Boot camp has begun!

Here's a shot of our choreographer Chris notating some dance steps- stay tuned for


more!


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Although we have just started rehearsal for bye-bye Birdie

... It is also about this time that I and the creative team start thinking about our season next year. Every year, students graduate and go off four-year colleges or two jobs and new people come to fill their spots. I think we are extremely lucky to have both community members and students in our shows. I will admit - it is a very unusual arrangement. In fact, I have never been to school nor have I ever worked at a school that had a similar set up. However, now that I have experienced the amazing talent that a community can bring to the school, I cannot imagine working under different circumstances. Some of our community members have been with us for over 20 years, and I hope that they will continue to be with us for a long time. Many of our "mature" actors often tell me that the energy and excitement of the young students is what keeps Drawing them back to our stage. I always look at who I have in my current show when I'm thinking about my next show. Of course, there are no guarantees that people will be back. People move away, have children, decide they need a break, etc. But like I said, new people always seem to show up just when we need them. Next year will present some interesting challenges to our department. Our long time departmental chair, Vince Niehaus, is retiring and we will be hiring a new scenic designer. I also have yet to choose the season. Choosing a season is always a fun yet scary prospect. You want something that balances the needs of students with the needs of the community. It also looks like, due to several different factors, we will have an extremely short season next year with only two shows during the school year as opposed to our normal four. There are several different factors that have gone into this decision which I'll try to discuss in a later blog, but we will try to go back to our standard five show season as soon as we can. We also have a couple of other big announcements we will hopefully be making in regards to the season. A lot of people are putting a lot of effort into making sure that we can always do the best shows that are possible. I will say that no matter what shows are chosen, next season will definitely be phenomenal as usual. Everyone who works here that shows with us takes a great deal of pride in what we do. I said it before and I'll say it again, Theatre at ECC is an amazing thing.


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First look

Today we had our first rehearsal for Bye-bye Birdie. We started with music, as we always do and I also did some costume fittings. Our costume closet is filled with wonderful vintage costumes that people donate to us and I always love to find a way to share something that someone has so generously given to us. Here's a photo of Danielle Clapper, who will be playing our female lead Rosie, in a vintage costume from the costume closet.


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Radio voices

Today, 4 students and I went to KPLW to record holiday announcements for local businesses. We recorded 12 different announcements with 4 different voices. We had a great time- so listen for us on KPLW. Here's a shot of Zach Zerna recording for a local small business.



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THE ACTOR'S SHOWCASE

Every fall, the talented performers of the Beginning Acting class perform their scenes for the public in a showcase- and this year is no exception. This is the 6th version of The Actor's Showcase that has been shown to the public- and I am very proud of the great work this group has done. Come join us Thursday, December 6th at 7pm for a (FREE!) showing of scenes from Rounding Third, Laundry and Bourbon, Matterhorn, Pvt Wars and much more. See www.ecctheatre.com for a preview trailer featuring clips, gags and much more!!

Ushers

One of the many groups of people who work behind the scenes to keep a show running are our ushers. Ushers hand out programs, assist patrons, take tickets and a host of other duties. All of our ushers are volunteers. Some of them come from my classes that I teach, some of them come from student groups, some of the come from the community. Ushering is a great way to get involved and to see the show for free. If you're interested in ushering, please see our website at www.ecctheatre.com for more information on how to join us'


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One week until opening night.

PROOF opens in exactly one week. Here's a quick shot that I took the set this morning. It's looking extraordinary. Thanks to the hard work of the theater appreciation and theater practicum classes, we are going to have a beautifully painted and constructed set for Vince Niehaus 's last show- come join us!


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Happy to say...

PROOF Is going so well. Since Vince is retiring, this'll be the last show that he directs at ECC. I know that PROOF has been on his list for a very long time, it's always very gratifying to see a director get to work on a script that they have long held a special place in their heart for. We're also looking at doing some brand-new technical things during the show that we have never done on our stage before. You'll have to come to a performance to see what they are!
In other news, the first piece of furniture for BYE BYE BIRDIE has been purchased. I found this 1950s telephone chair at the antique mall on highway 100 and I thought it was perfect. I can't wait to see it on our stage and to get started. Auditions are in a little over three weeks and the show opens in a little over four months- come join us!



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More painting!

We are hard at work!





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Theatre Appreciation

One of the classes that I teach is a class called theater appreciation. The class covers basic history of theater as well as different production aspects. As we get closer and closer to Proof, the class comes in for a week to work on the set for our final show of the fall semester. It's a fun week for me, and I think for them too. Here are a couple of photos of the Tuesday Thursday class- Obviously, we put them to work painting!
















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Character breakdowns

I don't think I've ever done this before, but I posted a character breakdown of Bye-bye Birdie on our website for auditions. I think a lot of people are familiar with the movie, but I want to make sure everyone knows there plenty of parts for people all ages. When I think of the show, I think of the four main characters -Rosie, Albert, Kim, and Conrad. But the truth is, the town of Sweet Apple is populated by a host of characters. There's the advanced tap dancers who see Conrad off at the train station, Maude- who owns the only bar in Sweet Apple, Hugo -who is Kim's quiet yet loyal boyfriend, Ursula -who is Kim's feisty and spunky best friend and a number of other roles. I hope the character breakdown helps some people to further understand what will be looking for in auditions. Auditions are always a great time for me. It's definitely a challenge to cast all the amazing talent that we see, but whether you have the large part or smaller part everyone is of equal importance to the show success. Check out our audition breakdown at www.ecctheatre.com


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Just a reminder...

We now have active online ticketing up for all music and theater events! It's been a long time coming and we appreciate your patience and support. Online ticketing should prove particularly handy for our musicals, which tend to sellout over a month in advance. To purchase tickets online, see www.ECCtheatre.com.


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One of the drawbacks..

To having such a busy theater and music department is that we have to share space, and space is tight! For example, here's a picture of the choir shells being set up in front of the skeleton set for Proof. The choir has to rehearse on the front of the stage, which means that we can still build the set behind them. The set was built on a rolling platform so it will roll downstage Into its final position once the choir and band concerts are over. Every year, juggling the schedule gets a little bit tougher. We are lucky to have such a supportive administration, and we find a way to make it work.


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Onto the next one!

Becky Shaw is finished, and we'll be heading straight into production for Proof. One of the challenging things about the schedule is that the crew only has about five weeks to build the set.
Here's a picture of the model that has appeared in the shop for the set. While it may appear simple, sets are very complicated to build because you have to take into account extra safety measures for the actors.
We are very grateful to the crew that builds our set. If you're interested in joining us for building or painting, please let us know! www.ecctheatre.com



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In 48 hours...

We will have our first audience for Becky Shaw! Today, the crew finished installing the audience masking and the seats. Here's a look.


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What do you do when you can't see the stage?

Answer- You use a TV and a video feed.
For Our production of Becky Shaw, the tech booth can actually not see the stage. The view is blocked by the masking set up for the audience. In order to see the actors and to make the set and light changes run smoothly, our lighting designer Josh Turk set up a video feed that runs back to the booth. The stamanager actually doesn't look at the stage at all, he looks at the video feed to see what's going on. Just another example of some of the challenges you face in a black box Theatre!


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A look backstage

This is one of our prop boxes for Becky Shaw- In it, we keep various things that the actors and the crew need.
The world backstage is completely different from the audience sees on stage. Costume changes, small problems, actors and crew waiting in the wings to enter, 1000 things go on backstage.... It's truly the show behind the show.


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Becky Shaw is SOLD OUT...but you can still see this amazing show!

Due to popular demand, we will be adding an open dress rehearsal on Thursday, October 4th at 7:30pm to our BECKY SHAW performance schedule. Tickets to this dress rehearsal will be $5 with general admission seating. Tickets MUSt be purchased in advance- tickets will NOT be available at the door. Call 636 584 6693 to purchase tickets.

PROOF auditions!

Tonight and tomorrow ECC Theatre will be holding auditions for PROOF, a drama directed by Vince Niehaus. PROOF follows the story of Catherine, a young woman who had cared for her mentally ill father until his death and must now deal with not only a visit from her older sister but also the attentions of her father’s male university student. ECC Theatre is seeking 2 men for the roles of Hal (college student) and Robert (Catherine’s Father) and 2 women for the roles of Catherine (late teens to mid twenties) and Claire (Catherine’s older sister (mid twenties to mid thirties). Auditions will be held September 25 and 26 at 6:30pm at the John Edson Anglin Performing Arts Center and will consist of readings from the script. Scripts may be checked out for perusal from the ECC Box Office. PROOF will be performed November 15-18 and will be directed by Vine Niehaus. Auditions are open to the public and there will be a flexible rehearsal schedule. We encourage members of the community and ECC students to auditions. For more information, please call 636 584 6670 or see www.ecctheatre.com.

Snow in September

Here at ECC theatre, we are always trying new technical things. We're very lucky to have an administration that supports experimentation and allows us the freedom and budget to try out new elements for our stage. This past Friday, we tried something that's never been seen before. We made it snow indoors. Every year, the music, theater and art departments come together for a Christmas celebration. The end of the celebration always includes a group sing-along, which usually culminates in a snowstorm of white confetti. This year, we're experimenting with trying something different. As you can see in this picture, our experiment was a success!


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We are SELLING OUT...

Our first show, that is! The Friday, October 5th production of BECKY SHAW is SOLD OUT! We still have a very few tickets left for the Saturday, October 6th performance. The response to this edgy show has been really overwhelming- people are dying to get a peek at this adult comedy about family, romance and guns! Tickets are availabel by calling 636 584 6693. This show contains mature language and subject matter and is not suitable for children (or the faint of heart!)

We're moving along!

The set for Becky Shaw is coming along nicely. Here's a quick photo of the progress that was made yesterday by our theater practicum classes!


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Cast of Becky Shaw

We open in a little over a month- and things are looking great! This show is not like anything EVER seen on our stage in the 44 years of our history- it's edgy, dark, hilarious and heartbreaking all in one. Although it contains strong language- Becky Shaw is really about the bonds of family and how far we go to protect those we love. Tickets are now on sale-the show is being performed black box style, so we have only 70 tickets per night and we are only doing two performances. Please call our box office at 636 584-6693 for tickets.


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It's here- it's here!!

Well, almost! ECC Theatre is proud to announce that we will offer online ticketing for all of our theater and music events. Tickets will go on sale exactly 2 months before the event opens. That means for Bye-Bye Birdie tickets will go on sale January 14 at 9 AM. Both our Spring musicals have sold out more than a month in advance for three years in a row now - online ticketing will make it much easier for you to get these hard to catch tickets. More information will be available shortly!


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We're going a little crazy

I have two new assistants this year. My assistants from last year, Ellen and Holly, have both moved onto other schools. While it is sad to see them go, I welcome Lexi and Haley into our department. Lexi is an ECC student who plans on majoring in business. Haley is actually a student from Washington high school who applied to intern with me. She'll be earning high school credit while learning more about the department. Yesterday, I sent them down to costume storage. apparently, they had a little bit too much fun down there....


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URINETOWN

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Urinetown!

Here's a very short entry about our current production of Urinetown, directed by John Anglin. The show runs this weekend, so it's tomorrow night at eight and Sunday at two. After that, will take two months off and then return in October with Becky Shaw! Rehearsals for Becky Shaw start this coming Wednesday. The show will be done in a black box style, which will be very different for me. I'll be sure to keep you all updated!!


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Our first show is on its way!

Today is the first rea

d through for the first show of our 2012-2013 Season, BECKY SHAW. The show is incredbly different than any other show I've directed- it's fast paced, funny and edgy. It's also a little wicked- the subject matter is a little wild! I'd like to talk more about it on the blog...but that will have to wait until after our read thru. The image is from a very famous painting by Roy Lichtenstein- a painter you are all probably very familiar with. The image fits perfectly with the themes of BECKY SHAW- a damsel in distress and looking for a man to help her. The only thing is- my Becky Shaw might be looking for a man..but she's not really in distress...!

Long time no blog...

It's that time of year again. The time of year where I apologize for having neglected this blog for the past three months. I just finished directing a sold-out production of Legally Blonde the musical at the Center for creative arts in St. Louis (COCA). While I love working there, I'm definitely looking forward to coming back to ECC. Here's a sneak peek at one of the props that will be used in Urinetown, courtesy of our on theater manager Joshua Turk




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Once again...

I have failed in my duties as a blogger! I really do apologize, the last few weeks of the show are very stressful and incredibly busy. I kind of forget that anything else exists except my show! Seussical was a huge hit. I am so very grateful to our wonderful audiences, our administration, and of course my wonderful cast and crew. Several people I spoke to said that this was their favorite show they have ever seen at ECC theater. It certainly is the fastest selling since I have been here. Today I'm heading into work to mail back some of the costumes and just start cleaning up the props and everything else that was left over from yesterday's strike. But before I do - here's one last picture that I took last night during the show from the sound booth. Thank you so much for making Seussical a wonderful experience and I hope to see everyone at the theatre soon!



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Tech is tomorrow..

The weekend before the show, the entire cast comes in both Saturday and Sunday along with the crew. We run the show with all the lighting cues, all the set changes, and anything else we might need for performance. On Sunday, we add the orchestra for the first time. This weekend is always an enormous amount of work and a lot of preparation goes into making sure that everything runs smoothly. One of the things I did today was driving into St. Louis to pick up costumes from our costumer and Xanax or things that are lighting designers needed. Below is a picture I took of the back of three of the beautiful costumes that are costumer has built. I think they look fantastic and I can't wait to see them on stage.



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A new addition..

This year, I was contacted by a teacher who teaches a figure drawing class on Monday night. She asked if some of her students could come to rehearsal and draw some of my actors while in mid performance. We've never done anything like that before- but I thought it might be a great opportunity! About five students showed up three Monday nights in a row, took pictures, and sketched the actors. Surprisingly enough almost all of them chose to focus on one actress, Francine. The finished products are now displayed in our lobby as life size portraits. They are really fascinating to look at. Below is a picture of my favorite one. Please come by our lobby and enjoy the gorgeous pictures and have a great time at Seussical!




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Costumes

Because of the band concert, we've had two nights off for rehearsal in a row. While it's nice to have a day off, it will also be nice to get back into the swing of things!
I used my two nights off to go and see shows at other theaters in St. Louis. It's always so interesting to see other people's shows. I always learn quite a bit from watching other directors work and I don't often get to see them.
Tomorrow will be doing another test dress rehearsal. The last time we did test dress rehearsal, our amazing costumer Marci came down with part of the bird girl costumes. Here's a picture of two of the tales that our girls will be wearing next week! Hope you got your tickets!



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Community involvement

March is Dr. Seuss's birthday. In honor of that, several of the local elementary and middle schools were sponsoring reading nights. This fits in perfectly with our public relations plan for Seussical! So when both schools called to ask if we could provide actors to read Dr. Seuss stories to the children I immediately said yes! This is a picture of Elin and Holly, my two assistants, dressed up as Gertrude McFuzz and the Sour Kangaroo, two popular Dr. Seuss characters. They went to Washington middle school and Coleman elementary school to read to students yesterday. They had a great time doing it and I'm very grateful to them for volunteering!


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2 weeks...

It's a little over two weeks until Seussical opens and this is the current state of my office floor. And I couldn't be happier.



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Another show to open!

We run shows back to back at East Central College theater. What that means is that as soon as one show closes, we basically start auditions for the next show. Which also means that while I'm in rehearsal for one show, I'm busily preparing for the one that follows. Our next show is called Broadway and Beyond 5. It's a collection of musical theater songs. I started with the original production of Broadway and Beyond my very first year here and the tradition has continued. Each show features between 15 and 20 different showtunes, which means I have to find a lot of music. I start searching for songs pretty much at the beginning of the year. It's always a struggle because there is so much great music out there. This year I've got about three hours worth of music picked out so far and I'm not finished looking! I love doing Broadway and Beyond because the style of the show is so very different than any other show that we do. Here's a screenshot of one of the songs you'll probably see inBroadway and Beyond 5- a male solo comedy song called In Short about a disgruntled ex-boyfriend.



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The view...

From the floor of the theater looking up. Our cat in the hat is recording the preshow announcement, so I lay on the ground because I kept laughing and ruining all of the takes. With me was Elin, Corbin, and our stage crew, Zach. We all lay on the ground and giggled soundlessly as Lee, our cat in the hat, did six takes of the house announcement. A day in the life of the theater director.


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Attack of the student workers

Thelovely people behind these masks are Corbin, Elin, and Holly. These three are our student workers for the theater department and without them we wouldn't get anything done! They run errands, sell tickets, answer phone calls, create costumes, sit in on meetings and take notes and offer suggestions and a host of other duties. My first five years here, I didn't have a student worker. Once I was assigned one, I wondered how I ever lived without an assistant. We are very fortunate to have a really wonderful students. Yesterday, they help me pick out the masks for the jungle creatures and next week they'll be decorating them. Holly is also in charge of creating all the props. Ellen runs the box office and helps with everything else and Corbin provides witty commentary and does heavy lifting. I am so very grateful to each of them. You'll also be seeing each of them on stage in Seussical. Holly is playing the sour kangaroo, Elin is one of the bird girls and Corbin is Gen. Schmitz. Have you gotten your tickets yet?



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It's coming together!

Things are really coming along! Here's a shot of what the set currently looks like. All of the building is finished. All that's left to do is paint and some minor details. And in the rehearsal process, we're at the point where we can almost run the entire show without stopping. That's very exciting for me as a director. The most rewarding thing about directing is watching your vision come to life on the stage. Even after directing here for eight years and other theaters before I came to ECC, the thrill of watching what I saw in my head actually happen on stage never gets old.


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Time management

When we are in the middle of a show, things like eating and sleeping go by the wayside. In fact, I spent most of the run-through of act one last night cramming down Chinese food with one hand, while trying to take notes with the other. I was simultaneously running back and forth from the stage to fix things and talking to the crew and the stage manager. Here's a picture of what some of my view of act one looked like.



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First run thru!

Last night was our first run through of act one! We used all the drops, all the set pieces, some costumes, and a set of microphones. We were greatly assisted by the help of some of our crew. The lighting designer, musical conductor, techdirector and sound operator also attended our rehearsal. I stood back in the technical booth and took notes. Here's a picture that I took during the run-through. Just a sneak peek of what you'll be seeing him in a little less than a month!


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The Pretzel

The front part of the set for Seussical is what we call the pretzel. It's made out of Styrofoam that fits onto the front of the main piece there which we call the Death Star. Today the front of the pretzel actually got attached to the front of the Death Star which is very exciting! The students are hand carving the Styrofoam, which look really great in the end. It should be painted tomorrow so I'm excited to see what will look like!


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Another day without a blog!

So here's a short entry that has nothing to do with Seussical. This weekend I traveled to Kansas City to see a production of Legally Blonde the musical. The reason I did this is because I will be directing the St. Louis non-equity premiere this summer. This was the first high school production and I was really interested to see what they would do. The production was at Raymore Peculiar high school, a small high school situated between the towns of Raymore Missouri and Peculiar Missouri -hence the name. The director they have there has built up an incredibly respected and well-known a theater department and I was very excited to see the show. I love watching other people work. Directors don't really get to see other people work because usually we're in rehearsal of our own. We were able to stay in the theater after the performance and see photo call and a couple of technical things that I had questions about. Afterwords the director very kindly sat down with us for a few hours at a local restaurant and talked about the different challenges of the shower. Who knows maybe one day you'll
see Legally Blonde the musical on the ECC


stage !


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I have failed..

At blogging this week! My apologies- its been a very hectic week. Last night we were able to run Act One almost all the way through without stopping (a major accomplishment). We still have a month to go, so we are actually a little ahead of schedule. Thank goodness, because it looks like it might snow next week! Today Ill be sitting down with my lighting designer to start talking about what the cues will look like, we've got a production meeting and a long list of props to work on as well as my teaching duties. We will also be testing some of the special effects for Seussical that haven't been used in any other show previously. I think that's my favorite part of today- being able to see something new that the audience will experience also. Sometimes something I take for granted will really produce a reaction in an audience- and that's a really wonderful thing!


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An explanation...

of Friday's picture!

For Seussical, we purchased two intelligent lighting instruments. Intelligent lighting moves by itself, can switch colors, gobos and do a host of other cool things. They're fairly pricey so we started with 2 and we're hoping to add to them as the years go on.
These lights went on quite a journey to get here- they shuld have been here about a month ago. part of the happiness Turk is expressing comes from the fact that we thought they were lost for a while!
You will DEFINETELY notice these lights in Seuss- they are super dramatic and make a great addition to our lighting inventory!

This picture...

Needs more explanation- but that will have to wait till Monday.


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Hot glue and leaves

It is no secret that higher Ed is in a budget crisis- and ECC is no exception. For Seussical, we're trying to save as much as we can on costumes while not compromising artistic integrity. In that vein- I created this hat today from plastic leaves, Christmas decorations and hot glue. It will appear in Seussical in the circus- keep your eyes peeled!


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Another day...

another blog! This one also features Turk (who gives me a lot to write about.) This is a shot of his desk covered in various things we'll be using in Seussical... Including mousetraps!


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Well that didn't go as planned...

Today I had what I THOUGHT was a great idea. We need a dramatic explosion in Seussical when JoJo gets killed in the Butter Battle (and you thought this was a kids show!). We have a pyro system that we have used to great effect in previous shows and I thought, 'Perfect! We can use one of the pyro pods to approximate an explosion.' Just oen problem. My lighting designer, Turk, HATES pyro- he thinks its over used. Rather than tell him this idea to his face, I decided to take the cowards way out and write it on a post-it note to give him. That way I could be far away when he read it and escaope his wrath. That plan failed becasue the moent he opened the post it and saw the word 'pyro' he promptly ATE the post it while saying, 'NO!'.
So much for my great idea. I guess we'll have to think of something else for the explosion.

In the pit...

This smart man joined our staff this year- Josh Turk is our Theatre Manager. Here he is down in the orchestra pit, figuring out a unique issue were having with Seussical involving bath sponges...





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Today I ....

didn't go to work.
It's a Sunday- so you may say '...well of COURSE you didn't go to work. Who works on a Sunday?'
The answer is- me. I go to ECC usually 6 days a week, sometimes 7 during show season.
I'm not saying this to make you feel pity for me (all 3 of you who might read this!) but more to explain what the life of an artist can be like. I could go to work 5 days a week and probably still do adequate work- but I would not be happy with that work.
Directing a musical is a HUGE task- you are ultimately responsible for everything on the stage.
I am not the set designer...but I am responsible for the set. I am not the lighting designer, but I am responsible for how the lighting looks. I have to make a million choices every day that determines how the show looks, feels, lives. I do the publicity for the show- for Seussical, this means coming up with the concepts for the posters, shooting the pictures, creating the posters, getting them printed, etc. I'm really lucky to have a great group of people to work with, but it is ultimately my responsibility to get it all put together. In order to teach classes (which is a HUGE part of my job, obviously and takes up a lot of my day), be prepared for rehearsal (which takes around an hour or so every day to prepare my plans for the evenings rehearsal), run rehearsal (which is around 3 hours per night), prepare for the next show (which starts one week after Seussical closes), get started on NEXT season (which is coming up faster than I want to think about and I am frantically looking for scripts to read/reading scripts), and do everything else that goes into running a theatre department, I have to go into work on the weekends.
Last night I went to a bar in town to celebrate the closing of Borgia Theatre Department's production of The Diviners. My lighting designer was there too. We spent 45 minutes talking about how to make a clover field appear during Seussical. It's impossible to get away from.
Tomorrow I'll start my 1 blog per day for the run of Seuss, but today I just wanted to say...I didn't go into work (but that doesn't mean i didn't think about my job!)

New blog resolution

We open Seussical in about 2 months- and I have a new resolution! I'm going to blog every day (at least, every weekday!) about the process.
So here's my beginning...discussing production meetings.

Today started with a production meeting. Production meeting are where the production staff (the director, lighting designer, stage manager, set designer and creative team) get together to discuss how the show is going, what needs to be finished, issues that are happening, etc.

Today's meeting was very productive- we're going right along with our prop list (including shower loofahs and ping pong balls), the set is moving at a decent pace and our costumes are going to be gorgeous. Our conductor, Dr. Tim Sexton, was also there and he has started the process of putting together the orchestra that will accompany our show. There are still a lot of things that need to be worked out (how do I make a clover field spring from the ground? Will the actors AND the set pieces be able to fit backstage?). I'm very lucky to have a really great creative team that fixes most of the crisis I come up with (which is many).

In addition to a production meeting- we gathered what is rapidly becoming a signiture musical move- the confetti! Here's a shot of my hard working assistant Elin counting the red and white confetti we'll be using in Seuss!!

Another look..

At an actor! This is Mark Hewkin, who plays one of the Wickersham Brothers. They will be sporting blue Mohawks and he was kind enough to let me test it out on him.


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First look!

Here's our Cat in the Hat, Lee Garner!! Seussical tickets go on sale January 19th!


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