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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