The BRAIN

Last Thursday we had a guest speaker at FAIR Forum. Lue Douthit is the director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She said a number of things that were of interest to me (my note taking chunk of paper is sitting with my script in the SM office – the one day I forget to bring it home with me....oh well for another blog post) one in particular dealt with the human brain and the act of watching live theatre. I've always been a huge believer that live theatre is far better than television and I think a fair amount of people agree but why? That has always been the question and as it turns out science is starting to provide some answers.

There have been countless studies focusing on the brain and its various functions but as many studies as there have been there have been that many more questions asked - it really is an organ we know very little about. A study Lue read talked about how the brain reacts to different types of stimulation. The study detailed that while watching live theatre the brain reacts as though it is actually doing what is being observed. Tiny neurons firing and reacting just as if the observer were a participant in the onstage action. In the case of television (another watched form of entertainment) the brain and those tiny neurons essentially remain asleep. They don't react. This sit doing nothing. I found this simply fascinating.

Speaking of brains; mine feels like it is in overdrive these days. We have finished tech and are moving head first into our first dress rehearsal Wednesday evening. We are also smack dab in the middle of our FAIR Expressions project which goes up Monday the 3^rd – to say the least my organizing/tracking capabilities are being stretched to their limits. This brain is ready for shows to open so it can relax and enjoy the ride.

For lack of being able to photograph my brain let alone anyone else's, this photograph of my hat shall have to suffice – it keeps my brain from frying like and egg when we are onstage during the day.

Tech and stuff

We finished early Thursday morning with our last day of technical rehearsals. Outside, onstage, with lights, sound and in our case costumes. It also happened to rain all four of our tech nights which made for a rather soggy experience. Three of the rehearsals I spent on stage in a little cubby/hole that our play doesn't really use so I could be "on book" for the actors and so that they could hear the line called for over the noisy rain. The fourth night I was promoted and was sent backstage to help wrangle our crew and keep our costumers informed. It was a major upgrade to be able to move around - I didn't even have to add a layer of clothing that night. Speaking of layers, teching a show on the outdoor stage requires exactly that. You never quite know what the weather will bring which leads me to the list of stuff I brought to each evening of tech:
2 umbrellas - one for my head, one for my script
rain coat
1 clear rain poncho - clear so I can see my script through it
1 beach towel - either to soak up water or pad my seat
1 extra absorbent camp towel
1 pair of fingerless gloves - have to be able to turn pages
1 pair of regular gloves
2 stocking caps of different levels of warmth
2 head lamps - in case one dies
my sleeping bag
wool socks
2 long sleeve shirts
1 hooded sweatshirt
1 jacket
scarf
thermos of hot chocolate
baseball cap
belt - to hook my headset pack to

It was quite the down pour we survived and it always seemed to stop at about 1:30 in the morning or an hour and a half after we would end our night with the actors. The positive to teching in the rain is that our cast has now run the show in the rain so it is not an unknown the negative is that it slowed us down a fair bit and we didn't actually get through our entire show (though the weather I'm sure isn't entirely to blame). We have our first dress rehearsal next week and then in two weeks we have our first live audience for Previews. It is hard to believe we are already this far into the process. It doesn't feel like I've been here long enough. I think we've rehearsed for something like 180 hours thus far.

The Bricks

The Bricks. Most know it as a sort of town square located at the heart of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. This patch of bricks is located at the center of the three theatres, in the middles is a grassy knoll with a small outdoor stage. These bricks are a meeting place, a gathering place, a watching place, a laughing place and many more things to many people. There are corners to read a book and perches to eat a meal upon - it is a place of all the many spaces one could find themselves while at the Shakespeare Festival that any one may be found in. No key required or badge of honor/employment – it is open to all. As a decade long audience member I loved watching green shows on the bricks while at the same time watching actors arrive for their show calls – you never knew who you might spot sneaking through the masses to find the stage door. As an apprentice I particularly enjoy walking across the bricks between 6:30 and 7 in the evening. This is the time when patrons on the bricks search your face for a sign of recognition – they seem to silently ask: “have I seen that face on stage” or “is that a face listed in the back of a program?” I am not yet one of those faces but hope to be one day. When that day comes I’ll look forward to telling family and friends “I’ll see you on the bricks after the show.”

A Different Perspective

I was a shadow last week backstage on the Bowmer Theatre. A shadow is an interesting thing to be in the world of theatre. It can be an up close and personal period of observation or examination of that part of the stage that is off-limits to the general ticket paying population. I was lucky enough to be granted permission to shadow the Production Assistant of My Fair Lady – a unique opportunity to say the least because musicals are not what one primarily finds a the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Having been able to see the show from the audience perspective the week before I was ready to see what happened behind the scenes. What struck me the most form this experience were two things; first: the simplicity of a musical (typically monstrous shows on stage) and second: how much better I thought it sounded back stage than sitting in row O in the audience. There is some simplistic elegance about a musical being accompanied by two grand pianos center stage but hearing it, live, echoing through the sides to the backstage world is something else. My Fair Lady is a fun show as evidenced even more if you get to experience it back stage – I won't give away any of their secrets – as it was a privilege just to be a part of it all for one performance but it is something else altogether. The nature of the show is that there is no secret about the fact that there is a back stage and its existence – the audience could see me shadowing for parts of the show and I could see them for most of the show. I got to walk out onstage, following like a shadow, for the final last minute checks before the show started. It was almost as fun to watch the audience reaction as it was to just be back stage. One woman in the front row smiled the moment the pianos started playing and didn't stop until the cast took their final bows. I think I smiled the moment I put my stuff down in the audience and didn't stop until I got home that night. It is always fun to see something from a different perspective so because I couldn't capture a satisfactory photo of a shadow I leave you with this picture of the poppies in my backyard through the openings in the backyard gate. How do you view the world?

George

This is George. I named him because he lives on my windowsill. I'm not sure what kind of insect he is, only that he is not a spider which is why I allow him to reside untouched on the screen of my window. He's been hanging around for about a week now and as I have determined, presents no real threat to my humble existence in the cottage I currently call home. The reason I introduce you to George is because sometimes I feel just like George. A teeny tiny bug, perched on the screen that looks in on the inner workings of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. A vantage point that allows for a whole lot of observation. There is often so much going on, that tiny – bug – me, sometimes doesn't know which end is up. I observe because I want to learn, I listen because I want to learn but I participate because I want to be known. I have never worked for a company as big as OSF and this place runs like a well oiled machine with over 600 employees contributing to its well functioning existence. It is so much bigger than just producing plays – education, audience development, new works and so much more. Sometimes I think I'm lucky (as a bug in a rug), to not get run over or left in the dust because there is so much going on. We seem to be so close but so far away from our first rehearsal onstage. There seems to be so much to accomplish before that happens but the date is really just around the corner. We had our first run through – stumble through of Act 1 last week and will stumble/run through Act 2 this week and then do a full run through of the entire play by the end of the week. It is amazing to see all of the pieces start to come together even if sometimes I feel like George.