UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

A little more catching up on the experience at La Musica Lirica, in Novafeltria, Italy.

This is the scene shop, in the school, and even though construction is getting under way (scenic designer and technical director: Renee Suprenant), this is pretty much what it looked like when we arrived.

This is the costume shop, also in the school. That’s Renee in the foreground, and costume designer Stephanie Henderson back there behind the water bottle and laptop.

Scenic interns in the foyer, covering flats with found material. Muslin was impossible to locate on such a short time frame and we were lucky to find a cache of interesting upholstery fabrics in a corner in the shop.

Since the theatre did not have a fly system, there were no stageweights or sandbags to be had. Since the stage floors in all the indoor venues were raked, and the outdoor venues were, well, outdoors, we ended up buying sand and using some of the found fabric to make sandbags. Here’s the propsmaster and the scenic painting intern making the most beautiful sandbags ever.

One of our first tour dates was in Sant’ Agata Square in San Marino. Renee, Antonio, and I drove up to check out the plaza and find out what facilities were available for us. The screen is where the stage was to be constructed, and behind us, not in the photo, is the quite lovely theatre space where the dressing rooms were located.

We also drove to the town of Russi, to check out their space.

This is half of the front of house lighting available in Russi.

Note the steep rake. All the linesets were suspended by cotton line. No weights again.

Our first event was a concert of assorted show tunes and opera bits in the Castel Sismondo in Rimini. Renee, the set designer, was mistakenly noted as the director of The Marriage of Figaro — really Candace Evans.

The stage in the courtyard at the castle in Rimini. We would come back to this venue a number of times in the next few weeks.

In the downtime between La Musica Lirica and getting ready for the new semester, I agreed to quickly do a pro bono design for Madison’s queer community theatre group, Stage Q. The director wanted to place Much Ado in a West Hollywood night club, so the design is based off one of the images she presented. Since I won’t be able to be around for the build, it has to be something that volunteers with no theatre experience can accomplish (since that’s their usual workforce), and possible to build off site but load in in a single day, which must also accommodate the light hang and focus. The “TD” of the Bartell theatre was a bit vague with schedules and dates. The new artistic director of Stage Q wants to push the envelope a bit and aim higher in their production values — we’ll see if they can chew what I’m biting off for them. . .

Six weeks later, five of them in Novafeltria, Italy, working on four operas — Lucia di Lammermoor, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Cambiale di Matrimonio, and Suor Angelica. I started as the lighting designer, became the stage management intern supervisor, and upon arrival, learned that I was also the production coordinator. Here are some of the first photos of the trip.

Here, the bus disgorges the staff and students in the central piazza of Novafeltria.

This is the scuola, a little ways up the street from the piazza. This building housed classes, the shops, the office.

This is the Teatro Sociale, the theatre of Novafeltria. While we rehearsed and teched in this space, only a few actual performances were held here, as the majority of performances toured to other nearby towns and cities.

The stage of the teatro. Notice the lights up in the gallery on either side. This was our front light positions.

Backstage at the teatro. Notice that there is no counterweight system — merely cotton lines with no weight. There is no real wingspace either, and very little backstage. Also note that the floor is raked. This proved typical of all the interior spaces we performed in.

The first electric — or Americain, as they call it. The PC was the standard unit in most theatres.

We also rehearsed up the hill behind the church in the cinema. This was where Lucia rehearsed most days.

Finally, the light board in Novafeltria. This board turned out to be the standard board in most venues. Despite the Italians’ preference for loading cues into submasters (‘grabbing them into the register’), since the lighting equipment available in each venue was a bit different, after tech almost every performance ended up being improvised on whatever two scene preset board was present.

Preparing to leave for La Musica Lirica later this week, where I will be designing the lighting and supervising the stage management interns for five weeks. Two full length operas — Figaro and Lucia di Lammermoor — and two one acts — Suor Angelica and La Cambiale di Matrimonio.

Continuing to work on “Dracula.” The crypt end as the crypt. The top will slide open to reveal the Count and Mina within.

Further work on Dracula for today’s production meeting. The study end is largely done, except for furniture and details like books and knickknacks. I’ve been work in earnest on the bed/crypt end; this picture shows a rough idea of the bed set up. The bedspread will be whisked away to reveal the sarcophagus, and the shelves on either side will rotate to reveal statuary. At this point, of course, I begin to worry if we have the time and the money for all this. . .

More “Dracula,” this time from the side. I’ve begun hanging the floating arches and working up the sarcophagus/bed end, which serves as both Mina’s bedroom and the crypt wherein the Count is discovered at the end of the play. The image is largely black and white, because we have decided to go with a black and white/greyscale look that recalls the old Universal films, though with the added touch that selected elements in each scene (props and costumes, mainly) will be scarlet.

Still working up the model ofr “Dracula” for the Fall. Here is the study end of things, with a fair amount of texture and detail. Still haven’t decided what goes into the arches. Now I need to deal with the bed/crypt end of the set. . .

Continuing to develop the 3D rendering of “Dracula,” which has actually slowed down progress on the section, which is partially finished on the drafting table. One thing that continues to vaguely annoy me about the 3D modelling is that if you want detail, you have to draw the detail, whereas on the drafting table, you can suggest detail and work out the particulars on another plate. . .

The revised groundplan for “Dracula.”

And the groundplan as starting to be worked up in Sketchup.