August 2nd 2010: Opening Night
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 12:00PM We are just days away from opening night of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Reed College. The week before opening is always exhausting, exhilarating and terrifying. The set, props, costumes and music are almost complete and the actors are almost ready for an audience. This week we put all the pieces together to see what we have created.
Staging A Midsummer Night's Dream has encouraged me to think about what it is we do in the theatre: creating artistic truth from fiction; creating three-dimensional characters from pages of text. We use Shakespeare's words as incantations to create a story out of thin air, but like a dream, after the final bow, only memories remain.
Ultimately, it takes an audience to tell us how well we have cast our spell: how true--or better yet--truthful, the dream appears. The audience reacts to the actor, the actor derives energy from the audience and then feeds it back like an infinite hall of mirrors. Without that final step, the spell cannot be truly cast.
We hope you will fulfill this important role by joining us in celebration of the magic of live theatre. See you there!
-- Daniel Somerfield
The set for this summer's production was designed by Jim Halliday, who will also appear onstage in the roles of Egeus and Quince. In his spare time, Jim serves as the president of Willamette Shakespeare's board of directors.
 |
|
Quince (Jim Halliday) instructs Starveling (Anna Gettles) and Snug (Chet Wilson) to learn their lines. In addition to acting in the production, Jim designed and built the modular set.
|
The set for this year's show presented several opportunities and challenges. We needed a way to create levels to provide visual interest, staging flexibility and a place for Titania's bower. I started by building a scale model of a series of platforms, stairs and ramps which could be set in a wide combination of configurations. In January, I started building these units in my barn. Because of our early start, the set was ready for the actors by the time we started putting the show on its feet in June.
Although set changes are few, there are palace scenes, forest scenes, and the play-within-the-play. None of these scenes are literal in presentation. We merely want to suggest changes that are achieved through moving selected modules. Two of those pieces involve rolling platforms. Our dear friend and Willamette Shakespeare supporter, Jim Frey, came up with a design for these rolling units and built them in his workshop.
In order to cover quick backstage changes, I built a series of metal frames rising up to 13 feet that attach to the set, but I needed to cover those frames with a material that would mask the actors but not create a sail on those nights when the wind picks up. My daughter Misty, who does costumes in LA, suggested using stretch netting. She bought the fabric, flew up to Oregon and sewed giant socks out of this material that slide over the frames. Although mostly opaque, they let the wind flow through without creating major stability problems.
We hope this modular design will become a versatile part of our future shows as well as this one. Come to the show and let us know what you think!
-- Jim Halliday
Thank you so much to all of you who have already volunteered to help usher and hand out programs. We're almost there, but we could use a few more people for the August 15th show at the Allison Inn and Spa in Newberg and the weekend of August 20th - 22nd at Stoller Vineyards in Dayton. If you are interested in helping us out, please email volunteer@willametteshakespeare.org.
If you are unable to volunteer but would like to help us continue to offer Shakespeare for free, please mail us a check or donate on our website. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
Performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream will be Fridays at 7 PM, Saturdays at 7 PM & Sundays at 6 PM. Although food will be available for sale, you are also welcome to bring a picnic. Local wines will be available for sale by the bottle or the glass at all locations. Unfortunately Oregon Liquor Control Commission regulations do not permit audience members to bring their own alcohol.
- August 6th - 8th: Reed College Cerf Amphitheater, Portland, OR [map]
- August 13th - 15th: The Allison Inn & Spa, Newberg, OR [map]
- August 20th - 22nd: Stoller Vineyards, Dayton, OR [map]
Pre-show begins one hours before curtain.
- Fridays: Talkback session with the director
- Saturdays: Preshow concert with Roughly Hewn
- Sundays: Children's activities
A number of other companies have shows in production or soon to be so. We encourage you to support Shakespeare in the Willamette Valley by attending as many of these shows as you can.
- Sun, Aug 15, 2:00 PM - Laurelhurst Park
- Fri, Aug 20, 7:00 PM - Nehalem Bay
- Fri, Aug 21, 1:00 PM - Nehalem Bay (Midsommer)
- August 7 and 8, at 3:00 PM - Washington Park
- August 14, at 6:00 PM - Raleigh Park
- August 15, at 3:00 PM - Gabriel Park
- August 21, at 7:00 PM - Maryhill Museum
- August 22, at 3:00 PM - Lynchwood Park
- August 28 and 29, at 3:00 PM - Concordia University
- September 4, 5, and 6, at 3:00 PM - Reed College
- Through Aug 14, Thu-Sat eves at 7 PM.
Reader Comments