Monday, November 29, 2010

Tech Rehearsal week!

When I can count the days until opening on one hand, it's time to get nervous and get really, really busy. Lights are almost done, sound is almost done, set is almost done - actor is charged up and ready to go. At this point, I have to keep up with him.

This Thursday is a free preview performance for anyone who is interested! The preview begins at 8 pm, and we promise it will be smoother than the opening preview performance of Spiderman last night in New York. If you haven't heard about it yet, check out the New York Times article. Anyone who spends 70 million dollars on creating a Broadway show deserves whatever circle of hell that is reserved for them. We didn't spend that much.

controls almost ready

lights almost ready

set almost ready
Opening night - Friday the 3rd!!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving break

We're taking a couple days off for thanksgiving. Rehearsal today was a real joy.  I keep wondering how he remembers all of that stuff!  If I were doing that part (please shoot me now), I'd have an ear bud being fed by a tape of the whole play. An even bigger mystery is how he can still make me laugh at this thing after we've been over it so many, many times. Here are a few photos from rehearsal:




Jean-Claude is on the line


Taking orders from the Chef

Bryce (Naomi Campbell's assistant) on the line!

I just found out that the phone line at the theatre is out!!! So I'm going to try to notify everyone by email, notify the Valley News for their calendar, submit a new ad to the Valley News, submit a new Ad for the Complete Hoot, and try to affix a new phone number to all the posters, have it changed on the web site. (So much for a relaxing Thanksgiving break.)

Here's the new number to reach the theatre, to make reservations, etc. - 603.448.3750.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Fully Committed at Shaker Bridge

It's Saturday, and no rehearsal today. We've been working every day from morning until late afternoon, and we're taking the weekend off. Well, . . . the actor and the stage manager are taking the time off from rehearsal. I'm here at the theatre, and ready to start a different kind of work. (And now for something completely different.) Here's the pile of tools ready to go, and so am I:



Now it's Sunday in the late afternoon (how did that happen?). I've just spent about ten hours working on things, adjusting things, building things . . . that no one will ever see. Ahh, the sweet life of technical theatre. And Power tools!

Back to rehearsal tomorrow morning. With a stage that is 15 inches wider, a rebuilt house left seating section, four new duvetyne masking flats, a successfully wired buzzer system and a fully loaded trash bag! 

Rehearsal tomorrow will be great fun. We'll spend about three or four hours working on the first half of the play, and then about the same amount of time in the afternoon working on the second half. The joy of being in rehearsal, the hard work, the intense focus, the chance for new discoveries - that's why I do this. So if I have to spend hours and hours building, designing posters and newspaper ads, hanging and focusing lights . . . it's a worthwhile trade off to get to be in rehearsal - especially with someone like Jonathan who wants to work until he drops.

All this will pay off (we hope) on December third.

- Bill Coons

Monday, November 15, 2010

Fully Committed

Here we go! Our first rehearsal today, and Jonathan had me collapsing in laughter several times. This is going to be one funny, funny play.


 
So I'm looking ahead to two and a half weeks of really hard work and really big laughs. 

On Saturday, it will be a big day for me. I have re-configured the seating, and I am going to widen the stage area by fifteen inches! What will I do with all the extra space? The mind reels with possibilities. 

- Bill

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Shaker Bridge Theatre

One of the things that I am most often asked is: "How do you come up with the plays that you do here?" It's a great question, because this theatre does plays that are not often seen in this area. We specialize in contemporary theatre - plays and writers that are unfamiliar to most people in our audiences. Do I pick plays that I've seen that I like? In general, no. I have a personal rule (almost always adhered to) that I won't direct anything that I've seen a production of somewhere. I want what the actors and I create to be original. If I've already seen it and either liked or disliked it, I can't help but be influenced by that experience. So a lot of the act of creation is subverted by prejudice.

So where do these plays come from?

I read the arts and entertainment sections of a lot of publications, from New York to Chicago, from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Lists of plays being produced, reviews, interviews. I check on the websites of lots and lots of other theatres to see what their seasons look like. Occasionally I'll get emails from friends who have seen or have been involved in a play that they think I would like. Or I may read somewhere that a writer that I really like has a new play. From all of these sources, I try to find a manuscript of the play or order an acting edition. And then I read and read and read . . .

As an example, here is a list of the plays that I have read (or re-read) over the last couple of weeks (an asterisk means it could be a potential play to be done at this theatre):

Blackbird (David Harrower)*
La Bete (David Hirson)
Educating Rita (Willy Russel)*
A Devil Inside (David Lindsay Abaire)
Skyscraper (David Auburn)
Spinning Into Butter (Rebecca Gilman)*
Time Stands Still (Donald Margulies)*
Body Awareness (Annie Baker)
Aliens (Annie Baker)
Acts of Love (Kathryn Chetkovich)
The Shaker Chair (Adam Bock)*
Reasons To Be Pretty (Neil LaBute)*
The Shape of Things (Neil LaBute)
Dead Man's Cell Phone (Sarah Ruhl)*
Goldfish (John Kolvenbach)
Love Drunk (Romulus Linney)*
Three Days of Rain (Richard Greenberg)*
Life X 3 (Yasmina Reza)

Yeah, lots of reading. But it's a lot of fun. When I read a script, it's very much like watching a real performance. I can see and hear everything while I read. And when I read it again, everything is different. And when I look at the scripts I've read in the last couple of weeks, there are nine plays that go into the "possible" pile for next season. And tomorrow or Friday, the UPS guy will bring me another stack of plays to read.

- Bill

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Shaker Bridge Theatre




Just got back from an Annie Baker marathon in Boston . . . all three of her plays in one day! I have become a big fan of her work, and it was thrilling to see these productions.


I was somewhat anxious about seeing a production of Circle Mirror Transformation done by a large, well-funded professional theatre, but the SBT (a small, poorly-funded professional theatre) production of this play stands up very well. I loved the Boston production that I saw, and I loved our production as well.

The Aliens is a very quiet, funny and tender play, that I found very moving. I ended up feeling great affection and compassion for these three losers.

Body Awareness is one of those plays that gave me a lot to think about after spending a couple of very funny and entertaining hours with these people.

It was a thrilling day in three theatres, and I'm back energized and psyched to start rehearsals next Monday!

- Bill Coons, Producing Artistic Director

Friday, November 5, 2010

Fully Committed at Shaker Bridge Theatre, Enfield, New Hampshire

  We're already working on the upcoming show, Fully Committed by Becky Mode. Sam, a "want-to-be-actor" in New York, pays the bills by answering phones at a trendy, three-star restaurant. One very talented young actor plays forty-one different characters in this comic tour-de-force. Will Sam make it through this day? Will he get home for Christmas? Join us for this hilarious and poignant holiday offering, opening December 3rd and running through December 19th.