YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (SECOND TIME)

Date of Run: September 6-September 22, 2024

Role: Ensemble, Igor Understudy

Photos by Miller Oberlin Photography

This was the first time I did a show that I had previously done. If you had asked me which show would have made that happen, this one would not have been the first that came to mind. 

I was reluctant to audition for the company, Sonoma Arts Live, at all. In pre-pandemic times, they had in person auditions, but they had since switched to doing video auditions. The previous year when I sent a video in, it was never forwarded to the directors. How do I know? Two reasons: I could see the view count for the video, which was only two and one of the views was from me and I worked with one of the directors of that season on a show at a different company and he told me he didn't see my video. The same thing happened later on when I sent a video audition to another company and never heard back from them either. These instances were the final straw for me; after that I decided I would send in no more videos to anyone. If I could not attend in person, I would just have to let it go and move on, as hard as that might be for me.

Sonoma Arts Live actually did have a round of in person auditions the previous season in addition to videos, though I was told I didn't need to come in since I'd already sent in a video (again, never seen). That being the case, I decided to take my chances and wait and hope they'd do it again this year. Two days before the day of the deadline to submit a video audition, I received an email from Larry Williams, the director of the first show of the season, Young Frankenstein. I had worked with him earlier that year in Spamalot at Novato Theater Company. He asked if I was interested in doing the show (Maybe) and if I could come to callbacks on May 19. Shoot! I had the closing performance of my current show that day and couldn't make it. He said he wanted me to read for the role of Igor (for those of you who haven't seen the movie, it's pronounced Eye-gor).

I had a laughing fit over that (Igor?! Me? You gotta be kidding!). The first time I had done this show, it had been eleven years earlier when I was twenty-four. I hadn't given much thought to doing it since then because I thought the only role I could ever play, vocally speaking, was Inspector Kemp/Blind Hermit. Still had a while to wait for that. It had been a long time since I looked at the music, but I was certain it was out of my vocal range. I looked at the music again and found it wasn't quite as high as I thought. Perhaps I was thinking back to when I first did this show, and my voice was not as strong then. Or I could have thought it was higher because the actor who originated this role on Broadway was Christopher Fitzgerald and he's a tenor.

Though it was something to consider, I was not sure my availability would work. I had a show, Twelfth Night, in August where I would not be available for quite a few evenings and Young Frankenstein opened two weeks after Twelfth Night closed. Granted, I had done back-to-back shows before: a year earlier I closed one show and opened another four days later. In that instance though, I could get away with it because they were desperate for any man they could get to do the show. I didn't think I'd be so lucky this time around. I sent an email back to him explaining the situation, fully expecting him to say, "Thanks anyway, good luck with your show." That was not the case. He said they might be able to work with that and he'd keep me posted. 

Days turned to weeks, and I heard nothing. I assumed he found people at callbacks with better availability. Then, little more than a month later, and after I had abandoned any further hope of hearing from him, he sent me another email asking me if I was still interested and that he might be able to fit my schedule into his production. He asked to let him know if I was still interested and "I'll see what he could do." I'll see what I can do. Very interesting wording.

Three weeks after that email I received an offer to appear in the ensemble and be the understudy for Igor. He was very flattering in the email, saying he'd love to have my energy in the show, and he admired how I could pick up choreography and knew all aspects of the show. That was the case during Spamalot; I knew the show enough to have a firm grasp of everything that was supposed to be happening. 

I had reservations about doing this show; there was another play coming up in Yountville during October with a role I was very much interested in, but I didn't think the director for that would be able to work with the rehearsal schedule for Young Frankenstein. Also, if I did Young Frankenstein, did I really want to be ensemble again? I always thought if I did a musical/play for a second time it would be because I got a more prominent role or at least a different role. I've often wondered if I had been available for callbacks or if I kept my availability issues to myself, would I have gotten the role of Igor? But since Young Frankenstein was in Sonoma, it would be closer to home than Yountville. This was also a sure thing, whereas I could very well end up with nothing in the other play. I accepted the offer.

I had another reason for choosing this show. This would be the first show I would do at Sonoma Arts Live. I had performed in this theater a few times in 2014 when it was then Sonoma Theatre Alliance. That was a few individual theatre companies coming together with one show each (maybe two) and putting together a season. In the time since, Sonoma Arts Live (further referred to as SAL) had formed and most of the individual companies no longer seemed to be around. I had been trying to get back to this venue for a long time, but to no avail. SAL auditions were usually on the weekend in the middle of the afternoon for only a couple hours. Though at the time I worked fairly close by, the auditions were before I would be off. The few times I was allowed to leave early, I never even got called back.

I sacrificed potentially getting a good role for ensemble. I wondered more than once whether I made the right decision. It would have been nice to add another resume worthy role, and it could have potentially been more challenging trying to form a fully developed character. There's not much time for that in musicals, unless you're one of the principal roles. 

Sometime into rehearsals, I heard bits and pieces about the casting for this show. If I heard correctly, it was a bit of a hassle to cast this show because there were other people considered for roles, but they didn't want to be ensemble if they didn't get a main character role. That being the case, I was possibly doing them a favor by stepping in.

The rest of the cast included Michael Bauer, Emma Sutherland, Pat Barr, Kim Williams, Joanna Lynn Costa, Bruce Viera, Todd Krish, Kevin Allen, Paul Coinci, Tara Roberts, Phi Tran, Hannah Passanisi, Addie Lowe, and John Gibbons.

We originally had one more woman in the cast as an ensemble member, but just under three weeks before opening, she dropped out. She called Larry an hour and a half before rehearsal in tears, saying that someone had left her work, and her boss was insisting that she had to work on weekends. It sucked, but we could still make it work without her. As it turned out later, she was in another show in addition to this (possibly afterwards) and her work would not accommodate both and she had to choose one. Problems with work...been there, done that.

The first week consisted of the read through and looking at the music. And then, I contracted Covid. It was a double edge sword situation: If I had to get it, better to do so early on than during performances, but since I was going to miss a number of rehearsals in August, I needed all I could get during July. Honestly though, I felt lousy for maybe two days at most. If I felt exactly the same and had something by any other name, I would not have been expected to stay away. I wasn't the only one; Kevin (who played Harold, the blind hermit) also contracted it, probably the same place I got it.

After a week, I returned to rehearsal, briefly, and then at the beginning of August, I had to stop attending again due to Twelfth Night. Kevin and I were both in that and due to tech rehearsals and performances for that we would miss up to nine rehearsals for this show. I was hopeful that Larry made the schedule so he could work around us for at least most of that. While Kevin and I were away for that, Michael Bauer (who played Frederick, the lead) contracted Covid. Since he was in nearly every scene, that was quite a curveball, trying to schedule rehearsal around him and then work without him. I'm not sure for certain if anyone else contracted it, but again, better now than during performance time. 

There was a huge contrast for my ensemble parts between this time and last time I did this show. I always liked to say I had all the good parts the first time. The first time around, I was the town herald who started the show with the first lines, I was Mr. Hilltop, I was a horse during "Roll in the Hay," and I was Bob the astrologer in "Surprise." This time, since I was the understudy for Igor, they could not have me play anything that would greatly affect the show should I have to go on as that role. However, I did get something I really wanted; in "Join the Family Business," one person has the line "Join the family business, boy, if you don't want to die," and I got it. Even though I was understudying Igor, I felt I could easily have stepped in for John Gibbons if he couldn't go on as Mr. Hilltop or Bob the astrologer.

The further we went into rehearsals the more things from the first time I did this show came back to me. There were a few times in the rehearsal tracks where I instinctively knew what happened, even though it was not included in the soundtrack. I knew where cues were supposed to be not only for me, but for the principals as well. I also could feel the muscle memory in my vocal cords when practicing some of the music. Luckily though, I would never accidentally do choreography from the first time around during the songs. I could see bits and pieces of it in my head, but I'd never be able to translate that to physical movements. 

In spite of missing a number of rehearsals, I was not in as bad shape as you'd think. When it came to it, I was barely in the second act. As for the first act, I ran through everything and realized that I didn't have many lines, and I knew the lyrics to the songs I was in already. The main hurdle for me was learning Igor's lines which wasn't too difficult because he doesn't have as many as other main characters and quite a few of them were simply "Yes, Master" or something in that vein. What I had to devote the most time to was learning the choreography.

There were five big dance numbers: "Happiest Town," "Please Don't Touch Me," "Join the Family Business," Transylvania Mania," and "Puttin' on the Ritz." I was not in the number "Puttin' on the Ritz," just like the first time I did this musical. Since I was not a tap dancer, it didn't bother me either time. I was at something to do with Twelfth Night when Liz, the choreographer taught "Happiest Town" and "Transylvania Mania." Thanks to the videos taken during those rehearsals and posted on our Facebook group later, I was able to teach myself the first half of "Transylvania Mania." "Happiest Town" was not that difficult, especially since a lot of it concerns Inspector Kemp and his lines.

"Happiest Town"

Near the end of "Happiest Town," Tara, Phi and I had to run offstage for a quick change for "The Brain" because we were the ones who started that scene. For me, it meant taking my villager hat, vest and shirt off, putting a blue button up shirt on with a lab coat over it and also not looking disheveled. The last time I did this show I remembered how much of a hassle this quick change was for those who did it. The reason? The choreographer of that show was the type who had to have every person in the scene onstage for the whole dance up to the last minute. I don't know if it was Larry or Liz who made that decision to have the three of us off earlier, but I'm glad someone had the sense to comprehend that there was a quick costume change.

Not that that made it any easier. It had been so long since I had performed in this space, I'd forgotten how tight it was. In fact, it had been over two years since I had even seen anything performed here. The wing space was slim and for a lot of the show there were large set pieces store there after being used only once. This was also the largest show I had ever done here. Any show I had done previously had few to no set changes. One critic later said the scene changes led to the theatre being drawn as many times as he could remember it ever being drawn here.

That being said, all three of us exited stage left for the change, then we were shortly joined in the wings by three more people. Larry was also on that side to help Tara with her change (her first costume had many layers) and Michael was also on that side because he was also in that scene. So that made eight people on stage left and stage right had...only three. There were endless traffic jams getting on and offstage because there was no room for it to go both ways no matter how much tried to make it work. The three of us who started the scene often were running out to make our cue since we didn't have a conductor who could hold the music. Finally, on the final weekend, when we were still trying to figure out how to make it work, I asked "Do all three of us have to come out on the same side?" Larry answered we didn't and changed it so that now Tara and I would dash offstage right. That evened the number of people on the two sides of the wings and now we had plenty of time to make it out. Still, it was only closing night when I finally felt I had the quick change down efficiently with enough time to spare.

"The Brain"

This was the first time I ever did a full-length show that used performance tracks provided by the licensing company instead of a live band. I had done that when I did Mary Poppins Jr., but I don't count that one. We were also provided with rehearsal tracks, but I never used them. I couldn't figure out how to, but I had listened to the soundtrack of this musical enough for years to know the music. Justin Pyne, the music director, would be up in the balcony pressing the buttons to start the next piece.

Using performance tracks had positives and negatives. 

Some positives-

1. Having the actual music for dance rehearsals.

2. Practicing the lyrics with what we'd hear in the show.

3. The music would sound perfect every time.

Some negatives (it mainly comes down to no conductor)-

1. Some of the music had no clear cue. A conductor could cue us in.

2. Not much wiggle room to say lines. They'd have to be said at the same pace as they were in the soundtrack because there was no conductor to speed up or slow down the music or keep it vamping as needed.

3. It wasn't live music.

I cannot think of one time I've done a musical where the directors didn't make cuts to the music, especially in the big dance numbers. It was usually so the show wouldn't run so long, and it was also easier to make the music the way it sounded on the soundtracks for dance teaching purposes. At first, I thought since we were using performance/rehearsal tracks rather than a real band, maybe we'd have longer dances to learn. My thinking was that we had the full music, rather than just a piano or the shortened soundtrack version, and we'd know what it would sound like. But not so.

We cut the music down to what it sounded like in the soundtracks, except for "Puttin on the Ritz" and for that, they cut a lot. And I mean a lot. While making it the same as the soundtrack had been the case the first time I did this show, this time around, we cut it to a mere 1.5 minutes. In fact, the first time they played what the dancing section of the music would sound like, I blurted out "That's it?!" I felt it took away the one big dance number of the second act and besides, anyone who's watched the film knows that song/scene. 

They also cut a lot out of "Transylvania Mania." It was longer the first time I did this musical. If you listened to that song on the soundtrack, that's what it was cut down to. There was a long dance break in between verses. This time around...not so much.

The end of "Transylvania Mania"

Why did they do this rather than use all the music or at least make it like the soundtrack? Hard to say. Not enough rehearsal time? Maybe. To make the show shorter? Possibly. A choreographer who was not younger and slightly healthier? (Liz was gone for a couple rehearsals for a health reason). Whatever the reason, it was no different than any other community theatre musical I'd done.

This was the first musical I ever did where there was no sitzprobe. We originally had one scheduled, but Larry cancelled it in favor of something else since we were a little behind on some things. It seemed kind of redundant to me since we'd be using tracks. I felt it seemed like we were doing a sitzprobe every rehearsal. Also, even if we had had one, it wouldn't have been the same. A sitzprobe is the first time you sing with a live band, and you hear how the music will sound during shows after weeks of just singing with a piano or singing along to a soundtrack. It was something to be excited about and after hearing the actual show music for so long, the excitement wouldn't have been there. Nonetheless, Hannah pointed out that we should have had one anyway since it meant the designers didn't have the opportunity to get the sound mixing right.

Indeed, when we started using microphones, it took some time through trial and error before everything sounded decent. Some people could not be heard over the music, particularly Joanna. At other times, we would hear a feedback noise blare out. And then at other times we would not hear the person singing over the monitor in the dressing room. Albert, our sound designer, worked hard to sort it all out by opening. I assume he succeeded because I heard no complaints after.

The set was designed as such. The back was a screen used for projections. On either side of the stage were two swinging walls. One was used for the rotating bookcase in one scene. If you know the movie it's the "Put the candle back" moment. The other side was used as the front door to the castle. Both of these walls were used only once and then closed for the remainder of the performance. Behind either wall was a set piece, one being the hay cart for "Roll in the Hay" and the other being the lab table. A set of stairs at the front of the stage allowed for entrances and exits to the audience and on either side at the bottom were two platforms used throughout the show. Any set pieces used in the show sat offstage in the wing space, most of which were only used once. For set changes to take place, the curtain had to be closed.

The first act would be very stressful for me up to the end of "Together Again." In the first act, I had a total of seven costume changes. I had to change from villager to medical student to "Please Don't Touch Me" dancer to horse. Then after "Roll in the Hay," I had to change from horse to ancestor to villager to ancestor to villager again. The ancestor costume was merely my villager costume, but with a lab coat, goggles and fake spider webbing thrown on. Simple. The webbing was a headache though: there were a number of performances where it didn't stay one me and when the show's run ended, I ripped it to shreds.

"Join the Family Business"

The set change for "Roll in the Hay" was at least a five person job. One person had to open and close the wall it was behind, Phi and I would carry the cart, which was two pieces and heavy, to its spot, two people carried blocks out for Phi and me to stand on and Emma, who played Inga, would get herself under the blanket on the cart. There was not a lot of time to do it, and it wasn't a straight shot out. Phi and I had to carefully pivot and maneuver it in and out where it stayed until needed. Taking the cart off required the wall used as the front door to be closed then the bookcase one opened again so we could move the cart off. When it was put away, it had to be in far enough or the wall would not close all the way. Not only that, but the cart had to be covered by a black sheet afterwards so the audience wouldn't see it when the bookcase rotated.

The second act was much easier. I was in "He's Loose," then I had a long break until "He's Loose (reprise)," which was after "Puttin' on the Ritz," and no costume changes.

"He's Loose"

In the days leading up to tech weekend, we did not have Phi for a few days because he was out sick. He returned for one day and then he was out on both Saturday and Sunday of tech weekend. His dog had a herniated disc and had to go to the emergency vet. I overheard Larry and Areya, the stage manager, talking about it and it sounded as though he might be gone for a few more days before opening. Thankfully, he returned on Monday.

The show photos, such as they were, were a disappointment to me. The photographer only got a whopping sixty-four or at least sixty-four that he didn't delete. There were no good ones of me, certainly no close-ups. The principal characters got at least one each, but not the ensemble. I know of one other photographer in the area who would get hundreds of photos at every show and there would always be at least one closeup of everybody in the show, regardless of the size of their role. I guess not everyone can be him. To make matters worse, the shirt for my first costume change accidentally got moved from where I pre-set it and I had to perform "The Brain" and "Please Don't Touch Me" in the wrong costume piece. 

Having done this musical once already, it didn't take long for me to know a lot of other people's lines. At one point, Michael B. asked me "Are you covering Frederick?" No. Just Igor. I probably could have learned his role, but it would be difficult since his first song "The Brain" was the one I always skipped whenever I listened to the soundtrack. I think I could have easily covered Bruce if he couldn't go on.

Sadly, Larry never really got to see the show in its finished form, at least not live. He had to wait until a filmed performance was released to us. In addition to directing, he also played the brief roles of Victor Frankenstein and Dracula, and he worked backstage helping with set changes and controlling the fog machine used for certain scenes. Some of the actors did help with that, as well as Carmella, the assistant stage manager, but it still never seemed to be enough. The ensemble was not much help in that area since we had all those costume changes.

We had packed houses every performance for opening weekend. The one on Saturday was without a doubt the best one. They were very vocal and laughed at all the right moments. They even gave us a standing ovation at the end. Surprisingly, Sunday was also a good one; not as good as Saturday, but certainly better than Friday. After the Sunay show, my mother and I were walking to dinner, and we came upon Kevin in the Sonoma Plaza. He had a friend there as well, Corrin, who happened to have been a member of the crew for Spamalot, which Kevin and I did together six months earlier. My mom invited them to join us, and we had a wonderful time. Good food and good company.

For the second weekend, we again had packed houses each night, though there were a few empty seats at each one. On Thursday we had a problem with the cart when we were taking it offstage. Phi and I bumped its legs into a two-by-four that was used to hold one of the swinging walls in place and it caused the legs to get tangled in each other. We couldn't do anything about it since we had to get ready for our next scene. Good thing we didn't need it again until the following night.

On Friday night (Friday the 13th, no less), the audience started out good with a few laughs, but it got progressively quieter as the night went on. On this night there were quite a few hiccups. Lines were said in the wrong places, Pat accidentally knocked over a set piece (to an audible offstage gasp from me), but the biggest one happened in the finale. In the "Finale Ultimo," in order, the music is reprises of "Deep Love," "Please Send Me Someone," Igor music, Dracula music, a reprise of "Join the Family Business," and a "Welcome to Transylvania" section, along with some spoken lines. A lot yes, but it was only three minutes. When it came to the Dracula music, we instead heard the "Welcome" music before it backtracked to Igor's music and then we heard the correct piece. Michael B. decided to just talk and not stop until he and the music were in sync again.

On the other hand, the set change with the cart worked much better this night. In fact, it was the smoothest it's ever run. Previously when the wall it was behind was opened, the bookcase would get in our way. On this night Larry rotated the wall so that we'd be moving past the flat side when we took it out and then rotated it back when he closed the wall.

The Saturday audience was also not a vocal one, which was surprising because a number of theatre people were there. On this night it was the first time we had a pre-recorded welcome announcement at the start of the show. Unfortunately, it played again during Bruce's lines in "Happiest Town." He responded by saying "You already talked!" I wish he had ignored it. I've gotten good over the years at not breaking onstage, employing a few tricks here and there to help me, but he almost, almost made me laugh. I found myself thinking of something bad to snap out of it: the memory of my mother telling me my father died. 

Big mistake. That day just happened to be the anniversary of the day he died. In order not to break onstage, I had forced myself to think of something I really did not want to think about. I made my way through the show but broke into tears on my way back to my car afterwards. My mood wasn't any brighter the next day either.

I was ready for the show to be over after the second weekend. I had done four shows that year, the last two of which had a small overlap with rehearsals and performances. By then, I was exhausted and ready for a break from performing. At least I would have four nights to get a good night's sleep until the final weekend.

There were full houses again each day of the final weekend. We were told that the one on Sunday was "Sold out." It was also on closing day that we filmed the show.

The Thursday audience was one of our better ones, maybe even the best one up to then. They laughed uproariously at many of the funny lines. They didn't give us a standing ovation though. Strange. The Friday audience was not quite as good; it took them a little time to warm up and enjoy themselves. I had a number of friends in the audience on Saturday night which was very nice. 

Sadly, for the final weekend, we lost John Gibbons. He had a detached retina in one eye, and the doctors told him he needed to have emergency surgery, or he would go blind in that eye. He made it to the Thursday show, albeit wearing glasses the entire performance, but for the rest of the weekend, he was gone. Larry stepped in for two of his roles and everything he had as a Transylvania villager was split among Phi, Addie and me. It also meant that he would not get to be in the filmed performance. Such a shame.

On the Friday night show, we had a mishap with the cart. Phi and I didn't set it up properly. The legs got caught in themselves again and in our haste, we untangled it, but didn't double check that it was on its spike marks. As a result, the piece Igor sat on was not far up enough and that left little room for Michael and Emma. Emma fell off it at the moment while she was upside down, but thankfully, wasn't hurt since she fell off the cart slowly since Michael was holding her. We watched it happen later because someone, either in the audience or one of the other actors, was filming it on their phone while watching it from the back of the house. I felt so bad. The following day, we did a pre-show set up to see how to improve it.

It was a fun show to do. While I didn't have as many of the good ensemble roles I had the first time, it was, in some ways better this time around. I felt a good rapport with the people in this cast. The last one...well, go read that post. It was also good to be back in that space, having not been there for over ten years. Hopefully, it would not be that long until the next time.

Was I sad when this one ended? Not really. It was a good run, but it did not stand out from other shows I've done. Would it ever go on my resume? Definitely not. Was it an overall positive experience? Of course.

And I never got to play the role of Igor. It would be something to think about if I ever had the chance to audition for the musical again.

TWELFTH NIGHT

Date of Run: August 7-18, 2024

Role: Fabian

Photos by Genevieve Smith and Chris Wall

 

I had hoped to do four shows in 2024 thereby repeating the success I had in 2023. But the plans I laid out for that year became unlikely. I had hoped to do a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, only to not even get a callback. By then, I had completed one show and had only one other lined up for the future. If I was lucky, I'd be cast in a show for the fall, but I still hadn't managed to get into a summer one. But then, a lifeline. A company that I had never heard of, but had been around for some years, posted about roles needed to be filled for Twelfth Night in Sonoma. This gave me hope that I could still pull off doing at least three.

I promptly sent an email to the director stating my interest and sending my headshot and resume, which she responded with "Very impressive." We agreed to meet at the performance location for some reading. I was rather ashamed to find that I had no idea about this company because I was sure I knew of every company within Sonoma County. And I'm rather sad I didn't know about it because they only did performances in the evening, and it would have been nice to know about that while I was at my previous job. I could have done a show without asking for time off. Oh well.

I was not terribly excited in the days leading up to the audition. I had already lost out on two dream roles that year and that lowered my will to do another show. Also, after that happened, it didn't seem that there was a point to raise my hopes if they could be dashed again.

The roles that were being cast were all male or traditionally male roles: Duke Orsino, Feste, Sebastian, Sea Captain, Antonio and Fabian. I felt the roles of Antonio and Fabian were suited to my limitations. As I learned from The Sound Inside, if I had a large role, I might have been expected to do interviews and I couldn't handle that.

The company staged it's plays at the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma, which was where the audition took place. The director, Kate Kennedy, was a delightful woman who gave me a tour of the performance space and read with me. She complimented my reading saying I was good at cold readings. I might be inclined to agree with her; I'm terrible at doing monologues in auditions, which I've never understood. If you want to see how actors are for roles, just get to reading the script with each other. I read for the roles of Duke Orsino, Antonio, and Feste. Then there was nothing to do but wait since she had more people to see. I felt I wouldn't be waiting long because rehearsals for that show were to begin in two weeks.

As the start date for rehearsals inched closer, I heard nothing, and I began to wonder if this director was one of those people who didn't get back to people if they decided not to use them. But the very next day after I began to have those thoughts, I received the email offering me the role of Fabian. Whew! A less prominent role, exactly as I hoped for. 

As Fabian

The rest of the cast included Riley O'Hara, Jasmine Williams, Reina Gibbs, Adriel Velaquez, Rick Nelson, Mary Samson, Lanny Lowery, Michael Walraven, Kevin Allen, Keeley O'Hara, Brad Bernard, Michael Springle and Scout Nelson.

Rehearsals were only on Sundays for three hours in the afternoon from 3-6, starting in May, with exceptions for Mother's and Father's Day. If you missed a rehearsal, you were expected to get in touch with your scene partners and review. I was not able to attend the first two rehearsals since I was doing The Sound Inside in a town forty-five minutes away and I would not have been able to make it for even one hour of rehearsal. I also couldn't exactly get in touch with anyone since I didn't have my script the first week and I was busy even when I finally received it in the mail.

When The Sound Inside finally ended, I attended my first rehearsal at the end of May which happened to be Memorial Day weekend.  We rehearsed in the actual performance space which was in a courtyard of the winery around a fountain. As it was during the winery's business hours, we had to work with patrons passing by or children running up to put their hands in the fountain or play with the jets of water bursting out. It was a struggle to hear or be heard with the fountain running, it was so loud, but there was nothing we could do; as long as there were guests at the winery, it had to keep running. And it was hot that day with no shade for us while we were performing our scenes. My first day there I realized I'd have to wear tank tops or anything sleeveless going forward, especially since it was likely to only get hotter. The only time when the shade reached where we were running our scenes was when it was time to go.

It was a rather crowded day on that first rehearsal with a lot of people walking around and a lot of children. I thought "Is this how it's going to be every rehearsal?" It was going to be a pain having to maneuver around this many people. The following week, there were considerably fewer people in the following week and I remembered; it had been a holiday weekend the first time. Silly me. We still had to deal with people coming and going, but only sparingly.

We had a small struggle trying to cast Duke Orsino. Someone was cast shortly after rehearsals started. He was an employee at the winery and as such, he had to work on Sundays and the further the summer would progress, the more unforgiving his availability would be. By the end of May, he left the production, and we were back to square one. We had two months to find someone, but that didn't necessarily mean someone would be available and also whoever we cast had to be a good fit. Two men reached out to Kate expressing their interest, but they were both middle aged. In the play, the Duke is pursuing Olivia and falls for Viola and Jasmine and Reina, who played the roles respectively, were both teenaged/early 20s. Definitely not the right fit.

After we lost the original actor and, in the week leading up to the next rehearsal, I began thinking "I wonder if I could play the role of the duke myself." The role of Duke Orsino opens the play with one of the most famous lines in the Shakespeare canon ("If music be the food of love, play on"), but he's not a very prominent role. There are long stretches of the play where he's absent. It turned out I was not the only one thinking I could play the role. At the next rehearsal, Lanny, who played Malvolio, approached me saying he felt I'd be a perfect fit for that role since he and Fabian don't share many scenes together. There is one where they do, but Fabian could easily be cut from it and his lines given to someone else. We mentioned it to Kate and Mary, who played Maria and was also the stage manager. I said "Just think of me as your break glass in case of emergency guy." They were both over the moon about it. It seemed our problems were solved.

And then I had another look at the script, which I should have done more thoroughly before getting their hopes up, looking back. I was looking through the script to see just how many lines I would potentially have to memorize should I play Orsino and that's when I noticed something I hadn't before. My first scene in the play is preceded by a scene the duke has. There would be absolutely no time for a costume change, even if someone were helping me because as soon as the duke leaves, Fabian comes on. After doing theatre for so many years I considered myself rather good at costume changes, having learned a few tricks to make them go smoothly, but even I could not manage that. I had no choice but to tell them I could not play both roles after all. But all was not lost.

Enter Kevin Allen. Behind the scenes, that same week Reina's mother, Geeta, was working to find someone to play Orsino. She was on the board for another theatre company in Sonoma and she spoke to Kevin who was appearing in its production of Lend Me a Tenor. Geeta contacted Kate and said that she would bring him by on that Sunday after his show was over. I happened to know a couple other guys in addition to him who were also appearing in Tenor and he was definitely not who I was expecting to see. Nevertheless, having done Spamalot with him a few months earlier, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted when I saw him show up, not ten minutes after I said I couldn't play the role. 

As I mentioned earlier, our rehearsals were only on Sunday afternoons. It was heavily suggested that we get together with our scene partners during the week and practice and review. I felt my role was not that prominent and I didn't need as much help as others who had a lot more lines. Also, all my scenes had at least three people, including myself, and I felt it would be impossible to coordinate with all of them. There was also the option of meeting at Mary's house in Sonoma on Fridays from 4-6. As I worked until 4:00 and Sonoma was at least 30 minutes from where I lived, it didn't seem to be worth the drive for an hour of rehearsal. During Sunday rehearsals, if you were not in the scene that was being run, you were expected to be running lines with someone, preferably your scene partner(s). Kate did not want us just sitting around chatting with each other or on our phones or running lines on our own. She got very testy once when that happened and gave us a talking to. I never had all my partners at once since they were usually performing a different scene.

I feel that if we had mandatory rehearsals scheduled somewhere else, it would have been different. But Kate was insistent on rehearsing in the actual performance space. Was there really nowhere else adequate enough? This became evident at one rehearsal at the end of June when the manager of the winery tried to make us rehearse somewhere else on the property because she had "VIPs" coming to the building where we walked in and out of. She and Kate argued for a few minutes over it and she was whining about how busy they were getting. 

From what I gathered, they had run-ins with this woman before. I had the feeling that she would have preferred us to not be rehearsing there at all or maybe no longer even performing there. Apparently, the previous year, she alleged that the metal tables and chairs at the winery were destroyed by audiences and had to be replaced. When Kate asked for proof, the manager could give none saying they'd already been replaced. From how Mary described it, I think she made it up in an effort to stop us using them. In the end, the company had to supply their own tables and chairs which had to be set up and taken down for each performance.

Now, maybe you're thinking, "Maybe that's an exaggeration" or "You're reading too much into it" or "Maybe there was just a misunderstanding." No.  Toward the end of the run, Mary told me of an instance which proved that the management did not like us at all. I don't know if it was for this play or a previous one, but at a rehearsal one day, a house guest of Mary's accompanied her to a rehearsal. She had a conversation with the manager who, not knowing who she was, said, "We lose so much money with these people. They're such a nuisance." And then when the friend revealed who she was, the manager was horrified (probably because she said the quiet part out loud.) Not only that, but Michael Walraven, who played the sea captain and worked at the winery, told Mary that the management often griped about us behind our backs. But there was nothing they could do except whine and pout. The owner of the winery was on our side and that was the end of it.

Early on, I got the feeling Kate was not the most communicative. She was certainly not calm enough to be organized. For example, when it was time to rehearse, she'd be like "Come on guys, let's go!" (Okay, what are we doing? Where do we start?). Or when the costumer brought in some pieces, "Put on your stuff Michael, let's go!" (Put on what?! Which pieces are mine?!) It turned out the costumer only brought things in so she could see how things looked onstage and get a sense of what needed to be done. Kate also wanted to add a karaoke/audience participation part into the play in the first half and had some people pick a song, and kept hounding me to pick one (I don't know what song. Do I have any choices?). I did not have to partake in the karaoke section in the end. I wish she scaled her energy back a bit and said exactly what she wanted without losing her train of thought. 

I've never been in a Shakespeare play where there were no cuts. It's usually done for time purposes and since the plays are in public domain, there are no legal consequences for doing so. And Kate cut a lot of lines, and I mean a lot. Some of it was when a character had a lengthy speech. Some of it was lines that resembled something already said. A major bone of contention was the ending with the Malvolio resolution.

For a further detail of the plot, look at the Wikipedia page. In the play, the characters Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria plan a revenge on Malvolio by convincing him that Olivia is in love with him, causing him to make a fool of himself and then cause him to be placed in a dark chamber for insanity. At the end, all is revealed and resolved. But Kate cut all that. Now the only resolution was that of the mistaken identities of Viola and Sebastian and Malvolio is left in the chamber. If you're a hardcore Shakespeare fan/purist and your jaw dropped, Lanny, who played Malvolio made a strong effort to have all that restored, but to no avail.

My first two lines were cut, which didn't make sense because they detailed my character's motivation for what he does in the play. Now it seemed as if I was a new character that just appeared near the end of the first half. I had more lines cut, especially at the end, which miffed me because my hardest speech was there and I spent a lot of time working on it to get it right. 

I know I mentioned this already, but the fountain that was part of our performance space was such a burden. It had to stay on during business hours, meaning until 5:00 or even 5:30. If we turned it off, the manager who didn't want us there would come along and turn it back on. Whenever I was performing a scene, I projected as loudly as I could so others could hear their cues. You could say I focused more on that and worried about the acting part later. I wish I could say the same for others. I could never hear Lanny as Malvolio in one scene as he walked around the fountain and there were times when I barely heard someone standing right next to me because they all but mumbled their lines. You'd think they'd use that impediment as a motivation to talk louder.

One month before opening, with four rehearsals to go, we were supposed to be off book. I had my lines down, but trying to hear my cues with the fountain running was impossible. On that day we were having a run through because Kate wanted to see how long the show was. I watched the action while following in my script discerning where we were by who was onstage. The show ran way too long for a few reasons: people were not paying attention and missed their cues, a few people were struggling with lines and clearly not off book, lines were being spoken too softly, which slowed the action down and Kate stopped the scenes to give notes and direct the action. To top it off, no one was timing it and stopping the clock for interruptions, so we didn't get an accurate running time.

I was worried about some people like Brad, Rick and Riley getting off book. We had gotten our scripts two months earlier and Brad in particular was still struggling. Did he only practice when he got together with Adriel, his main scene partner? Apparently, this was only Brad's second play ever. I guess he didn't yet quite understand the urgency of getting off book. Rick had not acted in some time, but he ended up proving to be the type who messed up at every rehearsal and then magically got it (mostly) right when there was an audience. I can't stand those people.

Volume was another worry. During rehearsals and even during the run, Kate kept telling some people, "Volume!" The main people who were on the receiving end of that were the younger less experienced actors: Reina, Riley, and Adriel. Rick also could have spoken up if you ask me because since he hadn't performed in some him he was probably out of practice. She never said it to me though.

Just under three weeks before performances were set to begin, I contracted Covid. It meant missing one rehearsal, but if I had to get it, that was the best time, rather than when performances were happening. Since I only missed one rehearsal and I was not one of the ones in trouble, I wasn't that worried over it. I wasn't the only one either; Kevin also came down with Covid, likely from the same place I got it since we were rehearsing another show together that would happen immediately after this one closed.

I returned the following week, which was our last rehearsal before dress rehearsals, and it stunk, to be polite. Driving to it, I found myself thinking how much I didn't really want to be there. Since we didn't have Reina, we had to skip any scene she was in and polish what needed polishing. Before my first scene, by some miracle we got to have the fountain turned off and stay turned off. I thought we'd finally get one good run of that scene and be able to hear everything being said.

WRONG. Even with the fountain off, I could still barely hear Lanny. He was not a projector and if you ask me, he was a bit of a ham. I don't think he was paying close enough attention to his own cues. Things were complicated further because I'm sure even more lines got cut while I was away, lines were skipped, and Kate wouldn't let us run it without coming in to give notes while I was straining to hear Lanny's soft voice. What I needed was an uninterrupted rehearsal of that scene without the fountain on and with no interruptions. But that would have been a miracle; I've seldom had a director who could sit still, be quiet and let the actors get a run-through in.

A number of other scenes didn't fare too much better. By this point we'd had our scripts for nearly three months and people were still struggling with their lines. We got quite a chewing out after rehearsal was over. Kate accused us of not putting in the work. I was not happy over it. One rehearsal is not enough. She really should have just gotten over rehearsing in a different space. Every other company does it. That night I just felt like hitting and throwing anything within reach. That was when I started counting the days until it would be over.

It was impossible to promote this show because, other than postcards with a blurry photo from a previous year, there were no promotional materials. No promotional photos of one or two actors in costume, no photos taken during rehearsals and even worse than that, no show poster. I wasn't asking for hard copies; just something to post on social media. The previous year when I did Romeo and Juliet at Curtain Theatre in Mill Valley, we had a photographer walking around taking photos (albeit a lot of them not very good) and I also took several photos which were prominently used on the company's social media pages. I looked up this company's social media pages to see what they've posted on those before and what I saw was dismal. On Facebook, the only things that had been posted in 2024 and 2023 were merely notifications looking for actors. On Instagram, the last post was dated 2019. I didn't even try to tell people about this show because I had nothing to use to advertise. As for the playbill, the photo on the front was a picture of a previous year's show.

I thought about taking photos during rehearsals like I did for Romeo and Juliet, but I quickly realized that was not going to be an option. During rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet, whether we rehearsed in the evening or midday, the sun was blocked by something. Not only that, but a number of people started rehearsals either off book or very close to it. But this time around, we were rehearsing in the middle of the afternoon with no cover over us; It was too bright to take a good photo. Even if the lighting had been ideal, I still wouldn't have done it. People had trouble with their lines and looked more comfortable with a script in their hands than not which hindered their movement. I simply didn't see any good opportunity to get a good photo.

Performances for this show a little different than what I usually did. Rather than be Friday, Saturday (also possibly Thursday) evenings with a Sunday matinee, this company did two weeks of performances with performances on Wednesday through Sunday and all evenings. Ten in all. We only had three dress rehearsals before them, one of which would be an invited one for all the employees of the winery.

On the day of the first one we had to show up one and a half hours earlier than originally scheduled so that we could run the second half of the show. I was worried how this was going to be because while some people did better on their lines, Rick was blanking on a number of words. I was in no position to bail him out because Shakespeare lines are harder to memorize than normal speech. If we had rehearsed several days a week, I probably would have known some of his lines, but not from only one rehearsal a week. He also had a tendency to say "Shit" or "Fuck" if that happened. I could only hope he wouldn't do that in performances. On the plus side though we finally got in a full run of my first scene with the fountain off.

On the second dress rehearsal night, I had hoped that we'd get one uninterrupted run through of the show before performing in front of audiences, but that was not to be. Kate kept changing things and trying to clean up entrances and exits all rehearsal. Sound cues were added on this night, and we had to figure that out. As for lights, I started wondering if we'd even have any. It was a bit tough because we only had two places to enter and exit from, but I'm not entirely sure enough planning had been taken on them. Not only that, but we had a small speaker set up in front of the fountain so that we could hear what was going on, but it was not the most reliable which made us have a hard time hearing which made us late for our cues. And then, the final scene took a dive in terms of energy, and it got sloppy.

In the final scene, Kate wanted the two couples (Kevin/Reina and Adriel/Jasmine) to kiss. That was news to the four of them. None of them were comfortable with it. I believe they solved it with doing an upstage fake kiss. Kevin and Jasmine were discussing it afterward in the dressing area afterwards, with Kevin saying that when he directed a show at a high school a few months earlier, his teenage actors were reluctant to kiss as well. I found that hard to believe and said as much. I would not think that would be the case, given the teenage hormone factor. Jasmine chimed in that since Covid, people's comfort level had dropped and she also felt if they had had an intimacy session, maybe it could have been avoided. I think a little more advanced warning would have been nice. In the end, they did the upstage turn stage kiss technique.

As I stated earlier, thanks to the manager of the winery acting like a Karen, the theatre company had to provide its own tables and chairs for performances. The tables had to be set up before each performance with a tablecloth and eight chairs per table and taken down after. As the winery was open for business seven days a week, there was no leaving them set up for the following night. We worked to get volunteers to help with setting everything up in exchange for free admission so that the actors would not have to do it. I tried to find some friends to come, but no takers.

This show was probably the only one I was ever part of that actually started promptly on time, if you can believe that.

*Note: The audience numbers mentioned for each night are estimations.

We had somewhere between 60-75 people for the invited dress rehearsal which was on the hottest day of that week. Volume from many actors was not very good, which Kate found out from the audience members. But worse than that, for the first time in all my years of performing, I did something I do not do- I went onstage on a wrong entrance. I left the stage when Jasmine (Olivia) entered for her scene with Adriel (Sebastian) and while that was going, I looked at my script and saw it was opened to a page with lines between the two of them. Then I saw I was supposed to enter next with Matt. He and I go on and I go outside expecting to see Kevin toward us and he isn't there. I panicked thinking he missed his cue. Matt and I traded a couple words and then Mary entered holding a fake beard. That's when I realized I was in the wrong scene and got off quickly. My next scene was after another scene Olivia and Sebastian had together, which was short like the first one, hence the confusion. But I was disgusted at myself for doing that. There was no reason why that should have happened.

Opening night went fine enough, but the show was not the well-oiled machine I would hope for. Some people were still not paying attention, preferring to gab with each other. In one scene, Rick was supposed to go on, but he was about to get ready for his final scene. Mary and I kept whispering "Sir Toby" or "Rick" respectively to get his attention, but it took a minute to get through his head. For my part, after the performance was over and while I was lying in bed, out of nowhere I realized I hadn't been saying one of my lines and I didn't recall saying it the past few nights. Then I remembered that this particular line was one of Mary's cues to enter and there had been a little uncertainty at that moment earlier during the performance. I had been having trouble remembering a different line and I focused so much on remembering that one that I forgot this one in the process. DAMN IT! I said to myself, "I will say that line and all my lines tomorrow or else."

Kate would not stay still and watch the performance, she kept getting up and darting around, in the audience and also backstage. Part of it was to prepare food for the Patron's Table. It was a special offer that if you paid for this particular table, you'd have food and drink provided and served to you. But we did not have those every night and she still would stay still.

What really ticked me off happened during my first scene on the first night. Rick, Riley and I were standing in the audience "hiding" while Lanny (Malvolio) said his lines when Kate came up behind us, whispering instructions to Rick, which caused his to almost miss a cue line. I was not happy with that. It broke the illusion. There were two tough theatre critics in the area who I knew, and I almost wish one of them had been there, seen that and savaged us for that.

I heard we had at least 110 people on the second night. It went better than opening night with few to no bumps. On the third night we had approximately 130 people and on this night was where things went on a trip.

Earlier that day, Adriel was in a mountain biking accident which resulted in a broken collar bone, a bruised lung, a traumatic brain injury which caused some bleeding in his brain, and sepsis on the spine. It sounds worse than it was, but he had to be airlifted to the ICU. He told us much later that he was going down the hill too fast and the next thing he knew, he was in the hospital. 

Kate first tried contacting someone she knew to come in and play the part with a script in hand, but he wasn't available. What were we to do? Rick came up with creative, if somewhat absurd idea. For each scene Sebastian was in, a different male actor would step in, wearing the vest Adriel wore. Rick took the first one, Kevin the next two, and Lanny the fourth (though I wish he hadn't because he looked ridiculous and way too old for the part). I had the final scene. As I didn't go onstage until nearly the end of the first act, I spent it memorizing Sebastian's lines. Tucking the two pages of the script in the vest just in case (I blanked on one word), I went on and did it. Now, I don't get nervous onstage much anymore, not even opening night jitters, but before going on I kept thinking "I'm gonna heave, I'm gonna heave, I'm gonna heave." I was that nervous! It didn't make me less nervous with Kate yelling out "You memorized the scene?!"

I needed a drink after that performance. Kevin and I went over to Murphy's Irish Pub on the Sonoma Plaza afterwards.

As Sebastian

We would have to do that for the rest of the weekend, possibly the rest of the run. The hospital would not release Adriel until they did more tests and dealt issues that needed to be resolved. On the first night, I only wore the vest over my usual costume, but as the run went on, I realized I had time to change into the entire costume, albeit with a bigger pair of pants. 

The following night had 140-150 people, and a little drama unfolded in the audience on this night. A fight almost broke out. Yes, you read that right. At one table, right in front of the sound booth no less, someone in a group of eight kept whispering or talking to another member. We think they were translating. People kept telling them to be quiet because they were being distracting, only to be met with disgust. Finally, toward the end of the first act, someone finally told them to shut up, which was met with a similar response and then two men from different tables got up and moved toward them ready to fight. Ryan and Keeley's mom had to get between them before it got ugly. I noticed something going on back there but couldn't make out what it was. At intermission, Kate spoke with them, politely at first, saying they were disrupting the play and they had to either be quiet or leave. One of them retorted, "Why don't you leave?" Needless to say, they were kicked out, to the applause of everyone.

The final show of that weekend had at most 100 people and went off without incident or drama, though people had begun to get rather sloppy. There was a lot of not paying attention to their cues, not being ready with props, being late for entrances, ad-libbing and breaking character. Kate encouraged interaction with the audience during performances. Fine. But audience interaction does not mean you stop paying attention. Rick (Sir Toby) was very bad at focusing. More than once, Kate whispered something at him, even once encouraging him to have a brownie, which made him miss his cues. When he tried to justify it later, I said "Why didn't you just ignore her?" I wish he had gone out of his way to avoid her or ignore her.

With Rick

Riley (who played Sir Andrew) was, if anything, worse. He broke character, ad-libbed and broke the fourth wall a lot. Some examples: At one performance, in my first scene, where we trick Malvolio, he blurted out "Sorry I was eating" toward Lanny, even though we're supposed to be hiding. In another scene where he and Sebastian hit each other, his wig falls off, until one night it didn't and he said, "My wig didn't fall off this time." Twice, in the same scene, he said to Rick "You missed a line" when Rick's character reads a letter that Riley's character wrote and then he said "Let's hope he reads it correctly." 

With Riley

Ad-libbing if someone blanks on a line or because you have to fill dead air if an actor is late for an entrance is one thing. But doing it in a way that all but tells the audience "You're watching a play" or doing it as yourself and not as the character you're portraying is not okay. I couldn't stand those antics and Kate for indulging them rather than reining them in.

That's not to say there were some good things about the cast. Jasmine (Olivia) was very good at getting her lines and not deviating from the script and projecting. Lanny was at least 70, but he had his lines down better than some of the younger cast members, though I do wish he had spoken louder at times. Since he had been a high school English teacher for years, he also knew how to say the Shakespeare text very well.

With Jasmine at the end of the play

One of my favorite things about this play, even though we had to break down tables and chairs every night, was pick through food scraps left behind. Gross you might think? I only took things that hadn't been touched, like wrapped candies. At the patron's table, the people there would get a slice of rich, moist chocolate cake and if I was lucky, one of them would have been left untouched. 

After two days off, we began the second weekend. As I fully expected, Adriel was not going to return, and we would have to keep doing what we were doing in regard to his role. The first night (Wednesday) had at most 100 people in the audience. There was a huge bump in an early scene. Somebody blanked on a line and everyone onstage had to ad lib their way out of it. It caused the show's energy to lag.

The Thursday audience was about the same size as the previous night. On this night, Kate finally said to stop ad-libbing and do that show as it's written. THANK YOU! There didn't seem to be that much that night, but that's as long as it lasted.

The Friday audience had somewhere between 110-120 people. Riley went right on with ad-libbing, breaking character and getting on my nerves. During my first scene, he again said to Malvolio "Hang on I'm eating" when we were supposed to be hiding. Then in a later scene, where he acts like he's being slapped and his wig flies off he kept saying "Hold on, almost got it." Rick didn't help matters by standing there awkwardly holding Kevin's arm (he was playing Sebastian in this scene) just waiting for him. And by this point Riley had changed on of his lines from "Though I struck him first, yet it's no matter" to "Though I struck him first, he knocked my freakin' hair off!"

Saturday was that largest audience of the entire run. I was told it was 160 people which made it "sold out." Many in the cast considered this one out best audience of all. It was certainly a very responsive one. 

Afterwards, a few of us went out to Murphy's Irish Pub for drinks. It turned out that some of the people who were there had been at that night's performance. I'm not sure if it was a bachelorette group or a small pre-wedding get together, but regardless, they treated us like celebrities, striking up a conversation, asking for autographs and allowing us to partake in a toast of sparkling wine (Free drink!)

On closing night, the size of the audience was almost as big as the night before. Possibly 140-150 people. Before the show started, I was backstage, watching a video on Netflix when I noticed everyone else getting excited and rushing around the corner. I instantly knew what it had to be and quickly joined them. Adriel had managed to make it to see the final show. I was hoping he'd make it if only to see the show before it was too late. The audience at this one did not seem as responsive as the previous night, but that didn't matter. We were performing that one for Adriel.

For closing, we had hoped that we could get someone to come in and film the show, but we could find no one. Eventually, Kevin had our costumer hold his phone and film it. Personally, if that were going to be the case, I wish we had done it earlier. There were so many mistakes that night. More than one late entrance and the usual ad-libs which I couldn't stomach. Maybe, just maybe, if we had tried earlier, there wouldn't have been mistakes. To make matters worse, the costumer held the camera vertically when she filmed it.

I was grateful to have had the chance to do a summer Shakespeare show because of this. It was a good run, and it all came together, in spite of only having rehearsal once a week. With one or two exceptions, it was a good group of actors. However, even before the run was over, I knew I very likely would not be back the following year. I had lined up two shows for the following year, one of which would possibly have rehearsals on Sunday afternoons. In effect, if the rehearsal schedule for whatever Kate decided to do the following year was the same as this one, I would miss too many rehearsals.