Room Service Rehearsal, Day Nine

Prior Reports:
Day 1 - Sunday, 29 June: Read-Through and Act One Blocking
Day 2 - Monday, 30 June: Act Two and Act Three Blocking
Day 3 - Tuesday, 1 July: Act Three Blocking, Publicity, and Working Act One
Day 4 - Wednesday, 2 July: Working Act Two and Meet the Cast
Day 5 - Thursday, 3 July: Run-Through and Meet the Cast
Day 6 - Friday, 4 July: Run-Through and Meet the Cast
Day 7 - Saturday, 5 July: Work Session and Designer's Run
Day 8 - Sunday, 6 July: Load-In*, Hang and Focus, and Running Lines
*Including one-minute timelapse video of the set going up!

Monday, 7 July: Costumes, Props, and Adjusting to the Stage.

Hi there! I'm Eric Silvertree, back with another installment of the day-by-day backstage blog of Room Service, part of Tibbits Summer Theatre's forty-fifth season of summer stock.

I'm sure you noticed some props and furniture pieces gradually replacing the folding chairs that stood in for the real things during rehearsals at the Jefferson Elementary School gym. On Monday, however, we got our hands on all the genuine articles we'll be using in the show. Minor additions and changes will continue right up to the final rehearsal, but all the departments try to make sure that the technical aspects of the show are as close to finished as possible for the first on-stage run.

Properties master Sarah Simrau had her work cut out for her - there are three and a half pages of fine print on the last pages of the script, listing the props called for in the action of the play - and none of them are allowed to look as though they were manufactured in the twenty-first century. Period suitcases, doctor's bag, dinnerware, linen and towels, a typewriter in a carrying case - all have to be either found, made, or modified from items in the Tibbits stock.

It all looks like a pile of mess as it's brought in, but Sarah and assistant stage manager Whitney Shouse quickly get things organized. Props are either pre-set in the right locations on the set or laid out on tables backstage, with a specific place for each prop, so that we actors always know exactly where everything is and can easily grab what we need and get back on stage.

Lights and set also have some details to attend to, like wiring the lighted sconces attached to the wall above the side tables by the beds. Here you can see Whitney and master electrician Ben Paciorkowski hooking up power to a bell ringer that has the right sound for a 1930's telephone and can be controlled from the light operator's station.

During the morning session, while the crew was busy working on the stage, the actors met in the greenroom. Nobody can agree on why the room set aside for actors to relax offstage as they're waiting to go on is called the greenroom, but it's been called that since at least the beginning of the eighteenth century. Ours is down a flight of stairs from the door opening onto the back of the stage, and it's the perfect spot for the whole cast to go through the dialogue of the whole show from beginning to end, talking our way through the script one last time before we start doing it on a set with stairsteps and doors and furniture and props in our hands.

After lunch, we walked around on the set for a few minutes to get used to the space, and then we began our first onstage run-through. We've been rehearsing on a flat floor without walls up until now, pretending to be holding papers and dishes and things, so we were all a little distracted the first time through, and kept forgetting our lines. That's not a problem - the director expects it to happen, and so do we. When an actor goes blank in rehearsal, he or she doesn't (and shouldn't) waste time apologizing for it. Instead, we just shout "Line!" Someone - usually Justin Carroll, the stage manager - has a script right in front of him, ready to feed us a few words to get us back on track. There comes a point, of course, when we're expected to recover from problems on our own (since we can't shout "Line!" during a performance) but that point doesn't come until we've had a chance to get used to the stage.

For the evening session, we added costumes to the mix. We've paid individual visits to the costume shop for fittings at various times during the last week, but this was our first time wearing them for a dress rehearsal, or rehearsal in costume. Getting used to our clothes, and when we change them for different scenes, is another distraction, but we all settled in very quickly. In fact, I think I was the only one who called "Line!" during the evening dress.

Costuming a show set in the 1930's - or any other historical period - presents the same challenges as gathering props. All the garments have to have to be in the right style, with no obvious color or fabric choices from the wrong era. Some of the clothes are simply pulled from the Tibbits inventory, and some are constructed from scratch. Let's meet the costumers!

In front is Melissa Swanson, the designer for Room Service. Behind Melissa is Kathleen Reid, and behind Kathleen is Em Rossi. Kathleen recently earned her BFA at the University of Central Missouri, and Em is working toward her MFA at Wayne State University. They all share the work as stitchers for every show, but they divide the design responsibilities up. Em designed Little Women, which just closed, and is working on the upcoming show The Goodbye Girl, which follows Room Service. Melissa will design again for The Bop She Bops, and Kathleen is in charge of all the shows in the Popcorn Theatre series for children.

Now that we're on the stage, and into the dress rehearsal phase, we're almost ready to open. Tuesday and Wednesday will be our time to work out the last of our hesitations and uncertainties as we prepare to open the show to the public on Thursday. I'll talk to you again soon!