Tech and Preview #1

After a very productive tech week we had our first preview last night. It went very well. But it seems that the first preview is the hardest... the biggest hurdle to clear. Taking something that everyone has been working on in such a personal and intimate way and then all of a sudden adding an audience. Actually seemed like a bit of a shock. I walked into the house ten minutes before showtime and my first thought was "what are all these people doing here?" That being said it did go very well. It turns into this whole other thing when you add an audience. The energy of the people watching it can completely change the dynamic of a scene, make you see things in a different light, and can even transform the meaning of a line that you've heard a million times before.

In a very different way, the addition of tech into the rehearsals also had a similar effect. The addition of sound and light design actually made it real in some way. Like I finally realized we were actually doing it... It also made me reconsider the play. Everything seemed fresh again. Like I hadn't heard that scene a million times. Everything was made new again, and fuller, more of complete package. Watching the actors play with the light and sound was also really interesting to watch. Watching them integrate those production aspects into their performances and using them to help them define beats or certain shifts within scenes. It's this detailed work that I find so satisfying to observe because the benefits to the overall coherence of the show are huge.

But I also have no idea how they do it. I got up on stage to do some light walking for Rebecca and navigating the stage with the lights in my eyes seemed an impossible task. To manage that and give a connected performance? A mindblowing feat. I'm a bit in awe actually.

- Courtney Walker, assistant director

"We must be careful about what we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut