Keep up the great webcasts!

I’m going to disagree a bit with the practical jokes backstage. It is a very fine line, and one I don’t think actors themselves can cross, but I DO like Directors that can make a running joke work, and the director is in a position to “pull a prank” on someone who it won’t bother and will take it in the spirt it is intended.

Here’s an example. I directed Communicating Doors and had an absolute pro playing the female lead. She was simply amazing, beautiful and talented but couldn’t get over her stage fright of having to change clothes on stage in front of everybody.

I loved my set, including the fully working bathtub on stage. The end of act one has the bad guy drowning the heroine in that tub just before the blackout. Prior to the bad guy’s entrance, the heroine is filling the tub. The stage fright was so bad, the actress was completely shutting down during the intermission in anticipation of the onstage partial nudity.

So the second night, I pre-filled the tub an put 10 goldfish in the tub before the show started. The whole crew was in on it and kept it quiet, and the big scene arrives, and you’d have never known that the goldfish were in there. Went off as great as ever.

However, THAT intermission the actress tracked me down, threw a goldfish at me, couldn’t believe I did it. I laughed. She laughed. The other actors laughed. It was the most fun intermission ever.

And she was COMPLETELY unafraid of the strip scene. She didn’t think about it, and when the show started up again, she was too busy (she very rarely left the stage) to think about it.

So we had a laugh, we had a relaxed lead actress for the rest of the run, and I had the perfect “threat” to hold over everyone. Don’t freak out our I’ll goldfish you. (Surprise! My cast gift was a big box of Goldfish crackers)

I’d never have done that to a new actress. I’d have been furious if another actor or crew had done it. But I needed to do something to help my actress. And the prank was what I did. Since then, I’ve gotten the reputation of pulling a prank backstage. And since none of them have ever been mean, dangerous, or designed to throw people off their job of acting, it’s all in good fun.

My last “prank” was as a Technical Director. I designed a set for To Gillian on her 37th Birthday. And it had a mean little twist that made me giggle. The entire show takes place on the beach behind a house. Instead of building just the back of the house, I built a house, and put a huge window right next to the door. And the door itself had a huge window in it. So instead of a place to hide waiting for a cue… the actors had to cross 16 feet of dressed stage space before opening the door. They had to get in character LONG before their cue lines, cross to the door on time, and make their “entrance” on cue.

Again, let me say that the amazing actors of that play managed to have whole mini-stories going on inside the house. Instead of arriving from the door with muffins for everyone, they opened a box of muffins and arranged them artistically on a plate. One actor read the paper in the chair in the house. They really took to it as a challenge… what would the character do when they “aren’t” on stage… but they are.

I giggled at everything they did, knowing they wouldn’t have been doing it if I’d given them the set they THOUGHT they were getting.

I’m going to disagree a bit with the practical jokes backstage. It is a very fine line, and one I don’t think actors themselves can cross, but I DO like Directors that can make a running joke work, and the director is in a position to “pull a prank” on someone who it won’t bother and will take it in the spirt it is intended.

Here’s an example. I directed Communicating Doors and had an absolute pro playing the female lead. She was simply amazing, beautiful and talented but couldn’t get over her stage fright of having to change clothes on stage in front of everybody.

I loved my set, including the fully working bathtub on stage. The end of act one has the bad guy drowning the heroine in that tub just before the blackout. Prior to the bad guy’s entrance, the heroine is filling the tub. The stage fright was so bad, the actress was completely shutting down during the intermission in anticipation of the onstage partial nudity.

So the second night, I pre-filled the tub an put 10 goldfish in the tub before the show started. The whole crew was in on it and kept it quiet, and the big scene arrives, and you’d have never known that the goldfish were in there. Went off as great as ever.

However, THAT intermission the actress tracked me down, threw a goldfish at me, couldn’t believe I did it. I laughed. She laughed. The other actors laughed. It was the most fun intermission ever.

And she was COMPLETELY unafraid of the strip scene. She didn’t think about it, and when the show started up again, she was too busy (she very rarely left the stage) to think about it.

So we had a laugh, we had a relaxed lead actress for the rest of the run, and I had the perfect “threat” to hold over everyone. Don’t freak out our I’ll goldfish you. (Surprise! My cast gift was a big box of Goldfish crackers)

I’d never have done that to a new actress. I’d have been furious if another actor or crew had done it. But I needed to do something to help my actress. And the prank was what I did. Since then, I’ve gotten the reputation of pulling a prank backstage. And since none of them have ever been mean, dangerous, or designed to throw people off their job of acting, it’s all in good fun.

My last “prank” was as a Technical Director. I designed a set for To Gillian on her 37th Birthday. And it had a mean little twist that made me giggle. The entire show takes place on the beach behind a house. Instead of building just the back of the house, I built a house, and put a huge window right next to the door. And the door itself had a huge window in it. So instead of a place to hide waiting for a cue… the actors had to cross 16 feet of dressed stage space before opening the door. They had to get in character LONG before their cue lines, cross to the door on time, and make their “entrance” on cue.

Again, let me say that the amazing actors of that play managed to have whole mini-stories going on inside the house. Instead of arriving from the door with muffins for everyone, they opened a box of muffins and arranged them artistically on a plate. One actor read the paper in the chair in the house. They really took to it as a challenge… what would the character do when they “aren’t” on stage… but they are.

I giggled at everything they did, knowing they wouldn’t have been doing it if I’d given them the set they THOUGHT they were getting.

A techie without an actor is someone with marketable job skills.

An actor without tech is alone, naked, emoting in the dark.

A techie without an actor is someone with marketable job skills.

An actor without tech is alone, naked, emoting in the dark.

This was a team effort between our community theatre and a local high school. I had a bunch of kids from the high school for a crew. They were FANTASTIC. I never could have convinced our normal tech crew to rehearse, and the changes never would have been as smooth.

To tie this into your blog post, I took one scene that I videotaped for the actors, and the next show I videotaped the tech. I put the two together so the actors could see what was happening behind the curtain while they were on the stage. If you’re interested: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=1493935101413

Anyway, thanks again for the great podcast… I’m getting spoiled having found you today. Waiting for episodes is gonna be hard.

This was a team effort between our community theatre and a local high school. I had a bunch of kids from the high school for a crew. They were FANTASTIC. I never could have convinced our normal tech crew to rehearse, and the changes never would have been as smooth.

To tie this into your blog post, I took one scene that I videotaped for the actors, and the next show I videotaped the tech. I put the two together so the actors could see what was happening behind the curtain while they were on the stage. If you’re interested: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=1493935101413

Anyway, thanks again for the great podcast… I’m getting spoiled having found you today. Waiting for episodes is gonna be hard.

That was a simple thing, took a few minutes after getting the headshots together. Video can make such an impact.

That was a simple thing, took a few minutes after getting the headshots together. Video can make such an impact.

How about a non-musical holiday show built around one- two- or three-person presentations appropriate to the holiday you’re celebrating (I do Ingersoll for our atheist Solstice celebrations). Act out brief sketches, comedic and serious, tell holiday stories, recall historical events and characters etc.

Hello to anyone who might remember me.
-Richard McNally (Cabin Fever, 2005)

How about a non-musical holiday show built around one- two- or three-person presentations appropriate to the holiday you’re celebrating (I do Ingersoll for our atheist Solstice celebrations). Act out brief sketches, comedic and serious, tell holiday stories, recall historical events and characters etc.

Hello to anyone who might remember me.
-Richard McNally (Cabin Fever, 2005)

Or, Only more chances to steal someone elses scene.

Or, Only a lot less yackin’ and a lot more actin’.

Or, Only more chances to steal someone elses scene.

Or, Only a lot less yackin’ and a lot more actin’.