Reflections from Gretta Berghammer, director, Mother Hicks

The final lines have been spoken; the last of the sign language symbols have shared with the audience.  The costumes are in the process of being sorted, cleaned, and stored; the props returned to storage; the set dismantled.  In short, Mother Hicks has closed.

Like many directors, I greeted the close of Mother Hicks with mixed feelings.  First, there was that initial period of relief and exhaustion, mixed with the exhilaration that often follows a period of intense, passionate and creative work.  I found myself with “time,” to grocery shop and cook, to pet the dog, do the laundry.  I opened a book that hadn’t been picked up for weeks, began my holiday shopping list; I returned to the gym (oh my God, am I sore )!  But as the days continue the initial excitement of re-acclimating to “life outside the theatre” has made way for a bit of post-show let down.  The sudden decompression from days and nights full of work and energy and emotions has left me feeling a bit empty.  Not quite ready for my next project, yet not quite ready to entirely let this one go, I find myself reflecting on the work.  And that reflection has led me to this discovery:  Mother Hicks enlarged me as a director.

Why?  Well, Mother Hicks, truth be told, is one of the most challenging projects I have ever undertaken as a director, and trust me, my 25+ year career has had some pretty amazing challenges that have included:  directing To Kill a Mockingbird with a cast of more than 20; the world premiere of The Rose of Treason, a full length theatre for youth play that we commissioned of playwright James DeVita, directing The Wrestling Season in Gdansk, Poland on an extremely limited time line and budget, and the establishment of a youth theatre company in the Cedar Valley to name just a few.

What made Mother Hicks a candidate for inclusion in the “Gretta Hall of Artistic Challenges?”  Well, I can’t pinpoint just one thing; I believe it is the combination of varied components that provided so many unique and creative challenges which ultimately contributed so beautifully to my growth as a director.  I will try and describe the two that are currently foremost in my mind.

To begin, there was the challenge of directing a play that incorporated both sign language and the inclusion of a deaf actor.  Sign interpreter Karlene Kischer-Browne was not only instrumental but invaluable to this process.  She was so patient with me, as I worked to expand the artistry of the sign language within the context of the world of the play without compromising the text we sought to communicate.  In addition to helping chose and develop the signs we would use in the production, Karlene generously collaborated with me in providing support and guidance for first time actor Christian Mangrich.  Working with an interpreter forced me to become better at thinking about what I wanted and needed to say; words now had currency; words now had weight; words now had a larger importance and meaning in my work.  I enlarged my ability to better choose which words I would use to communicate notes and images and thoughts to all of the actors, not just Christian.  I feel my notes became more specific, my observations more focused, my connection to the world of the play more acute.

Secondly, the play enlarged my world.  Like most people in the Cedar Valley I knew we were home to a deaf and hard of hearing population but I didn’t KNOW this population.  This project challenged me to expand my boundaries; to take the risk to share the work with a community that lives Tuc’s story each and every day.  To that end, I must again thank Karlene Kisher-Browne for helping our Department connect with the deaf and hard of hearing population among us, and the Guernsey Foundation for the fiscal support of all of the outreach activities designed in support of this production.  A final thank you to Eric Lange, whose vision and support made the acquisition of the Guernsey Grant possible.

So, what next?  Well, ending the semester, of course, and the grading and meetings that are a part of that.  Then a bit of time off to unwind, celebrate the season, rejuvenate my soul.  And then…well the next project…an adventure in teaching!  January will find me on a Professional Development Assignment.  Instead of teaching UNI classes I will launch the development and implementation of a drama program for youth on the autism spectrum.  Stay tuned for an update later in the spring.

Help Warm the Hearts of Others This Holiday Season

Are you planning to attend Mother Hicks this weekend?  We’ve partnered with Lowell Elementary School’s Adopt-a-Family Drive to help provide warm clothing to families right here in the Cedar Valley. 

Mother Hicks, a play set in Southern Illinois during the Great Depression, is a beautifully told story, unique in its themes of communication, symbolism, and community.  The themes of poverty and struggle to support one’s family are presented in the play, and in this spirit, we’re reaching out to families this Holiday Season.

If you would like to help us help families in need, please bring your new or gently used winter-wear for children and adults – hats, gloves, scarves, coats, etc. – to Strayer-Wood Theatre when you come to Mother Hicks or any time until December 15^th at 3:00 p.m.  Donations can be placed near the Christmas Tree in the South Lobby.

Tickets are still available for performances December 2-4 @ 7:30p & December 4 & 5 @ 2p.  Sign language interpretation is scheduled for the 7:30p performance on Saturday, December 4.  Please call the Box Office at 319-273-6381 or visit us online at www.vpaf.uni.edu/unitix/ to reserve your seats.

Wishing you and your family a safe and happy Holiday Season!

-The Staff at Strayer-Wood Theatre

Mother Hicks courtesy of Eric Lange

We started the next phase of the rehearsal process for Mother Hicks.  The cast has worked for two weeks on learning components of sign language which are integrated into the action of the show.  On Monday, October 18th, we held the Design Presentation for the Cast and Crew.  During this event, the director and the rest of the production team share their approach to shaping the world of the show.  The show’s director, Gretta Berghammer, started the presentation by speaking the first lines from the show as Christian Bainbridge, who plays the character of Tuc, signed the lines, which is what happens in the actual show.  She also talked about three reasons that she was drawn to the show:

·         the playwright, Suzan Zeder, is an important contemporary playwright of works for youth audiences

·         this production gives us a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.  Gretta is drawn to work that generates opportunities for social interaction and action…this play beautifully draws everyone’s attention to the special gifts the non-hearing and hard of hearing have to share.

·         The story, even though it is set 65 years in the past, is still relevant today as we face economic uncertainty, anxiety and fear.

Mark Parrott, the scenic designer, shared a variety of images from the Depression-era research he has done and discussed how the stage would be used in this production.   

One of Mark’s challenges is creating the “wagon” that Tuc pulls around during the show.  The wagon, which Mark has conceived as a railway luggage cart, is used throughout the show as both a place where actors pull props that are used to define their character or a locale from and also as certain elements of scenery, such as a dining room table or a general store counter.

Carol Colburn, the costume designer, spoke about the reality of how people were forced to use and re-use clothing, often patching it again and again to extend the life of the garment.  She shared a wonderful resource from her research, a book of color photographs of the American Midwest during the Depression.  This is rare since most film from the time was black and white.

I spoke about the work that I hope to do as lighting designer, along with my assistant, Michael Brown, who is a senior in our department.  I was drawn to this script because the story is presented in a beautiful, poetic- almost rhythmic- manner.  It is also a piece that depends heavily on lighting to establish locale.  There are scenes that are expansive and use the whole stage, there are scenes which take place in interior settings where the lighting will be the primary thing defining those spaces, and there are moments where Tuc, the deaf young man in the story, is focused on in a very isolated way as he signs elements of narration that are spoken by chorus members, who are all citizens of the town where the play occurs.

The cast also introduced themselves by signing their names and who they play in the show.  Other presenters were Diana Garles, who is designing hair and makeup for the show, and Nick Chizek, who is preparing educational materials and presentations for the middle-school audiences who will come to a special matinee performance- one of two performances that will be signed for the public.

Michael and I will begin to attend rehearsals this week and watch as Gretta and the cast explore how the stage will be used.   Within the next two weeks we’ll experiment with placement of instruments and the different effects- including a moving river and a large campfire- needed for the show.

Four Special Performances!

2010 Iowa Thespians Festival GBPAC Tickets are now on sale!

We are so excited to announce ticket availability for FOUR special performances at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center as part of the 2010 Iowa Thespians Festival!  Tickets are now on sale for Romeo & Juliet, Rabbit Hole, The Fantasticks, and Quilters!  Tickets for UNI students are just $5!!

We'll see you at the show!

Clarity of language = creative thought: a new post from Gwendolyn Schwinke

In writing my director’s notes for the She Stoops to Conquer program, I quoted a poem by Taylor Mali – one that we had looked at last year in my Extreme Shakespeare class.  Because of space considerations, I’ll only share part of the poem in the program, and so I wanted to share the entire thing here. 

Totally like whatever, you know

In case you hadn’t noticed,

It has somehow become uncool

To sound like you know what you’re talking about?

Or believe strongly in what you’re saying?

Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)’s

Have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?

Even when those sentences aren’t like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences – so-called

because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true

as opposed to other things which were, like, not –

have been infected by a totally hip

and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?

Like, don’t think I’m uncool just because I’ve noticed this;

this is just the like the word on the street, you know?

It’s like what I’ve heard?

I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?

I’m just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?

Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?

Have they been, like, chopped down

with the rest of the rain forest?

Or do we have, like, nothing to say?

Has society become so, like, totally . . .

I mean absolutely . . . You know?

That we’ve just gotten to the point where it’s just, like . . .

whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness

is just a clever sort of  . . . thing

to disguise the fact that we’ve become

the most aggressively inarticulate generation

to come along since . . .

you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,

I challenge you: To speak with conviction.

To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks

the determination with which you believe it.

Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,

It is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY,

You have to speak with it, too. 

See: www.taylormali.com.  Mr. Mali generously gives readers permission to share his work as I’m doing now.  I encourage you to visit his website for more poetry and ideas. 

So, what does this poem have to do with She Stoops to Conquer, a comedy written and set in 18^th Century England?  In selecting a show to direct for this season, I wanted to find something that gave our actors the challenge of speaking with conviction. To me this means speaking with clarity, speaking from the heart, and also having fun with words. The language that She Stoops to Conquer playwright Oliver Goldsmith has given us does exactly that.  This play is from the Georgian period (when King George III ruled England), and was written in 1773, about the time of the American Revolution. The language is much more contemporary than that of about two hundred years earlier, when, say, William Shakespeare was writing.  It sounds pretty much like the way we speak today, with the exception of some unique words and phrases.  The cast and I have had a lot of fun learning those archaic words – as well as re-discovering words that are still at play in contemporary language; our Assistant Stage Manager, Matt Vichlach is serving as de-facto dramaturge, sitting in rehearsal and visiting the Oxford English Dictionary online at our beck and call.  Michael Achenbach wows us with his lightning-fast research abilities on his new I-Pad.

We’ve expanded out vocabularies to include delightful mouthfuls of language:  tête-a-tête, bagatelle, Catherine wheel, mauvaise honte, assiduities, malignity, and – what is apparently Mr. Goldsmith’s favorite word – impudent. For indeed, Mr. Goldsmith is no Shakespeare, and does re-use some words (especially “impudent”), quite frequently. Cast members have been joking that they want shirts with a pointing-finger graphic and the text “I’m with impudent” emblazoned on the front.  But I think there’s a reason “impudent” appears so often in this play: Goldsmith was out to tweak the nose of traditional comedy, and he wrote an intentionally impudent play.  He reminds us that true communication is not a stale exercise in following rules, but is an ongoing creative act involving jokes, play, risk, rule-breaking and even mistakes.  Just as Taylor Mali challenges us to be articulate by inviting us to “join me in my uncertainty,” so Goldsmith, by creating characters that misunderstand and misuse language, invites us into a world where communicating is a creative act.

Sturgis Youth Theatre Fall 2010 Workshops!!

Aloha, blog-land!

The Sturgis Youth Theatre Brochure is now available for download from the Strayer-Wood Theatre Website!

http://www.uni.edu/theatre/sturgis/

Enroll now!  Spots are limited!!! 

Alumni News from Jay!!

I thought I’d use this opportunity to bring you up to date on some alumni travel I’ve been doing lately. Allow me to introduce our new Alumni Development person for the newly merged College of Humanities & Fine Arts & Natural Sciences (we’re working on a new name but the acronyms keep coming out strange.) Debra Umbdenstock [debra.umbdenstock@uni.edu] is doing the alumni wrangling and development work for the new college. If you are trying to track someone down, plan a reunion, suggest a fellow alum for an award or publicity, report the news, or dump a whole load of cash on the department, she’s your woman.

John Kaufmann graciously invited me down to Iowa City to see his thesis production of Madwoman of Chaillot last April and at that gala event (with Tim McClain, Angie Toomsen, et al.) I had the chance to catch up with Matt Fleming, who informed me of the upcoming 2010 Olive Street Reunion and he sent me a link to the video. <2010olive.wordpress.com> (go to the bottom of the blog to see the instigating artifact and read upwards to follow the genesis and ultimate fruition of the event).

I figured half a day wasn’t too much to ask in the cause of alumni development, so I drove to lovely Dolliver State Park just outside of Fort Dodge (the explanation is on the video) in blistering heat and under the threat of tornadoes and ripping thunderstorms, thinking that these conditions by themselves were enough to make for a very memorable weekend.  I began looking for the reunion, asking at campsites and venturing deep and deeper into the heart of darkness.  The mood in the park was not jovial, as the park had apparently booked a Johnson family reunion AND a Johnston family reunion and just assumed that there had been a typo, mixing them up and leading to some provocative and potentially productive Lutheran cross-breeding.

At last, I found our campsite and the knot of happy campers who had spent the previous night huddled together for shelter in the public lavatory for protection from the threat of tornado and a convenient place to be in and out of which to have the piss scared.  Weather notwithstanding, the reunion was a huge success, attended by:

Chelle Budrevich, Genevieve Budrevich & Emme
Amanda Cherry-Haus, James Haus, Dixie & Simba
Matt Fleming, Kristin Graziano, Iris, Maeve & Beau
Jimmy Garver & Rebecca Bray
Allie Gerlach (alas, didn’t make it)
Chellie Herren-Brown, Chris Brown & Ivan
Gregg Horrass
John Kaufmann, Brynn Hambly & Rumpus
James Kurtzleben
Tess Lassen-Wortinger & Mike Wortinger
Tim McClain, Maria Araeipour & Alex
Jason Palmquist
Eric Reiners, Kerri Eich & Boden
Katrina Sandvik, Jay Radcliff & Felix
Kerry Schyba, Anji Moreas & Amelia
Doug Sigwarth
Ken Steadman, Cheryl Elsinger, Chris, Ethan, Amelia & Dulce
Kristin Teig-Torres, Travis Torres, Jack & Ava
Megan Trower-Ward & Nicholas

Please note: in many cases, people have included the names of pets as if they were children. So do not be misled as to either the casual disregard of overpopulation warnings or the somewhat prosaicl choices of children’s names, such as Rumpus Kaufmann.

While I didn’t get to see everyone due to revolving door arrivals and departures, I had a great time dredging up old stories, spraying insect repellant, seeking shelter from the sun, spraying insect repellent, eating, seeking shelter from the sun, and trying to remember people who weren’t there and what they were up to.  Tess Lassen-Wortinger & Mike Wortinger did an amazing job feeding everyone, as did James, the Omelet King, Kurtzleben. James Garver engineered a wonderful soundscape for the weekend and everyone did State Parky things, drank and visited. They’re planning another, so you 80s alums check out the web site for ongoing info. For you non-80s alums, if we can’t get you back to Cedar Falls (“Come for the Cedar, stay for the falls.”) think about doing the same thing somewhere air conditioned, like an expensive resort or cruise ship.

Debra Umbdenstock and I just got back from Dallas where we had a great catch-up with Cheryl Ammeter, class of ’79, and Stephanie Steil Hoppe, class of ‘88. Cheryl has enjoyed a varied career as a writer, model, and actor in Dallas. You’ve heard her voice in national ads and probably bought her several Barney (yes, that Barney) DVDs for your kids.  Stephanie is currently working as Senior Marketing Director for 7-11.  I know that she has been remarkably successful because they have spun off an entire new marketing division just to handle Slurpees—it must be the Glee thing.

I know Debra and Eric Lange are planning an alumni trip to NYC in early October, so let Mayor Bloomberg know you’ll be busy and plan to attend whatever their event October 7^th!  Eric and Debra are planning to see underneathmybed at The Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre, with a post show party at Dublin 6.  You should email Eric at eric.lange@uni.edu for more information.

Also, by way of ready-to-wear, I understand the student USITT chapter is planning to make available to you the rarely seen and often copied “Read the Damn Play” tee so wildly popular last season in Cannes. Watch this space for future developments.

Write or call if you’re going to be close.

Jay

Costume news, Conquering the show

More excitement from the Costume Shop!!--

The highlight of last week had to be the fittings for the ladies of the cast.  I toook photos of Rachel being fitted in her mock up for Mrs. Hardcastle.

She has a period corset that will change her silhouette.  Just ask anyone who's worn one of these period corsets, it makes you stand entirely differently!  And breath.  And walk.   Sitting--who sits?  These women perch like a bird on the edge of a stool or chair!

To enhance those hips, pannier buckets are added to the sides.  These actually can be tied on with strings or put onto a waistband belt.  So then there's the big-ole petticoat.  Over the buckets is a petticoat made of quilted fabric.  This will help enhance the volume, or footprint, if you will, of the skirt, but help them pass through doorways, for example.  They can just "crunch up" the skirt at the bottom, and maybe slip through the space.  Rachel looks like she is floating around with that big skirt on!

Over the petticoat is the bodice with the Watteau train attached.  And then, of course, a very large skirt, in addition.  We ought to weigh one of them to see how much these women are carrying around with themselves.  These skirts  will be embellished with trim and fabric we are marbling.  That's a whole other process we will begin next week.  Lots of new techniques on this show, as every show.  We all learn something new.

Look for pictures in the next post. . . .

Conquering She Sttops to Conquer Costumes

This news from the Costume Shop's Amy RohrBerg!!

It was a busy week in the UNI/Strayer-Wood Costume Studio.

Costume renderings have been shared with the director and the rest of the design team.  Now they are posted in the Studio so anyone can see what we intend these costumes to look like and they can see the characters together.   We have a very interesting palette of colors.  Hardcastle-related persons will have colors that match the home that they live and work in.  Those coming from the outside carry colors that  
are bright and sunny, fun I hope.  The gowns from this period, that of George Washington, have lots of fabric.  Panniers add width to the women's hips when you look at them from the front.  A profile view is deceiving, they look almost "normal" in their silhouette.  the guys will be in britches and fancy shoes.  I don't even want to start with the wigs, more to come!

TA's and those in the Patterning class have been hard at work drafting patterns of the clothing we will make.  We have also begun  to sew mock-ups of muslin fabric  for each garment.  After the fitting in the mock-up,  those adjustments are made to the paper patterns so that we can then go ahead and make the costumes again in the fabric chosen for the show.

Fittings also happened almost every day to assign rehearsal garments, mostly shoes, to members of the cast so that the adjustment to those peculiar costumes might be more easily done.

Stock Flat Construction

Students are in the process of building a set of stock scenery flats for the Bertha Martin Theatre. Stock scenery consists of scenic units which can be used over and over again on a number of productions. One of the necessary skills all scenic carpenters need is an understanding of flat construction. The following pictures document the process from creating the jig to completetion.

Senior Mandy Heath is laying the precut lumber into a jig to build a 4' x 10' flat.

Here, a Stagecraft student is preparing a keystone to be stapled onto the flat.

A close up of a rail showing the 1" offset of the corner blocks from the edge of the flat. 

Once the frame is completed, the next step is to cover the flat with 1/4" luan. 

The luan is attached with glue and 3/4" narrow crown staples.

Back view of a finished 4' x 10' flat. 

Once completed, if built properly, a flat can last up to 20 years!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new blog for the Strayer-Wood Theatre, located on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.  You can check here for updates on what's happening at the Strayer-Wood Theatre, news on the Department of Theatre, and, of course, lots of behind-the-scenes footage and sneak-peeks! 

Since we're in back-to-school mode, here are a few pictures of what we're working on these days...

A clean and organized production office ready for students!

The tidy office of our new Marketing Director / Production Manager, Traci Gaydos!

Ron Koinzan, our Technical Director, and a few talented students installed a spankin' new floor in our scene shop!

All in all, we're gearing up for a really exciting season! Classes begin next week, season tickets are on sale, and single tickets go on sale September 7th!  We'll see you at the theatre!!