There's talk of gold

Last post June 29, 2009?! We must amend this!

Dallas, here...again, back for round two at Cal Shakes! This time I'm not a hybrid, but a full-blooded Stage Management intern! My job: make John Steinbeck's The Pastures of Heaven work - along with the other ladies of stage management, Briana (SM) and Katie (ASM).

Rehearsals began Thursday following a read-through and company gathering Wednesday with designers, management, dramaturgy, all eleven actors, director Jonathan Moscone and even the playwright Octavio Solis (who has adapted the script from John Steinbeck's novel of interconnected stories). It was straight to work, on the feet and on the same set that will be used in the actual show completely put together in the rehearsal hall. And let me tell you, it's BIG. Gigantic. Practically an entire house, all designed by Annie Smart. Jonathan has them doing amazing things already, including each playing multiple characters and a couple surprises that are too good to give away! Complete with an original score and choreography, let's just say this world premiere is bound to be one of the greatest shows Cal Shakes has ever produced, so you don't want to miss it!

On another note, the new interns arrive in one week! It will be exciting to have more interns around, and in our new home at the Bruns! So if you see any new faces around in the next few weeks, be sure to welcome them to the family!

Until next time,

Dallas

Making a lot from a little.

This is Daniel, blogging from a little cafe on Telegraph Avenue. Romeo and Juliet ended over a week ago, and since then, we production interns have had plenty of free time to relax away from the Bruns. A project we've been working on together has been the Five-Week Conservatory production. I'm designing the lights, Lyrica is the master electrician, Jonathan is the sound designer/engineer, Edgar is the props master, and Julie and Erik are designing, building, and painting the set.

It's a fun process, despite our limited resources. The theater at the school is beautiful but, ah, a little outdated. With some hard work, improvisation, and a lot of extension cords and gaff tape, Lyrica and I were able to get the lights up and running. It'll be a two-person job to keep all of the dimmers, switches, and levers involved moving during the show, but I'm looking forward to it already.



The house of our theater, at Holy Names High School.



Cal Shakes Master Electrician Heather consulting with us on the lights.



You read it right—the dimmers were installed May 25, 1931. And they still work!



Old-fashioned glass fuses burn out easily but are cheap to replace.



This is Ellie, the Assistant Master Electrician's dog. She's adorable.

Other goings-on have included the San Francisco Gay Pride parade, which was even bigger and crazier than Bay-to-Breakers, and preparation for Private Lives, the next Main Stage show, and regular PIP intern training sessions. See ya next time!

Endings and Beginnings

Dallas again with a much needed update from the intern world!

Today was the fourth day of Cal Shakes Five-Week Conservatory, my latest adventure in my internship. Before I get to that, though, a conclusion to my adventures with Romeo and Juliet. Sunday was the closing performance (I hope everyone had a chance to see the show!), and it was the hardest goodbye I've ever made to a show. The last performance was fantastic, with perfect weather and an even greater audience; I couldn't have asked for a better way to bid adieu to not only such a wonderful production, but also a great cast and crew. Calling California home is still new and strange, but with the families I've made with the fellow interns, the cast and& crew of R and J and everyone in the office at Heinz, the transition has been not only smooth but thoroughly enjoyable. So thanks, everyone, for an amazing first five weeks!

Now back to Conservatory. Five-Week Conservatory is a Cal Shakes camp for the most serious of young actors, where they learn not only acting but also movement, voice, text, stage combat, and improv, plus other master classes. Conservatory culminates in each of the five age groups putting on a one-hour abridged production of a Shakespeare work and I have, you guessed it, Romeo & Juliet with the youngest group, the Merry Kinsmen. These kids have ENERGY! But all that energy becomes enthusiasm and drive when we get into our afternoon rehearsals.

Today the group played silent teams with Heidi in Acting; I can't pretend that I wasn't terribly nervous about 14 eight-year-olds having to be nearly silent for an hour while acting and working as an ensemble, but they proved me wrong. Not only was their work creative and entertaining, but they did it humbly and with respect. They were able to point out how they worked together—even if they didn't get the role they wanted within each scene, they recognized what the ensemble lacked and how they could fill the hole. It was inspiring to see kids prove that a great ensemble is possible at any age.

After that, Stage Combat was a breeze as they reviewed the unarmed techniques they learned early in the week and moved on to using the swords that will be used in the production. Once again, the focus and talent was surprising—I often looked around and realized they were leaps and bounds ahead of me! Auditions rounded out the day and casting decisions were made (my first casting experience, so fun). It really makes me look forward to the next four weeks and the challenges and rewards ahead.

P.S. Don't forget to get your tickets to all five of the Cal Shakes Conservatory performances on Friday July 24 and Saturday July 25! Just click on the "Performance Tickets" link at the top of the Summer Theater Programs page of our website to get yours.

Our lovely trip to the A.C.T. warehouse, and more...

Emily again. This week (the week of June 15th) I mostly worked on props with Edgar and Daniel during the mornings. One day we got to go to the A.C.T. (American Conservatory Theater) Warehouse in San Francisco with Props Manager Caela (who, by the way, we discovered is an expert suburban parker).

The Warehouse was fabulous, huge, and full of wonderful things! I got some fun pics...

They were much happier than they look!




Wow! So big.

This week I also did a lot of data entry. Gotta love them evals!

Dan, Edgar, and I painted some chairs:



And we had a training day in San Francisco. Here's all of us on BART:




Next Up... camp! I can't wait!!

cheers!
Emily Sobolew

Ooooh Student Matinees...

I shall miss you so :( I really did enjoy myself today at our last Student Discovery Matinee, although I'd have to say that many of the kids were far less well behaved than the past groups we had and made some pretty obnoxious shout-outs during the show. Worse off, during the last half of the play I felt a small rock just miss my face & heard a rascal mutter "awww, you missed!" Ha ha... I'd like to think it wasn't for me. It was also pretty cold on this 10th day of June! (Not what I'm used to for summer time.) But like I said...I really had myself a good time! Listening to a fellow intern's lovely songs about her soda sales... and I really had a great group AGAIN! Big props to Unity High (pictured with me at right) for being so awesome & well behaved!
-Emily

The Private Lives of Costumes

Hi, it's me again, Courtney, the Costume Design intern.

As of yesterday, this is where my job kicks into high gear for my department. Yesterday, I met Katherine Roth, the costume designer for Noël Coward's Private Lives, who I will be assisting during the the show's preproduction. With the majority of the Cal Shakes family, I attended the PL Meet-and-Greet, wherein we met the cast and creative team for Private Lives. I also attended the read-through, which was a great way to put faces and voices to the script I read last week.

After that, my job was to call around the Bay Area looking for vintage clothing shops that carry 1930s men's suits and tuxedos. This is a challenging task in itself. If you know a few things about vintage clothing, you'll know that authentic 1930s clothing is becoming increasingly challenging to find in this day in age, due to how old the clothing is and the deterioration of the fabric itself. However, I was fortunate to find a few shops that look very promising in terms of carrying what we are looking for. A few of the shops are new ones I have never heard of, and one is a shop I have actually looked around in for a show I designed in the past.

As far as the women's clothing for the show, it looks like we are building our own clothing from existing items brought in by Katherine. We also might be building a few items from scratch, as well. It's always amazing to see how costumes evolve from a paper or muslin pattern to a three-dimensional costume that looks fabulous.

I met actress Diana LaMar—Private Lives' leading lady—for measurements, and we helped pick some rehearsal shoes for her to practice in.

On the agenda today? Looking at the stock (costumes) of one of our fellow Bay Area theater companies. Hopefully, we will find some great items that will work for our show.

PS!

Oops! Did I fail to introduce myself properly? I wrote the previous blog but I guess I missed that! I'm Emily, a soon-to-be-theater student at San Francisco State University and a lover of acting and theater ever since I learned to walk (if not sooner). I currently live here in the Bay Area, and I'm an Artistic Learning intern!