Playwright Laurie Brooks suggests using traditional 19th century music to enhance her play, A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas. And she points to a valuable resource, a compilation of all the songs mentioned in Wilder's Little House books. The Laura Ingalls…
We are several weeks into our rehearsal process for the second show of the 2014-2015 season. While we all agree that it's something of a misnomer, A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas, by Laurie Brooks, is--we've recently discovered--based on good…
Great thoughts on acting from Sam Ward, who plays Alan in our upcoming production of Interval...
Note: This post is full of links to other really interesting websites. Each link opens a new window. Enjoy exploring!
The setting of a play can be as detailed and exact as the playwright, the director and/or the producer want or need it to be. In the musical The Fantasticks, which has the feeling of a parable, the setting is a nearly bare stage with a trunk and a ladder. In Larry Shue’s The Foreigner, the single large hunting lodge set (which needs to include a trap door) benefits from a loving attention to realistic detail. [NOTE: both this excellent shows are running right now in Fort Wayne, at IPFW and First Presbyterian, respectively.]
Jeannette Clift George sets her two-character play, Interval, in the heart of New York City, Manhattan. Perhaps because for Americans, NYC is the quintessential Big City, it is a fitting backdrop for a play about two lonely people who are having a hard time finding a place to belong. Audience members who know New York well may have a bit of a job suspending disbelief that there could actually be a “forgotten corner” of Riverside Park, which runs along the Hudson River. We have tried to suggest that it is a sunken section of garden (steps down from street level).
You will notice several things about this garden:
Here are more thoughts directly from Sam Ward, who plays Alan in our upcoming production.
You can click here to access a PDF version of Kathleen Christian-Harmeyer's article on our new season. Featuring a great photo of Sam and Sara, and lots of information about all four of our shows (all of which are area…
As I was sitting in the studio at PBS Channel 39 last week, waiting to be part of an Arts Weekly interview (that link will take you to the whole show, of which I am the first six minutes–there will be a quicker YouTube link soon)…I looked over at John O’Connell’s list of questions for me and near the top I could see, “WHO ARE SAM AND SARA WARD?”
Wow, I thought. Great question.
I didn’t let him ask it. I answered it without prompting.
Who are Sam and Sara Ward? They are:
God-lovers,
Believer-artists,
Husband and wife,
Pastor and wife,
Parents of Eliana and Silas,
Passionate about redeeming the arts,
My friends.
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I don’t have their biographies for the program yet, but I did come up with some questions to ask them. Their answers will give you a little more insight into what is so special about this couple.
Alan sits shivering on a bench in Riverside Park. He's waiting for a ride. Lenore hurries on to use the payphone to call her roommate to pick her up. Other than their dependence on others for their daily commute, Alan…
Sound design and music selection is always an integral part of our productions, and “1984” was no exception. It did present some unique challenges. Several characters in the play only appeared as either a sound or a video cue–what should the quality of that sound be? What kind of music would exemplify this world? What other sounds would enhance it?
Scott Kump, our sound designer for the show, worked closely with videographer Brent Kuster, to achieve just the right quality for all the sounds. You’ll hear a difference between the announcer’s voice on-camera, versus his disembodied voice in the Ministry of Love. This is different again from the flatter sound in the arrest sequence (where we are presuming the equipment being used is cheaper). Goldstein’s voice is given a deliberately vintage, distorted quality.