Rider University - Shadow Yearbook (Lawrenceville, NJ)

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to be adjusted. This crisis is met and the run-throughs start. Run-throughs, as the term implies, entails running through the entire play with scenery and lights to get a general feel of the production. Here the directors catch little things the actors might do that take them away from the production. It is also a time for testing and ex- perimenting with the lights. Dress rehearsals are now upon the cast and things be- gin to get desperate. With only a few rehearsals left, all the bugs in the script, costumes and staging must be worked out. It seems almost hopeless. Opening night arrives and another factor in the play enters the scene-the audience. It is now on their shoul- ders whether the production is to be a success or a fail- ure. No matter how hard everyone has worked, if the au- dience is unresponsive, the production is termed unsuccessful. The clock moves toward curtain time and everyone starts to get tense. From the cast all the way through to the ushers. The lights dim, a little prayer is said by all. Now wait for the first response from the audience. The director expects a certain response. Failure to get it will mean a slight revision before the next performance. Basi- cally, it must be done because the audience didn't see quite what he wanted them to see. So he changes with the audience and hopes that the next audience catches the desired effect. The second night comes and the revision has been in- serted. Again the director waits for the response from the audience. This time it comes. Success. Some of the ten- sion abates. The rest of the play goes smoothly and so do the following performances. The review comes out on Friday afternoon and every- one nervously flips to the seventh page. Something to the following effect can hopefully be found: If you have not seen, ---, you still have two nights to see one of the finest amateur productions l have ever had the pleasure of attending. The overall quality of the performance, accented by some exceptional individual efforts, created a deeply engrossing tribute to the author of the novel on which the play was based. . . . All aspects of the production were com- mendable. Set design, involving the building of a two story house on a stage, was particularly impres- sive. That's what the reviewer said. But after it's all over, the opinions of the actors best serve to illustrate the produc- tions true value. Said one, lt is tiring, frustrating, and almost futile at times. But the satisfaction in the end is worth it all. And another commented, Each time out is a new adventure. lt's a constant process of finding new techniques in theatricsf' As for the director, whose pretty much been neglected up to this point, this remark pretty much summarized the role he plays: The director, he really has it tough. While we only have to worry about our lines, he has to correlate all the parts, scenery, lighting, even public relations-and make sure they all run smoothly. Together!!! 47

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From Implementation To Production ln Eight Easy CPD Weeks With Theatre '59 by Paul E. Lakeman The curtain comes down for the last time, and the cast breathes a sign of relief. And of remorse. Finally, after two months of work, all that is left to show that anything had been accomplished is the scenery on a dark stage. A waste, you say. Hardly. If you knew the work and effort and, of course, pride that went into the production, you wouldn't say it. For example take two months before when it all started. There in the theatre sat the director listening to person after person read a part of the .script at an audi- tion. Some of the readers are pretty good. Some take courage to listen to. But for the sake of the production and Theatre '59, the task continues, often for as many as three days. General appearance, voice qualities and de- gree of talent are given a close scrutinization. At long last, auditions end and the task of taking the best of what's available and fitting it to the roles that have to be filled begins. This having been done, the cast meets for its first rehearsal. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the designer goes to work fitting the stage to the play and using every inch of that stage effectively. And this is not as easy as it sounds, especially when much of the stage is in front of the curtain. Improvisation must obviously take place, and it takes a clever mind to make the best out of the situ- ation. Back on stage, the actors are just getting into their roles. lf they are not on stage, they're off somewhere get- ting measured for costumes. Oh, yes something we for- got. Costumes. Costumes must be chosen to fit the roles to be played. Actors have to be fitted and the costumes sent for. ln some cases, the costumes are made. But in the interim, the play begins to take form. -'fl 'C-sf' Bit by bit the actors begin to feel their parts and be- come more comfortable with them. One single part be- comes interrelated to another and to still another. It all begins to come together but wait, it is still a long road to opening night. As the parts come together, so do the scenes and then the acts. A rhythm and balance begin to emerge on a very basic level. The show begins to take a very elemen- tary form and the directors can begin to see where the rhythm and balance are not yet together. While this is going on down on the stage, the lighting crew is busy creating the best possible lighting effect for each part of the play. A spotlight on stage right during scene 3. A softer effect for the middle of scene 4. Lights, without them the play dies. In stagecraft class, the scenery begins to take shape. The front porch, the bedroom furniture, the backdrop are all placed on the stage. At last the actors have something to back them up. The room suddenly takes on the aura of atheatre. The costumes arrive and suddenly things take more definite shape. But wait, a snag develops with the cost- umes. Some of them don't fit exactly right. Othe-rs have 46

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