Archive for June, 2009
Our first bit of press is coming from internet radio! Listen in to tomorrow’s edition of the weekly podcast “Community Theatre Heroes“. By arrangement with the hosts, I will be calling in to talk about our project and the upcoming show, “Voices”, in an informal interview.
CTH is a weekly podcast, normally 8:30 to 9:30pm on Wednesdays, where local thespians Chris Murphy and Phillip McKaughan discuss theatre and interview local theatre patrons, personalities, players and people.
Tomorrow’s show will be from 8pm to 9pm instead of the usual time. You can access the podcast to stream from the web, or you can open the stream in iTunes. The call-in number is 347/215.7958.
Every available seat for the opening night show of “Voices”, indeed, the opening night for the whole project, has been reserved. W00t! There are about 15 seats remaining for Sunday as of this post. Rumor has it the press may be interested in seeing a show, but details are still in the works. Whew, no pressure right?
If you were thinking about coming out to see one of the first performances of this project, now is the time to reserve your seats! THERE WILL BE NO WALK-UP TICKETS OFFERED, you must reserve in advance. See the “Now Playing” page for show details (top navigation bar).
Just cleaned out two Target stores of the folding steel chairs they had in stock. Also picked up four TV tables, one each for the Production Stage Manager, Lighting, and Sound, and another for the Technical Director and the Director to share. Jeremy has installed the curtain rigging already, and is out hunting for the fabric as I type.
Running tab, $949.43…
WOW, excellent rehearsal last night. These ladies have definitely been spending the time and effort outside of rehearsal to delve into the characters and the beautiful, beautiful language in “Voices”. With the exception of minor stumbles in two or three places, judging by acting alone I would have put what I saw tonight on a stage… well done actors! This leaves us with two more rehearsals to really hone the nitpicky things that get us as close to perfection as we can go, and then two tech rehearsals and we’re live!
The music and costumes that the tech team have selected are brilliant; the lighting concept is great, but yet to be tested, as the equipment is not quite finished (it has been expanded to a 9-piece setup instead of 6). We just mounted the rope line that will carry the curtain fabric, and measurements have confirmed a 25-seat house. We also purchased an evap cooler for these summer evenings… it’s a bit loud to leave on during the show, but I plan to start it up an hour and a half or so before curtain and let it cool the place down.
I had expected that about $500.00 would get us to our first opening night, and that it would level off a bit after that, as the infrastructure (lights, etc) would be mostly done. Well, we are well over budget, at $742.95 spent so far… and the curtain fabric and any remaining chairs we need after begging/borrowing still have to be purchased. Ooof! I can’t help but be even more committed however when I see how far this crazy idea has come, and the beauty of the art we are creating. WELL DONE, TEAM!!!
T – 15 days and counting to opening night…
Click on “Now Playing” on the top Nav Bar to view show information.
I would be totally lost without Courtney (the PSM) and Jeremy (the TD). That about sums it up there. Thanks you two!!!
We have moved the “stage” from inside my greatroom to out in the garage. This allows us more stage room, and actually adds 5 seats to the house capacity (to an estimated total of 30, plus stations in the back for the director, TD, PSM, lighting, and sound). Also, I’m much more comfortable drilling into my garage walls than my living room!
Together with the Technical Director and the Lighting Designer, we all made a trip to Lowes last weekend to start the lighting construction. So far we have two indoor lamps with three sockets each that we have modified with dimming controls we can place in a central location. A powerstrip will be the master switch. The standard bulbs have been replaced with 50-Watt PAR30 floods. Makeshift gels are being made with layered colored cellophane, which will be mounted in front of the lights with wire. Barndoors of aluminum foil will also be mounted with wire. The main problem we are running into is that the PAR bulbs get hot, and due to their diameter, there is less room for circulation in the shroud… we intend to rig clamp fans to the back to increase circulation. Pending further testing, we may also decide to add a third rig for additional intensity and coverage. The rigs will be placed on cinder block stacks to get the appropriate height.
Sound/music selection and editing is underway, Courtney bought ProTools for her laptop and Juliana is working with her on that.
Set, props, and costume are also underway, though I am sans latest update on that at the moment.
Total expenditure so far on scripts for preview and equipment for the garage theater itself is about $325.00. These are direct capital expenses and do not include any production expenses for “Voices” itself yet. I am estimating another $175.00 in equipment and around $75.00 for Voices. I am working on some ways to formalize and encourage external sponsorship of future productions, that plan should be complete in the next couple of weeks.
Overall, things are moving very well, and I’m excited to see where this goes. Probably we will stick to just “Voices” for this first production, to make sure we can do this. Then I hope to have another, larger show in the fall, with possibly a short original opener by a local playwright.
Other production team members are welcome to post their thoughts and additional information. And of course, feedback and suggestions from everyone else are welcome too!
The following is copied from an update on the Antelope Valley Thespians web forums, March 2nd 2009.
The AV Thespians Productions project is the first time I’ve messed around with producing, and mostly the first time I’ve directed in any formal capacity. Obviously, I’ve underestimated both tasks. I’m very glad I got some great volunteers for the production crew that actually know what they are doing. In the meanwhile, I’ll be posting some lessons learned here as I go.
At this time, AV Thespians Productions is operating out of my house. Indeed, we will even perform plays there for the time being. I did the measurements and the CAD drawings (yes, I’m an engineer) and determined that we could fit about 30 people in the front great room of my new house. Sound and lighting equipment selection is underway, and pending a few more actors volunteering, rehearsals should begin by the end of the month. I’ve got a great production team whose experience I appreciate very much, and I’m usually too dense to quit once I start a grand scheme, so this is happening!
Feel free to contact me with ideas if you have any. Again, I’ll be posting here semi-regularly with insights and mistakes I make.
The thread for show ideas and requests is here: http://www.avthespians.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=275. We would welcome your input and ideas.
Happening Now!
About AVT
Member
AVT Podcasts
You can also subscribe to our podcast RSS feed, find us on Blubrry, or search for "Antelope Valley Thespians" in the iTunes podcast directory!Last 10 Posts
- How Well Do You Know Your Wittenberg Alumni?
- AVT presents: WITTENBERG
- AVT 2012 Season Election Results
- Audition Notice: WITTENBERG
- AVT Ratifies Operational Plan v5.1
- AVT presents THREE DAYS OF RAIN
- AVT prepares for THREE DAYS OF RAIN
- A Farewell to the McCollums
- AVT Presents: HUNGER FOR PARADISE
- Audition Notice: THREE DAYS OF RAIN
Blog Archives
- April 2012
- March 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009