08-09 A Season in Review

Now that we've approached the end of the 2008-2009 season, I thought it would be a good idea to look back and see what Susquehannock Theatre accomplished in the past season. This entire season was like a whirlwind of craziness, which took us to a lot of places we hadn't yet dared to go.

Whether anyone knew it or not, the season actually began at Starbucks, with our plucky little band of playwrights beginning to work on their one-act plays for Playground. We began late in the 07-08 season and carried on into the summer, with the playwrights working on their ideas and plotlines for their one acts. But we'll get back to them later.

Of course most everyone's year actually started with auditions for Romeo and Juliet. Half of the actors still thought me to be crazy up to this point due to the whole "Set in Texas, post Civil War deal". I dealt with everyone thinking I was crazy pretty well, I think.

Romeo and Juliet afforded us the chance to finally get a classic show under our belts and do it with style. Add to that some special instruction from our fight choreographer and some Civil War Dancers, and we learned to do quite a lot of new things. That's not to say that everything about R&J was perfect. No one will ever forget opening night, or what would be dubbed "Snowmeo and Juliet"! Ice all over the place and actors stranded here, there and everywhere! Then there was Paris' death scene with the gun that refused to shoot...but what can you do?

Next stop on the schedule was a performance of R&J at the Pennsylvania State Thespian Conference at Butler High School. Load up the 2 story set, put all the actors in a yellow bus because they overbooked the coach buses and head 4 hours up the road! Fun in any weather, but even better when it started to snow!

After several hours of hair pulling and trying to work out everything on a smaller stage (and without the same lighting setup), we performed R&J before a huge audience who loved the show! We put our best foot forward, and though we didn't move on to the national conference, we wouldn't have traded that performance in front of that awesome crowd of our peers for anything!

Right after Butler (the next day to be precise), came auditions for LES MISERABLES! Never have I seen the school so excited about a show! And I've never seen that much talent during an audition week. We were so worried that we wouldn't have enough great male singers to do the show, but they showed up, and we made a lot of theatre converts in the process. Auditions finished up and I teased the cast list for a few days to the consternation of many. What can I say, I wanted it to be perfect...and I wanted the actors to learn patience...haha.

So on we adventured into Les Mis, with Kate starting early in January on vocals & at just before we began blocking the show, we presented our night of student written and directed one act plays, Play Ground. Though the whole thing had a rocky birthing process (writers had a hard time getting scripts in, directors couldn't gather their casts all at one time, people dropped out, people didn't know when practices were), the whole thing came together and we were lucky to celebrate the first performances of some great one act plays: Freak Show by Caitlin Furio and directed by Kyle Dobry, The Fiberglass Ceiling by Drew Slattery directed by Ariel Cowger, Dinner for Six by Brandon Cwalina directed by Niall Carmichael, Unclaimed Baggage by Lily Kotansky directed by Zoe (where's the umlaut??) Heatwole, and Rocketman by Laura Dzwonczyk directed by Mia Wentworth. All of these plays were exemplary and showed that there's more than just a play and a musical going on with these SHS theatre folk...

Anyways...after that, back to Les Mis: blocking and singing, blocking and singing, some dancing, and worry. Worry about the set, or lack therof at the beginning of March. But as always, I was wetting myself over nothing. Joe came in, laid down that revolving stage and we were off to the races!

Les Miserables opened and it was what we all wanted it to be: A big success. Sure the auditorium may not have been sold out, but just one night of show had more people there that an entire run of some of our other musicals. Susquehannock was at one time a big dog among the county's high schools, and Les Mis proved that we still had it, and were determined to keep it. Rave reviews came in from everyone, and had we been able to do another weekend of shows, we certainly would have had a packed house.

Next stop was the Thespian Society Inductions, and thanks to our performance at Butler, a boatload of people were eligible to join, swelling our ranks by nearly 30 members! A banner year!

Of course that's not to say it was all over. We had one more performance left to do, at the York County HS Theatre Awards (The Rosies) where Kelly Chick performed "I dreamed a Dream" and the entire cast performed "One Day More". Again we got some love, and also walked out with the Adjudicator's Award of Excellence (Judge's Award)!

This season's gonna be a hard one to top, but I'm sure 2009-10 is gonna be even bigger and better! And looking at this post...I think I'm gonna need a nap.

Pic Dump

Wow. Three Updates in a day. There's a lot going on now at the ol' SHS Theatre! Here's a few pics I snapped the other night at practice!

Josh is happy to shoot, Siona's happy to be shot.

Juliet=Attitude

Guy Talk

More to come! Stay Tuned!

The set

Finally, we have the auditorium all to ourselves until the show opens, and our set can stay up full time! What an awe-inspiring structure!!! And it's portable!!!

Our tiny little set.

The original set model. It's even more portable.

The Buzz of SYC

Well...we could be the buzz of Southern York, but regardless, we got a mention in the main article of the fall play roundup in the York Daily Record. You can check it out online here: http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_10877327

And let's not forget one of our own beloved actors is part of the newspaper's teen takeover blog, and has a little blog about what it's like to be a man...
http://www.yorkblog.com/teentakeover/2008/11/five-ways-to-man-up.html

The Poster

So here it is, a finished poster for our little show. Sadly, I had to take the guns off the original logo, since they are a school no-no. But I think the final version looks good in its own right. I mean...it still would look cool with guns.

Bonus points for anyone who can point out the blatant symbolism I used in the poster. (and no, it's not the heart)

The R&J Report-Episode 1

I realize that I have been pretty lax in my blogging regarding R&J, so this'll be a little something to make up for it.

We're already one week into the rehearsal process, and we've had a whole week of really great read throughs, including one held outside, where Mia attempted to use a tree as her balcony (alas, she didn't have enough light to read her script up there). This week will be a character building week, as Chris and I meet with some of the actors to guide them through thinking about their character so they can make stronger choices in their acting. The week will end with the final read through (full cast), just so we can go over the script one more time and let the cast know what they will be doing once we start blocking next week (yay!). Then of course will come fight choreography and the big masquerade scene, and before you know it--show week!

Now, to turn some attention to the set design side of things, here's Joe's finished set design for the play. This set will be the backdrop for most of the scenes in the show, and will be built in such a way as to be set up and torn down in less than 2 hours, and will fit in the back of a U-haul! (The crazy stuff we do just to take our little show to the ITS festival).

The New Season Begins

Words can't express my excitement for what's coming up this year...I've been so itchy for the school year to start so we can dive headfirst into this Romeo and Juliet thing... So the big news here is that the audition sign up sheet will be up as of 8/28, outside of the auditorium. There is also a monologue sheet at the same location--this year I've chosen the monologues I would prefer to hear (instead of having to figure out what you're saying when you do a monologue I'm not familiar with). They will also be posted on the website for your perusal.

Also coming up next week is the first ITS meeting of the year (9/2 - 7pm) and the audition workshop (9/3 7-8:30pm) Encourage your friends to attend the audition workshop if they are at all interested in trying out!

Script is up!

The script for R&J can be found on www.susquehannocktheatre.com for all you who might be interested in giving in an early glossing over. Also the site is updated with some groovy new R&J logos...I liked 'em so much I'm probably gonna design the poster the same way (sorry Mia)

WE FIGHT!

I have amazingly great news which makes me all sorts of giddy inside for R&J. I have just talked to a friend of mine who is certified in stage combat, and he has agreed to choreograph a really big fistfight for us for the show! (the fight in question will be the first big brawl after the "thumb biting" incident.) Just imagine four guys start a fight and every other guy in the cast (and maybe some girls) jump in to help out the side they're rooting for.

I like stage violence way too much.

Here be spoilers!

...And Romeo and Juliet DIE!

R&J-Prologue

Well, here begins the official start of the Romeo and Juliet blog. Though I'm currently directing a show outside of the school, I'm getting a really early jump on the play, mostly due to the fact that I want it to be awesome. I've been lucky enough to find a R&J script online that has been whittled down to a nice time of about 2 hours, and I have been making my own adjustments as well, including adding in my stage directions and blocking and all that. So far I've got about three scenes figured out, My stage design idea is in Joe's hands, and there's a lot of really good ideas I need to try and fit in (such as Mercutio throwing one of his boots at someone--possibly Tybalt). So...to those of you who are somewhat uncertain about R&J in 1860's Texas, here's a little sample for you. Ignore my grandiose stage directions...they give me and idea of what I'm aiming for...

PROLOGUE

[We begin in the dark. “Amazing Grace” is hummed quietly by the cast as a single dim pin spot comes up, center. We see Pastor Lawrence in front of two pine boxes containing the bodies of Romeo and Juliet--both boxes are propped up so that we may see them inside. Though this is an invitation for the audience to watch the story unfold, it should also seem like a funeral homily given by a man who is grief stricken for his part in these senseless deaths, and still angry at the families for carrying on this feud.]

PASTOR LAWRENCE
Two households, both alike in dignity,

[On SL the Capulet Parents light their candles, while the Montagues mirror on SR. The flames are passed on to the candles of the other actors who are surrounding the action, creating an onstage vigil.]
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage.

[As the ensemble slowly leaves the stage, they sing the following verse hauntingly-- almost in a whisper.Pastor Lawrence takes a moment to pray for the dead, then quietly closes the boxes--Romeo first, then Juliet.]

ENSEMBLE

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

[Seamless Transition. Pin down as boxes come off, colored scrim reveals the silhouette of the set. Lights immediately up SR as Gregory and Sampson enter, headed to the saloon. Full lights come up to reveal the main set. Various townspeople return to fill the stage]