Busy Month Ahead at Theatre Charlotte

Looking ahead into the month of April, it seems that the Theatre Charlotte calendar is basically littered with special events. As a staff member, it’s a little scary to see something different going on pretty much every Friday and Saturday for an entire month, but it’s also exciting and definitely gives us a lot to look forward to (including, but not limited to, the month of May which will mostly be taken up by our final production of the season, Smoke on the Mountain).

Here’s a rundown of what’s going on in April:
This weekend – April 9-10 – 24 Hour Theatre Project
Next weekend – Friday, April 16th – just do it “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word”
Saturday, April 17th – Junior Cabaret
The following weekend – Friday, April 23rd – Helen Kearney Konen’s Actor’s Studio Showcase
Saturday, April 24th – Volunteer Work Day for Smoke on the Mountain (10am – 1pm)
Saturday, April 24th – Charlotte Film Society “Nothing but the Truth” (7:30pm)

So, we’re got a pretty busy month ahead. In order to keep everyone filled in on every event we have this month, I’ll try to post a blog to tell you more about each of these events. For now, here’s more information about this weekend’s event, the 24 Hour Theatre Project, and a personal story about my participation in this crazy day at the theatre!
The 24 Hour Theatre Project is a really fun, unpredictable, and slightly off-the-wall event. Once a standard event for BareBones Theatre Group, this project now finds a new home at Theatre Charlotte with the help and expertise of Jim Yost, one of BareBones founders. Here’s how the event works: At 8:00pm on Friday night, April 9, 6 playwrights - Vito Abate, Matt Cosper, Bryce Cyrier, Kirk Dickens, Emma Gutt, Peter Smeal – will get a theme or some sort of starting point that they will then use to each write a 10 minute play in less than 12 hours. Then, Saturday morning, 6 directors - Jillian Claire, Robert Haulbrook, Parker Horn, Ben McCarthy, Julie Strassel, and Greta Zandstra – will receive copies of those plays, audition actors, rehearse the plays, and then present them at 8:00pm on Saturday, April 10.

A few years ago, my husband and I took on the task of writing one of the plays for the 24 Hour Theatre Project. This made for one of the longest nights of my life! Our “theme” was to choose one of two pre-selected Shakespearean sonnets (neither of which we really understood). We spent the first few hours just trying to come up with an idea of what the play could be about. When we finally settled on something - a play written in reverse, starting at the end and then ending at the beginning – we spent the rest of the night frantically writing, writing too much, adding too many characters, and then trying to cut back to stay within the time and character limits. Finally, we just had to cross our fingers, press print, and turn in our play. I spent the next 12 hours stressed out that our jumbled mess of a play wouldn’t make any sense and would turn out terribly. I desperately wanted to go talk to the director and explain the script to him, but playwrights were not allowed in the rehearsal space. So we waited. Finally, it was showtime. Our play actually turned out MUCH better than we expected, making the whole nerve-wracking experience totally worth it! Hopefully this year’s writers, directors, actors, and audience members will have just as much fun as we did a few years ago!

Want to be a part of the 24 Hour Theatre Project? Come to auditions at 9:00am this Saturday, April 10th.
Want to come to the 24 Hour Theatre Project? Tickets are $10 and are available at the door starting at 7:00pm on Saturday.

More info: http://www.theatrecharlotte.org/24hour.htm

Actor-Proofing?

When searching for a nice rain jacket or hiking shoes, you might look for something that is water proof. The same goes for fabrics and building materials, only there the term you are looking for is fire-proof. Well, in theatre we have what is called actor proofing.

Actor proofing refers to the act of making the set, costumes or props safe and durable for actors to handle and use time and time again throughout the run of a show. Sounds boring, but is certainly a challenge that those in technical theatre deal with time and time again. When it works, it is a thing of beauty and believe me, no one notices. When it doesn't work, it often leaves audiences gasping and chatting about it well after they should have reinvested their time into what is happening on stage. Actor proofing is time consuming and expensive and definitely has an impact on how things are made or used.

So how about some examples so this makes a little more sense. An actor slams a door shut and the next thing you know, a statue falls off the shelf in the next room. Or perhaps when that door is slammed, the walls on the set begin to sway back and forth for what seems like and eternity. In both instances, I promise you that members of the audience will suddenly turn their attention to the walls moving and the statue, now in a hundred pieces on the floor, instead of focusing on what the actors are now doing or saying. Inevitably, the talk at intermission isn't about how good the show is, it is about whether or not that statue was supposed to break. A few folks will be a nervous wreck thinking about the walls "coming down" and whether something will give the next time the door is shut.

Actor proofing can go a long way, but with limited resources, money, time and by nature of theatre being a temporary art form, it isn't always perfect or fool proof. We aren't setting walls in concrete, so there is always a chance of them moving when a door is slammed. By the way, it is possible to make a door look like it is being slammed without actually slamming it, it is called acting. Just because something like this happens, doesn't mean that someone didn't do his/her homework. If you can think of a way for something to go wrong, there is a good chance that someone, at some point in the run of a show can make you look the fool. It doesn't matter how many times that door has been slammed, in the heat of the moment under stage lights with the audience in the palm of his hand, that actor will take it upon himself to step it up a notch. As frustrating as it can be for the designer, TD, or technician who has spent countless hours trying to make something work consistently time and time again, at the end of the day...it's live theatre. Deep down I think people look forward to those moments when something goes wrong just to see how people will handle it. Not to mention it makes for a great story!

I hope this provides you with a little more insight into the backstage world of theatre. More glimpses to come down the road.