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Yellowjackets takes a night/OUT (or, how to throw a party in a little under an hour)
posted by Megan Wygant on Fri, Sep 5, 2008
in Events
Several times each season, Berkeley Rep hosts "night/OUT," which is basically a giant party for the LGBT community. Basically, theatre-loving L, G, B, or T peeps come to the show, and get a post-show party filled with food, drink, and dancing--free with your ticket.
Last night was the first night/OUT of the season -- here's what went down.
Set-up for all these parties takes place during the show's second act, since we need to take over the Theatre's public areas--areas where the audience is hanging out during intermission. It means we're on a pretty tight schedule--especially in this case, where the second act has been clocking in at exactly fifty-eight minutes for the past several nights.
Here's a shot of the courtyard, T-minus 52 minutes or so.
Lucky for us, Chef Todd of Liaison Bistro was punctual as usual, arriving just a few minutes before the lights flashed to signal the end of intermission. Chef Todd really is one of my favorite people to work with. Aside from the fact that he's amazingly generous with both his time and talents, and that he always creates a beautiful (and delicious) spread for our patrons, he's got a great sense of humor, and makes working together fun. Here, though, he's got his game face on, and is preoccupied with making sure everything looks exactly right.
We had little laugh at the expense of Elissa Dunn, our audience development and events manager. This was the first night/OUT where she was completely in charge, and as a result, she was a little nervous. She spent most of the first act pacing the Roda Theatre lobby (where we'd hidden the goods), double- and triple-checking everything, convinced she'd forgotten to check some crucial party detail. Here, she's testing to make sure the keg works (really). And the best part? She was so nervous, she actually did forget how to pour a cup of beer -- the first three cupsful were nothing but foam.
The food. Yum! There was an amazing double brie on this table that literally melted in your mouth.
Here's the drinks table, with Webmaster Christina Cone testing the keg once more.
...And here they come! Party! (The angle doesn't show it as well as I thought it did last night, but there is a line streaming out behind these two guys.)
See if you can spot the Yellowjackets cast in the next few shots. Everyone came down to mix and mingle with the audience, and they had a great time. Actually, some of the actors closed the place down (No, I'm not telling which ones. But they were awesome, and we were sorry to kick them and a few die-hard fans out, but really, our facilities guy needed to lock up).
Thanks again to the cast, to the most excellent DJ rrrus, Darling Flower Shop for their fantastic blooms throughout the theatre, Chef Todd and Liaison, and of course, to everyone who came out and made it an awesome night. You all rock.
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