Wednesday Walkthrough: Backstage
Follow senior Christiena Auguste backstage before dress rehearsal. Get your behind the scenes look peak at the Plans cast and crew getting ready to perform before an audience. The first performance is tonight at 7:30 in Allen Theater
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: Mountain Day
Mountain Day!
As we were all very tired going into the start of the
week, we had all anticipated a little bit of time
off to recharge our batteries. It was perfect time for the school to
declare that Monday a MOUNAIN DAY!
On Mountain Days, Berkshire students are all
encouraged to take a hike on our beautiful mountain. This allows everyone to
relax and explore the amazing mountain we
are all lucky to have right in our backyard! As a theater group, we thought,
“What better way to spend our Mountain Day than take a team
hike?” We all gathered in front of Berkshire Hall at 10:45 and set up
for our hike to Black Rock. It was such an amazing time to admire the beautiful
place we live in from a birds-eye view. This Mountain Day was exactly what we
needed- now we cannot wait for October 31st!
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: Tech Rehearsal
Theater Insider with Amy
Rowland: Tech Rehearsal
As we begin to finalize the play, we have what is
called, Tech Rehearsal. It basically consists of running the play, beginning to
end, as the stage managers stop us when needed to write light and sound cues.
The Tech Rehearsal is not only beneficial to us as
actors running the play, but it primarily helps the stage managers handling the
necessary backstage work. The rehearsal takes a very long period of time
because of the many of times we take a pause throughout the show. These pauses
could be taken for various reasons. Just to name a few: light or sound cue
clarification, forgotten or missed line, improper blocking, or simply just
working a line in a different way.
Doing the Tech Rehearsal always makes the play seem
so much more official. For the first time,
we get to perform the show under the lights with the added sound effects and background music. Then, as we are corrected by Mr.
Howard and the stage managers, we feel as if the show it being polished up. It
can be a very exhausting rehearsal, but it sure is worth it!
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: Light Hang
Light Hang!
From 12-6pm on Sunday, October 20th the official
light hang was held. Our amazing stage managers, Merit Glover, Jake Diamond,
and Lucia Liencres, along with our directors, Mr. Howard and Dom Sayler, spent all day in Allen Theater working incredibly hard. They
spent many hours hanging and adjusting lights to shine various points on stage.
I was
lucky enough to stop by late that afternoon to get a glimpse of what was going
on. When I arrived, I saw Jake standing by the set as Mr. Howard was giving
commands for needed adjustments. Dom and Merit adjusted various lights as Lucia
programmed commands into a console. I was so impressed with how well everyone
was working together, and how great the lighting had looked. The interior of
the sets had a mesmerizing glowing effect while the rest of the stage had dark,
peaceful lighting. Seeing these cool effects really brought the set to life!
After the stage managers had finished their work, I got
to speak with them about their experience of the light hang. Merit said “[she] enjoyed getting
really high up on the ladders to hang lights” while Jake had fun “seeing the
mood of the show with the newly lit stage.” With it being Lucia’s first light
hang, she shared that “it was a lot of work and took a lot of time, but it was super
fun.
By Amy Rowland
Christiena's weekly wednesday walkthrough
Follow Senior Christiena Auguste on this week's walkthrough
Max's Minerview
This week Max sits down with two of the theatre captains Rebecca and Pratima. They talk about what its like being a leader in the theatre, what they are most excited about for about "Plans" and about PROSTUMES. If you have never heard of this word watch the video it will inform you on so very interesting life changing information.
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: The Final Line Run
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: The Final Line Run
Lines are the building
blocks of every theater production. If these building blocks were not
properly put together, the outcome would be sloppy and incomplete. It is
therefore crucial that everyone knows their lines in order to make the
finalized play set and stone. To ensure each member of the cast knows their
lines, we have what is called, The Line Run.
Approximately two-thirds through the fall
theater season, the line run is held. During most line runs, the cast will sit
in a circle and recite the play, without scripts. However, for this play, we did our line run a bit
differently. Instead of all sitting and reciting the play, we got up on stage
and did the play. Not only did this
ensure that the cast knew all their lines, but it demonstrated that we all knew
our blocking (where/when to move around stage).
One would probably think this process would be
harder because we must know both our lines AND our blocking. However, many
members of the cast found this easier! After rehearsing the scenes everyday
leading up to the line run, moving about the stage did not feel difficult;
rather, it came natural because we were using the script and blocking that we
created and recited enough times to develop the appropriate muscle memory.
Theater Insider With Amy Rowland: "Yes"
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: “Yes!”
The word “Yes!” is one of the most simple, yet
powerful words, and it is the motto we use in every single rehearsal. As we complete
our daily warm-up, we all circle up, a member of the cast says, “What do we
say?” and we all respond, “Yes!”
When we, the cast, build the scenes, it is crucial
that we try as many variations as possible. We’ll try playing the scenes using
different actions, emotions, or tones to discover new possibilities.
Now you’re probably wondering: “How does the
word ‘Yes!’ relate to all this?”
This
is how… When we’re trying new variations, there will always be some that are
fantastic, while there will always be some that are flat-out awful. However, we will never know how
good or bad something is until we try it. If
our theater director, Mr. Howard were to give us an idea to try, we must
approach this idea with “Yes!” The idea may seem absurd; sometimes it may seem
way too ridiculous to work in a scene, which may be the case. But in others, it
might be exactly what we were looking for.
Christiena's Wednesday Walk-through: Puppets, Puppets, Puppets!!!!!!!
Watch this week's edition of Christiena's Wednesday Walk- Through, as she takes us through her experience of learning how to work with puppets. How are puppets relevant to the show, you ask? Well, you'll just have to come and see!
Max's Monday Morning Minerview
In this monday morning minerview Max interviews two new cast members in their first production at Berkshire School, Amir and Katie. They answer why they enjoy this theatre program and what their favorite parts are. They also say which character they would like to fight the most. Interesting answers await. Find out by watching the video below.
Theater Insider with Amy Rowland: Tech Crews
Theater
Insider with Amy Rowland: Tech Crews
Have
you ever wondered what went behind all the whosits and whatnots of Berkshire
theater productions? How the costumes got designed? Where the posters came
from? Who wrote the cast biographies in the lobby?
Well here is your answer: it’s the tech crews that make all this happen! But first, let
me give you a bit of information on these “tech crews.” The tech crews were
designed to allow each member of the cast to do one of the needed tasks in
producing the show.
These tasks include: acquiring the necessary props,
designing costumes, publicizing the show, writing the cast bios, taking head
shots of each member of the cast and crew, and (of course) the blog!
Instead of taking for granted the fact that
someone else magically does these tasks, we get to do them ourselves. It gives
us a great opportunity to work on theater for not just what happens on stage,
but what happens behind the scenes of creating a spectacular show.
Each crew is has its own “team” with about 2-4
people. This crew of people works on their specific duties leading up to
opening night of the show. Often these crew meet several times to ensure
everything is complete. For example, the props crew might meet several times to
create and revise the needed prop lists. They’ll go over this list with the
rest of the cast to see if anyone has any of the needed items. If there are
still items needed, the members of the props crew would have to hunt down the
items to make sure we have them in time for the show. These tech crews are
often stressful, but they are very rewarding. It’s an amazing feeling being
able to step back at the completed work knowing your efforts were part of
making the show a success.
Christiena's Weekly Wednesday Walkthrough
Get an insider's view of the improv process with senior Christiena Auguste
Max's Monday Morning Minerview
This is Max's first Monday morning Minerview. This week it is with the one and only Lucia Liencres. She is one of the assistant stage managers on the show. We discussed what being an assistant stage manager is like and how she is enjoying the process.
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