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They don't walk alone

posted by Megan Wygant on Fri, Oct 9, 2009
in General theatre talk

American Idiot is a high-energy show. The cast members act, they sing, they dance – as loud as they can, hard as they can, eight shows a week.

And, sometimes, they get hurt.

I’m not saying we’re carrying folks out on stretchers night after night...but this is a strenuous performance. Conditioning and personal training is a required part of all the actors’ routines. During the rehearsal process, choreographer Steven Hoggett led the cast through an intense (and mandatory) 90-minute warm-up/workout at the start of each day’s work. More recently, it’s been an informal (but no less intense) warm-up led by associate choreographer Lorin Latarro before each performance. This session is specifically geared toward stretching out and strengthening the muscles and ligaments that the actors will use during the show – created not just to ensure that they’re performing at their best, but to ensure they're avoiding injury.

And yet...people slip. Someone steps on a piece of paper and loses footing. A head bang gets a little too enthusiastic. Blocking gets off, and two people land their leaps in a place where only one was meant to be.

As much as I think that the company management team (that would be myself and the company management intern, Euphrates Dahout) rocks it, we aren’t superheroes (except when pretending to be, like in the photo of the production and company management departments at left). I can’t heal the injured with my bare hands. And even if we could, I wouldn’t...because for an actor/dancer, the stakes are just too high. Their bodies – their feet, ankles, knees, etc. – are the tools they use to perform their craft. If they’re not in peek physical condition, they can’t work. A minor injury left untreated can become a chronic problem, which could become career-ending.

OK, so perhaps I’m over-dramatizing things, but that’s the attitude with which we have to approach any injury – if only to be able to anticipate the actors’ concerns.

I want my actors to be healthy, and when they’re injured I need to get them the best-possible help. And that’s why, about halfway through the run of this demanding show, I wanted to take a moment to give a shout-out to some of the silent partners who help keep the actors on their feet.

The Saint Francis Centers for Sports Medicine have provided immediate and excellent care for our actors on so many levels. I was introduced to them through two sources: Wicked’s company management (yes, we all talk!), and Patricia Commer.

Patricia, who works for the Walnut Creek wing of the Center for Sports Medicine during the day, previously worked with us for The Arabian Nights and Argonautika, teaching actors how best to listen to and protect their bodies during those two productions, which were also physically demanding. When we first contacted her for this show, the plan was to have her consult with Steven and Lorin about how best to structure the daily warm-up to give the actors the most benefit. However, as our relationship has evolved, Patricia has essentially become the production’s on-site physical therapist. She comes to the Theatre most weekends, working with actors between shows to provide both preventative therapy and, when needed, intensive and immediate first aid. She’s empathetic and perceptive...and she makes the injured walk again! (Or at least, that’s how it seems from my perspective.)

Patricia also connected us with Dr. Selina Shah and Jennifer Taylor. Jenn is a student at the National Holistic Institute who is donating her time and skills to provide massage therapy to the cast on a weekly basis, in conjunction with Patricia's therapy.

Meanwhile, Dr. Shah has followed in Patricia’s footsteps with regard to being an all-hours resource for the Theatre. She’s a sports medicine physician, also with the Saint Francis Centers for Sports Medicine. She has consulted with us after hours and has met with our actors in the Centers' San Francisco and Walnut Creek clinics – often squeezing them in within 24 hours of an injury. As a onetime dancer herself, her ability to talk candidly with the dancers about their prognosis, and in their own language, is invaluable (usually this boils down to, “You’ll be fine. Really.” – but it sure helps to hear it from someone who understands what “fine” needs to mean!).

Chris Corpus, the clinic supervisor for the San Francisco clinic, was hailed by my counterpart over at Wicked as “fantastic.” I’ve got to one-up that: she’s my new personal hero. Even before Dr. Shah volunteered to be the main ortho contact for the Theatre, Chris was able to get our walking wounded in to see doctors within hours of my calls. She’s highly knowledgeable about navigating the paperwork surrounding a workplace-related injury, as well as ALL the medical resources available at St. Francis Medical Center – which has been an amazing resource on some really really crazy days.

Although Dr. Shah is our main doctor, Chris is the one who handles our appointments for the Center, and I know our actors have seen several different doctors and therapists – including Drs. Susan Lewis, Tram Nguyen, Victor Prieto, William Ross, and Kristin Wingfield – at the facility. Every single one of the people we send over there returns feeling much more confident about what’s going on with their body, and understanding how best they can help heal it. And that peace of mind is more valuable than anything else I can imagine, right now.

Thank you, all of you. I know I’ve said it over the phone a billion times, but I so appreciate that your willingness to help the actors gives me the necessary tools to keep the cast on stage, where they belong. Thanks to you, I can be sure that they don't walk alone.

Top photo: The cast of American Idiot. Photo by mellopix.com

Lower photo: Production and company management staff. Photo by Kevin Berne.