there’s no way the audience won’t laugh!

"The 39 Steps" - Part I

(The 39 Steps, directed by Sean Daniels, opens October 22 at Geva Theatre)

Back in 2008 I had tickets to Roundabout Theatre’s production of The 39 Steps as part of my subscription.  My friend Mary Beth had seen the play in London and advised me that I would hate it, so I donated my tickets back to the theatre.  Except for not agreeing about musicals (I love them, she hates them), we usually have the same taste in theatre, so I trusted her implicitly.  When I told another friend, Nanette, that I was not necessarily looking forward to ‘cohorting’ for this show, she told me how much she had enjoyed the Roundabout production, as well as one at a local repertory theatre in Florida.  And I trust her taste, too!  So now I was in a quandary, and curious about this show that had evoked such different reactions from two of my best friends.  Now I had to see this play, and I have a unique opportunity as a ‘cohort’ to watch it from read-through through rehearsals to production.

In preparation for being a cohort on this play at Geva Theatre, I rented the original 1935 Hitchcock film (which I’d never seen), and I’m glad I did, because not only could I see how it begged to be parodied, but it laid the foundation for me to understand many of the jokes in the play that I otherwise might not.  And even then, I’m sure I still missed quite a few!  Luckily for Rochester, the Little Theatre is running a Hitchcock film series (http://thelittle.org/hitchcock), and has invited the Geva actors to post-screening talk-backs.

At the Meet & Greet for The 39 Steps, Sean Daniels introduced the show and the four actors who will be playing all of the roles.  He explained that he will try to put in additional Hitchcock references, since Rochester has a relatively well-educated movie audience (he added that “audiences like to come to the theatre and feel smart” and he’s so right – there’s something self-congratulatory about getting a reference or a joke, or at least not feeling left out if you don’t!).  He called The 39 Steps a “torture play,” in which the audience watches the actors sweat, as well as “a celebration of all things theatrical and cinema.”  Since Hitchcock’s use of lighting informs the action, Sean’s production will use “cinematic lighting in a theatrical setting” to achieve a similar effect.  I particularly liked his description of the show as being “built to break”:  that the action will be so fast-paced, with props coming in and out and actors donning and discarding costumes and roles, that each performance is bound to be unique in its mishaps or near-mishaps.

After the introductions, and a break for the union members to vote in private on various issues (including rehearsal schedules and lunch break duration), they did the first read-through of the script.  The play follows the plot and script of the movie, although not religiously, and highlights many of the laughable moments of the movie (which may not have been laughable in 1935?) in some additional bits of silliness.  The actors had already found their various British accents, with only occasionally mispronunciations, which I’m sure will be corrected in rehearsals. 

I found myself chuckling quite a bit, and even laughing out loud occasionally.  So while I still trust both of my friends’ taste in shows, I think I’m inclined to give my friend Nanette the benefit of the doubt on this one…  I look forward to future rehearsals and watching the hijinks ensue!

"All Your Questions Answered" - Opening Night!

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

We went to opening night with our friends Colleen and Bill.   While we were waiting to enter the theatre, we noticed movement on a large monitor just outside the doors.   I recognized the actors, of course, and at first it wasn’t clear whether this was a recording or live, but I quickly realized it was the latter.  How interesting to display the actors’ warming up as an intro to the show!  It definitely added to the actor-audience experience.  I was surprised, though, that they weren’t dressed more uniformly and flatteringly.   

 The 180-seat theatre was about a third full (it was at 9pm – unusually late and not a time I would have chosen, if I hadn’t been watching the show unfold, and hope that the upcoming shows at normal times are better attended).  Bill was up for the audience interaction, so I steered us to a row I thought would be good, and Bill sat on the aisle.  We got lucky later in the show – he was in exactly the right spot to be singled out by an actress in one of the skits.

Greg Kotis was in the audience, which changed one of the skits slightly (it’s normally a mock phone interview with him, where, consistent with the conceit of the title, no questions are actually answered).  He actually did answer a few questions from the audience (although I suspect the questions were planted?).  It’s always interesting and exciting to hear the author in his own words!

This was the first time I had seen the show with lighting, and it definitely enhanced the show, especially the ‘bad’ series (you have to see the show to understand – so see the show!).  Afterward, when we talked about the show (which was also a skit in the show…), Colleen’s reaction to those skits was “oh no, not again,” whereas Bill was excited each time that particular pair of actors reappeared – it was so interesting to hear their reactions.

There were so many moments that were really well done – the slow motion chase scene and the middle of the show song in a voice like Joe Cocker (complete with not being able to understand some of the lyrics) – that I can’t list them all.  I was really proud of the actors, and noticed only one tiny missed line, and no nervousness at all.  Just before the show started, the actors milled around a bit in the audience, greeting their friends and families.  One of the actresses whom I had pointed out on the TV screen to Colleen as particularly talented (she plays a multitude of instruments in the show, in addition to acting and singing) noticed Mark Cuddy (Geva’s artistic director) sitting right in front of us, and as she approached, she and Colleen recognized each other from school!  What are the chances?  I guess in Rochester, very high.  That’s one of the things I love about this community – it is a community – someone you meet might be a cousin of your husband, or daughter of a friend (“or your brother, or your other brother” – funny lines from one of the skits).  And it’s a community with this amazing resource – Geva Theatre.  So go see the show – you might meet someone you haven’t seen in a very long time and have a nice catch up, in addition to being entertained for 90 minutes!

"All Your Questions Answered" - Part IV

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

My first run through!  The cast has done several so far, but always at the end of their rehearsals, and the timing hasn't been right for me to attend.  Sean even commented on the difference the reversal of timing might make, since they'd only had about 45 minutes of rehearsal before they jumped in.  He explained that the actors would have to find their energy without rehearsing the entire show, much as they would have to for the actual performances.  The cast quickly formed a circle and did some very interesting warmup exercises (including an adaptation of the German drinking game Ja, Nein, Scheisse?!).

Sean used the initial time to work on a couple of transitions - the passages between skits that allow the actors to move the sets and get themselves into (or out of) place - and to "take space out";  he tightened up several of the transitions and eliminated many pauses in a couple of skits. The changes were very subtle but also critical to making the pieces work.  Whodathunkit?

I finally got to see a few of the skits I'd only read in the script, one of which will probably be one of my favorites of the show.  Another reminded me of yet another Roundabout Theatre production I saw years ago - Ashes to Ashes (a matinee, a Pinter play...).  It was bizarre but mercifully short, and it was so pretentious that the 45-minute show was followed by a 45-minute "discussion" on the meaning of the play, which was still opaque when we finally fled the theatre.  Watching one of the skits in AYQA made me wonder if Kotis hadn't also seen that production - he seemed to be poking fun at just that sort of navel-gazing, self aggrandizement.

There are a few skits that break the barrier between the actors and audience and which might make an audience member a bit uncomfortable, depending on where he or she is sitting (I'm not giving away where that interaction primarily occurs, but I'll definitely be scouting for a few of the "safer" seats when I attend...), or his/her tolerance for being drawn in to the action (again, some people love to be on the periphery of the spotlight!).

Seeing the show start to finish also made me think about the satire of the show's title, since many of the skits left me thinking, "Huh?", "What just happened?", or "Seriously?"  The "answer" is sometimes just a wink, or a nod, or a shrug, or in many cases, another question.

This was the cast's 22nd rehearsal, and the 5th one I attended  At the 4th, which I didn't write about separately, Sean had rearranged some scenes so there would be some "light amidst the darkness."  Again, it wasn't until I saw a complete run through that I understood the nuances of the pacing, and how important the order of the skits might be to letting the audience react to them. I can't wait till the actual performance, though, to see how the actors will react to the audience reacting to them!  Will the audience's laughter interrupt their tempo?  Will they keep their faces straight during a skit, or will the audience's laughter cause them to break character and smile (as sometimes happens on SNL, or happened in hilarious Carol Burnett Show skits)?  And how does Sean know when a scene is perfected?  Will he keep tinkering after the show opens?  (Again, I'm reminded of a quote from Tina Fey's Bossypants - it's one of the things she learned from Lorne Michaels:  "The show doesn't go on because it's ready;  it goes on because it's 11:30.")

I suspect that...all of my questions will be answered...when I attend opening night on the 19th. Then again... maybe not!  ;-)

"All Your Questions Answered" - Fringe Festival Context

I had the opportunity to attend a talk given by Erica Fee (Festival Producer) and Justin Vigdor (Chairman of the Board of the Fringe Festival), and learned a great deal about Fringe Festivals in general and the Rochester Fringe Festival, in particular, that helped put Geva’s offering into context for me.  The first fringe festival occurred in Edinburgh in 1947, when shows that didn’t make the cut decided to perform anyway – in any space they could find, on the “fringe” of the official festival.  There are now 50 Fringe Festivals in the United States, and although Rochester’s is only in its second year, the attendance at last year’s inaugural festival propelled it into one of the country’s top five! 

Several years ago, Joel Seligman, President of the University of Rochester, thought that our city should have a Fringe Festival, and he got local artists (including Mark Cuddy, Geva’s Artistic Director) together to discuss and plan the event.  They got sidetracked for a while, but when Erica Fee, a London theatre producer, was visiting her hometown of Rochester, she helped revive the concept, and moved home to run it.  Several of the area’s institutions of higher education (e.g., U of R, Nazareth, and MCC) are partnered with the Fringe Festival, which might explain the youth of many of the performers (including those in All Your Questions Answered).

One of the ideas behind a fringe festival is bringing together audiences and performers in non-traditional ways (and again, All Your Questions Answered fits this theme), to revitalize a city – to make it a better place to live. This year the festival is expanding from 5 days to 10, and will include 360 shows in 28 different venues around the city.  The Festival organization requests that shows be kept short, but otherwise does not participate in the selection process.  Instead, the venues review the applications themselves and decide which shows to sponsor.  The Fringe Festival only takes 10% of the ticket prices (and they encourage venues to set prices at or below $16 so that the shows are accessible to a wider audience).  Again, this explains why tickets to All Your Questions Answered are so inexpensive…

One of the highlights this year will be a Spiegeltent, which has been imported from Belgium.  In addition to performances in the round in that space, there will also be “silent disco”: a dance party with no audible music except through headphones!  Another will be the return of BANDALOOP in Manhattan Square Park (it’s estimated that 10,000 people attended the two performances last year, so let’s hope for good weather this year).

scene from Colleen Culley's "Foot in the Door"

It looks like I’m going to be in for a very busy 10 days, since I’ve circled a lot of performances in the Official Fringe Guide, including a friend’s offering called “Get a Foot in the Door:  the Dance of Late Capitalism” (if that isn’t “fringe” I’m not sure what is).  Hope to see lots of my friends at Geva’s All Your Questions Answered and at other shows throughout the festival. We might have to carpool – I can only imagine that parking is going to be stressful!

"All Your Questions Answered" - Part III

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

What a difference a week makes!  At the next rehearsal I attended, none of the actors was using a script (although an actor would occasionally call 'Line!' in the middle of a bit and be supplied with it immediately by the stage manager).  This allowed much more freedom of movement than the last rehearsal I witnessed.  It also impressed me when Sean would stop them mid-scene and ask them to repeat a spot to rework it, and they'd be able to rewind the script in their heads to the appropriate point, without having to start all over again!

It's interesting to watch a show being created, rather than just rehearsed.  Since this combination of skits has never been performed as a collection, and some have been newly written, the actors and director don't have the pressure of having the audience compare them to whoever set the standard in the 'original' (it must be very difficult for actors in revivals of famous plays or movies - I know I couldn't help thinking that Leonardo DiCaprio was no Robert Redford as Gatsby...).  Sean and the actors have more latitude in interpreting the words on the page, and they seem also to have the authority (not sure if it is in conjunction with the playwright or not?) to change or delete lines, both of which I noticed in this rehearsal.

Almost half of the skits are theatre-centric, many are very dark, and, surprisingly, only two brush at political themes.  I wonder how the actors feel about the skits - do they like them?  Do they enjoy them?  Does comedy come easily to them, or would they rather be in a juicy drama, but they're just glad to be employed?  

At one point in a break, I caught Sean's eye, and even though I wasn't 'there,' I was there, so I asked a question about the staging of a particular playlet.  He explained to me that "confusion is the enemy of comedy" and that the first ten minutes of comedy are extremely important.  That's when the tone and pace of the show is set, and when you "let the audience know they're in good hands."  I'd never thought about that, of course, because either I've been taken care of without knowing it (Book of Mormon comes to mind), or not (coincidentally, ten minutes in is just about when my companion and I escaped from Kotis' Pig Farm at the Roundabout Theatre in 2006).

I snuck out of rehearsal as the cast began running the transitions between scenes, so they could make sure their props are in the right places.  In addition to performing, the actors will also be responsible for setting up and breaking down each scene. I know I keep using the word "impressed" but when I see how versatile these kids are, I can't help that feeling, watching them making theatre, but also singing and playing guitar.  I suspect that more than a few of them can also dance when the role calls for it.  It's amazing how many more talented people there are in this world than there are outlets for them to display their talent.  My wish for these ten is many more outlets.

"All Your Questions Answered" - Part II

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

I missed the second rehearsal of the show (I am not going to be a totally consistent Cohort...), and by the third, some playlets had been cut, others added, and parts had been assigned to the ten extremely young actors (all either still in college or freshly graduated, and mostly local). Again, I could only stay for two (of the eight!) hours, so I only saw a few skits rehearsed, but I was impressed with the speed with which the actors responded to Sean's excellent direction.

All of the actors were still holding their scripts, of course, so it was difficult for them to speak their lines and move simultaneously.  Nevertheless, the scenes were taking shape, and it was amazing to see in just a few read-throughs how well the actors incorporated prompts from Sean about their characters' motivation or a scene's tempo and dynamics.  Some of Sean's direction seemed necessary because of the actors' youth - they aren't old enough to have experienced some of the situations, or to know the pronunciation of some of the words...  At one point in a scene that didn't seem to work, Sean had the two actors improvise the subtext instead, and I'll admit that I found the improv funnier than the actual scene.  But perhaps that was the point - for the actors to figure out how to convey that subtext in the actual text that seemed totally unrelated.  Confused?  I was!

The show reminds me a bit of Paul Sills' Story Theatre, which I saw on its post-Broadway tour in the early 70s, but darker (although some of Grimms' fairy tales, which are the basis for much of Story Theatre, are much nastier than their sanitized Disney versions).  Both are comprised of little morality tale vignettes, many of which portray a slightly conflicted morality, with characters who are both good and bad, sweet and macabre, innocent but also complicit.

It's odd sitting in "the audience" and watching a rehearsal - it feels a bit voyeuristic.  It is evident to me that even though the cast are all young, they are taking this business of making comedy very seriously.  And they obviously understand that part of their job (and it is a job, rehearsing eight hours a day, six days a week) is to make the enormous effort that goes into producing those couple of hours of entertainment seem effortless.  I am distressed that I will miss a whole week of rehearsals while I go on vacation - I can't wait to get back to the theatre after Labor Day and see the progress they've made!

I tried to buy tickets to opening night at the box office on my way out, only to find out that the first five performances, which are part of the Rochester Fringe Festival, are only available through the Fringe Festival:  http://rochesterfringe.com/   I made my purchase on their website, and I guess I'll have to get to the theatre early - it appears that there are no assigned seats!  Tickets for subsequent performances can be purchased from Geva directly (if not on their website, then in person at or on the phone with the box office).