Below, you can see a time-lapse video of the load-in of Argonautika’s set and lights and the light focus that followed. The whole set arrived from DC in a 53-foot truck, and our Production Staff, many of whom had traveled down to DC to see the production there, loaded it into the space. As you can see in the video, the set was designed to fit into many smaller pieces so that it could easily come in and out of the truck. One of the interesting things our staff had to do was to modify the bridge over the stage so that in the event of an emergency, our fire curtain could still operate. During a section of the video, you can see the fire curtain in the space so that could be figured out.
This video is a bit different than our last time-lapse video. It was shot from the balcony, instead of the house, and used a different camera than we used last time. Every two seconds, the camera captured one video frame, which means that each minute of video is equal to an hour of real time on the stage. Enjoy!
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
People get sick. It happens. They get sick. Or hurt. Or lost. Or stuck in traffic, or hired, or fired, or a friend comes to town, a relative leaves town, or any number of things that fall under the rubric of “something came up” which prevents everybody, at one point or another, from going to work on a given day. It happens.
Actors don’t get sick often because we don’t work very often and so when we do work we’re very loathe to allow ourselves to lose a show. They’ll have to pry our performance opportunities out of our cold, dead, hands. But it happens. So many theaters have understudies which are other actors who are trained and prepared to go on on the off chance that someone does go down. McCarter, however, does not. So, it was a little bit scary when somebody got sick. More accurately, it was VERY scary when THREE people got EXTREMELY ILL. As I said, actors are nothing if not egotistical, so we all soldiered on in the face of phlegm. We pushed on and just looked forward to the next day off in which to rest up. We knew that if we could just make it to Monday. But, at some point on Thursday afternoon, all our phones started ringing. Emergency rehearsal. An actor had gone down and wouldn’t be doing the show that night.
We got together and Mary, the director, started divying up the roles that this actor played. This person got this line, this person made that cross, etc. One part, however, was not given out. The only people who were free during these scenes in Act II wouldn’t fit in the costume. At the same time, Anjali Bhimani, an actor Mary has worked with many times before, was on her way up from New York on a train to have dinner with Mary and to see the show. She didn’t get to see it. Because as soon as she got off the train and walked in the theatre, before even a hello or introductions, a script was shoved at her, and a quick fitting was done. Instead of being a member of the audience, Anjali Bhimani would be a member of the cast that night.
The show turned out great. The changes reinvigorated all of us. Anjali was/is an excellent actress and, in this case more importantly, a quick study. She did a wonderful job and the show did—as cliche as it is—go on.
Posted by Chris Kipiniak, who plays “Castor” and others in McCarter Theatre’s Production of Argonautika.
We’ve finally done it! McCarter’s first home-brewed video podcast! A video backstage tour of the Argonautika set. I stayed up way too late last night working on it (instead of cleaning my apartment), but I’m really happy with what came out! Many thanks to Jesse J. Perez, who narrated the backstage tour, and Elizabeth Edwards, the videographer.
Enjoy the video, and post your comments below!
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
And you thought we were done with Edward Albee… How foolish of you.
I just stumbled onto this Downstage Center podcast on the website of the American Theatre Wing. Why does nobody tell me about these things? Anyway, he talks about McCarter so I feel like it’s sorta relevant to the blog. I have to say that it is a really great interview with Albee—he’s got a good zinger for every question. He’s a cagey fellow, that Albee. Anyway, thought you might enjoy it as a blog bonus.
Original air date - February 8, 2008
Running Time - 58:17
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
Before it came to Princeton, Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika performed at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Straight from their YouTube channel, here’s a sneak peek of one of my favorite moments of the play: role call!
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
Grace Shackney is McCarter’s Director of Artistic Administration, as well as the Assistant to Artistic Director and Managing Director. Her many varied tasks include human resources, supervising the internship program, coordinating the activities of the Board of Trustees, organizing staff events, organizing McCarter’s annual Artists’ Retreat and contracting and working with visiting playwrights, directors and actors. I asked her seven questions:
What’s your hometown? Metuchen, New Jersey…and I still live there.
What do you like most about being the Director of Artistic Administration? I like the diversity of activities involved with working for both the Managing Director and the Artistic Director. I especially like the interaction my job affords me with all of McCarter’s constituents including the McCarter staff, the board of directors, donors, visiting artists, agents, other regional theaters and commercial producers and, at times, with individual audience members.
What’s on your iPod (or CD player, etc.)?
“As I Am” by Alicia Keys; “Shine” by Joni Mitchell; “Continuum” by John Mayer.
What do you love about Princeton? Its walkability, its public plazas and gathering places and the new Public Library.
If you were trapped on a desert island, and could only take one book, what would it be and why? Lawrence Ferlingetti’s turn-of-the-millennium collection of poems called A Far Rockaway of the Mind. It complements his earlier collection, A Coney Island of the Mind which was published in 1954.
What was the first play you ever saw? “Where’s Charlie” put on by the senior class of my high school when I was a freshman. They seemed to be having such fun and they all looked so wonderful that I was instantly captivated by the process of putting on theater.
What is your favorite thing so far about working at McCarter? In the 17 years I have been here I am always adding to my favorite things. I would have to say my most favorite things are producing an event from start to finish, working with an incredible staff, nurturing a broad spectrum of artists and managing our internship program, which, I might add, has an exceptional class of 13 emerging theater artists and administrators this year.
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
McCarter’s 2008-2009 Theater Season has been announced. You can purchase your tickets here. I’m totally jazzed about this upcoming season, and in the coming days, I’ll write up a preview post for each show. Until then, you’ll have to live with just the list:
Take Flight Book by John Weidman Music by David Shire Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Talley’s Folly By Lanford Wilson Directed by Marshall W. Mason
Yesterday was a fun day. My college roommate came from Chicago on Wednesday, and we stayed up until 4am talking. Not just about boys! We actually had to figure out what we were going to teach the next morning, because I’d promised the McCarter education department that I would teach 60 2nd graders something from 9am to noon on Thursday.
Can I just say—the education department at the McCarter is incredible. Every member of the department seems charged with the positive strength of people who love what they do. Their programming is broad and robust, helping children k-12 from all walks of life to learn and love through drama. I introduced myself to the Program Manager Jim on the first day, and he found me classes and meetings to participate in within minutes. I later learned that they had already placed my co-worker Chris Kipiniak with a program called “Homefront,” dedicated to children without permanent housing. Chris has also worked for the McCarter’s after school outreach program called First Stage Company. There, children create characters and Chris, a writer for Marvel comics, wrote those characters into a play for the kids to perform.
Last week the whole cast went to see the production of Jason and the Arrrr-gonats performed by a small cast of eight-year-olds. The show was hilarious. The actors were well rehearsed, relaxed but focused. The writing truly captured the heart and humor of the children on stage, and the staging was endlessly imaginative.
I was standing in the back with our sound designer, Andre Puess, (the room was packed) and we just kept throwing each other looks of astonishment. It was awesome.
Yesterday morning was no less moving. My friend Anne, Rachel (a member of the touring show The Odyssey Experience), and I met around eight to inhale buckets of coffee and discuss what we were going to teach. By nine fifteen we were in the midst of a storm at sea, with thirty jumping bean second grade Argonauts falling back and forth in their school library (that was now on the sea!). You wouldn’t believe how excited they were to undulate fabric and make wave sounds, to run around as fairies of the wind or boom the will of Boreus above all the cachaphony.
On March 13th, before things got too hectic in tech, I gave myself a backstage tour of Argonautika. So much to see! The photos below are some of the things I found. Enjoy!Click on the thumbnails to view larger
A detail of the offstage right props table
Above the stage
Birds
Skeletons
The centaur costume
The ramp above the stage
The stage right quick-change booth
The view from above the stage
The view from upstage, looking out at the audience
To get to under the stage, you have to go through here, sign says ‘Watch head - Ouch’
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
And you thought we were done with Edward Albee… How foolish of you.
