Berkeley Rep Blog
Category archive: Backstage buzz
What actors really drink onstage
posted by Karen McKevitt on Wed, Mar 9, 2011
in At the theatre , Backstage buzz , Our shows
After reading Megan Wygant’s post on the microwave haiku, Production Assistant Megan McClintock was inspired to delve a little further on what it takes backstage to accommodate a “food show” like Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, or the show currently cooking in our Roda kitchen, Ruined. Here’s what she says:
Though there is solid food in Ruined (peanut, anyone?), most of the preparation time for this show is beverage related -- the cast consumes more than 40 glasses of beverages and opens 28 bottles of beer and 8 bottles of Fanta onstage during each show. The drinks referred to in the script include whiskey, beer, Fanta, and Palm wine. Mama Nadi (the lead character in the play and operator of the bar in which Ruined is set) also serves an African homebrew, rum and gin. At least, that’s what the audience thinks the cast is drinking, if we have done our jobs right. In reality, nothing is as it seems.
My favorite of the drinks served onstage is the homebrew, which Mama Nadi serves from a five-gallon bucket with a ladle. It’s based on an African drink made from fermented corn, and director Liesl Tommy reports from personal experience that the homebrew served in the Congo looks white and foamy. To replicate that look for the stage we opted for a mixture of vanilla ice cream and Diet 7-Up, something of an ice cream soda. The preparation process includes a lot of foam!
There are four whiskey bottles onstage, all of which are a mixture of a strong brewed tea and water. Each bottle gets refilled daily using a funnel; we pour the tea through a coffee filter to make sure there are no stray leaves.
Though a simple recipe, the beer process is one of the longest. Since we are using brown bottles, the “beer” is just water, and the bottles are re-used nightly. The Berkeley Rep prop shop has provided us with over 60 bottles with Primus labels; we fill and cap almost 30 bottles per show, starting with rinsing and sanitizing each bottle. The dishwasher rack provides drying space till we get around to re-filling.
The process for the Fanta is similar, and Fanta is the only drink onstage that is at least mostly what it seems. The Fanta is one-half Fanta and one-half water, since drinking very sweet beverages onstage can be hard on an actor’s voice. Like the beer, we bottle it ourselves. We buy Fanta in two-liter plastic bottles, cut it with water, then pour it into our special glass Fanta bottles, which can’t be purchased at your average grocery. Fanta and beer caps get labeled with the date, so we can keep the stock rotated in the crates onstage, keeping everything nice and fresh for the actors.
There are a few other liquor bottles at the bar. The crew gets a break with the gin and rum bottles -- clear liquors that “are on tap in the kitchen sink,” as we refer to it. The script calls for Palm wine, which is also mostly water with some soy milk added to give it the appropriate opacity onstage. That about rounds out the liquid libations of Mama Nadi’s, where the worst buzz you will get is an ice cream headache. Tune in next time for info on other concoctions in Ruined, from the Fufu Mama serves for dinner to the “mud” on the miner’s feet and hands, and come see our creations in action onstage nightly!
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Backstage haiku
posted by Megan Wygant on Thu, Mar 3, 2011
in At the theatre , Backstage buzz
Found on the backstage kitchen microwave:
For those who don't have super-vision, the post-it reads:
I stand on a chair
Melt, melt that cheese, microwave
Scene shift coming up.
It's dated December 2008, which a quick flip through the theatre's timeline tells us was right in the middle of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. JT, as we call it internally, was a "food" show -- one that has lots of scenes with characters eating.
All the food you see actors eat onstage is, of necessity, prepared backstage. There's a fully functional kitchen offstage, house right, where food is made, stored, and then reheated in the moments before it has to arrive onstage for the actors to consume in front of you (what that food is could be a blog post all of its own -- modern-day allergies, dietary restrictions, and other considerations mean that the "chicken-n-biscuits, with gravy" called for by the script can probably be none of those things).
Clearly, the mystery writer was working under a deadline. I can only assume they made it.
Melt, melt that cheese, microwave!
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Breaking news: The composer is dead!
posted by Karen McKevitt on Mon, Nov 29, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Costume shop , Our shows , Prop shop
Have you seen the two features about Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead that came out over the weekend? Robert Hurwitt at the San Francisco Chronicle interviewed Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko of Phantom Limb, who created the puppets, while Jackie Burrell at the Contra Costa Times conducted an irreverent interview with author Lemony Snicket’s stand-in, Daniel Handler.
I myself have been absolutely fascinated with the orchestra of marionettes in Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead, and during tech week, I managed to catch up with Erik as well as the costume shop staff to talk about how they designed and costumed these marionettes.
The show is based on the book by the celebrated author of A Series of Unfortunate Events. At the top of the story, a composer turns up dead, and everyone in the orchestra is a suspect. But, these aren’t your everyday everyones.
“The Inspector interrogates the instruments,” says Erik, “not the musicians.” In fact, the musicians and instruments are essentially one and the same.
Erik’s marionettes are elegant human/instrument hybrids. Put simply, they’re instruments with faces, arms and hands, but Erik was careful not to “Disneyfy” them. The violins, for example, have an austere bone structure that’s not at all cartoonish. Erik created the heads and hands using Celluclay. “No one over age 8 uses it,” Erik says, laughing. “But I don’t use synthetics in my work.” The Berkeley Rep props department cast all the instruments over the summer.
While the marionettes were being made, the costume shop started working on their elaborate wardrobe. The fabric that makes up the brass section’s pinstripe suits is printed with the actual score from the show. Three different dye vats were used to create the parchment-colored clothes for the oboes. The violins wear corsets that form their body, while the ruffled fronts are the strings. “They’re my favorite,” says Kitty Muntzel, a draper in our shop. “They’re very girly.”
I asked Kitty how costuming marionettes is different from costuming actors. “Well,” she says, “you can stitch the costumes directly to the puppets!” We laugh. Another plus is that there’s hardly any tailoring and no intricate facing like functioning pockets.
One of the costume shop’s biggest considerations was the marionettes’ range of motion and where the strings are located. They also had to consider that the marionette’s bodies are fabric as well, so the costumes don’t slide over them the same way clothes slide when an actor raises his arm. Erik noted that the resistance of fabric against fabric was actually helpful when the puppeteers started working with the marionettes.
Most of the marionettes were dressed in rehearsal – after they had already been strung. So almost every morning, the costume department would arrive early to costume a section of instruments. Each section had to be unstrung, and the costumers had to dress each marionette in the quarters of their orchestra pit.
One of the biggest challenges in rehearsal was getting groups of marionettes, like all the violins, to stand up and sit down as a group. Each marionette is individually strung, so it takes an elaborate network of pulleys and expert puppeteers to make them all move the same way simultaneously while still being able to move individually.
The result, judging from the dress rehearsal I saw last week, is visually stunning. And we’re all looking forward to sharing it with you, so purchase your seats now before it’s too late!
Photo of Geoff Hoyle by kevinberne.com.
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In this performance...
posted by Megan Wygant on Wed, Nov 17, 2010
in Backstage buzz
You've heard the old adage, "the show must go on." Nowhere is that more apparent than when one person covers for another, so that the show itself can go on, even if an individual artist cannot.
If you've attended any number of theatrical events, you've probably seen this sign at one time or another:
"In this performance, the roles normally played by [person 1] will be played by [person 2]."
Now, sometimes, that's a real bummer -- you might have come to a show specifically to see person 1, for example -- but you should know that sending on an understudy is never something done lightly. Sending on an understudy is a Big Deal. And that's why I want to tell you a little bit about the last time that sign appeared on Berkeley Rep's stages -- partially to give you some insight into what's might be going on backstage while you're reading that notice, and partially to give a round of applause to some serious superstars who rarely get the limelight.
In one of the very last weeks of Compulsion, you might have seen that understudy sign in the lobby. Tuesday night, about 90 minutes before the first show of the week, puppeteer Emily DeCola recieved a phone call. There was a family emergency, and she needed to get home. This could have been a major problem -- we cast a full contingent of understudy actors for each show, but we don't shadow-cast the backstage crew or the puppeteers. We were about to be one man down for three days.
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Hometown pride
posted by Megan Wygant on Thu, Nov 4, 2010
in Backstage buzz
San Francisco, you should know...
...it's not just a hometown thing.
This is Danny Rahim, one of the actors in The Great Game: Afghanistan. One of my favorite things about this cast has been how eager they've been to absorb local culture -- they've made a point each day of going out to experience the best that the Bay Area has to offer (you have to admit, our best is pretty darn amazing).
As a result, they've fallen completely in love. Last week, when the house managers were announcing the World Series' score before the start of the show and end of intermission, there were a few cast members backstage, whooping and clapping along with all of you out front.
So, Monday -- the theatre's dark day -- the company went over to San Francisco to sit in a sports bar, and cheer for the home team. And yesterday, sure enough, a group of them BARTed back under the Bay to soak up the celebration. Last night, Danny -- and Tom McKay -- came up to the production office to show off their new hats. New hats with one very special addition, so appropriate, I thought it was just a lucky buy:
(Tom was rushing for the stage, so he couldn't stand for a photo)
I think we just turned these Brits into baseball fans.
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Guess who's gonna be on our stage next week!
posted by Pauline Luppert on Thu, Oct 7, 2010
in At the theatre , Backstage buzz , Our shows , Shows on tour
We've had some pretty stellar people on our stages in the two years I've been working at Berkeley Rep. Tony and Emmy Award—winning actor Mandy Patinkin will be on the Thrust stage this very evening. We've had a lot of performances sell-out of tickets. American Idiot sold so well we had to extend it before it even opened. An Evening with David Sedaris was sold out for months in advance of his appearance during our Fireworks Festival this past summer.
We've just announced a special event in The Roda. It will take place for only three nights—Sunday October 10, Tuesday October 12, and Wednesday October 13. It appears the event may set some new ticket sales records for us—and we haven't really done much marketing yet.
Have you heard about it yet? Here's a clue:
Robin Williams "Cyber Witches Coven" from Robin Williams on Vimeo.
Yup! Robin Williams will be here. Get a ticket while you can.
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I dig making playlists the most
posted by Pauline Luppert on Wed, Sep 15, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Our shows
For almost every show at Berkeley Rep, one of my favorite assignments is to assemble pre-show playlists for our lobbies. The music should set the mood for the show. I read the script, do a little research, bounce ideas off of the literary manager, go crazy at the iTunes store, and rip a few iPods. For John Leguizamo’s Klass Klown, I pulled together a lot of Reggeaton and Hip Hop. For Concerning Strange Devices from The Distant West, I collected contemporary Japanese pop. For Compulsion, I’ve put together a collection of jazz standards and popular songs recorded in the 1950’s—including a variety of influential Jewish American artists, like the Gershwins, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, and Al Jolson.
Generally, I like to throw in at least one cheeky reference to something in the play. In this case, because Compulsion’s character Sid Silver, like the real-life character Meyer Levin, is married to a beautiful French woman, I threw in Nat King Cole’s rendition of "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" (album cover pictured right).
Without further ado, here’s the full pre-show lobby playlist for Compulsion (song title, artist, album title):
- "Caravan," Thelonious Monk, Monk Plays Duke Ellington
- "Sh-boom," Crew Cuts, 1950's Hits & Highlights, Vol. 7 (pictured right)
- "Sweet Sixteen," Al Jolson, The Ultimate Jazz Singer
- "This Can't Be Love" (from The Boys from Syracuse), Benny Goodman, Essential Benny Goodman
- "Everything Happens to Me," Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues
- "Beyond the Sea (La Mer)," Django Reinhardt, Djangology
- "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup," Nat King Cole, The World of Nat King Cole
- "Israel," Miles Davis, The Birth of the Cool
- "Bewitched," Doris Day (song and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart), 1950's Hits & Highlights, Vol. 7
- "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," Louis Armstrong (co-written by Oscar Hammerstein), Hello Dolly
- "Star Dust," Pat Boone, Star Dust
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I ♥ Berkeley Rep
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Sep 7, 2010
in Backstage buzz
A little more than a year ago, I jumped the fence. I went from being a reporter and critic to being a marketing guy. More specifically, I went from the Oakland Tribune (and its associated newspapers), where I had been reporting on and reviewing Berkeley Rep for more than 10 years, to being the Theatre’s communications manager.
Among other duties, I have been running this blog, and I’ve loved it. I’ve loved the entire Berkeley Rep experience, and the admiration and respect I had for the Theatre has only increased as I’ve seen firsthand how incredibly dedicated the staff is in the creation of an extraordinary theatre experience. There simply are no better theatre artists anywhere.
Now I’m moving on and jumping the fence again – more like hop-scotching it. I’m going to work for the San Francisco Arts Education Project, but I’ll also be resuming my freelance writing duties for local newspapers and reviewing and interviewing on my TheaterDogs blog.
Won’t it be weird to go back to writing objectively about a theatre I’ve now worked for? I don’t think so. I respect Berkeley Rep far too much not to write about them with the same level of professionalism I would bring to any subject I’m covering. I’m as eager to share what’s great about Berkeley Rep as I am all of the other wonderful aspects of Bay Area theatre. And there’s always a lot of fantastic work being done here – that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about writing again. I get to be an ardent public supporter of Bay Area theatre artists and events. I’m not objective about Bay Area theatre and the people who make it – I’m a big fan and have been for 20 years now. Do I have opinions about productions, performances, scripts, and the like? Of course, and I’ll share them when and where it’s appropriate.
But I won’t lie. Berkeley Rep has always been special and will continue to be. That’s based as much on the work the company does as it is on the people who work here. I have had an incredible amount of fun in the last year getting to know the Berkeley Rep community and working on shows like American Idiot, Tiny Kushner, Aurélia’s Oratorio, and Girlfriend. I feel like I gained invaluable insight into the creation of great theatre, and I hope that insight can make me a more informed and more sensitive writer on the subject.
After a turbulent few years in journalism, I was lucky to land in the creative safe haven of Berkeley Rep. I’m going to miss it terribly, but happily for me, I’ll never be too far away.
Above photo: One of my all-time favorite theatre experiences anywhere was Girlfriend at Berkeley Rep. It was a genius script, genius score, genius cast, genius band, genius director, and genius creative team. That's me at right with actor Ryder Bach and musical director Julie Wolf. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs.
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Tony Taccone talks shop with Butler and Moscone
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Aug 31, 2010
in At the theatre , Backstage buzz
Though he's off in London directing the Tricycle Theatre's re-mount of Tiny Kushner opening Sept. 1, Artistic Director Tony Taccone's words are echoing through the Bay Area.
Tony sat down with a round-table discussion with fellow East Bay artistic directors Michael Butler of Center Repertory Company and Jonathan Moscone of California Shakespeare Theater, and their thoughts were recorded by writer Robert Taylor for the September issue of Diablo magazine.
Among the myriad topics covered by the ADs is what excites them in their upcoming seasons. Here's Tony's response:
We’re part of a tour of this piece called The Great Game, a 12-play cycle about Afghanistan. It’s a marathon day: You start at 11 o’clock in the morning and end at about 10 o’clock at night. Basically, Nicolas Kent of the Tricycle Theatre was watching television one night and he was sick of talking heads talking about Afghanistan. He thought, What would it be like if my friends responded to Afghanistan in an artistic way? Because it’s the major issue of our time. Then, we’re going to do The Composer Is Dead, a Lemony Snicket project. It’s got a puppet theater about 35 feet wide and a movie we’ve filmed backstage with Geoff Hoyle.
Above photo of Tony Taccone by Mike Thompson for Diablo magazine.
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2010/11 sneak peek: The Composer Is Dead and Ruined
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Aug 19, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Our shows
Delving into the riches of the 2010/11 Berkeley Rep season, we've already talked about the season opener, Compulsion, starring Mandy Patinkin, and the epic play cycle The Great Game: Afghanistan and Mike Daisey's The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs and The Last Cargo Cult.
Now it's time to explore Lemony Snicket's The Composer Is Dead and Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined.
Lemony Snicket's The Composer Is Dead
Check out the pedigree on this world premiere. It is written by Lemony Snicket (the bestselling author also known as San Francisco writer Daniel Handler, pictured at right in a photo by Meredith Heuer) with music by Nathaniel Stookey. Based on the children's book, it was originally conceived for the stage by Lemony Snicket and Phantom Limb Company, the amazing puppet troupe under the artistic leadership of Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko. The show was developed with Tony Taccone, who also directs, and Geoff Hoyle, who also stars.
That's a lot of genius piled into a show that will have audiences of all ages giddy with delight.
Earlier this summer, Mr. Snicket/Handler spoke to the Los Angeles Times about his work and mentioned that Lemony Snicket is writing a new four-book series. But he didn't want to say too much about it.
"It's in its first trimester, so you don't want to poke at it too much. It's early, so I don't want to go around bragging about it. That's actually a Jewish tradition, not to set up the baby's room while you're pregnant or even say the baby's name out loud. It's bad luck."
Daniel also talked about his San Francisco neighborhood in this charming New York Times article.
Nathaniel Stookey, the composer of Composer (who happens to be very much alive, thank you very much), has had a busy summer, including a stop in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he conducted The Composer Is Dead with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Read about the event here.
And finally, meet Jessica and Erik of Phantom Limb. This video is from late last year when they were working on a show called The Devil You Know with Ping Chong & Co.