The Countdown to Opening Begins with Previews

Tonight is our first preview for Part II and it would probably be helpful for those not familiar, to explain exactly what a preview is. How is it different from Opening?  How is it different from other performances? Previews are a time-honored tradition, practiced in most professional theatres from Broadway to Pittsburgh to Chapel Hill.   Preview performances are works in progress, the final stage of the rehearsal process. They give a company the opportunity to “test-drive” a production in front of a live audience, while still being able to rehearse the production during the day. Directors, designers and actors are honing the performance to a fine point during the day, and “trying it out” it on the evening audiences. Broadway productions can have anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks of previews before the official Opening.  PlayMakers traditionally runs 3 preview performances and then the big Opening Night. Nicholas Nickleby, like all of our rep shows to date, has a slightly altered preview schedule to allow for two shows opening on the same day. Part I had its technical rehearsals(“tech”) two weekends ago, then previewed Wednesday-Friday. There were no performances this past Saturday and Sunday, to allow time in the theatre for Part II to tech. Today Part II will get its first run in front of a live audience!

Unlike previews, Opening Night is the “finished product”. The rehearsal process can run almost up until curtain time on Opening Night, but once it’s open – it’s done! Once a show is officially opened, the directors and designers move on and leave the show in the capable hands of the actors and stage managers. No more changes are made. The lights are set. The staging is complete. No more costume additions. No more new direction of any kind. The hardest part of the process – rehearsal – is over and the production is, at last, ready for its run. As actors get more and more comfortable in their roles and live with them longer, the show’s energy might change a bit and every performance is slightly different based on the audience, how the actors respond to them, etc. – which is what makes live theatre so extraordinary.

Most theatres take Opening Night as an opportunity to celebrate the company’s achievements. A PlayMakers Opening Night is always a festive event filled with subscribers, single ticket buyers and invited guests. This is our opportunity to thank our generous supporters and invite our peers to share in our excitement. The performance is followed by a Gala reception with great food and wine provided by a variety of local businesses.  For Nicholas Nickleby, the food will be provided by Durham Catering Company and the wine by La Residence.  Both Preview performances and Opening Nights are open to the public. If you would like to join us for any of these performances, check out our website for more information. Tickets are still available for all remaining performances, but our Opening Day double header is selling quickly, and typically sells out, so Hurry!

The world is our closet! Er, sort of.

Much has been made of the sheer scale of costuming a production this size--if you've been following the blog you know that not only are we making many costumes in-house, but have also pulled a lot from our own stock, borrowed them from partner theatres and drama departments in the state university system, and rented them from theatres and rental houses all over the country, from New York to Milwaukee to Seattle.

 

For the costumes we're making, our designers have the most aesthetic control over how they will ultimately appear onstage--they have chosen the fabric and trims, indicated where they want seams to fall or how big sleeves will be, sometimes even picked a color for them to be dyed. These costumes are custom made to fit the performers' exact measurements by our highly-skilled drapers and tailors using couture techniques. We are all absolutely certain that they will be exactly what the designers and directors want them to be!

 

When we pull costumes from our own stock, we still have a fair amount of control over what they will look like. PlayMakers owns them, so if our designers want them dyed a new color, or beat up to look raggedy for a poor character, or the sleeves removed and remade in a different fabric, fine! We can do all of that (and, have). The alterations we make on our own pre-existing costumes can happen without a thought to how the costume might be irrevocably changing.

 

For the costumes we have borrowed or rented, though, that's a whole different animal. We don't own them, and what we can and cannot do to them is limited by the rental agreements we have with the companies who do. We cannot dye them or paint on them or age them to look more worn or ragged. Anything we remove from them (like trims or ruffles that our designers don't care for) must be reapplied before we return them. Even alterations to fit our performers are a dicey prospect; generally, if you let a costume out to be larger, that's ok, but if you take it in to be smaller, you need to restore it to its original size before returning it! That's more difficult than you might think, since that means no bulk in a taken-in seam can be cut away, and if you raise a hem by several inches to fit a shorter-statured actor, you have to hide all that extra fabric inside. In our Costume Production MFA program, we teach our students that the general rule-of-thumb with rental costumes is, you send it back the same or better than you received it. It's not just professional courtesy; it's also just good business--if you don't restore your rentals, your company is fined a restoration fee, or even asked to pay for its replacement if the costume is severely damaged while in your possession.

 

For me, as the show's milliner, this has meant i need to keep careful records tracking how all the hats we have borrowed might be changing for the production. Many of them are definitely going to go back in better condition than we received them. Hats are often stored in boxes and baskets by rental companies and women's hats in particular often arrive dented or a bit "squished." My assistant, Candy McClernan, and I have been steaming and resizing them to freshen them up and make them more crisp and new-looking, and putting in pretty linings and interior grosgrain ribbons. Most hats for stage don't get lined, usually due to a combination of not having enough time to do so, and because no audience member will see the inside--if you have to make a sacrifice when pressed for time, leaving a hat unlined is a common choice for theatrical milliners. For this show though, since everyone changes characters multiple times--sometimes in a matter of seconds, potentially in full view of the audience--I am assuming that every hat needs to be able to go on and off onstage, and thus needs a lining. We started lining borrowed and pulled hats back in August!

 

Often our costume designers will request that hats be retrimmed to match dresses--Candy and i remove extant ribbons and flowers, bag them with a rental number tag so we can put them back on the proper hat when the show's over, and store them in a drawer set aside for the purpose. For the new trims we are adding, we use a method that allows our designers and directors the most freedom in terms of potential aesthetic decisions, while at the same time making sure the borrowed and rented hats are treated with utmost care. Ladies hats in this time have TONS of trim--flowers, feathers, ribbons, bows, even little stuffed birds!--so rather than sewing all our new trims directly to the rented hats themselves, we make what's called a garniture base, a small covered piece of buckram material that blends with the fabric of the hat. The trimmings get sewn to the garniture base, which then gets tacked onto the hat--in this way, we minimize the amount of wear-and-tear that the rented hats take (since they only take a couple of tacks holding on the base, rather than bunches of sturdy stitches securing lots individual pieces of trim) and we make it easy to reverse our work at the end. Once the shows close,we just have to clip the small tacks, remove the garniture base, and then put the original trims back on. Then our designers and managers can return them back to their original homes in costume storage facilities across the state and the nation, having had their moment in the footlights as part of this historic production, ready to serve future designers and performers for theatre yet to be made!

Silk foliage pinned on the garniture base for Madeline Bray's bonnet (borrowed from NC School of the Arts)

Can you spot the garniture base on this bonnet (borrowed from UNC-Greensboro) for a Street Person?

Assistant Milliner Candy McClernan works on a brand-new ragged headwrap for Jackson

Nicholas Nickleby Begins!

Previews for Part I began last night and continue through tomorrow. Part II previews next week and then Opening on the 21st! 

You can join us and spend a day at the theatre on November 21st. We're even serving dinner, if you make your reservations by Friday, November 13. See both parts of the show, eat dinner in between and join us for our Gala reception afterwards!

For now, check out these great production photos by Jon Gardiner. These are from dress rehearsal for Part I. We'll have pics from Part II next week. And check back tomorrow for another post from blog favorite, Rachel Pollock!

The Company

Justin Adams as Nicholas Nickleby

Justin Adams as Nicholas Nickleby; Julie Fishell as Mrs. Nickleby; 

Marianne Miller as Kate Nickleby

Weston Blakesley as Newman Noggs; Ray Dooley as Ralph Nickleby; 

Jeffrey Meanza as Mantalini

Joy Jones as Mrs. Mantalini; Jeffrey Meanza as Mantalini

Derrick Ledbetter, Kahlil Gonzalez-Garcia, John Brummer & Flor De Liz Perez as Milliners; Lenore Field as Miss Knagg (center)

Dede Corvinus as Mrs. Squeers; Matthew Murphy as Snawley; 

Jeffrey Meanza as Young Wackford

Scott Ripley as Squeers

Jason Powers as Smike; Justin Adams as Nicholas Nickleby

Marianne Miller as Kate Nickleby; Lenore Field as Miss Knagg

Allison Altman as Fanny Squeers; Alice Whitley as Tilda; Justin Adams as Nicholas Nickleby

L to R: Matthew Miller, Flor De Liz Perez; Sarah Berk; James E. Brinkley, Derrick Ledbetter, David McClutchey,  Kahlil Gonzalez-Garcia & Prince T. Bowie (in back) as the Dotheboys

Jeffrey Blair Cornell as Crummles; Alice Whitley as Percy Crummles; Jason Powers as  Smike; Matthew Murphy as Master Crummles & Justin Adams as Nicholas Nickleby

Justin Adams as Nicholas Nickleby

Allison Altman as Fanny Squeers; Scott Ripley as Squeers; Jeffrey Meanza as Young Wackford

The cast of Nicholas Nickleby as the Crummles Company

It's Tech - Part 2

Tonight I got see the dress rehearsal for Part I! Of course I'm supposed to be biased, but honestly - it was still the most fun I have had at the theatre in a long time. Previews for Part I start tonight. Production photos will be right here tomorrow, so be sure to come back and check them out. Today, however, we've got even more Tech! Because Tech is such a long journey, there are lots of photos, so here we go!

Dede Corvinus takes a turn as Mrs. Crummles.

While Tom and stage manager Chuck Bayang discuss logistics with Weston Blakesly, Matt Murphy and Alice Whitley practice a few steps.

How will Allison Altman descend from this high platform? David Adamson and Jimmy Kieffer to the rescue!

Joy Jones, Marianne Miller and Alice Whitley wait to resume rehearsal after a cue break. 

Justin Adams as Nicholas Nickleby

The grand entrance of the Infant Phenomenon

Wardrobe Supervisor Amy Fortenberry discusses quick changes with several actors backstage, during a break. Where they have to go to change; what they're changing into. If you've seen the chart, you know this is a complicated process.

The Crummles Company

This is the "tech" table. Stage Manager Sarah Smiley, along with designers run the show from here during rehearsals. 

Tom has a note for Joy Jones as Miss Snevellicci

36 Hours, 25 Actors, 100+ Crew - It's Tech! Part 1

Previews begin Wednesday and that means - Tech! Also known in the theatre world as Hell Week and with good reason. Tech refers to the stage of rehearsal when the company moves into the actual theatre for the first time. This is first time anyone has acted on the finished (almost) set; light cues are developed now that the actors on stage and sound cues are run in real time. This is a grueling process - painfully slow - sometimes even going line by line, while the tech crew and the designers add all of their cues. Around here, Tech usually starts the Friday before previews and runs through Sunday night. All total, the NicNic cast and crew were in the building for upwards of 36 hours over the weekend. 

Another PlayMakers tradition is Sundown Supper. This is a dinner provided for the cast and crew by volunteers and PRC administrative staff. It always takes place on the Sunday of tech, because let's face it - everybody's too tired to go scrounge up dinner in the short break that they get. Because there are two parts to NicNic, there are two Tech weekends and two Sundown Suppers. The first, which took place on Sunday, had an English theme. A Shepherd's Pie cook-off to be exact. Below you'll see pictures from both the dinner and Sunday's tech. 

These are our Sundown Supper volunteers. These guys not only cook, they serve the cast & crew and help with set-up & breakdown. Our Suppers wouldn't be possible without them!

Co-directors Joe Haj & Tom Quaintance and assistant director Mike Donahue work out some staging logistics while the actors are still on dinner break. 

If you've been following the blog at all, you've seen McKay Coble's set develop from a rough sketch to finished sketch to model. Here's the real thing! It always amazes me how much it looks like the model! 

Even after 30 hours of rehearsal in two and a half days, actors' spirits seem to be high. Above we see Jeff Meanza relaxing with his iPod as he waits for the evening session to begin. 

Flor De Liz Perez and Jeffrey Blair Cornell

David Adamson and Matthew Murphy

Tom Q. is often on stage during this Tech process, to talk to actors, designers and stage managers about what's going on. 

Costume designer Jan Chambers takes advantage of a break in the action to make some adjustments to Jeff Cornell's costume. 

Joe H. discusses a transition with actors Jimmy Kieffer and Lenore Field. 

Check back tomorrow for more pictures from tech! Coming later in the week, a new post from Rachel Pollock!

Dreaming of Nickleby

A few days before Tech (Halloween to be exact), stage manager Sarah Smiley sent me a blog post describing how Nicholas Nickleby was affecting her dreams. I absolutely love it and have to share it with you below. One of the characters in this dream you've already met - Sarah's dog Tug. After attending only part of the third day of Tech on Sunday, I wonder what her dreams are like now. 

Check back in the coming days for more info about Tech, including photos, but now... onto Sarah's dreams...

Eight a.m. Five minutes, please. Have to get up and walk the dog. Five…minutes… please. No…have to get up and walk the dog. Five…Week four and I fall asleep in North Yorkshire and I’m waking up in London.  Where is that letter from Fanny to Ralph…isn’t it letter #8 or maybe #9 or #10? I thought I put it on the prop table… or maybe I mailed it? Or maybe, it’s in someone’s coat pocket…they can’t do this scene without the letter…Am I looking for Noggs’ copy of the letter, or the one Allison brings onstage or is it Ralph’s? He reads one, too. Ray needs a letter, too!! Which letter ends up in his coat pocket? Who presets his coat…I have to find his dresser…Ralph. Ralph Nickleby. I will learn that name by heart. Ralph’s office is cold as fresh coal…Ralph’s office is the angular platform, it moves up and downstage with the effortless push of a button. Who is pushing the button? Stand by Button Pusher…Button Pusher…GO! Button Pusher, I hear a noise...it’s not the platform making that noise, is it? Do we need to stop?  I form an “h” with my mouth, intending to finish the familiar stage manager’s refrain I’ve begun, “Hold…please!” No sound moves my tongue but I hear the whisper of a biting wind. I hear the falling snow and see a young, lost lad with a spoon. I listen harder, wonder where I am and keep looking at the boy, trying to pick up my cue…is it coming from backstage? No, it sounds like the melodic honking of geese making their way south, flying over Devon? Geese in Devon? Why am I in Devon…how did I get to Devon? No…it sounds like…like…Line? “I’ve never done...” “I’ve never done anything like this before!”  I shout from the top of my lungs, standing center stage and staring out at the house…it’s empty…all around, it’s empty. I must be having one of those anxiety dreams...I’m not an actor, I think, I think to myself in the dream-theatre. But backstage, and I can hear it clearly, I hear a humming, many voices becoming one…one story, two parts, two directors, two rooms and one cast. All in London, damn ‘em.  Eight o’nine a.m.  and the geese are humming…wait a minute, geese don’t hum, they honk…as I begin to walk toward upstage center, trying to find the prop I misplaced, the humming begins to sound like a truck backing up but I know there are no trucks in Victorian London. What about geese? I turn towards stage right and I reach out to pick up a piece of paper that I think is the missing letter! I still have time to finish the preset…rehearsal doesn’t start until one o’clock! Who calls? Who calls so loud??? Instead, my hand slaps the alarm clock and then I’m staring with blurry eyes at the ceiling.  It was a dream. I have to get up and walk the dog. It’s week four and it’s time to get up and go to the theatre. I have to prepare for rehearsal.

I shake the ague from my consciousness and try to focus on the sunlight that slices though my window. It reminds me of the afternoon sun in the rehearsal hall, the way it warms the floor and creeps from here to there as we move through the day. I’ve been dreaming about what I do. Sometimes, I am afforded an epiphany about the process. But, as my dream-self remarked, I’ve never done anything like this before. 25 years in theatre and never have I been so awed and humbled by a process or the people who are making it happen. There are many props to preset and much paperwork to update and meetings to attend and people to talk to and furniture to move and there is coffee to make. Lots of coffee. 25 actors drink a lot of coffee. I need a cup of coffee…I roll out of bed and dress, call the dog and we go outside and take in the morning breeze. It’s October, and the geese are flying south for the winter.

–Sarah Smiley, Stage Manager

 

 

Another Day... Another Fitting

As promised, I made it to another costume fitting. This one was just as much fun as Jeff Meanza's. This time up - company member Jimmy Kieffer. 

Jimmy is a second-year MFA candidate in the Professional Actor Training Program here at UNC. During his time at PlayMakers, Jimmy has been seen as the lead fisherman and a bawd in Pericles; the dubious Wickham in Pride and Prejudice and most recently, as the affable Karl in Opus. In Nicholas Nickleby, Jimmy will be taking on a whole host of characters. Below you'll get to see several different looks for them. 

Up first though is long-time company favorite, Jeffrey Blair Cornell. I arrived at Jimmy's fitting a little early and got these shots of Jeff's last costume in his fitting. Sometimes early is a really good thing because this costume is fantastic!

Costume grad, Amy A. Page, Designer Jan Chambers and Crafts artisan Rachel Pollock attend to some final details. 

And now onto Jimmy's fitting...

Jimmy shows off his dance moves happy to be reunited with these pants from Pride and Prejudice. Well maybe happy isn't the word, but he made the best of it.

 

Associate costume designer Jade Bettin checks this vest for alterations.

 

Maybe it was a little tight. Pretty sure she did not stick him with a pin. 

 

These brand new boots were special-ordered for Jimmy. You'll notice hooks in each of his hands. They hook into the loops at the top of the boots to help pull them on. To get them off, a boot jack is typically employed, but it couldn't be found on this day. I hope they find it soon...

because I'm not sure this method is going to allow for quick changes. It made for a light moment or ten in the fitting room though.

This hat was special-ordered for Jimmy too.

Too bad it doesn't quite fit...

Crafts artisan Rachel Pollock is brought in to make some necessary alterations to the wildly oversized hat. 

Different character... different hat

Wait - it goes on like this

Watchman at your service...

Of course, a velvet robe is more like it...

But it will need some TLC before it's ready to go on stage. Costume grad Samantha Coles takes a look. 

This costume fitting journey has been a lot of fun. Check back soon for images from tech weekend Part I. It starts today! The entire company moves out of the rehearsal hall and onto the stage! 

The Vision Series - The Blog in Live Action!

Are you enjoying the behind-the-scenes picture you're getting from this blog? If so, you can see a live-action version tonight at PlayMakers! Join us for the Vision Series as directors Tom Quaintance and Joseph Haj answer you questions and give you the scoop on what's going on in the rehearsal hall. You can also get a sneak peek at the set, as this conversation takes place in the Paul Green Theatre!

This event is sponsored by our wonderful friends at Counter Culture Coffee and Whole Foods Market of Chapel Hill. Together, they will be providing complimentary coffee, wine and delicious snacks. Don't miss it!

Tonight! Wednesday, Nov. 4 

Coffee, Wine & Snacks - 6:30pm

Directors in Conversation - 7:00pm

Bespoke Millinery, Part Two

Before we get to Rachel Pollock's newest post - I need to make a correction to a previous post. Randy Handley's notes (as mentioned in the last photo of this post) are actually kept using the award-winning system he designed, CAPS (Computer Aided Paperwork System). Co Star is the system that catalogues the PlayMakers/DDA vintage costume collection. Sorry Randy!

And now on to Rachel...

Remember Miss LaCreevy's scalloped hat from back in September? If not, you can read the first part of the production process in this prior post.

 

When last we left off, we saw how the hat developed from designer Jan Chambers' costume rendering of the character of Miss LaCreevey, through research images and millinery magazine articles to a first mockup, made from cheap wire and craft lace. Essentially, the hat had left the page, but wasn't nearly ready for the stage yet!

 

We fit the mockup on the performer who will play Miss LaCreevey, DeDe Corvinus. We looked at the hat with the costume and talked about visual issues like the scale of the brim compared to the scale of the dress and how it looked on Ms Corvinus--adjustments were made in the shape of the cap and the height of the scalloped brim, so that the hat would be more in-tune with the aesthetic intent of Jan's design concept for the character. We also discussed fit and stability--was the crown too large or too small for Ms. Corvinus' head, and what would help stabilize it for the show? Once i had all these answers and adjustments to make, it was time to do the "real thing"!

 

The entire hat is built on a wire foundation, from a special kind of wire called millinery wire--18 gauge steel wrapped in cotton or rayon fiber. The joins are secured with a cotton-covered tie wire (florists use this too) and then cemented over with Super Glue for maximum stability. 

Here's the base foundation clamped in a jeweler's support while the adhesive on the wire wrappings dries. While waiting, i also shaped the scalloped brim support in the same wire.

The finished base with the edges bound in silk bias, which will make a nicer finish for securing the fabric elements of the hat to the foundation.

Next, i attached the lace to the scalloped wire foundation, added some pleated ribbon edging, and whipped the whole brim onto the front of the base foundation.

This picture shows a second cap-shape mockup from muslin.

 

Jan wanted to change the shape of the crown after the first fitting, and i wanted us to look at it in inexpensive muslin to make certain it was correct before cutting into the silk taffeta of the final fabric. This shape was enthusiastically approved, so i forged ahead!

Here's a back view of the hat before the silk cap is installed. You can see the tulle ruffles attached to the frame to give the cap loft (or in layman's terms, "poofiness").

 

Then, i had only to attach the silk cap, put in a mesh support for pinning it to Ms. Corvinus' hair, line it, and voila! Thus a hat comes into being!

Just for fun, let's compare, page to stage...

Here's a closeup of Jan's design, showing Miss LaCreevey's sweet scalloped hat:

...and here's the finished product, ready for opening night:

Hope you have enjoyed reading about the production process of one of our many, many hats for this show, as much as i have enjoyed making it!

–Rachel Pollock, Costume Crafts Artisan

Just for Fun Friday

It's a quiet Friday morning, so I thought I would post some "just for fun" pictures from around the building. An abbreviated tour, if you will...

First up... co-director Tom Quaintance in the wee hours, three weeks into rehearsal. This was taken from a Skype conversation he was having with friends back home. Tom actually sent this to me; I did not invade his privacy for the sake of the blog! (This time.)

Here is the first thing I see everyday - the "yellow brick road" - a path through backstage that is painted yellow. It helps guest artists find their way around this maze of a building. 

This is what the Nickleby set looks like so far, from backstage. Very little work goes on in the morning because most of the crew is either teaching or attending classes.

This is the stairwell that leads from the dressing rooms down to the stage. This season, some of the bigger sports fans in the building hung this inspirational sign a la football field houses. 

The hallway leading to my office... On the other side of this wall lies the costume shop and here are some examples of projects that are routinely displayed. These particular dresses are from the "Period Pattern" projects by several costume graduate students. 

Just around the corner, is our rehearsal hall. Stage manager Sarah Smiley preps for today's rehearsal. 

Stage Manager Chuck Bayang tries to keep it light.

A rare moment (and only a moment) of down-time for the Stage Mangers as they prepare for today's rehearsal.  I think Chuck and Sarah are the two busiest people in this building. It's their job to corral 2 rehearsal rooms, 2 directors, and 25 actors while trying to schedule rehearsals around costume fittings,  PR events, classes, production meetings, union rules, the flu, and dozens of other obstacles.  Then of course, they have to manage rehearsals! They are often the first ones in the building and always the last ones to leave. I am in awe of these two and the fact that they can still stand up.

And last but not least - Tug! This is Sarah Smiley's bulldog. He has become an important member of the PlayMakers family over the last 3 years and can often be seen carefully watching over rehearsals. His office is directly across the hall from mine and "Tug days" are always good days here. He even has his own couch in the rehearsal hall!