Last week, I wrote about getting ready to brush up a pair of shows that been on hiatus. Our productions of Macbeth and To Kill a Mockingbird go into rep this week, and last week we got them out, dusted them off (in the case of the sets literally) and made sure we were ready to present them for an audience. Here's a recap of what that experience was like.

From a technical standpoint, it was in some ways very much like a remount. I went through the set-up with my operator, checked the patch, reviewed settings, checked playback mics and ran a sound check, then ran through the computer playback list dry to look at the notes to help us review the scenes with reinforcement and effects to make sure she was ready and remembered where her fingers needed to go.

After the technical side was set ( not to mention getting through my own nerves, a feeling in my gut that's very similar to stage fright but having to do with gear and equipment,) I switched gears back to being a designer, and sat and watched sections of both productions.

My anticipation for the opportunity wasn't disappointed. It was an interesting experience - part rediscovery, part discovery, that I found both enlightening and kind of scary. (More so with Macbeth, perhaps because I have been away from it longer.) The fear got less and less as the show went on - largely in part to just relaxing, but also in realizing that the show hadn't managed to self destruct while being in storage.

Even though it was my own design, things would surprise me. As familiar as the piece of music that started the top of the show was three months ago, it was fresh to me hearing it now - three months down the road. As the show progressed, I would remember why specific choices were made, how things were timed, more and more the process came back. At the same time, I tried not to focus on "then" and the "why's" but the show in front of me. I tried to experience the show - not as an "unbiased theatre patron" as that would be impossible - but with fresh eyes and more specifically ears.

I'm pleased to say, that I am I still proud of the work I did - and proud that my work was a part of the show as a whole. Certainly I had lots of mental notes for myself - but aside from some basic level notes for the effect mics - nothing that wasn't "fussing."

So - I guess what I really have to say, is if you ever have the opportunity to see a show you've designed distanced from the initial staging - perhaps at the end of a longish run, or during a remount, do it.

Until next time cats and kittens,

Cheers,

R