WINGS Technical Rehearsal Schedule

Rich suggested we post the tech schedule to the blog!

Click here to view the schedule on Google Docs

Here are the activities broken down for each day. This includes the latest changes and edits by Randy. If you have questions about any item, or anticipate a change in the schedule, please let us know right away, and we’ll adjust, so that everyone is on the same page.

Load-in crew, please note start times for each day, as they are not always the same.

We're excited to have everyone together up in Los Angeles next week!

Production Pictures for Publication?

Here are a few pictures of Joy (and Larry). The last three were taken with my phone, so the quality isn't amazing. I'll be bringing my camera with me tomorrow to catch some more shots.

Redbird closes her eyes to get lost in a happy memory:



Redbird crawls under the table as a child, comforting herself by singing her mother's song:



Redbird asks her father about the story of Monahwee:



Redbird sings:

Larry's Set-up... for Susan

Here is what Larry's set-up is going to look like. He'll be seated on the lower level, next to a table on the deck of the Autry stage. Ideally, we'd like a table 40 in. high.
(Forgive the images, they were taken with my phone!)

Here's the overall set-up: synth, computer, mini keyboard, amp (behind him), drum, music stand (not pictured).



Amp and foot pedal:



Electronic set-up to fit on table:



(straight on)



Situated in the context of the rest of the stage:



Thanks Susan!

From an email by Joy Harjo

From an email this morning to playwright and friend Laura Shamas:

Performance reminds me of going out into the ocean. No two days are ever the same. The Moon continues to move. Winds, currents, thoughts shift. They can change from one moment to the next. The trick is learning how to surf whatever is there. And if you huli, or flip out of the canoe, you have to know how to get back in. And keep moving.

A Poem... a Note... by Joy Harjo

A note to the actor in me:


You were there before I could speak

You were all the permutations of yes and no

You were the front door, the back door, and the place in the middle where the soul stands naked

You told the truth before it could be spoken

You spoke before there were words

You let me in when I asked you to open the doorI had to first ask

The heart stepped through first

All the rest of me followed: wind, elbows, lips, feet, a pool of sunlight before language, a sky of black peopled by stars, the awkward next to awesome grace

Here we are againBack to the beginning of the urgent urge, to the first spark

We noticed it, spoke it, and became it.

We are.

A Brief Thought...

Today, I discussed with another student, what is theatre? At first, he argued that a play (the physical book) is not theatre.

"Arguable," I softly said. He heard me.

Several famous theatre theorists argue that the text of a play, the written word, is enough to qualify as theatre. I don't entirely agree.

He then argued that theatre is the performance of written word.

Well, I argued, improvisation is still theatre and even a dance performance can be theatre... as long as it tells a story. No, not every single piece of "theatre" tells a story; I would more likely just call it theatrical, because I believe that theatre originated as a form of passing along a story.

This other student and I came to agree at least on one point. In essence, theatre is the performance of storytelling.

* * *

I write this because I realized tonight, as I watched Randy work with Joy, that the telling of a story is a very delicate process. Some of the stories Joy tells, true or created, are of a very sensitive subject matter. Sometimes they are difficult to hear, no matter how many times she retells them. In order to effectively retell these memories, which Joy has a natural-born talent of doing, it requires immense strength and patience. We are still in the rehearsal process, but already, it is wonderful to watch Joy get lost in her stories.

I hope she doesn't feel small on stage all alone, because her words speak volumes and paint beautiful pictures.

Desire Under the Elms, Production Photos

Here are some amazing production photos from SDUS's adaptation of Desire Under the Elms, directed by Randy Reinholz. These pictures only begin to show the gorgeous aesthetic of the overall design.

The set lent itself to so many different locations, was an amazing and creative space for the actors and fellow designers to work in, and was, literally, a piece of art. The light design, particularly featured here, was so innovative: conscious of space and time, reflective of mood, a character unto itself... and again, art. These designers worked seamlessly together, balanced each other, and truly enhanced this production beyond conceivable thought. Without them, such poverty and catastrophe could have never also achieved such beauty.

Set: Andrew Hull
Lights: Ashley Johnstone