Design Meetings

It's the first week of the Spring 2010 semester, and our shows are getting underway.

"A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" has a production meeting on Friday; "Talk Radio" had a design meeting today (Wednesday), although due to the ice storm, it was skyped with the director who couldn't safely make it to campus. And "Fefu and Her Friends" has a design meeting next Friday.

So what's the difference between design meetings and production meetings? Design meeting are meant for the designers (lights, sound, set, costumes, props, and usually the technical director) to meet with the director and put some ideas on the table. This allows everyone to have a sense of what the others are doing and deciding what will work best to portray the overall wanted message.

Production meetings include all the designers, assistants, the technical director, publicist, and the director, again allowing everyone to understand what others are doing, but with a firmer grasp of the overall concept and how to achieve that goal.

Please note that although not mentioned in either of the above, the Stage Manager must attend not only all the meetings, but also each rehearsal. After each rehearsal, a 'rehearsal report' is sent to each designer. This is a series of notes taken during rehearsal, with sections for the respective designers and any comments relating to that area.

Once rehearsals get to the point of a 'run-through', a designer will likely sit in and observe the rehearsal. One reason I believe this to be beneficial is because a situation or line of text inflicts a different, usually stronger emotion when spoken than when read.

Before I Begin

Background Information:

Drake puts on 3 shows each semester- two held in a black box theater (called Studio 55), the other held on the main stage (the Performing Arts Hall, or PAH). The Spring 2010 shows are:
"A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" (black box)
"Talk Radio" (main stage), and
"Fefu and Her Friends" (black box).

This count does not include any Student Theater Productions (STP's) put on by our directing majors, which there are typically 4 per semester.

There are currently 9 declared technical and design majors, of which 2 are seniors. This means that everyone does something for almost every show. This includes designing (lights, sound, set, props, or costumes), stage management, technical director, and sometimes board operators (lights or sound).

Our Technical Director (when not assigned to a student), is John Pomeroy, affectionately called Roy by all. Not to be confused with the other technical professor, John Holman. These two work with our Costume Designer (when not assigned to a student) Josie Poppen to create much of the spectacle created on stage.

And finally, there are three directors and one musical director, with an occasional guest director (as is the case with "Fefu and Her Friends").

Disclaimer

As a disclaimer, this blog does not relate to all theater, but is talking specifically about Drake University Theatre in Des Moines, IA. While the blog will focus mainly on the technical side of things that happen backstage during a show, or the preparation work that leads to the show, there is also the work the performers put into each production.

Both sides work incredibly hard, and only by working together do we accomplish a successful show.