La Musica Lirica 2013

based in Novafeltria, Italy
and part of the Montefeltro Festival 2013 (through Voci nel Montefeltro, Ubaldo Fabbri Directore Artistica)
Brygida Bziukewwicz-Kulig, La Musica Lirica Directore Generale

“Le Nozze di Figaro” directed by Candance Evans
“Lucia di Lammermoor” directed by Francois Loup
“Suor Angelica” directed by Mary Anne Scott
“La Cambiale di Matrimonio” directed by Robert Breault

Lighting design by Eric Appleton
Scenic design by Renee Suprenant
Costume design by Stephanie Henderson
Technical direction by Renee Suprenant
Production Coordinator, Eric Appleton
Stage Management Supervisor, Eric Appleton

La Musica Lirica is a five week opera training program based in Novafeltria. This year, three productions (both one-acts travelled together) toured the area, playing venues in Russi, Rimini, Pennabilli, Cesena, and Pesaro. Venues included both indoor and outdoor spaces with a range of limited technical resources.

The photos below do not particulary show off the lighting or scenery but give a sense of the challenges inherent in this undertaking.

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Our home theatre, the Teatro Sociale, in Novafeltria.

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Backstage at the Teatro Sociale; the fly system.

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Exterior of the Teatro Sociale.

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And across the street, the Voci nel Montefeltro, which housed classrooms, offices, and the rooms that served as shops.

the scene shop, as we found it

This is the scene shop, generally as we found it at the beginning of the program. From left to right, there’s Antonio Toni, the local production assistant (who was a godsend), scenic designer and TD Renee Suprenant, and scenic/lighting intern Sean Houston.

Day 11 covering flats in the foyer

Here’s Renee and Sean working on flats in the building’s foyer.

Day 16 making sandbags

And propsmistress Maura and scenic painting intern Millie building sandbags. Since all the indoor spaces had raked floors and fly systems that had no counterweights, and the outdoor spaces had no way to rig anything (and possibly breezy conditions) we discovered that we wanted weight on anything, we’d have to sew and fill it all ourselves.

Day 13 checking out Russi 4

The dimmers and patch panel at one of our first venues, in Russi.

Day 13 checking out Russi 2

The stage in Russi.

Day 13 checking out Russi 5

The theatres were lovely, but lighting extremely limited. This is the entirety of the front light available from house right in Russi.

cue sheets

Since we didn’t know what type of lighting console we would get from venue to venue, and since we were unlikely to ever have more than twelve dimmers, it was best to run the show as a two-scene present. Here are my blank cue sheets, ready for notation during our orchestra run throughs (we didn’t really have any technical rehearsals). Since the number and placement of equipment also varied from venue to venue, the cue sheets really only came in handy for our Novafeltria performances. Almost every other performance consisted of me sitting next to the board operator and dictating levels as we went.

tech for suor angelica 2

Photo from the orchestra rehearsal of “Suor Angelica.”

tech for La Cambiale

Photo from the orchestra rehearsal of “La Cambiale di Matrimonio.”

first tour date. cloister in Rimini

A cloister in Rimini, where we performed the one acts.

performance of la cambiale in rimini

“La Cambiale di Matrimonio” in performance in Rimini.

performance of suor in Rimini

“Suor Angelica” in performance in Rimini.

08 loading the truck for san marino

Loading the truck for the perfomance of “Lucia di Lammermoor” in San Marino.

16 the view from above in san marino

The stage set up for the performance in the Piazza Sant’Agata in San Marino.

18 san marino mad scene

And the mad scene, in performance in San Marino.

19 the venue in pesaro

The stage, within a castle, in Pesaro.

26 all set up in pesaro

Staging rehearsal for “Lucia di Lammermoor” in Pesaro.

27 the hookup du jour in pesaro

The hookup for Pesaro. The back row are PAR 64s on the castle wall, the lower row are 8″ (or so) PCs on the FOH truss. The house technicians were not happy about softpatching the dimmers into the channels I desired.

03 setting up in cesena

06 the stage set up in cesena

Setting up the one acts in a bank plaza in Cesena.

08 suor in cesena

“Suor Angelica” in performance in Cesena.

12 alex checks the stage in rimini

We returned to Rimini, but this time performed in the courtyard of the Castel Sismondo. This is Alex, stage manager for “Lucia” checking scenic spacing during the set up.

17view from the light board in rimini

“Lucia” set up in Rimini; the view from the light board as the audience arrives.

19 lucia in rimini

“Lucia” in performance in Rimini.

31 loading the truck for pennabilli

One of the surprises; this is the truck that showed up to transport the one acts to Pennabilli.

33.5 teatro vittoira

34 teatro in pennabilli

The Teatro Vittoria in Pennabilli.

43 hookup dujour in pennabilli

Pennabilli’s hookup du jour.

44 suor in pennabilli

“Suor Angelica” in performance in Pennabilli.

47 setting up for figaro in novafeltria

Setting up “Le Nozze di Figaro” for performance in Novafeltria.

48 sean in novafeltria

Intern Sean Houston setting up the “Figaro” preset.

22 library cesena

23 cesena

The final performance of the season was “Lucia di Lammermoo” at the Biblioteca Malatestiana in Cesena.

27 board in cesena

The board was our first and only analog board of the season. . .

32 lucia in cesena

“Lucia” in performance in Cesena; the view from the light board.