BD Wong

Well we didn’t have a run-through, but it was a very good day!

I could barely believe it, but painters came to my apartment this morning at 9 to finish a long awaited paintjob in my bedroom.  So I had to get up earlier than I wanted to in order to let them in and give them keys, etc.  Then (welcome to my insane life), while I was showering, I remembered I had made an appointment with a gym trainer for this morning!  Trainer Rob Morea is also a good friend of mine who I usually see regularly when I’m not rehearsing, and I wasn’t exactly all that hot to work out this morning, but I’ve really been missing him.  So I kept the appointment, and had to show up late ‘cause of the painters, rushed to the gym, and Rob took me through a serious abs workout that I really do need for the show.  I find that I am really accessing my “core” a lot, and whenever I go to the tumbling guy, Mookie, I realize how soggy my core really is, so we concentrated on that.  Truth be told, I was kinda tired.  But this is not really that out of the ordinary for me.  Squeezing a million things into one day, or cramming a lot of characters into one play.  I left the gym with a sense of satisfaction, but also hadn’t had time to have a proper breakfast.

Dan and Roger and I were on a train to Princeton Junction that was late leaving the station, so we missed the Dinky shuttle to Princeton and kind of tumbled into rehearsal a bit all over the place.  I had a good solid nap on the train, and I ate something before rehearsal began, and we began immediately with the end of the first act (we ended with it last night and wanted to polish it today) and it’s arguably the highest energy scene of the show.  So I had that “how am I going to get it up for this?” feeling, but really, you just have to do it.  The music starts playing and you just start doing it, and before you know it it’s over and you’re winded and actually kind of satisfied.  We did some major discussing and finessing the scene and I think it’s pretty good.  It’s one of the few scenes in which all five of the principal characters are interacting with one another in an extremely complex, chaotic way.  The first act comes down with a pretty dramatic event, and this event, an event that turns the tide of the Nookin’s family’s journey (and all of the relationships within that family) needs to have a larger-than-life feeling powerful enough to makes the audience feel that any intermission is too long.  So we asked some good questions today, and are closer than ever.

Today we were visited by associate sound designer Leon Rothenberg (you might recall his associate Scott Lehrer came yesterday).  He came to observe whatever we were working on.  Scott and Leon are both affable, easy going self-professed “sound nerds” whose knowledge of both the science of acoustics and the power of music and sound effects is excitingly deep.  They both quietly observed as I stumbled through each scene, and neither of them got to see enough, but I do have some satisfaction that between the two of them they have seen the whole show!

We worked through the second act, and that was the rest of the day.  Aside from the hard last scene, there are a couple of other mountains to climb in Act II.  So I got through them all today.

We have our share of goofing around in the room, and Cheryl is very stern with us and urges us, like a great stage manager, to focus and move along, but always with a smile tucked in there somewhere.  Roger always has something funny to say, and frankly, I find some of the scenes really hard to commit to out of context and so I stall a lot.  But never without trying to make somebody crack up.

Today:

We had an extremely politically inappropriate discussion today (or two) about a bit that Dan and I do including childishly mean humor and unquestionably pushing the limits of good taste.   Sometimes it’s just like a Frat House in the Berlind Rehearsal Room!

We took advantage of an obviously important but poorly timed call Roger received on his cell phone just as we were to begin work on a difficult scene.  He ducked out of the room, and of course you really can’t do anything without the director, so as we just sat there waiting, we all decided to get up from where we were sitting and completely scramble our seating arrangements.  I sat behind Cheryl’s control center, Dan sat in an intern’s seat, someone else sat at his piano, and Cheryl took my exact place on stage “in the scene”.  Roger came back and we were just all sitting there, no one where they were supposed to be.  So fun and dumb.

I found a new “still” blocking for the opening number of the second act that I have been looking for a long time!

I finally got through that first tricky scene of Act II, which attempts to describe the aftermath of the incident at the end of Act I.

I got a couple of good stabs at the Tango number.  I like this number much more than our Williamstown version—it’s one of the many improvements as far as I’m concerned.

We spent a LONG time on the “post Tango” scene, a very important scene, and then did a choreography refresh on the song that follows it—a pivotal song—and ran it.

What follows is the “hotel sequence”.  We had drilled this before the other day, and so it was a piece of cake.  It’s pretty hard but I had the energy and drive to do it right, mostly because Leon was there watching, I think.

I did an okay stab at the final scene, which won’t be able to be fully staged till we’re on the real set.

Roger and Leon left in the middle of the last scene to catch the train back to NYC!  Dan, Darren and I were not taking the train, so we rehearsed another half hour.  I ran the final number and refreshed the stuff we decided the other day.  I like how we’ve decided to bookend the show.

At the end of the day, I could barely remember how tired I felt as we began.  This always happens, and it always surprises me.    The human body is better than an iPhone!

Before I could leave the building, I made Cheryl take me up to the theater again to see how much of the set had been loaded in.  It really pumps me up.  Even in the harsh fluorescent work light, it’s terrific.  Makes you really want to work hard.

Tonight Mara Isaacs, producing director of McCarter, followed a McCarter tradition and threw a dinner party for the show and everyone in the Herringbone rehearsal room.  A nice home-cooked meal and easy conversation (often about the show) was welcome and relaxing.  Adam Immerwahr drove me home and I immediately booted up.  How will I blog after the Democratic National Convention is over??

Tomorrow we are doing more work, and definitely having a run-through; Ken Posner and McCarter Staffers are coming.  This should be interesting and fun!  Operative word:  “should.”

In closing tonight, I would like to describe something I find rather unique.  You all know by now how impressed I am by the McCarter and the various talented people I have met and worked with here on this.  Here’s an example of what I think is so fun about this place.

Yesterday, Roger, Darren and I went to see the set as it was loading in.  The deck was being installed, and the top layer, the “lid” of plywood faced with black masonite, had not yet covered up the infrastructure.  The infrastructure itself is welded steel and in a circular design, and is quite complex looking and quite impressive and beautiful, but of course this supporting framework, which the crew has agonized over, will never be seen.  Once we had returned to the rehearsal room, I made a joke, playing on my running gag that, since the theater is so amazingly accommodating/well resourced/up for any number of seemingly impossible challenges, we should just keep asking for crazy things to see if we can finally get someone in some McCarter department to finally break down and “freak out” on us.  So I said, “The inside is so beautiful, what we really need is a PLEXIGLAS deck!”  And rather than roll her eyes as I might have expected, “Cheryl smiled and said, “Should I?  Should I put in a request in the production report?”  And of course, loving a good practical joke, I said yes immediately.  And she did it!  She and Samantha Flint, one of her awesome ASMs, came up with this, and included it in the evening production report, which always includes whatever requests for all departments that may arise in the rehearsal room:

“Roger, Darren and BD were completely bowled over by their visit to the stage today.  They were struck by the awesomeness of the infrastructure (under the deck).  To highlight the artistry of the infrastructure, they have decided that they would prefer a Plexiglas deck, which would not only show off the structure but also allow the audience to see the two dozen koi goldfish that we would like to have swimming under the rings and cued to swim Busby Berkeley style in (circles)…Are there any safety concerns involved with turning the entire deck into a fish tank?”

Ok, so of course, as always there are some folks out there who actually believe this is real.  One because they’re kinda gullible, but mostly, because after many years of working at McCarter, Cheryl Mintz is not really known for “messing with everybody.”  This I find noteworthy enough.

But it is the responses from various staff members from nearly every department; silly, spirited, corny, but almost always at least somewhat humorous, that I actually find kind of moving.  You see, nobody has to hit “reply all”.  They can just read it, smile, and go on with their day.  But one response let to another, and, it seemed, nobody wanted to be left out.

Are goldfish props or casting?

Michele Sammarco

Prop Master

If they have lines or are told where to go or what to do during the show they are Mara’s problem.

Stephen J Howe

Stage Supervisor

If it is Mara’s problem I’m concerned that it’s getting a bit late to negotiate koi contracts.  I understand the agent is a real shark.

Kathleen Kund Nolan

Interim Managing Director

Well, they’re easier than kids!

Mara Isaacs

Producing Director

Oh, Kathleen, groan.

Michele Sammarco

Prop Master

and they don’t need costumes!!!

Cynthia A. Thom

Wardrobe Supervisor

they will need help filling out comp forms….or are they limited to swimming room only?

Jillian Ershow

Performance Supervisor, Ticket Office

Please advise if said fish will be paid through payroll or accounts payable.  I hate to ask, but will they be paid Equity “scale”?

Victoria L. Sheridan

Assistant Controller

not if they’re robots:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=886

budget check?

-tristan jeffers

assistant to scenic designer Eugene Lee

And should we change the name to Herring Bone?  Or for the people expecting to see Take Flight, perhaps - Red Herrring Bone?

just a thought.

Anne Fulper

Performance Supervisor, Ticket Office

The ASPCA has just called and is determined to bring us up on charges of cruelty to aquatics if we persist in this attempt to incorporate live Koi in our stage production.

Danny Garber

Graphic Designer

If we’re adding the koi, marketing needs to know ASAP—each one needs a bio in the program.

Jonathan Elliott

Marketing Manager

I need I-9 forms to verify that they can work in the U.S.

Brenda Mikeo

Controller

This is a great addition to Herringbone — we’ll be able to go after Big Fish restaurant for a production sponsorship!

Mary T. Funsch

Director of Development

We could see if we can sell them at the store…

Hannah Schussel

Advertising Representative/Company Store Manager

Ok, but if their school decides to come and see them in the show let us know. We can get them a group rate.

Christine Murray

Group Sales

I think you meant to say a “grouper” rate.

Kathleen Kund Nolan

Interim Managing Director

All these emails are giving me a haddock

Paul Kilsdonk

Master Electrician

I’ll try not to overstate this.  Let’s just say it’s nice to work at a place with a sense of humor, camaraderie, and an overall understanding that working in the theater is a multi-departmental, complex undertaking.

There’s no such thing as a one-man-show.

Thanks for ‘bonin’,

bdw

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Actors' Voices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.