Posted in Empress Theatre
Midsummer Night's Dream finally got the audience it has deserved for the entire run last night. It was one of those "feel the energy in the air" sort of nights, even before the audience was seated. The performance was not only flawless, but the actors were all in top form. There were a couple of additions to the chase through the forest in the beginning of the second act, and the Pyramus and Thisby scene had people laughing so hard I thought we'd have to carry them out in stretchers! Standing Ovation and three curtain calls.
After the show, Laura said she claims dibbs on any future Shakespeare at the Empress. All of the actors I spoke with want to come play in our sandbox again. This is great news (especially since there are some strong male actors in this troup!) I don't know how we'll work it; whether Laura would get a stipend for directing while we produce, or if we'd split gate as we did for this one, but I think we have a winning combination here. Much Ado About Nothing in on the schedule for next year.
In other news, the Empress is going to be a movie star in her own right. Salty Productions will be shooting on location on Magna Main Street next month. I can't go into a lot of details yet, but the Empress will be featured prominently, and will get some nice "in kind" and cash donations from the project. It should be interesting: they'll be shooting movie outside, we'll be performing plays on the inside.
Notes for future reference on MSND:
The stage right cutaway hollywood flat was too tall. Couldn't see Titania's bower from some seats on the sr side of the house.
Cutaway drop worked really well. If we create one of our own, we need to make it fit the stage better, and go around the roof truss at center. the cut-away part should be a bit higher for projection. It might also be a good idea to add some light behind the drop, this would be a great place to use borders top and bottom.
Projection worked really well into the opening in the cut-away. The moon/clouds in the forest scene worked especially well. Note to the Bard: You can't have a "new" moon for Thesus nuptials and moonshine in the casement. I can't believe Shakespeare had a continuity slip like that! The clouds for Peter Quince's house and the forest morning also worked well. The Parthenon projection worked for Thesus' palace, but it was not fully visible to all of the seats, esp on the right side.
Using the Purple and Blue spots for the enchantment scenes worked well, but I think if we do something like that again, I'd want to dim the general lights for each one like with did for Oberon's disenchantment of Lysander.
We need to get lights on the down stage stairs, and
Next comes Drood, and the big challenge there will be moving the light and sound boards to behind the left side seating.
