Yesterday, (15 days, 7 hours, and 3 minutes before the opening night performance of Stick Fly), I decided to take some pictures of the hustle and bustle on the Berlind Stage as everyone prepared for the actors to arrive. I can’t say that the crew was thrilled by the distraction, but they are very good sports. Thanks, guys!

It was exciting to see everything begin to take shape. By today, it’ll look totally different. The stage management staff has been carting the hundreds of props that are used in this show from the rehearsal room to the theater, and now they all have to be sorted and put in their places. The actors began rehearsing on the stage last night. Its gonna be a busy weekend! At the left, you can see Alison, Stick Fly’s Stage Manager, unpacking some of the props that belong in the kitchen. Click the link here for more pictures.

See also:

• Loading in the Set of Stick Fly
• Stick Fly Props (Production Note #7)
• 39 Days, 7 Hours and 51 Minutes

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

Tonight, Stick Fly playwright Lydia Diamond and McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann had a conversation at the Princeton Public Library, moderated by Princeton University Professor Valerie Smith. The McCarter blog got an onstage mention from Emily (wahoo!). If you were in attendance, we would love to hear your responses and thoughts on this discussion, so shoot us a comment!

See also:

• Lydia Diamond Speaks

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

So we had our company barbecue yesterday, and afterward I went over to the Berlind Theater with a few of the staff members from the production department to look at all the work they’ve done on the set of Stick Fly. Wow! So cool. They’re still putting everything in, and it will be a few days before it is all finished and dressed and whatnot. But its coming along really nicely. The set is this gorgeous and kinda palatial house on Martha’s Vineyard. I totally wanted to move in.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

This summer, we had this rocking intern named Joseph, who did a really neat interview with Daniel Fish, director of Tartuffe. So he transcribed the interview, and we put an excerpt of it in the Stick Fly program. But I’m posting a much longer version of it here.

SPOILER ALERT: If you are the kind who arrives to the theater a half hour early to read the whole program, and you plan on coming to see Stick Fly, then do not read this interview. Cause it’ll totally spoil your program-reading fun. If, on the other hand, you get in at the last minute, and always wish you had more time to read the program, then your wishes have been fulfilled, cause here’s the full interview in all its glory. Enjoy.

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Hey there. Glad you joined us. Welcome to McCarter’s blog. Now that you’re here, you should stay a few minutes. Put up your feet. Relax. Do you want hot chocolate? I’ll make you hot chocolate.

Listen, now that you’ve come, I have something I’ve been meaning to say. You should write to us more often. What? You don’t know how? Well…

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UPDATE: Posting a comment is now much simpler! All you have to do is scroll down and click the comment link at the bottom of any post. No log-in required!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

So, I talked a bit in my last post about the fascinating task of maintaining the master version of the Stick Fly script. I do this so that we can print out, at a moment’s notice, totally updated versions of the script for designers, actors, and anybody else who might need them. It’s kind of a crazy process, because new changes to the script—ranging from the slightest changes in punctuation to entire new monologues or totally redrafted scenes—are all still occurring in response to all the amazing work that is happening in rehearsal.

I make my way over to the rehearsal room at least once a day to peek at Cheryl’s script. As the Production Stage Manager, she sits in rehearsals and records everything from prop and sound notes (as detailed in yesterday’s post by Adam), to the actors’ blocking, to all the changes being made in the script. She keeps a helpful list of the page numbers where changes have occurred, so I flip through and make those changes in my printed version of the script. Then I dash back to my office to type them into my master version on the computer. The tricky part here is that both stage management and the actors like to keep page numbers the same whenever possible, so that if a change happens in the middle of the script they can just replace that page without renumbering every page that follows. Sometimes this requires adding a page numbered something like “87A,” which goes between pages 87 and 88. I’ve developed my own crazy system of page breaks and text boxes to get Microsoft Word to allow this sort of theatrical jerry-rigging.

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One of the many jobs of a Production Stage Manager (and trust me, she’s got many) is to send out “production notes,” which communicate all the things that happened that day with the many different production departments (set, costumes, sound, lights, props). Basically, if it weren’t for the production notes, each department would have to attend every rehearsal to identify any changes that were made or adjustments that were needed.

Often, production notes are very fun reading. Stick Fly, it turns out, is a prop-heavy show. They spend lots of time eating, shopping, moving things around, and just generally dealing with props. So Stick Fly’s Production Stage Manager, Cheryl, and Stage Manager, Alison, have been sending out some dizzyingly comprehensive props notes that will help the prop department figure out what to buy, what to make, and what needs to be able to do what. With permission, I have posted some of the excerpts from last nights production notes. Enjoy! (Note - there is a character in Stick Fly named Cheryl, and that is who Production Stage Manager Cheryl is referring to in some of these notes.)
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So I just went upstairs to take a peek at the work they’ve been doing on the stage floor of the Matthews Theatre over the summer. Turns out that the stage still has its original floor. Over 75 years old. This is a floor that not only has to be strong enough to support the several tons of set in our annual production of A Christmas Carol, but also has to be flexible enough for dancers to perform on and not break themselves. Jeff, our managing director, just told me that they’ve once had an elephant on that floor (many many years ago). I’m not sure I believe him. (more…)

So here I was – a former accountant that was accustomed to meetings about financial statements, debits and credits, going to a brown bag lunch meeting with the director of Tartuffe, Daniel Fish, in which he described his concept for the play to the McCarter staff.

Since most meetings or lunches that I attended were pretty boring and dull, I had no idea what to expect out of this one. I ran in just in time with my brown bag lunch and sheepishly took a seat in the back table (which I was really happy about considering my soda bottle usually explodes when I open it). As all former lunch meetings (in the corporate world) went, we had someone introduce someone of importance and then my head dropped down towards my notepad awaiting the first sentence so I could begin to take my usual notes.

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So, ya’ll will remember Mary Zimmerman from her McCarter productions of The Odyssey and A Secret in the Wings. Well, she’s gonna be back, with Argonautika, the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Let me tell you, I’ve read the script and it is decidedly cool.

Our fancy Marketing Department has just put up a video post (courtesy of the Shakespeare Theatre, with whom we are co-producing Argonautika) of Zimmerman speaking about the play. Its really nifty. I especially like the second section, where she gets all excited about monsters and harpies. Click here to view the video.

Take a peek, and post a comment below (hint, you gotta be logged-in!) to let us know what you think. We get all lonely up here without any feedback.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre