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When it's time

posted by Megan Wygant on Fri, Sep 4, 2009
in At the theatre

Last night was the invited dress for American Idiot, or, as director Michael Mayer put it, "the first tech rehearsal we'll make it through without stopping. We hope." As implied, "invited dress" was a dress rehearsal (all sets, lights, costumes, sound, in place) — with a very special extra factor: an audience.

Specifically, a friendly audience. Even more specifically: the staff of Berkeley Rep, the actors' families, a few assorted friends and Green Day band members (see photo below). It was still officially a technical rehearsal, with huge swaths of seats held off-limits for the production team. Much of the front section of the house kept empty so that people could move easily throughout the theatre as needed, so it definitely didn't look like a regular performance...but it also didn't feel like rehearsal any longer.

For those of us who haven't been in the rehearsal room day in and out, we've had a few specific opportunities to check in and witness the show's progression — the sing-through, the run-through, and now, the invited dress. Each time, I've found it fascinating to discover what elements have been added, and how they affect my experience of the production. Personally, I've always been a big believer that lighting and sound shouldn't make or break a show — either a moment holds up without them, or it just doesn't work. I mention this because during the latest iteration of rehearsals, the effects were added. And they did exactly what they were supposed to do: add drama and dimension to key moments, and augment — while without overwhelming — the work that the actors were already doing.

I recently switched jobs at the Theatre, from communications manager to company manager, and here's something else I was amazed to find: In my previous life, while working on the playbill, I interviewed the then-company manager, Christopher Jenkins, about his job. I remember him saying that it was hard to watch the show without watching the actors; it was hard to separate the people he knew from the work he was seeing on stage. As Christopher's replacement, I've gotta say, he was 100% right. I haven't seen the show since John Gallagher, Jr. — our Johnny — bumped his head in rehearsal a few weeks back (he mentioned it on Twitter, although I couldn't figure out how to link to the individual tweet). I was amused to find myself holding my breath last night as John (successfully!) executed the move that had sent him to the doctor's so recently.

As I mentioned before, we were a friendly audience — everyone in the room was in some way invested in the piece. And after the show, we leapt to our feet to applaud — and kept applauding, long after the applause should have drawn to a natural end. The actors joined in, too, and the moment became about saluting not just the actors, but also the crew, the stage managers, and those of us in the audience who had also been working phenomenally hard. We've all been in this together, and we'd finally gotten the show to the point we'd all been striving for: the end of the invited dress.

It was one of those moments that reminded me why I work in theatre.

Afterward, walking back to my office to grab my purse, I ran into John on the street.

"Good job tonight," I said. "How'd it feel?"

He grinned at me. "Great," he said. "It was time to get it in front of an audience. We really needed that." As he explained, the cast and Michael have been living with this show for so long — many of them have been involved since the first workshop, last March — that finally getting to feel the emotional give and take between actors and audience was like feeling that final missing piece of the puzzle slot home. He was high on the experience, and after that first trial run, eager to do it again.

The invited dress is traditionally the last rehearsal on the schedule, and this was no exception — this weekend's schedule is not that of rehearsal, but performance. This weekend includes the first previews of the show; the first chances to share it with you, the audience. It's the chance when all the hard work we've put in behind the scenes finally gets to pay off. As John said, it's time.

Enjoy.

Top photo: An eager crowd in the Roda Theatre lobby
waits to see the final dress rehearsal of American Idiot.
Above: Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt of Green Day
have a pre-show chat with producer Tom Hulce.
Photos by Cheshire Isaacs