MAY/JUNE 1999 ----------------------------In this issue------------------------------------------ CyberTheatre Monthly: Backstage: CD-ROM starring Carol Channing Quick Picks: History of the Musical, History of Stage Spectacle Rubin's Corner: So Crazy for English Theatre, Announcing a Major Revival - Theatre Row Voices in Contemporary Theatre: Flop Musical/Snubbed Play, Tony Noms, Drama Desk Dramas and all that jazz. From the mailbag: Actresses at work Techie's Corner by Michael Powers: The last several columns have been about water, so now it's time to talk about fire Enter Laughing: Glossary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CYBERTHEATRE MONTHLY Backstage A CD-ROM Starring Carol Channing http://www.theater3d.com A computer game and audio book on CD-ROM for Windows and Macintosh, by Clarence Sheridan, Starring Carol Channing has received rave reviews from the New York Times and PC Magazine. Starting out at the Stage Door entrance, players must maneuver through the backstage area of a Broadway theater by clicking the mouse on one after the other of a maze of doors located on five floors of dressing rooms, as well as a basement. The object is to dodge crazed fans, the theatre's phantom,and other obstacles and get onstage before the curtain goes up. Some doors lead to the dressing rooms for other members of the cast. Some open into the offices of the Music Director, the Dance Captain, or the Acting Coach. In several rooms, players must pass a quiz in order to move on. They will need to brush up their Shakespeare, for example, to get past the Acting Coach, and will have to tickle the ivories to the tune of "My Dog Has Fleas"in the Music Director's room. Wrong answers or a poor performance could send you to the Stage Manager's office - or worse. Quick Picks: History of the Musical http://www.geocities.com/~musicals101/ The name says it all. History of Stage Spectacle http://www1.appstate.edu/orgs/spectacle/ To suggest a theatre, dance, or music-related website for CyberTheatre Monthly, write to Theatre@1501broadway.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ RUBIN'S CORNER So Crazy for English Theatre London has long supplied New York with hit shows. If you read my article in our last addition you read about two London hits that have made their way to Broadway. There are five British production running on Broadway right now - among them Art, Closer and Viva Dolorosa and five more slated to open between now and the April 30 cutoff date for the Tony Awards. New American plays are partially an endangered species on Broadway. This season there in only Side Man. Warren Leight's drama, about big band musicians, is struggling at the box office. Many people are wondering what's fueling the explosion in British drama on Broadway? The answer to this question is economics. It is much cheaper to make a bet on a new play in London's West End that it is on Broadway, which is blessed with dozens of subsidized theaters where new works can be developed at low cost. Meanwhile there has in the past three years been a flowering of young British and Irish playwrights whose work has show commercial appear. At the same time many of New York's top playwrights have consigned themselves to the gay ghetto, churning out angst-ridden plays about AIDS, homosexual relationships and dysfunctional families. These issues can no long sell any tickets at the Broadway box offices. On the economic front, the start-up cost of a new play in London is a third what it is in New York. Closer, Patrick Marber's savage comedy about sex was staged in London's West End for about $450,00. It opened at a cost of $1.3 on Broadway last week. Robert Fox, Roger Berlind, Scott Rudin and The Subert Organization has created an almost risk-free system of bring British plays to Broadway. It works like this: The play usually by David Hare, English theater's most prolific writer starts out at one of Britain's thriving subsidized theaters. If it gets good reviews the producers move it to the West End where it receives another round of publicity and starts generating buzz on this side of the Atlantic. The following year the play opens on Broadway, usually with a big-name British star that has signed on for a limited three-month run. Skylight with Michael Gambon, The Blue Room with Nicole Kidman, The Judas Kiss with Liam Neeson and Closer with Natasha Richardson all came to Broadway via this route. The New York's non-profit theaters have predictable, un-inspired artistic agendas. What ever happen to the Public Theater? I really don't have the time to answer that question since I have to leave to see Judi Dench in Amy's Way. Notes on Broadway Andrea McArdle has taken over the title role in Disney's, Beauty and the Beast Night Must Fall with Matthew Broderick as the bad guy will move to the Helen Hayes Theater when its run ends at the Lyceum Theatre. The production also starts Judy Parfitt and J. Smith-Cameron in this National Actors Theatre Production. Lea Salonga continue to start in Miss Saigon. The production just started it eight year. The Weir received excellent review in the popular press. It is already reporting tickets are hard to obtain at the Walter Kerr Theater. I recently saw a preview of The Civil War or as I have entitled it Smokey Joe's Café II. The production has wonderful music and lyrics by Frank Wildhorn, Gregory Boyd, and Jack Murphy. However, the people responsible for this show have decided to by-pass a story line and opt for a musical concert of song after song with little drama. Jerry Zaks, to directed Smokey, has been called in to direct the musical. The actors and actresses do an excellent job especially Michael Bell who you may remember from Showboat. The projections by Wendall K. Harrington are very effective. The audience gave it a warm welcome, but I was left feeling like I wanted to know more about the people of the The Civil War. You can save $75 and buy the CD for $20. Announcing A Major Revival - Theater Row Disney announced this week that it will open an ESPN Sports Café on Forty-Second Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. Disney already has the Disney Store and New Anderstam Theater on the southeast corner. The miracle of Times Square is about to hurtle down W 42nd Street. Theater Row, the aging complex of gritty theaters between Ninth and 10th Avenue, is about to be transformed into a glittering entertainment hub. Tow developers, a hot nonprofit theater company and Broadway's biggest landlord have joined to create five new theaters as part of a $75 million project to reinvent the tenement block. The centerpiece will be a Shubert-owned 499-seat theater. It is the first commercial Off-Broadway built from the ground up in the city. At least four smaller theaters and a topflight restaurant are also planned. Demolition will begin this summer and the project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Plans call for tearing down four theaters and replacing them with five new one. The old Theatre Row Theater, the Judith Anderson Theatre and Intar Theatre will come down, along with their ancient red-brick tenements. The fourth will be either the Harold Clurman or the Samuel Beckett. The Shubert, which will have a separate entrance, will boast picture-postcard views of W 42nd Street from a giant second-floor window. A 31-story apartment tower will back the complex on 41st Street. A new Theatre Row will dramatically enhance the presence of the of theatres in a neighborhood that has seen an ivasion of mega-stores and cop[prate behemoths like Walt Disney, time Warner, Conde Mast and Reuters The new center will also meet a growing need for theatrical and rehearsal space fueled by a surging economy and a bullish climate on Broadway When the curtain goes up the block will become the great theater hothouse for New York City and the world according to Fred Papert. President of the 42nd Street Development Corporation. The block will have some additional plans. Jean-Claude Baker, the owner of Chex Josephine restaurant plans to create a museum to celebrate African- American artists. Jerry Rubin, the head of Playwrights Horizons plans to build two new theaters to showcase novel American plays at the site of her groups home just down the block from the new complex. That mouse has really change 42nd Street. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voices in Contemporary Theatre Flop Musical, Snubbed Play Dominate Pre-Tony Tuneup by Joal Ryan The state of Broadway, Spring 1999: The best new play of the year isn't on Broadway. Wit, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Off-Broadway drama about an ovarian cancer patient, picked up top honors at the Drama Desk Awards, Sunday in New York. Unlike the Tonys, the Drama Desks honor both Broadway and Off-Broadway works, clearing the way for Wit's win. (A gambit by producers to get the show declared eligible for the more prestigious Tonys failed last month.) Star Kathleen Chalfant was named best actress in a play-beating out name-brand talents such as Judi Dench (Amy's View) and Swoosie Kurtz (The Mineola Twins). In the anemic best new musical category, closed flop Parade prevailed. It took a night-best six awards, including ones for best book and music. The hit dance show Fosse, which in the Tonys will compete against Parade, won the more accurate Outstanding Musical Revue title. In something of an upset, the largely critically maligned You're a Good Man Charlie Brown revival bested the lesser critically maligned Annie Get Your Gun in the warmly contested best musical revival race. The high-priced, hot-ticket Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh productions tied for Outstanding Revival of a Play. In the acting categories, Salesman costars Brian Dennehy and Kevin Anderson shared the spotlight-Dennehy as best lead actor in a play; Anderson as best featured actor. The audacious Swan Lake restaging was another big winner, scoring five awards, including ones for best musical director (for Matthew Bourne) and Unique Theatrical Experience. Next up on Broadway's award-show docket is the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards to be presented Tuesday. Wit and Parade are repeat winners at those already-announced honors. Complete list of winners - 1999 Drama Desk Awards New Play: Wit, Margaret Edson New Musical: Parade, Jason Robert Brown, Alfred Uhry Musical Revue: Fosse Revival, Play: (tie) Death of a Salesman; Iceman Cometh Revival, Musical: You're a Good Man Charlie Brown Actor, Play: Brian Dennehy, Death of a Salesman Actress, Play: Kathleen Chalfant, Wit Actor, Musical: Brent Carver, Parade Actress, Musical: (tie) Carolee Carmello, Parade; Bernadette Peters, Annie Get Your Gun Featured Actor, Play: Kevin Anderson, Death of a Salesman Featured Actress, Play: Anna Friel, Closer Featured Actor, Musical: Roger Bart, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown Featured Actress, Musical: Kristin Chenoweth, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown Director, Musical: Matthew Bourne, Swan Lake Director, Play: Trevor Nunn, Not About Nightingales Choreography: Matthew Bourne, Swan Lake Music: Jason Robert Brown, Parade Lyrics: Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway Clean Up Its Act! Musical Book: Alfred Uhry, Parade Orchestrations: Don Sebesky, Parade Set Design, Play: Richard Hoover, Not About Nightingales Set Design, Musical: Lez Brotherston, Swan Lake Costume Design: Lez Brotherston, Swan Lake Lighting Design: Chris Parry, Not About Nightingales Sound Design: Christopher Shutt, Not About Nightingales Music, Play: Jeanine Tesori, Twelfth Night Solo Performance: David Hare, Via Dolorosa Unique Theatrical Experience: Swan Lake Special Awards: The Actor's Fund of America; Sony Classical for its Columbia Broadway Masterworks Series; Al Hirschfeld for lifetime achievement From the mailbag: Actresses @ work Dear All: My wife, the actress Beatrice Colen, Marsha the Car-Hop on Happy Days and Etta Candy on Wonder Woman, along with starring roles in over 200 t.v. shows and commercials, is a member of this organization and they are doing a great job trying to change the perceptions of industry towards people over 40 and especially woman. If you're not aware of how bad it is, these are some of the statistics and industry perceptions: for the past 10 years only 6% of the SAG contracts have gone to people over 50 and most of those went to men; Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, and Glen Close are known in the industry hierarchy as "the geezer babes"; last year a meeting took place between Richard Mazur, president of SAG, to address the issue of ageism and he was told by NBC,CBS,ABC and FOX and WB and UP that they consider anyone over 40 to be a senior citizen and the sponsers don't want to support shows with seniors in them. Last year when the movie "Twilight" opened in LA, the critic in the LA times headlined his review with GEEZER NOIR OPENS. His entire review was about how old Newman, Sarandon and Hackman were and then at the end he said oh and it was pretty good in spite of their age. Can you imagine a movie opening with an Afro American cast or a Korean cast or any other group except people over 40 and the review "complaining" about the ethnicity of the cast? I strongly urge you all to support Actresses at Work and any other group like AARP that is trying to protect us all from the last great area of discrimination, especially in our business, the discrimination against people over 40. Respectfully, Pat Cronin Techie's Corner Welcome back to the Techie's Corner. The last several columns have been about water, so now it's time to talk about fire, hot burning fire. Leaping flames flashing and flickering or, in the case of many stage effects, a gimmick that can make an audience feel the warmth from a fire that couldn't melt an ice cube. There are probably a 1,000 ways to make fire on stage and only a few of them actually involve flame or combustion. However, long before we actually make the fire, we have decide just what the fire is supposed to accomplish. Is it just eye candy for the set or is it establishing the mood of the moment. What is the mood? Is the fire a warm flickering glow of romance or a feeble attempt to ward off the cold of a hovel a la "Boheme"? Maybe it is the warmth of friendship around a camp fire or the despair of the homeless gathered around a fire in a trash can. Maybe it is the evil, mysterious glow beneath the witches cauldron in MacBeth or the entire face of a building during the burning of Atlanta. Is the fire a friend that wards off the cold or an enemy that is trying to steal our home and threaten our safety? How does the "mood" of the fire affect how we build/create it? First, do we need visible flames or just an indirect flickering glow. Is the color of the fire a warm glow or a cold heat? The more you use reds/orange, oranges and yellows in the flame the more it will seem hot, searing, arid. Colors in the amber, rose, burgundy range tend toward the "romantic". Flames that are white hot, blue-white and blue tend to give the audience a feeling of unease, of very intense heat or strangely enough of a cold heat. Green flashes can give a softening effect to the red range and add an eerie unworldly effect when used as the main color or mixed with the white and blue-white flames. For what it is worth, real flames tend to have some of all these colors in them, the balance depending on how much oxygen is present and the exact composition of the fuel. But we really don't care what the actual chemical composition of the "fuel" would be. Verisimilitude here is secondary to creating the right mood. Now that we have briefly discussed what fire should be or do, we will move into some basic methods of creating it. This month's method will be a small. battery operated fire unit that can be used in a trash can or behind or under logs to simulate a wood fire. In addition it can be used in conjunction with some of the methods I will touch on in the coming months. The fire unit for this month consists of a few simple basic elements; several 12 volt lamps between 20 and 50 watts; a 12 volt battery, power supply or transformer; wire; terminal strips or buss bars; sockets; automobile turn signal flashers and one 20 amp toggle switch. Lamps can be any 12 volt lamps you can locate. Light bulbs from motor homes, campers and other RV's that look like a normal, house hold light bulb, medium screw base "A" lamps, but designed to operate on 12 volts DC are one type. These can be purchased at Wal-mart, Motor Home/RV dealers, most KOA camp grounds and other placers that cater to the RV camper trade. Automobile tail light lamps or halogen head light lamps are anther very good type of lamp to use. Headlight lamps are brighter than tail light lamps. These can be purchased at any auto supply store, K-mart super stores, Wal-mart etc. Twelve volt MR-16's can also be used. The MR-16 looks like a small reflector lamp about 2" across the face and come in many types from 6 volts to 12, 24, 82, 120, 220 and other various voltage designs, which means you have to double check the voltage before you buy them. MR-16 lamps can be purchased through Grainger, McMaster Carr, Newark Electronics, Allied Electronics and most electrical supply stores and lighting stores. Which type of lamp to use depends on availability in your area, cost, and physically how large you need your completed unit to be. In general the RV lamp creates the largest fire unit and auto lamp units the smallest. Sockets: sockets can be any kind that fit the lamps you intend to use, or one can solder leads directly to the lamp contacts or base. If sockets are available, I strongly advise that you use them as this makes replacing a lamp much easier and the socket can be firmly attached to whatever you use as a base for the fire unit. Wire should be at least 16ga stranded from the lamps to the flashers and from the flashers to a common buss bar or terminal strip. The single wire from the terminal strips to the switch and from the switch to the battery must be 12ga minimum. The reason the switch must be rated at 20 amps and the power leads to and from the battery must be at least 12 ga. is that the amperage in the system is a lot more than you may think if you are not familiar with low voltage circuits. Usually the best lamps for this effect are about 50 watts. Using ohms law, Watts equal the Voltage times the amperage (W=VA) we find that a single 50 watt lamp at 12 volts equals 4.16 amps ( 50 = 12xA; 50/12 = A; 4.166=A). A 25 watt lamp would pull 2.08 amps. I suggest using six to nine lamps for this effect. Lets figure the amperage if all nine lamps happen to be on at the same time. We can multiply 4.16 times nine to get 37.44 amps or we can use the formula W=VA to find that 450 watts divided by 12 volts equals 37.5 amps. Either way we are exceeding the capacity of both the switch and the wire. However we can do what electric companies call de-rating. As the flashers are not a precision device, the lamps are going to flash randomly and the probability is that even if all 9 lamps should be on at the same time (very unlikely) that the time duration will be very short. In fact each lamp is only on for about half the time so by averaging that means that the current will actually be about 18 amps at the worst. If you are using lower wattage lamps then you can figure the amperage for your self if you want or you can simply stick with the wire for the 50 watt situation and know that you are OK. I am not sure if standard auto flashers will handle 100 watt lamps as I have never tried it. I feel that this would probably be too bright for most situations. However if you need a very bright effect try 100 watt lamps and perhaps a flasher for a tractor trailer rig. If any readers try this please give me an e-mail and let me know how it works or not. Now for the power for our effect. If you buy or build a power supply, make sure that it is rated for the 100% of the amperage your effect can generate. Even though we derated the wire and switch because of the flashing effect most power supplies have fast blow fuses or breakers that will pop when their amperage is exceeded even for a very short time. When it comes to batteries, any combination that equals 12 volts will work just fine. The question is for how long. If your effect has to be small and self contained, a series of C or D cells will probably do the trick if the effect doesn't have to last more than a few minutes. Lantern batteries, the square six volt kind, are another good solution. They will last a bit longer than the C or D cells and will take up little more room. The best battery I have found is a lawn tractor battery. It is a wet cell 12 volt battery that looks like a half size version of your car battery. It is a very powerful power supply in a very small package. It will run a 9 light effect for an hour or more. In addition it is designed to be recharged. A small 12 volt trickle charger can recharge it between shows. The battery costs between $30 and $50 at most discount stores that sell riding mowers and lawn tractors. The charger will run about $25 at auto stores or discount stores like Wal-mart, Home Quarters, K-Mart et al. Now it is time to actually build our effect. First we have to determine just how the effect is to be used. One problem with the flashers is that they make an audible click as they cycle on and off. Whether or not this sound is objectionable depends on the size of the stage, the type of show (loud musical, quiet drama) and just where on the set the effect is located. When possible it is usually better to build a separate container for the flasher units, sound insulate it and locate it as far away as practical. For an example, see illustration # 1. An example of a sound isolated box is seen in Illustration #2. Note that the flashers need no air space for operation or cooling so they can be mounted so that they are actually touching or very close. After choosing the lamps and sockets the first step is to lay out a full size circuit pattern on kraft paper, drafting paper, card board or something similar. If you need to make separate boxes, containers or mounting boards for the lamps and or flasher sections, make your drawing accordingly. As you make this lay out drawing, pay attention to where the contacts are on the various elements so that you don't make the wiring harder than it should be. The flashers can be attached to the plywood by hot glue, epoxy or construction adhesive like liquid nails. When buying the flashers you will notice that some have two contacts and some have three. Both can be used you just have to connect a lamp across any two of the three contacts and move the wires from one contact to another until it works. The third contact is then simply ignored. Finally for the fire unit itself, attach the sockets to a piece of plywood, 1/2" or 3/4". You can space the sockets as close as the lamps and wiring convenience will allow. The plywood base should be 2" or 3" larger than your socket layout to allow ample room to attach color media. The easiest way to do the color media is to start with a sheet of clear. Next cut small, odd shaped pieces of scrap gel (left overs from cutting gel for lighting instruments) and scotch tape them to the clear sheet. Any thing from 2" to 6" across is fine and the more irregular in shape and size, the better. Next, wad the sheet up into a tight little ball, then lay it out flat again. At this point you might have to repair your tape job in a few places. In this crumpled state the gel sheet can be shaped into a self supporting "dome" that can then be stapled or taped to the plywood base over the lamps. It is best if there is at least an inch or two between the lamps and the gel. There is no fire danger if the gel touches a lamp, but the effect looks better if each lamp lights up several gel pieces as it flashes. If the gel "dome" will be visible to the audience, a bit of artistic dusting, mostly around the bottom, with flat black spray paint will help to make it look like coals or embers. If the effect is to be in a trash can or other "out-of-sight" location, the crumple and spray can be eliminated. Just place a piece of screen wire or chicken wire over the lamps and lay the gel pieces on top. You still need to tape them together though so that air currents won't shift the gel away. When doing the wiring, lay it out in as neat and orderly a manner as possible. Group the wires together and fasten firmly to the base where the bundle of wires goes to the flasher box. If you use nine lamps that means you will have 10 wires going from the lamp unit to the flasher box, nine to the individual flashers and one from the terminal strip to the battery. Use tie wraps, tape or something to create a neat bundle. In the next few months, I will touch on other methods of creating fire. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me and ask. Til next month......Don't sweat the small stuff, and remember.......It's ALL small stuff. --- Michael Powers is the Technical Director at The Meadow Brook Theatre, a LORT B theatre in Rochester, Michigan, a Detroit suburb. Prior to The Meadow Brook Theatre, Michael has worked at such theatres as Geva in Rochester, N.Y., The Lyric Theatre in Oklahoma City, The Cherry County Playhouse in Traverse City Michigan, The Walnut St. Theatre in Philadelphia, The Pittsburgh Public Theatre in Pittsburgh and Wild Wood Park For the Performing Arts in Little Rock. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter Laughing...Theatre Glossary Eternity The time that passes between a dropped cue and the next line Prop A hand-carried object small enough to be lost by an actor 30 seconds before it is needed on stage Director The individual who suffers from the delusion that he or she is responsible for every moment of brilliance cited by the critic in the local review Blocking The art of moving actors on the stage in such a manner as not to collide with the walls, the furniture, the orchestra pit or each other. Similar to playing chess, except that the pawns want to argue with you. Blocking Rehearsal A rehearsal taking place early in the production schedule where actors frantically write down movements which will be nowhere in evidence by opening night Quality Theater Any show with which you were directly involved Turkey Every show with which you were not directly involved Dress rehearsal Rehearsal that becomes a whole new ball game as actors attempt to maneuver among the 49 objects that the set designer added at 7:30 that evening Tech week The last week of rehearsal when everything that was supposed to be done weeks before finally comes together at the last minute; reaches its grand climax on dress rehearsal night when costumes rip, a dimmer pack catches fire and the director has a nervous breakdown. Also known as hell week. Set An obstacle course which, throughout the rehearsal period, defies the laws of physics by growing smaller week by week while continuing to occupy the same amount of space Monologue That shining moment when all eyes are focused on a single actor who is desperately aware that if he forgets a line, no one can save him Dark Night The night before opening when no rehearsal is scheduled so the actors and crew can go home and get some well-deserved rest, and instead spend the night staring sleeplessly at the ceiling because they're sure they needed one more rehearsal Bit Part An opportunity for the actor with the smallest role to count everybody else's lines and mention repeatedly that he or she has the smallest part in the show. Green Room Room shared by nervous actors waiting to go on stage and the precocious children whose actor parents couldn't get a baby-sitter that night, a situation which can result in justifiable homicide Dark Spot An area of the stage which the lighting designer has inexplicably forgotten to light, and which has a magnetic attraction for the first-time actor. A dark spot is never evident before opening night. Hands Appendages at the end of the arms used for manipulating one's environment, except on a stage, where they grow six times their normal size and either dangle uselessly, fidget nervously, or try to hide in your pockets Stage Manager Individual responsible for overseeing the crew, supervising the set changes, baby-sitting the actors and putting the director in a hammerlock to keep him from killing the actor who just decided to turn his walk-on part into a major role by doing magic tricks while he serves the tea Lighting Director Individual who, from the only vantage point offering a full view of the stage, gives the stage manager a heart attack by announcing a play-by-play of everything that's going wrong Makeup Kit (1) among experienced community theater actors, a battered tackle box loaded with at least 10 shades of greasepaint in various stages of desiccation, tubes of lipstick and blush, assorted pencils, bobby pins, braids of crepe hair, liquid latex, old programs, jewelry, break-a-leg greeting cards from past shows, brushes and a handful of half-melted cough drops; (2) for first-time male actors, a helpless look and anything they can borrow The Forebrain The part of an actors brain which contains lines, blocking and characterization; activated by hot lights The Hindbrain The part of an actors brain that keeps up a running subtext in the background while the forebrain is trying to act; the hindbrain supplies a constant stream of unwanted information, such as who is sitting in the second row tonight, a notation to seriously maim the crew member who thought it would be funny to put real Tabasco sauce in the fake Bloody Marys, or the fact that you need to do laundry on Sunday. Stage Crew Group of individuals who spend their evenings coping with 50-minute stretches of total boredom interspersed with 30-second bursts of mindless panic Message Play Any play which its director describes as "worthwhile," "a challenge to actors and audience alike," or "designed to make the audience think." Critics will be impressed both by the daring material and the roomy accommodations, since they're likely to have the house all to themselves. Bedroom Farce Any play which requires various states of undress on stage and whose set sports a lot of doors. The lukewarm reviews, all of which feature the phrase "typical community theater fare" in the opening paragraph, are followed paradoxically by a frantic attempt to schedule more performances to accommodate the overflow crowds. Assistant Director Individual willing to undertake special projects that nobody else would take on a bet, such as working one-on-one with the brain-dead actor whom the rest of the cast has threatened to take out a contract on. Set Piece Any large piece of furniture which actors will resolutely use as a safety shield between themselves and the audience, in an apparent attempt to both anchor themselves to the floor, thereby avoiding floating off into space, and to keep the audience from seeing that they actually have legs Strike The time immediately following the last performance while all cast and crew members are required to stay and dismantle, or watch the two people who own Makita screw drivers dismantle, the set. Actors (As defined by a set designer) People who stand between the audience and the set designer's art, blocking the view. That's also the origin of the word "blocking," by the way. Stage Right, Stage Left Two simple directions actors pretend not to understand in order to drive directors crazy. ("No, no, your OTHER stage right!") "Just remember: It's only community Theatre until it offends someone ... then it's ART!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1999, Mersinger Theatrical Services