Oh Where Oh Where am I? Tech!

My long absence (fueled only slightly by difficulties with my blog server) is a statement in itself. Tech was grueling: 12 stright days working at times until six in the morning-- and never quitting before 1pm. I fell sick for two days near the beginning. People fell off the stage. Repeatedly. We discovered one of our computers didn't have enough processing power to run both the video program and the videos smoothly so we bought another laptop, programmed it, tweaked it, and then learned that it had a faulty circuit on the power board that kept it from running reliable. We returned it on opening day, programmed, tweaked, and threw it into the mix. After having never seen all of the media elements together in the same show, we ran without a hitch to a standing-room only audience on opening, followed by an over-sold audience on Saturday. But all of that is another entry; this one is a little behind-the-scenes of tech itself.

We're open! So you can buy tickets at: http://www.secondwindtheatre.com

Sound Design

I've been off-line for the past week because rehearsals are on break. During the last week the show started to slip steadily behind where I wanted it to be in terms of the actors' readiness; then it took a nice step forward in the final run-thru. We're still two days behind in my estimation, but it's not so far that we can't get back up to speed during tech if the actors stay on top of their game.

Break from rehearsals does not mean a break from production, though. There's still publicity to do (though primarily prep work, since nobody's in the office, now); video footage is being edited, tech tools-- like the Arkaos VJ program and SCS sound controller-- are being tested; and I've re-focused my attention on the sound design, which is the topic of today's post.

It's difficult to give a concise, helpful summary of how to design sound for the theatre, especially in a video blog, so I've added a written overview of my process here. It's not quite a tutorial, but close.

http://www.secondwindtheatre.com/

Inside a Rehearsal

This time it's an inside look at rehearsals in moving images. I've shied away from taking footage of scene work because I think it's too intrusive. It's too easy to start acting for the camera (for both the actor and the director). But Thursday's rehearsal was focused on integrating movement and fight choreography into the scene-work, giving an opportunity to shoot a little more tape. We've slipped about a day behind in the rehearsal process; there's just too much physical work to cover, and it always takes longer than one expects. Where we'll make it up, nobody knows. It's particularly frightening, because we'll take a 11 day break for the holidays, and if we're not solid before then, the show could slip dramatically. On the bright side, Arthur Keng returned from NY after 2 weeks out of rehearsals very much ready to go. When a moment catches fire for the first time in rehearsal is a blessed thing.

Visit us: www.secondwindtheatre.com