So I snuck into the Stick Fly rehearsal room today. One day until the first rehearsal. 36 days, four hours and 1 minute until first performance! I caught Heather and Kim, our new stage management interns, putting finishing touches on the rehearsal room set. Under the guidance of Cheryl and Alison, the production stage manager and assistant stage manager on this show, they “tape out” all the floors, steps, and doors, and create an entire walkable groundplan in the rehearsal room so that the actors and directors can work on the show as though they are on the set. Its kinda like a big geometry project. I used my phone to catch a picture of them at work.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, McCarter Theatre Producing Associate

You meet the nicest people when on the quest for photo rights….

One of my major projects this week (assisted by my able new intern Elizabeth, from whom I am sure you will hear more later!) is tracking down permission to print photographs in our program notes. At the beginning of the week I was getting a little nervous because, as usual, we were down to the wire. (The program goes to print WAY before the first performance.) But this week it’s all come together and we have permission to use some great shots. (more…)

We’re trying to cast a dog in Tartuffe. Anyone got a big ol’ hound who is perfect for the stage? If so, shoot me an e-mail! The main requirements for the role:

1. 1. Will sit still on stage.
2. 2. Won’t pee on the actors.
3. 3. Will come when called.
4. 4. Won’t pee on the set.
5. 5. Is a big, kinda imposing looking hound.
6. 6. Won’t bite me. Or pee on me.

See? That shouldn’t be so hard to find!!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

So… I have had a hard time making time to write on the blog. First, I was spending most of my days and nights working on the script. Also, I find blogs a bit embarrassing. A little too revealing, which is funny — I’m a playwright, this is what I do, expose myself. Still, I feel exposed in a way that I don’t when I’m able to hide in and around the characters I put on stage. I imagine I may even feel a bit stingy with this first part of a rehearsal process, the part of playwriting I find most rewarding. It’s a leap of faith to make this part of the journey transparent. (more…)

I am back and have gone through my melancholy- separation- anxiety about leaving my home / my daily walks in the mountains / at the beach on the weekends / dishin’- 411 with my pals.

Yesterday. Sunday, woke up and the voice said go to your favorite / scared place past Zuma beach. I heeded the voice, drove to my spot, walked high on the point where I had an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean–where the sky meets the ocean. It’s a wildlife preserve. My view includes the place where the seals swim, lay around, eat and chat with one another. The ocean bell sounded every ten counts. (How do I know? I counted. I watched as the seabirds flew over-head, I even counted them, twelve, seven, eleven.) Good numbers. (more…)

I’m interviewing Lydia Diamond, Stick Fly playwright, for the Audience Resource Guide. Any questions you want me to ask her? Shoot me an e-mail or post them in the comments below.

Once I finish, I’ll post the interview transcript on the blog.

It’s kinda like the YouTube debates, only we’re not gonna ask her about global warming.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

39 days, 7 hours, and 51 minutes until Stick Fly’s opening performance. It’s days like this when you begin to wonder about magic of live theater. We begin rehearsals on Friday (35 days!), but already the interns have all arrived and are busily preparing for Shirley Jo, Lydia and the actors’ arrivals. The stage management team has started taping out the floor in the rehearsal room, the prop shoppers are shopping, the carpenters are building and the costume shop is bustling. It just amazes me that the theater will build this set from scratch, buy and build all these costumes, rehearse an entire new play and have it all ready in just 39 days!! Ack! 46 minutes! I’ve spent five minutes writing this! Gotta get back to work.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

So has anybody seen the new Moliere movie yet? Carrie told me about it at lunch, and it sounds super-neat. Here’s a link to the trailer, which you can download from Apple and watch it on your iPhone. And here are some reviews. I refuse to watch movies in French, but if anyone has seen it and wants to tell me about it, leave a comment below (you must be logged in to comment).

They say that this movie will do for Moliere what “Shakespeare in Love” did for Shakespeare… I don’t really know if that’s a good thing.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, the Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

I received a call at 5:30 am from my writer. The character CHERYL came and talked to Lydia in a dream.

(I must not reveal what she said, you must wait till you see the play).

I am excited for Lydia , her soul connection with CHERYL will shift everything in the 2nd act.

She now is writing away on another draft of STICK FLY… So what I said yesterday was yesterday.

We will have a new draft for next week.

Remember how I said I love the process. Well…….

Today is short and sweet.

peace and care

shirleyjo

Posted by Shirley Jo Finney, the director of Stick Fly at McCarter Theatre