ANYTHING GOES!!

Over 85 auditions later...our cast has been chosen and we are beginning our journey! This is the second largest amount of people we have had audition in my ten years here (after Beauty and the Beast). Every audition cycle I worry- will we have enough people? Will we have the talent to fit the roles? Will people even show up ??? And they always do. One of the fantastic things about this cast is that out of 60 of them, 26 are either brand new to our stage or have only appeared in one previous show. I think one of the wonderful things about our 'veterans' is how they welcome the 'newbies'- and how many newbies come to us each show. Seeing the amount of new people who want to work on our stage says something about not only the quality of our shows but also the quality of our people on and offstage. Seeing all the new faces that want to join out family lets me know that we're heading in the right direction. Tonight we're beginning with our first vocal rehearsal- we'll do about 2 weeks of music rehearsal to be sure the vocals are solid before we start serious choreography. On Wednesday we're throwing a little something called 'Tap Camp' for the cast- our Tap Captain, Bethany Herron, will be starting the process of teaching our actors to tap- I'll keep you posted!

SOLD OUT!

With tickets only on sale for a week- we are SOLD OUT for Broadway and Beyond 6 for every night except Thursday. I'm so excited that we have such great community. If you'd like tickets for the only remaining show, see www.ecctheatre.com

Flats!!

Below is a picture of some of the members of our theater practicum class working away on the set for Bye-bye Birdie. What building is called a flat. It is essentially a wooden frame with muslin stretched over it. We are using more flats in the show that I can remember any show prior. Some of the flat serve a very specific purpose, as you will see when you come to the show! Without these very hard-working people, this show would not be possible. I am so grateful to them putting in the long hours and difficult work that it takes to put together a complicated set.


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Our Birdie Bootcamp video is here!!!

Every year, our choreographer flies in from Denver to choreograph our big Spring musical. He is a professional dancer, so he puts the entire show together in 5 days (which are all 14 hour days!). It's a very fun, very intense time with a lot of work! I put together the above video to show you a little bit of what we go through- enjoy!

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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