THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

Date of Run: August 5-21, 2011
ROLE: Abraham Slender
Photos by Al Christenson and Bobbi Wilkins.

Not long after Reefer Madness ended, Narrow Way Stage held auditions for the summer productions The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare and Antigone by Jean Anouilh. I auditioned with Puck's closing monologue from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was called back and after reading a few scenes the director of Merry Wives, Diana Grogg, asked me if I'd consider playing the role of Slender. She described Slender as a young rich man who talks a big game and thinks he's all that, but when a girl comes around, he acts stupid and giddy. In other words, it was perfect for me! I said I would and when the cast list came, I was cast as Slender. Diana would later say to me that she cast me in that role because I was funny.

And then I went to Europe. I had been planning a week and a half long trip to Turkey and Greece that summer and it was scheduled to begin at the exactly the same time rehearsals were to begin. I received the script in an email and took it with me on the trip so that I could start learning my lines. I didn't want to be too far behind anyone else and felt that I at least owed them that much for being absent for two weeks. I had plenty of time to learn my lines because of the over twelve-hour flight both ways and because my trips to Europe involved a lot of bus riding. By the time I got back I was completely memorized. And as it turned out I was miles ahead of everyone else. My first rehearsal back we went over my scenes and staging, and I rarely looked at my script, except for when I need to write something down. During this, as I was told later, one cast member turned to another and said, "Is he off book already?" to be answered with "Looks like it."

The cast list consisted of my friends Nick Christenson, Ryan Neilan, Caitlin Brandon, Paul McKinnon, and Charles Fanucchi. The rest consisted of people I didn't know: Marc and Jana Molina, Saskia Baur, Cat Bish, JC Flores, LC Smith, Tim Earls, Eyan Dean, Izabella Mrozik and a couple others who I do not the name of, but we'll come to later.


Rehearsals were held in the backyard of Cat's house, which was conveniently down the street from my house so I could walk to rehearsal every day. The show itself, which is mostly outdoors would indeed be outdoors. It was held at Spreckels, but on the big lawn behind the theatre building. This would mean much projecting on the part of everyone because we'd be facing away from the building and there'd be nothing for the sound to bounce back from. Nick had the best voice of all of us and would have no trouble there. Everyone else including myself would practice speaking up during rehearsal, despite a couple protests from the neighbors.

Diana's vision for the show was for it to take place in the 1940s after the war. Some characters would be military characters and the costumes were picked up from thrift stores. Also, the show would take place in Sonoma County rather than England.

For a few weeks things ran smoothly enough though one cast member never showed up once and we were still short a person for a small role. Then something unfortunate happened. First, we lost the girl playing Anne Page, my onstage love pursuit, as well as that girl's sister. Then we lost Chuck. Chuck was facing some personal and health problems that he could not cope with while also doing a show, so he dropped out. His role was Bardolph, a follower of Falstaff, Nick's character, which was a large supporting role. Now instead of being short one person we were short four. Ryan and LC, who had been playing Falstaff's other followers Pistol and Nym, took the roles of Bardolph and Anne Page. It was difficult to fill the remaining roles, especially because we could not find any men. Even before rehearsals, Diana had changed three characters to women and eliminated two altogether. To fill the role of Pistol we searched for a man for some time and finally found one, Kyle Brandon. Diana found one of her contacts, an older woman whose name I can't remember, to play Nym. Now we were only short one person to play Robin, Falstaff's page. A couple weeks after filling the other roles, Hana Casita was cast. This in addition to Caitlin playing Simple, my page, caused a script revision. At the end of the play Slender and Doctor Caius, Paul's character, mistakenly marry Robin and Simple, respectively, as part of an elaborate scheme. So, Diana revised the script to give each a few lines, in Shakespearean language, to explain the details.

For two months we rehearsed the show, necessary because Shakespeare is difficult to memorize, though this play was easier to follow than some.

As time passed, I began to notice trouble from Izabella. She was playing Shallow, my characters uncle (aunt in this version). Weeks and weeks went by and yet she could not remember any of her lines nor the staging. The set was designed as a bench in front of a fountain which was a few feet from a two-foot-high stage. The backdrop of the stage was a wall and two doors. Off to the sides would be two platforms, one for an office and the other for a bar. Diana's staging for the first scene was for Izabella, Eyan and me to enter from the audience and go to the fountain. But every rehearsal Izabella headed for the stage. At first, I attributed it to her age because she was in her 60s or maybe 70s. We neared tech week, and she was no closer to being off book than when she started. I began to panic over what we were going to do. Eventually we found out that her medication was affecting her memory and when she stopped taking it, she got migraines. Diana stepped in and replaced her.

About a week before the show was to begin, Nick was scheduled to go on a local radio show to promote the show. As the artistic director for Narrow Way Stage, he always did this. He asked if I was doing anything that particular day and if not, would I like to do a scene from the show with LC. I said yes. The day of the broadcast, Nick drove us to the station. He did most of the talking, promoting the show. Then LC and I did the ending part of the first scene of the show where were alone together, making small talk and my character acts shy around her and says stupid things.

Since the show was outside, I had to utilize my voice to capacity. I took a leaf out of the book of my speaking voice teacher, Danielle Cain. I did a vocal warm up every rehearsal day during tech week before the rehearsal a week before the show began, before each rehearsal and even on the days off. It was for muscle memory purposes and the results were worth it.

Opening night was a near disaster. Though Diana had replaced Izabella in the role of Shallow, she would have to read from a script while onstage. But worse than that was that Marc had to go to southern California for a job interview and would not be back in time. Clint Campbell graciously stepped in and also read from a script, throwing old pages aside as he went along. Then as it turned out Diana would not be available on the Sunday matinees. The role was filled by Merlyn Sell. She had the lines memorized by the second Sunday. After each performance we had to do a mini strike where we had to lock up anything that could be stolen, meaning props and furniture, and we had to cover the bar part of the set with a tarp.

My favorite scene was the first scene because that's where most of my action and lines were. After that I had a forty-minute break before going on again. Then I was in almost every scene with few lines and that was the first act. In the second act I did not appear until halfway through and then at the end I had a few lines. My last entrance I tried to keep real every night for I had to be angry. I would stand, back turned, behind the audience, thinking of things that made me angry. Then when my cue came, I took Hana's hand and stormed up through the audience, ranting. I felt better on some nights than others. I then had to melt and be giddy when Hana's character offered to marry mine. All I had to do to accomplish this was look into her pretty brown eyes.

In the beginning I did not feel as though I was doing my best, but in the second half of the run, inexplicably, I felt my performance was improving. Speaking Shakespeare began to be easier, and I felt I was owning my lines in my scenes. I tried to milk every moment I could. Even so I was not immune to almost breaking character. During one performance in the first scene when Nick Christenson was coming right at me, I suddenly had the giggles. I tried hard to hide it, but Nick certainly noticed and later asked me why I was smiling. I don't know what came over me.

The most difficult scene was my third entrance. I was to be standing in one spot, staring at a photo of Anne Page, while the scene went on. It was incredibly boring having to stand there looking interested and doing something. I never really liked that scene.

Walking on the ground outside was not easy for anyone. It was not smooth and flat; it was very bumpy. The women had it worse due to their footwear. I believe Cat had to go to a chiropractor more than once during and after the run. Grass on the costume was not fun either, especially if you owned what you were wearing.

Being outside also meant that we were subject to the weather. Thankfully it never rained on us, but for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows, we'd start in lightness and good weather, and then at the end it was dark and freezing. This was actually my first summer residing in Sonoma County and what I didn't know before that was that summer in Sonoma County might be warm or hot in the day, but by night it gets freezing cold. And sometimes, it was cold even during the day. The Sunday matinees were hardly better for even though it was light, it was hot. The show began at five on Sundays, but that didn't matter. It was only slightly cooler at the end.

One of my favorite memories was in the last scene concerning a word Marc said. His line was "What cannot be eschew'd must be embraced." Every performance instead of saying it "es-shooed," he said it as "es-chewed." We all found it hilarious. Then out of nowhere on closing night he said it right! Nearly all in the cast reacted with surprise, audibly and visually. I didn't notice because I was too in character looking at Hana, but I did notice how others around me reacted. I thought it weird. Nick, who had the next line, was about to say it, but when Marc said the word right, he paused and looked at him amazed. After the play during the strike, when we removed two smaller platforms that were on the sides of the main platform, we saw that the grass was incredibly long, pale light green and in a perfect rectangle. We could only imagine how it would've looked under the larger one (we didn't remove that for reasons I do not know, probably no way to get rid of it).

In this show I finally got to do a Shakespeare play, not to mention a character role. No ensemble, no playing multiple characters, just one character the whole way through. Those reasons are why this role was one of my favorites to play. It was even a role I felt fit me perfectly.

On a side note, this was also the first play where I didn't have to do any singing at all.

REEFER MADNESS THE MUSICAL

Date of Run: April 15-May 1, 2011
ROLE: Ensemble

Production Photos by Caitlin Brandon

In the fall of 2010, I auditioned for and got into Reefer Madness the Musical, with book and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and music by Dan Studney. This musical was being staged by Narrow Way Stage Company, a fairly young theatre company formed by former Sonoma State and Santa Rosa Junior College theatre students. It was to be this company's first musical. I had seen some of their shows in the past and they were generally very well done. I was cast in the ensemble. The director was Nick Christenson, the music director was Liam Robertson, and the choreographer was Gloria Rubio. Our stage manager was the incredible Robin DeLuca. Rehearsals for this show began in late January while Die Fledermaus rehearsals were winding down and performances beginning. It seemed that whenever I was called to Reefer Madness rehearsals, I had Die Fledermaus rehearsals and on the few nights I was free I usually was not called at all.

It had taken some time for the cast list to appear, but when it did, I only recognized four people: Claire McCaffrey, who was also in Die Fledermaus, Elise Siegel, with whom I had done a music theatre scenes class some semesters back, Liam Robertson, who was the music director for Growing Up in Neverland, and Emily Somple, with whom I had done the music theatre scenes class one year earlier. The rest of the cast included Nora Summers, Braedyn Youngberg, Trevor Hoffmann, Lenny Improta, Hana Casita, Alexis Long, Samantha Lane, Clint Campbell, and Ryan Neilan. Emily, however, left the cast, probably at the beginning of rehearsals, and was replaced by Rebekah Patti.

The Cast and Crew

Some of the people in the cast were Sonoma State (SSU) students whom I had seen in SSU shows, even if I didn't realize I had. And others in the cast were people who lived throughout Sonoma County. I was beyond thrilled to work with Nick and Rebekah, two of my favorite actors from SSU. They were in the first show I saw at Sonoma State and in Sonoma County in the French farce A Flea in her Ear and they both made an everlasting impression on me. Over the next three years I saw them repeatedly in shows but did not meet them until that school year. I took a playwriting class with Rebekah the semester before Reefer Madness, and I met Nick at auditions. Rebekah is a wonderful person, and her outgoing personality made it very easy to get along with her and the same went for Alexis.

When Die Fledermaus finally ended, Claire and I went to Spreckles Performing Arts Center, where the show would run. We would be using the smaller black box theatre, but as another show was in progress, we had to rehearse in a number of places including the larger theatre at Spreckles, the gym at SSU and a few rooms in Ives Hall at SSU. By the time Claire and I arrived Gloria had staged the first song, "Reefer Madness." So, Claire and I stood back and watched as the others ran through it to show us and I thought "Crap, I am so behind." They had also done some staging for the song "Five and Dime," but not all of it. Gloria and the rest of the cast caught us up, though in my case it took a little while.

Gloria used the soundtrack from the film version of this musical to help her choreograph. At first there were no problems because there weren't any differences between the musical and the movie until we got to "Jimmy on the Lam," which was the last song to be fully staged. Gloria staged it so we'd be walking in angles alternating between slow, normal and fast steps and forwards and backwards. For the longest time when we came to the ending, something was wrong. It was the song going weird all of a sudden and Gloria couldn't figure out how to fix it. The staging frustrated us, and I would gladly have suggested she scrap this and think of something new. It was when we rehearsed with Nora, Rebekah, Elise and Lenny who did the singing in the song that we figured out what was happening. What was wrong was the music that was playing was not the same as what we'd be using. Gloria fixed it and after some time the ensemble remembered all the steps in the correct order. In fact, the first time we did the whole thing right without stopping once, we cheered, and I got us to do a group high five in celebration.


Easily, everyone's favorite song was "The Orgy." In this part of the show, Jimmy, Braedyn's character and the lead, has smoked marijuana for the first time and he lapses into this extreme orgy. We were told that we'd be dancing and rubbing against each other like people do in sex, so we would have to be comfortable. Nick gave an exercise to help with that (more on that later). No one was really uncomfortable though at one moment when the girls were bent over and the guys were behind and thrust their hips forward and back, Samantha asked me not to get too close. The dance consisted also of crawling, rolling and sprawling on the floor. The number ended with everyone collapsed in a heap in the floor. We were also allowed to play with the audience, not only in this song, but also in the first song (more later).

I was sure that the music would cause me real vocal cord injury. The women's parts were divided into soprano and alto, but the men had only one part. I don't know if that's how Studney wrote it or if that's how this edition came, but it seemed as though it was decided that all the men had to be tenors or bari-tenors. No low baritones, which is what I am. In the ensemble I was the only guy with any real vocal experience, but it was impossible. I had to employ falsetto and a more nasal sound to manage parts of it and completely drop out at other parts to make it work, but after every rehearsal my throat would hurt. Liam was hardly any help because if we sang the wrong notes, he'd sing the right note or more often would hit the right key on the piano repeatedly. All I could think was "Liam, that really isn't helping." For the rest of rehearsals, I really lived like a monk. No talking or singing during the day if I could avoid it. Nothing but quiet.

My least favorite song in the show was "Mary Jane/ Mary Lane." I basically repeated the line "Loved by Mary, loved by Mary, loved by Mary Lane" over and over, but no matter how hard I tried I never got the notes right. 

It was also in this show I first learned about fight choreography. Here we come to Richard Squeri, who taught and staged fights for a living. In our first meeting with him he had us play a called flowing dragon swords with him. This is a description from a Youtube video of it: "Flowing Dragon Swords is played when two people face each other and touch wooden swords, then as soon as possible, make and maintain consistent eye contact. The Sword contact is held with no aggressive movement or preplanned outcome. The object is for two people to connect deeply and if inspired, to co-create motion. When this is realized, a window to another world opens. Suddenly, there is no winning or losing, no blame, or expectation -- there is simply seeing yourself and others in a profound and simple way that heals, forms bonds, and invites deep dialogue." Richard staged people dying in several ways, falling, catching others, slapping and best of all, what everyone called "The hoe death."


The hoe death was Elise's big moment in the show. It was where her character, Mae, would kill Trevor's character, Jack, using a garden hoe. She would knock a gun out of Trevor's hand, jab the hoe into his stomach, drag him by the hair and throw him behind the couch. She then proceeded to beat him with the hoe (really beating a large stuffed bag) wile Trevor squirted her with stage blood. Then finally Elise would jab the hoe straight up like she was crushing his balls, reach down and pull up a plastic heart. I reveled in watching this every night while hidden.

Nick had some very interesting exercises for us in order to connect and feel comfortable with each other. They took place in a small dance studio in Ives Hall at Sonoma State University. He first had us walk around the room and when we felt like it we would yell "Fall." Then we would begin to fall and someone or multiple people would catch us. I loved that exercise. The next was to help with the orgy scene. Nick had us split in four groups and go to the four corners of the room. He then turned off the lights and we had to go diagonally to the opposite corner. This entailed us being caught and tangle in a pile to work out of. The last exercise was being in pairs wherein one person would be imagined to be in the worst place possible, naked, emotions bare, and eyes closed. The other would bring that person out of the fetal position, crawl next to them and comfort them. I was paired with Lenny. It was a grueling exercise and some people sobbed. We all had a group hug afterwards.

Generally, I got along well with the cast. They were hard working and dedicated to the show. I even admired some of them. However, Braedyn lost my good favor forever at one rehearsal. At this rehearsal the cast was on a short break, and I was doing a handstand leaning against a wall. Braedyn was goofing around and then he came up and tickled me. I am very ticklish and so I fell. That was the first and to date only time I lost my temper in a blind rage. I grabbed the nearest things I could get my hands on (which turned out to be Trevor's shoes) and hurdled them at him. I had enough sense not to physically attack him, however. When asked if I was all right, I said told everyone to leave me alone and I went outside to regain my composure. For the sake of the show, I tolerated and was professional with Braedyn, but once the show ended, I never spoke to him again.

Clint was a near perfect theatre person. He graduated with a technical theatre degree, but he also acted and danced. He did not sing as much, but I said to the others in the cast, even him, that if he took some singing lessons, he'd be complete.

Ryan was funny at times. I remember the first time I saw his dance for "The Brownie Song." It was cool. Then it was funny watching Braedyn having sex (yes, having sex) with him at the end of the song. If you watch the movie, that scene becomes an animated cartoon moment and Jimmy starts having sex with a brownie head attached to a woman's body.

The layout of the black box theatre of Spreckels was that the stage would be a diamond with seats to the sides and an opening in the center that led out. Exits were also on stage right and left and behind us. Hallways connected the area. For my part I sixteen scenes (the majority) and had eight costume changes, many of which involved just adding to or taking off what I already had on, and six makeup changes. My face always ended up being clean at the end of every show. I had to be a zombie, reefer den person, teenager, orgy person, choir person and angel, ordinary person and executioner so I had to master quick changes and I did very well, though some were difficult. We in the ensemble also did set changes. Mine was easy because Ryan and I were in charge of moving the couch. Once or twice when he didn't show or took some time to get there, I'd be like "I'm not waiting," and moved it myself.

We moved to tech week. We did not have a sitzprobe, which would've been helpful. We had maybe two or three rehearsals with the full orchestra, which consisted of five or six people. We spent much time hammering out our entrances and cues in the songs. Samantha in particular was very good at figuring it out. Everything came together on the last night, though it was difficult. I honestly thought that the show would crash and burn with everything still shaky and certain people were always messing up, though I won't say who.

A character that was cut was The Placard Girl. She would bring in the signs saying all the negative aspects of reefer and other things like the repeated "Loved by Mary Lane" line for the audience to sing along to. For some reason, Nick divided the signs among the ensemble cast members. I was given two placards. Mine were after "The Lullaby" where Rebekah's character, Sally, sells her baby for money and then the baby (Lenny) comes out and sings. I came on in my angel costume with my placard saying aloud "Reefer makes you sell your babies (flip it around) for drug money." My other was after "Little Mary Sunshine." The cue was where Lenny said, "Come on let me up!" to which Nora said, "Shut up bitch!" and I'd come on as a zombie saying, "Reefer gives you a potty mouth."

In this show I had eight costume changes. I'd start as a zombie then go to a reefer den person then to a teenager to an orgy person to Jimmy's dad to a choir person/angel to a teen again. And that was just the first act. The second act had only two and it was more leisurely. I started as a teen then to a zombie and ending as the executioner. I not only had that but about four or five make-up changes, wiping off zombie make-up and then reapplying it later and adding little bits here and there for various scenes.

Opening night was not a complete disaster, but all the male principal characters messed up at some point. Liam switched and repeated a verse in "Reefer Madness," Braedyn forgot lyrics in "Mary Jane/Mary Lane," Lenny's timing was off in "Jimmy on the Lam," and Trevor's Jesus wig during his song "Listen to Jesus Jimmy" fell off. Trevor also made a very grave mistake that nearly stopped the show.

In the second act the second song was "The Brownie Song," in which Jack gives Jimmy a pot brownie. We would carry our brownies in our pocket during "Jimmy on the Lam," but Trevor placed him between him pants and shirt. I told him not to put it there because I knew it would fall out, but he didn't listen. We came to his scene, and he had no brownie. Claire, Hana and I were waiting offstage left, waiting to enter and watching and we saw something was wrong. A moment later Clint came on whistling and slipped Trevor his brownie and had to run back around stage right. An audience member found the brownie and I retrieved it later. I personally baked the brownies, and we did lose a few in the course of the run forcing me to cut some in half. I made new ones every week and we ate the old ones.

Clint was the hero of the hour and Trevor put it in his pocket from thereon. Through it all the ensemble took it in their stride. The second night went for the most part flawlessly. It lifted my spirits and I prepared for the rest of the three weekend, 12 performance run. I also began to notice that after every show my throat did not hurt. I don't know if it was muscle memory or adrenaline or all the moving around that I did, but after the shows I felt okay. I drank water as much as I could while not onstage.

During opening night, we used confetti cannons for the first time which happened at the end of the finale and the loud bang nearly made me jump out of my skin. They were behind me, and I had no idea that was about to happen. Not to mention I'm not sure when the last time I had heard confetti canons or even if I ever had.

There was only one day (Easter) when the audience wasn't full. I remember because I climbed over seats at people and then did a jump from the second row onto the stage. On the April 20 (4/20) performance the house smelled like weed. I usually peeked at the audience. During the first song Alexis and I would enter stage left as zombies and I'd have a look. I did this when I went into the audience because if I had a friend in the front or in an aisle seat on that side, I would give him/her a lap dance during the orgy scene. Sometimes I could do two friends, but I didn't get to every night though and one night when I headed for a friend, Claire got in my way and her arm accidentally hit my neck. Then I thought "Aw fuck it" and didn't bother to do it. One night in my near-sighted eyes I thought I saw a friend of mine. It turned out to be a friend of Ryan's. When I found out afterwards, I was so embarrassed. Luckily, he and his girlfriend (who was also an actress) were the most into the show that night so I got away with it.

My voice and music theatre teacher at the time, a classical musical type, came to a performance and said it was one of the funniest things she'd ever seen.

Backstage before one performance for some reason I began to sing "Colors of the Wind." Practically everyone approved. As time went on, I sang other songs that people brought up from films and musicals. I surprised many by how many I knew, even obscure songs from films like The Swan Princess. I do not remember if this was during a performance or a rehearsal, but before we did the show, one day backstage Samantha and I sang the entire song "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd. I knew it a bit better than she did, but we did the entire thing. She would later call me one of her favorite backstage singing buddies.

As the show went on, I began to learn it by heart. For example, in the climactic scene I'd be backstage saying "Nora's been shot," then came Rebekah's line "She fell down!" A moment later we'd hear "Romeo and Juliet (reprise)" and when the dramatic chord was heard I'd say, "And she's dead." I even had some fun with the lines. After "Reefer Madness" there would be a scene between Braedyn and Nora before their duet "Romeo and Juliet." One of the lines was "Forsooth fair Juliet. Wouldst thou likest yon hot chocolate?" but to me it was "Forsooth fair Juliet. Wouldst thou sing a cheesy song with me?" 

Mistakes and various other incidents popped up here and there. We in the ensemble were very good about taking something in our stride. Twice it happened during "Listen to Jesus Jimmy." First one night Trevor switched verses. The first line began with "Satan went and conned ya" while the ensemble would repeat it. Then later it was "Jimmy, let me see ya." Trevor said "Jimmy" while some in the ensemble said "Sat-" and stopped, thinking "Huh?" Then we finished the Jimmy line and as if we all had the same brain, we did our choreography for that moment and did the Satan line later. Another time concerned Ryan where he had to improvise. 

After "The Orgy" were three scenes showing Jimmy's transition from good to bad. Alexis and I entered in the last of these as Jimmy's parents. One time as we were frantically changing, I reached down for something while her back was turned, and her foot went up and kicked me in the face just below the eye. Another half an inch and she would've taken that eye out. From then on, I did my change away from everyone else. 

My most stressful costume change was the one before "Listen to Jesus Jimmy." After the scene I was in before that, I had to take my dress shoes off, switch out of pants, shirt and tie, put on my angel then choir robe and put my shoes back on then run to the upstage center entrance to enter during Nora's song "Lonely Pew." I had very little time to do this. What made the change more difficult was that I exited downstage center and run all the way to upstage center. I thought "Why didn't Nick have me exit that way?" It wasn't until after the show when I was erasing the notes out of my libretto that I saw he did tell me that and I clearly wrote it down.

I wish I had paid more attention to that or that someone had corrected me earlier. There were quite a few nights where I was sweating bullets about making my cue in time. One night I barely made it. I literally joined them as they were going on stage, but I noticed that Ryan wasn't there. He zoned out backstage and missed the cue. We went through "Lonely Pew" and then at Trevor's entrance for "Listen to Jesus Jimmy," Ryan came on holding Trevor's Jesus cape and took his place. Nick was not pleased.

One night, I remember there being a mistake being made, though I did not notice until someone said what happened later. What happened was Braedyn was coming backstage from one of his scenes and said something with "fuck" in it and apparently his mic was still turned on. I'm sure the audience found it hilarious, but I didn't notice because I was too busy getting ready for my next scene.

One time when I almost cracked up laughing was during "Listen to Jesus Jimmy (reprise)." I was the executioner and about to pull the switch when Trevor entered. He says his lines and then start saying "Body of me" while throwing Ritz crackers to the audience. Once he threw it like a Frisbee and it hit an old woman right in the face. From then on, he handed them to the audience.

My favorite moment was when I was the executioner. I had so much fun. I was told by many that I creeped them out during that scene. Sadly the only thing that displeased me was the fact that the executioner had his own music motif, but they cut it. A couple people tell me that when they think of a role to associate me with they think of that. I played it very convincingly. I was cast as this role the day Braedyn tickled me so I guess my anger at him made me very convincing.

"The Orgy" was always fun. After a lap dance I'd join the cast dancing with usually Elise and I in each others arms rubbing against each other with Claire behind me and Trevor going underneath our legs.


Often there were "safety meetings" (really weed smoking get togethers), usually headed by Robin and Ryan and cast parties to which I was usually never informed about, probably because I didn't smoke or do drugs like the others in the cast did. In a show about weed I was the only person, cast or crew who did not smoke it even once.


At the closing night cast party Ryan gave me what he called a compliment by telling me what he honestly thought of me, as he claimed to do with everyone. He told me that I was a machine specifically programmed for musicals. The oddest compliment I've ever heard, but as time went on and as I did more musicals, I think he may have been right.

The end of the run was sad. I wish it would've gone on longer. It remains one of the best, most successful shows I ever did, one of my favorites that I ever did, and it had my favorite cast that I ever worked with. Alexis and I continued for years afterward to beg Nick to do a revival of the show.

DIE FLEDERMAUS

Date of Run: February 17-27, 2011
ROLE: Chorus

While I had finally made my stage debut in Growing Up in Neverland, it was over a year before I would set foot on a stage again. I still had not branched out into community theater and had not made proper connections and friendships in that time. Not to mention, I was still not confident in my abilities, and I didn't know the first thing about the theatre community at large.

The first full length musical show I ever did was probably the most unlikely. I didn't really want to do this show because I had reservations about doing it, but it happened. In my senior year of college, I was cast as a chorus member in Die Fledermaus, a popular German operetta by Johann Strauss. The title translated to "The Bat." It was to be directed by Amanda McTigue with music direction by Lynne Morrow and choreography by Amy McGrath.

This was the first musical I worked with Katie Foster and Ted Smith. There were too many people in the cast to list, but it included my now friends Zachary Hasbany, Christa Durand, Dominic Dei Rossi, Chris Trujillo, Claire McCaffrey and Rachel Deatherage. It also included my friends Christine Ormseth and Autumn Mirassou. During tech week and the show, I was reunited with Stephanie Halbert and Chris Colburn who served as stagehands. Sadly, against my dragging heals, Autumn left the cast about a month later because she was the lead in another play and Amanda and Lynne were not very compromising with her. So, when it came to it, she chose the play in which she'd have more stage time. She was replaced by Claire.

Some of the Cast. That's me in the middle in the grey jacket and red pants.

This was the first experience I had with developing a character. Amanda would have a one-on-one with each member of the cast to discuss character motivations, lives, objectives and give each one a name, even the chorus members. However, to this day I'm not sure I ever applied what we discussed to my character. I didn't feel it necessary, especially since I had no speaking lines.

Musicals at SSU were always in the spring semester. Rehearsals took place over a six month period taking place on Tuesdays and Thursdays and one Saturday per month in the fall. In the spring they would be nearly every day. This was mostly to accommodate Lynne for her life consisted of an endless line of rehearsals, concerts and even recordings. Everyone was called to every rehearsal. Most of the time was spent on the music which I had a hard time learning. The bass section was written in bass clef which is written an octave higher than it really is and I didn't know how to transpose it. I listened to Lynne sing the notes and those around me and recorded it and I memorized it that way. Thank goodness I have a good memory for it.


The rest of the time when we were not called for music was devoted to staging the show. Amanda was filled with ideas on what to do, even applying characters no professional production would ever use. We even stage the overture. If it were up to Lynne the overtures in shows would be cut all together.

Sometime into rehearsals we lost two cast members. The first one was fired from the production for being drugged during rehearsals. He was felt to be a bad influence on the rest of us. He was eventually replaced by a man named Sam Cardenas. The second one was lost due to the World Series. The person was a high schooler doing this show and a Giants fan. The Giants were in the World Series that year and he cared more about that than rehearsal. So they told him to choose and he decided he cared more about that than the show.


Around early November it was time to learn the choreography. I had been dreading this because I am no dancer. I love dancing only when I know what I'm supposed to be doing but I hate the learning. Amy McGrath came in to teach us the waltz and the polka because in this show they were traditional. The directors wished to have this show appeal to a modern audience so Amanda decided to add crumping. Four girls were selected for this to be done during one of Rachel's songs in the second act. Then Amy turned on some music and told us to dance however we wanted because she would select four people for a solo piece after the crumping. I don't know what possessed me but at one moment I did a handstand. Amy saw it and I became the third solo. My solo piece consisted of me walking forward big steps, arm raised wide, looking both sides bowing to Rachel and doing a handstand.

My handstand moment

It was about this time that Yvonne's father passed away. We all felt so sad for her loss. For a couple weeks Lynne stepped in to play the piano for her.

Thanks to Christa, I received my first ever headshots, one of which was placed on the website for the show. The headshots were taken exclusively for the show website, but I got to keep all the ones of me for my personal use.

Overture/Act 1 Costume

Act 2 Costume

I was displeased at having to wear orange in the second and third act. I detest that color. During tech week we had three rehearsals with the full orchestra. It was different hearing all of them, but I wasn't worried because as I had no solo I'd never get lost. Once the show started Amanda continued to give notes on what to do differently. I did not approve of this. In a professional production the director leaves after the show opens. In a college production being in a show is a class and the show itself is the final. Also, I felt that it meant that she wasn't trusting that we could do the show on our own.

Act 3 Costume

During rehearsals in Person Theater, I was assigned two cast members, Elliot Sneen and Benjamin DeShazo-Choushot to be prepared to catch me when I did my handstand should something go wrong. In the rehearsal room I had all the space in the world, but in the theatre with the set being so large I had not too much room between it and the orchestra pit, maybe just over ten feet. Since I had to go far up to avoid kicking the set, I had to be very careful about doing every night because if I lost my balance I could fall into the pit. Elliot and Ben were prepared to catch me should that happen, but they never really had to. Unfortunately, no photo of the handstand exists. My mother attempted to get it, but it went by too quickly.

A couple small details helped to hurt the show. For example the board which had the subtitles was drowned in the lighting so the lyrics were never seen. There were generally no problems at all during the run but one night I had to fix something. At the end of the first act, Sam, Dominic and I would enter from the house stage left. At the steps leading up to the stage would be a bell and rope. Sam rang the bell and the tassel at the end of the rope came off. He simply threw it behind him and when it came time for me to go onstage I turned around and picked it up quickly then threw it offstage almost hitting Stephanie Halbert in the head. The same thing happened on the final night during Christa's first entrance. Again I threw it offstage. Another night it rained nonstop. It was raining when we were called, it rained all during the performance and it was still raining when we ended.

The strike at the end of the show proved to be unbearable. It took over four hours because the set was so complex. We were finally released very late, like around midnight or one in the morning and no one felt much like partying afterward. I don't remember if we ever had a cast party. Maybe, but I don't remember.

I managed to obtain recordings of two different nights from Christa. During the run it was good from my side of the stage except for one long stretch in the second act where the chorus did nothing but stand around and we could've easily been offstage. But then when I viewed the recordings, I said to myself, "Were we really this boring?" It was just not a good show, despite the efforts of the directors to modernize opera and make it appealing to younger audiences.

The Cast on the Set

For my part I recorded songs and other moments from the stage. These two clips feature Katie Foster, Chris Trujillo and Christa Durand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaZXB71XrlU&feature=channel&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu7wWgSeIJ4&feature=channel&list=UL

GROWING UP IN NEVERLAND

Date of Run: November 13-21, 2009
ROLE: Parent, Centipede, John


My theatrical debut was in my junior year of college. It was not exactly what I envisioned, but you gotta start somewhere.  

 

By my junior year I had mostly completed my general education courses which then allowed me more free time to take classes for fun and time for activities. That year the season consisted of Dancing at Lughnasa (which had been cast in May), Growing Up in Neverland (a new play written by Theatre Department faculty member Judy Navas), the musical Company, and The Imaginary Invalid. The shows being cast in August were Growing Up in Neverland and Company. I hoped to do Company (as did everyone else with musical experience who was auditioning), but as Company consisted of only six male roles, only the best would be taken and that was definitely not me. Instead, I was called back for and cast in Neverland as Parent/Centipede/Child.

It was here that I made new friends: Sara Cofiell, Chuck Fanucchi, Rich Nickson, Stephanie Halbert, Christine Ormseth, Jacob Marks, and Paul MacKinnon, Ryan Harrington, Megan Cofiell, Lisa Kusanagi and even a couple of junior college students. They were all really nice people. Later on, during our tech week, I met Chris Colburn, who was one of the stagehands as well as a fellow actor.

Growing Up in Neverland was a 90-minute play written and directed by faculty member Judy Navas, a really delightful woman. It was a new, interesting take on Peter Pan. It was partially inspired by the musical version starring Mary Martin. In this version the play opened in a theatre house in London with James Barry talking to the stagehand Lester. As they talk characters from the Peter Pan world emerge into their world. Then a young actress playing Wendy returns to the theatre searching for something. A moment later the real Wendy enters. Sometime later they are joined by Peter Pan, Captain Hook and eventually The Crocodile. They are transported to Neverland. In Neverland the Lost Boys have become dissatisfied with living with Peter and wish to return to the real world. After the main characters arrive, Peter and Hook are captured by a giant spider who is defeated by the croc. All the characters reveal what they wish to do with their lives, including Peter. The Lost Boys leave Neverland followed by the main characters. Back in the theatre house children are playing when the characters return. They stage the ending scene of the play, but cannot finish. Peter returns and all is right.

The play consisted of new songs with lyrics by Judy and music by music department faculty member Jeff Langley. In the first few rehearsals we were shown the designs for the set and all the costumes and in some cases, including mine, puppets. Jeff then took us into a room in Ives Hall. Sitting at a grand piano he played and explained the music. I would not have any singing until the final song and only a few bars. Our music director was Liam Robertson. The music was not easy for anyone right from the start. The complex music coupled with the fact that only two of the principal characters were singers made Liam's work cut out for him. He worked extensively with everyone going over the same lines over and over. Jacob had only one line in one song to sing, but it was very high, and he had to work with a vocal teacher at SSU to improve his singing. Ryan's song was difficult because it jumped octaves. The final song was sung mostly by Christine. It was literally a roller coaster from low notes to high notes. Even my few bars of singing were insufferable.

Since this was my first show ever, it was a real learning experience for me for I had to learn theatre practices I was not aware of when I watched plays. I had to learn to project. I had to learn to cheat out. When I was told to do that, I looked at Judy as if to say, "What the hell are you talking about?" The more seasoned actors explained what it meant. I had to learn an English accent and speak as an adult and child (the best I could). As the centipede I could play around with my voice. I learned there as more to my voice than I previously thought. I also had to learn to apply stage makeup.

Problems arose when we moved into Person Theatre, first with one of the main actors. I've forgotten his name as I have not seen him since, but one day Judy took aside the actor playing Lester and spoke with him in the lobby. When she came back, she told us she dismissed him for not taking rehearsal seriously. That had been obvious because I saw him playing games on his cellphone while we were rehearsing. I had a bit of a panic attack after this because I feared she'd do the same to me. I was not very confident in my abilities and feared I was so bad I'd be thrown out. Thankfully I wasn't. The replacement for Lester was a junior college actor named Noah, who really worked hard in the role. More problems arose closer to opening.

Rich Nickson's headpiece, which was huge, had to be replaced to make it easier for him to move and make it easier on his neck. A few times Judy changed lines and other moments of the play in an attempt to make the difficult technical parts easier such as the end of the first part which included strobe lights. I know Judy cared very much about the project, but looking back, I think the play would've been better as a cartoon or on T.V. 

I learned about tech weekend and rehearsals, which meant getting all the light and sound cues to work and work with the set changes. Tech weekend was like jury duty. In the first act I was only on stage for 15 or 20 seconds in the very beginning. Then I was forced to wait for hours until I was needed again. In the second act, I was the centipede, which meant I stood under the stage wearing black clothing, covered by a scrim holding up a puppet. In the third act I had to be onstage as a child. It was a grueling two days. I learned to bring something to do for future tech weekends, like a book to read.

The puppet I used, a centipede.

 

 



Opening night, I'll never forget how I felt. I kept thinking to myself as I waited in the wings for my first entrance "I'm in a play! I'm on the stage! I'm here, I'm finally here!" My projection was very good. My parents had no problem hearing me even from the back of the house.



Act 1 Costume

Act 3 costume

There were really no problems during the show though one performance I forgot to grab my black gloves for the second act. I sent word via Rich Nickson to a crew member. I was forced to hide my hands until someone came running with them, slipped them on me and I carried on. My quick change was easy for me because I learned how to perfect it during tech rehearsals. After the insect characters left the stage, we had about seven minutes to change for the third act. I had it easy compared to the girls.

The best part of the show was thought by many to be the slide. The slide was hidden under the scrim. The main actors would leave the stage at the end of the first act and slide down into the pit and then run to get back onstage again. I had to wait until they all were out of the way before I could get into my standing position at the foot of the slide.

The Slide



It was not until the final performance when major problems arose. First Noah got laryngitis and we all worried how he'd do the show. Poor Noah did the best he could, and we all felt for him, but we could tell he was struggling. Then a piece of the set broke. In the transition between the second and third act the main characters would fly from Neverland to London in a boat (really a high platform on wheels) and that night a wheel broke. The boat stopped just short of where it needed to be. The cast members tried to ad-lib out of it, though it was obvious something was wrong. I was standing in the wings on stage right watching the whole thing and just cracking up. Eventually the stagehands brought the set (which would rotate) closer to the boat and somehow got it off the stage. We were happy that passed.

When I look back it was not one of my favorite shows to do, but it was my debut and that was what made it worth it.

THE BEGINNING

Headshot by Lisa Keating

Hello thespians, technicians, spectators and all people who have a love for theatre! My name is Michael Hunter. I am an actor and singer based in Sonoma County. I have been doing theatrical productions, both plays and musicals, since 2009. Though I have enjoyed watching theatrical performances for years, what I have always wondered is what goes on offstage and how a show is seen from the eyes of those on stage. Certainly, I enjoy stories of what happens backstage and how a show is made.

To begin, I will tell you up front, right now and lay out what this blog is going to be and what to keep in mind when reading it. Consider it advice or a warning, whatever you will.

For better OR worse, the purpose of this blog is to preserve memories of on and offstage moments of MY theatrical experiences, to regale readers with stories and anecdotes of the experiences and what I learned, if anything.

Headshot by Al Christenson

There are also honest opinions of how I think the show went and whether I thought it was good or bad. Nothing that you will see on this blog is anything that I would not say aloud to anyone who listens. There are good stories as well as bad ones ahead because I do not whitewash or sugarcoat things. I say exactly how I feel, something I’m well known for, and which has earned me both praise and scorn from my fellow theatre members. Honestly though, the ones who praise me have always been people whose opinion I value more because they admire my forthrightness and honesty.

If you’ve done a show with me, you might be mentioned, but if you have any ego problems or you’re thin-skinned and you can't take criticism, it would be best for you to not read on. This blog is not for you. If you choose to keep going and you come across something you don’t like, I advise you to stop reading. Remember, no one’s making you. Now, shall we proceed?

Headshot by Rick Lejano

Let's start at the very beginning...a very good place to start. It all began with a musical in my sophomore year of high school. I had seen theatre shows before that, though I never thought anything of them. I never felt inspired by them. But then that fateful night everything changed. The musical was Once on this Island, book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. I watched in wonder and amazement at the singing and dancing. I liked it so much that I had to see it again. After that show I said to myself "I want to do that."

I began to see theatre shows through new eyes. I longed to do one, but for most of high school I was in band and my parents wouldn't let me leave it. Even though I got out of it my senior year I didn't get to do any shows though I can't remember why I never asked anyone how to do it.

I entered college at Sonoma State University (SSU). During orientation I saw the theatre department season in a booklet and it included West Side Story. Though I would've given anything to be in that show, I couldn't sing or dance and, as I was not a theatre major, I was not told of the audition process. Theatre majors at SSU are given a heads up about when the auditions are and how to sign up. It was probably for the best because I wouldn't have known what to do and I would've just made a fool of myself. Over the next two years I never missed a play or musical in the seasons, all the while longing to be on the stage. It was not until my sophomore year when I made a friend who told me of the process and I began preparations to do a theatre show.

In my sophomore year I began to take the first steps to be in a theatre show. I met the musical theatre head, Lynne Morrow in a vocal methods class in the fall semester. I began learning to sing. I could read music and I've made substantial improvement, but to this day I regret not taking theory or ear training which I believe would've helped me further. The following semester I took Lynne's Music Theatre Scenes class where I met Katie Foster and Ted Smith. Over a series of Facebook messages, Katie told me about the audition process. I would audition the next year. And thus began my life in the world of theatre.

Headshot by Christa Durand