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NOVEMBER 2009

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NOVEMBER 2009 

Table Of Contents November 2009 

20 24 

Features 

12 Light on the Subject 

When troubleshooting DMX problems, leave the audio gear in 

the toolbox. By Richard Cadena 

16 Speaking Old Poetry Using a 

Contemporary Language 

Designing the new Henry Miller’s Theatre on Broadway. By 

Michael S. Eddy 

20 Modernizing a Classic 

With percussion in the box seats and Spanish onstage, Dan 

Moses Schreier talks about the new (and old) twists to putting 

West Side Story onstage. By Bryan Reesman 

24 High School Programs That Rock 

The winners of the second annual Stage Directions High School 

Theatre Honors Program. By Kevin M. Mitchell 

28 Room to Grow 

Playwriting conferences and festivals that help get your foot in 

the door. By Jacob Coakley. 

Special Section: Special Effects 

32 Hair-Raising Wigs 

Wig designer Tom Watson talks craft and hairspray on Broadway’s 

Rock of Ages. By Bryan Reesman 

34 Water Works 

How to design and tech water SFX of every kind, for any show 

By Lisa Mulcahy 

37 Special Effects Directory 

A directory of SFX companies to spark up your show. 

Departments 

4 Letters 

More thoughts about how TD’s can build a case for tenure at 

colleges and universities. 

6 In the Greenroom 

The inaugural Steinberg Playwright Awards, Avenue Q gets an 

immediate “revival” and more. 

11 Tools of the Trade 

Tools for every staging, lighting or audio need. 

44 Answer Box 

Cambiare Productions builds their shows and audience in 

unconventional ways By Jacob Coakley 

Columns 

40 The Play’s the Thing 

Plays that manipulate space and time. By Stephen Peithman 

41 TD Talk 

So often do we forget that the early bricks support the building. 

By Dave McGinnis 

• 


ON OUR COVER: 

Constantine Maroulis and 

the company of Rock of Ages 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: 

Joan Marcus

Publisher Terry Lowe 

tlowe@stage-directions.com 

Editor Jacob Coakley 

jcoakley@stage-directions.com 

Audio Editor Jason Pritchard 

jpritchard@stage-directions.com 

Lighting & Staging Editor Richard Cadena 

rcadena@plsn.com 

New York Editor Bryan Reesman 

bryan@stage-directions.com 

Editorial Assistant Victoria Laabs 

vl@plsn.com 

Contributing Writers Richard Cadena, Michael S. Eddy, 

Dave McGinnis, Kevin M. Mitchell, 

Lisa Mulcahy, Stephen Peithman, 

Bryan Reesman 

Consulting Editor Stephen Peithman 

ART 

Art Director Garret Petrov 

Production 

Production Manager Linda Evans 

levans@stage-directions.com 

WEB 

Web Designer Josh Harris 

ADVERTISING 

Advertising Director Greg Gallardo 

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OPERATIONS 

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Apollo Design; Becky Kaufman, Period Corsets; Keith Kevan, KKO Network; Todd 

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Meyer, Meyer Sound; John Muszynski, Theater Director Maine South High School; 

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Arts Video Library; David Rosenberg, I. Weiss & Sons Inc.; Karen Rugerio, Dr. 

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20 

A 

CELEBRAT 

CELEBRATING 

SD 

YEARSS 

ING 

OTHER TIMELESS COMMUNICATIONS PUBLICATIONS 

OF SERVICE TO THEATRE

Letters 

Tracking Down Tenure 

[We get letters here at Stage Directions, but it’s 

rare that we get such a thoughtful, thorough reply like 

the one we received this month from Professor Mark 

Shanda at The Ohio State University. His comments on 

Dave McGinnis’ article “Off the Beaten Tenure Track” 

from the October edition were so insightful that we’re 

forgoing an Editor’s Note this month to bring you his 

complete response. —Ed.] 

As the chair of the USITT Tenured Technical 

Director Mentoring project since 1997, I 

have a rather unique platform from which to 

respond to McGinnis’ assertions about tenure. While 

I certainly agree that there remain a variety of challenges 

associated with the tenure process for technical 

directors, I cannot abide by the concluding questions 

that center around if one “does a good job” one 

should be granted tenure and promotion. The challenge 

is not simply the quality of the work. The heart 

of the matter is how both the administration and the 

tenure candidate define their expectations and play 

by rules of the tenure and promotion process. 

When one chooses to accept a tenure-track technical 

direction position one agrees to be an academic. 

This inherently means that the person will be 

evaluated on the basis, in most institutions, of teaching, 

service, and research/creative activities. They 

are also likely to be evaluated by persons who really 

don't fully understand the role that the technical 

director plays in the production process. Therefore, 

a significant burden lies on the candidate for tenure 

to contextualize their work into these three standard 

categories. 

1. Teaching 

The technical director is teaching every day by 

example and in practice, but should document their 

teaching in forms familiar to those conducting the 

review. McGinnis is correct that much of the teaching 

done by the TD is not in a “classically structured 

class,” but the savvy TD should consistently speak 

and document their teaching mission within the 

production program. Their classroom is the scenic 

studio, not “the shop.” Artists create new work in 

studios, a concept understood by most, and that 

is exactly what happens in the scenic construction 

process. Specific teaching routines (how I teach safe 

overhead rigging) can be documented, evaluated for 

effectiveness and shared broadly with others in the 

institution and beyond. 

2. Service 

All too often the academic TD chooses to not 

engage in the intellectual community and only 

works on their department level productions. If you 

are being asked to “build absolutely everything” 

then there is an administrative problem at your 

institution. However, if you are choosing to stay 

and build everything, then you are not fulfilling your 

other obligations. You must take the time away from 

the studio to serve the greater good. By embedding 

yourself into the fabric of your institution in service 

roles, when promotion time comes around, people 

will know the value of your skill set to the school 

beyond your carpentry skills and will have a better 

understanding of all that you contribute. 

3. Research/Creative Activity 

This category often boils down to the question 

of “What is the obligation of the TD beyond our 

on campus productions?” The answer, as McGinnis 

appears to assert, cannot be nothing. The answer 

must be a combined recognition by the administration 

to structure expectations to allow the TD to 

have appropriate professional development and 

research time, as well as the TD understanding that 

they must seek appropriate off campus outlets to 

share their knowledge. For too long TD’s have let 

their institutional and self-imposed work load define 

their jobs. While a book-length work or an extensive 

journal article produced by a TD is a rare occurrence, 

there are numerous opportunities to share the dayto-day 

creativity that is exhibited by the problem 

solving nature of the TD. USITT’s Biennial Theatre 

Technology Expo, Tech Source Guide and Theatre 

Design and Technology magazine all provide appropriate 

“publication” platforms for the academic TD. 

Poster sessions, master classes and panel participation 

at USITT conferences (national and regional), 

KC/ACTF (Kennedy Center/American College Theatre 

Festival) regionals and the ETA (Educational Theatre 

Association/State Thespians) meetings are all ripe 

places for the practicing TD to shine. Remember that 

research is nothing more than asking a question and 

seeking an answer. TD’s do that every single day! 

The two biggest stumbling blocks to TD tenure 

that I have encountered over the years have been 

institutional politics, which are often beyond the 

control of TD, and self-inflicted wounds by the TD 

who hopes that the quality of their production work 

will suffice. TD’s must recognize the former, doing 

their best within what can be a difficult situation, 

and must seize their control of the latter, assuming 

responsibility and obligations beyond their local 

stage. 

Thank you, 

Mark Shanda 

Chair/Professor 

The Ohio State University 

4 November 2009 • www.stage-directions.com

In the Greenroom 

Playwrights Norris, McCraney and Adjmi Win Steinberg Award 

Playwrights Bruce Norris, Tarell Alvin McCraney and David 

Adjmi are the first recipients of the Steinberg Playwright 

Awards. The awards were established in 2008 by The Harold 

and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust to recognize up-andcoming 

playwrights at various stages of their early careers 

whose professional works show great promise. 

Last year, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust presented 

Tony Kushner with the very first Steinberg Distinguished 

Playwright Award, which carried a cash prize of $200,000, 

making it the largest award ever created to encourage artistic 

achievement in the American theatre. As previously announced, 

the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award (for established 

playwrights) and the Steinberg Playwright Awards (for playwrights 

in earlier stages of their careers), both known as ‘The 

Mimi,’ will be presented in alternating years. This year’s Steinberg 

Playwright Awards carry cash prizes totaling $100,000. 

In their selection process this year, the Advisory Committee 

voted to award playwrights at various stages of their early 

careers, none of whom have yet achieved the national recognition 

and success of a mid-career playwright. The Advisory 

Committee and the Steinberg Trust has decided to honor 

Norris for his body of work and outstanding potential (for 

which he will receive a $50,000 cash award), and Adjmi and 

McCraney for being promising new voices in the theatre (for 

which they will each receive a cash award of $25,000). The 

playwrights will also be presented with ‘The Mimi,’ a statue 

designed by Tony Award-nominated scenic designer and 

architect David Rockwell. 

Avenue Q Stages Immediate Off-Broadway “Revival” 

At the final Broadway performance of Avenue Q on 

Sunday, Sept. 13, the producers took the stage after the 

curtain call and announced that the show was not ending, 

but would instead move to a new theatre. It began 

performances October 9 at New World Stages, an Off- 

Broadway venue on 50th St. Director Jason Moore, creators 

Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty, as well as 

the show’s designers, choreographer and musical team 

all participated in the transfer, but not all of the cast did. 

Three Broadway cast members traveled with the show, but 

others elected not to. 

Actors’ salaries were cut after an Actors’ Equity 

Association dispensation for the producers that meant 

performers could be paid at a lower scale. 

theatre buzz

Barrymore Awards Honor Philadelphia Theatre 

The 15th annual Barrymore Awards for Excellence 

in Theatre were held Monday, Oct. 5, and handed out 

26 awards honoring Philadelphia theatre. Something 

Intangible was the runaway winner with seven awards 

for Arden Theatre Company, while Charlotte Cloe Fox 

Wind was honored with the F. Otto Haas Award for an 

Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist and The Lantern 

Theatre Company received the 2009 Barrymore Award 

for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community 

Service for its Classroom Connections Program. 

Something Intangible’s seven 

awards included: Outstanding Overall 

Production of a Play; Outstanding 

Direction of a Play to Terrence J. Nolen; 

Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play 

to Ian Merrill Peakes as Tony Wiston; 

Outstanding Set Design to James 

Kronzer; Outstanding Lighting Design 

to F. Mitchell Dana; Outstanding 

Costume Design to Rosemarie E. 

McKelvey; and Outstanding New 

Play to Bruce Graham. Arden Theatre 

Company’s production of Candide 

was awarded Outstanding Supporting 

Actress in a Musical to Mary Martello 

as Old Woman, topping the company’s 

award count at eight. 

Other multiple winners included 

The People’s Light & Theatre 

Company’s production of Cinderella, 

which received four awards: 

Outstanding Overall Production of a 

Musical; Outstanding Direction of a 

Musical to Pete Pryor; Outstanding 

Original Music to Michael Ogborn; 

and Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical. 

Two more special awards were also given out: Dugald 

MacArthur received the 2009 Lifetime Achievement 

Award acknowledging his work as an actor, educator, 

director and mentor to many in the local theatre community. 

The Ted and Stevie Wolf New Approaches to 

Collaborations Award, honoring collaborative efforts 

between theatre companies and organizations of other 

disciplines, went to Delaware Theatre Company & The 

Ferris School for Boys for No Child… 

theatre buzz 

Corrections 

In the October Education directory, 

the phone number of SUNY, 

Fredonia was incorrect. SUNY, 

Fredonia’s correct contact info is: 

SUNY, Fredonia 

Dept. of Theatre and Dance 

Rockefeller Arts Ctr., #212 

280 Central Ave. 

Fredonia, NY 14063 

P: (716) 673-3596 

W: www.fredonia.edu 

www.stage-directions.com • November 2009 7

industry news 

Know Theatre Keeps Tix at $12 

Thanks to a partnership with the Carol Ann and Ralph V. 

Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation, Know Theatre of Cincinnati is again 

announcing a flat $12 ticket price for every show during the 2009- 

2010 season. Without subsidization, tickets prices would be $22. 

The ticketing initiative aims to remove economic barriers—perceived 

or actual—preventing the public from attending without 

sacrificing resources. 

By partnering with the Foundation, Know Theatre is following 

in the steps of theatres like Signature in New York City, who partnered 

with Time/Warner in 2005 to offer $15 tickets to their entire 

season. The Signature Theatre Initiative was recently extended to 

2014, although ticket prices did rise to $20. 

Last season Know Theatre saw positive results in ticket sales, 

audience development and an overall increase in operational 

capacity, which they attribute to the ticket price. They gathered 

this info from an audience survey during the last two productions 

of their 2008-2009 season. The survey was designed to research 

the effectiveness of the ticketing initiative and its results were 

combined with data from their ticketing system. These data 

points revealed the following insights: 

• 38% of those surveyed had never attended a show at Know 

Theatre before. 

• 2 % listed ticket price as their “primary” motivation for attending 

and 30% said that price “significantly impacted” their decision 

to attend. 

• Reduction in ticket cost did not affect perceived worth. Nearly 

85% of the total respondents stated that the value or worth of 

their ticket was greater than $12 and a full 50% valued their ticket 

at $20 or more. 

Online ticket sales have also helped spur sales. 

“Know Theatre began selling tickets online four seasons ago, 

but these sales have never exceeded 10 percent of our total sales,” 

said Eric Vosmeier, managing director of Know. “However, this 

year, with no major change in how we marketed our sales channels, 

online sales jumped from 10 percent to nearly 35 percent.” 

This is particularly helpful because it significantly reduces the 

amount of staff time spent handling ticket sales while still delivering 

a high quality of customer service. To continue testing these 

results and driving advance sales, ticket prices will continue to be 

only $12 when purchased in advance. On the day of the show, 

ticket prices will increase to $15. 

“We’re grateful to have at least one more year to work with this 

ticketing model and see how we can improve upon the success 

we’ve seen,” said Vosmeier. “The advance/day of pricing model 

is a simplified version of demand based ticket pricing. There are 

a number of companies experimenting with this type of pricing 

at the moment. The support of the Foundation is allowing us 

the luxury of time to experiment and find what will work best for 

Know Theatre in the future. It has also helped shield the company 

from the significant drop in ticket sales experienced as the recession 

hit full swing. This was invaluable to us during the first part 

of last season.” 

Joyce Management Agrees to Union Request for NLRB-Supervised Election 

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will hold 

a supervised election at the Joyce Theater on Oct. 26, 

giving the stagehands the opportunity to have a neutral 

party certify that they do want Local One of the 

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees 

(IATSE) to operate as their collective bargaining representative. 

“Joyce Theater Foundation’s agreeing to a swift 

NLRB-supervised vote of its stage technicians for union 

representation is an act of respect and appreciation for 

its stagecraft employees,” said Local 

One IATSE President James J. Claffey, 

Jr. “I applaud them.” By agreeing to 

the NLRB supervised election Joyce 

Theater management is avoiding a 

legal fight to prevent the election 

from taking place, which would have 

been costly for both the Theater 

and the Local. Claffey pledged that 

whatever the outcome of the election, 

Local One would “respect their 

collective decision.” 

Local One IATSE filed a petition 

with the NLRB September 14, about 

a month after they had requested 

voluntary recognition as bargaining 

agent from Joyce management. 

According to a statement released 

by the Local a large majority of Joyce 

stage technicians signed authorization 

cards empowering Local One 

IATSE to act as their collective bargaining 

agent this summer. 

Calls to the Joyce’s representatives 

for a comment went unreturned. 


industry news 

La MaMa ETC Annex 

To Be Renamed Ellen 

Stewart Theater 

La MaMa ETC, one of the standardbearers 

of experimental theatre in New 

York and around the globe since it 

was founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, 

will rename its Annex theatre the Ellen 

Stewart Theater. Ellen Stewart founded 

La MaMa in 1961 in a tiny basement 

theatre and has remained its Artistic 

Director ever since. With two theatres 

housed in La MaMa’s original space 

at 74A E. 4 St., La Mama expanded its 

operations in 1974 with the opening 

The Trojan Women at the Annex, a large, 

loft-like space a few doors down the 

street at 66 E. 4 St. 

ZFX Launches 

Automation 

ZFX Flying Effects has formed 

a strategic alliance with Stage 

Technologies, based in Las Vegas, 

Nev., to offer automated solutions for 

productions that require more complex 

flying sequences. ZFX will add 

award-winning products from Stage 

Technologies, including hoists and 

control systems, to its roster of complete 

flying services. Adding automation 

to the company’s offerings is part 

of an overall change in direction and 

coincides with hiring Joe Champelli 

as ZFX’s new General Manager. An 

automation and machinery design 

expert, Champelli will spearhead the 

development and implementation 

of automated technology and products. 

Automated control systems 

allow ZFX to achieve more complex, 

dynamic flying sequences. In addition 

to single point and travel compensated 

flying, ZFX now offers integrated 

pendulum and multi-point 

3-dimensional flying. Higher speeds, 

repeatability and consistency in flying 

sequences are also advantages to 

automated flying effects. 

“We are absolutely delighted to 

be able to work with the team at ZFX, 

whose experience and reputation we 

have known for many years,” said 

Nikki Scott, commercial director of 

Stage Technologies. 


changing roles 

Arden Theatre Company Names Edward Sobel Associate Artistic Director 

Arden Theatre Company has hired Edward Sobel as associate 

artistic director. Sobel previously was the director of new 

play development at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, where 

he oversaw the development of more than 40 new plays 

including the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning drama August: 

Osage County. Sobel also developed the Pulitzer Prize finalists 

Red Light Winter and Man from Nebraska, and the Joseph 

Jefferson Award winner The Pain and the Itch. Sobel teaches 

directing and dramatic literature in the department of theatre 

at Temple University. He has taught directing, playwriting 

and dramatic literature at DePaul University, Northwestern 

University and the University of Chicago. He holds an undergraduate 

degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an 

MFA in directing from Northwestern. 

Edward Sobel 

Lara Goetsch 

Mark Clements Named Artistic Director at Milwaukee Repertory Theater 

Mark Clements 

Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Board of Trustees 

have named internationally acclaimed director Mark 

Clements the company’s next artistic director. Clements 

has directed at more than 100 major theaters in the 

United States and Europe, including productions in 

London’s West End, 11 seasons as the artistic director 

of Derby Playhouse in the United Kingdom, and six seasons 

as associate artistic director for Moving Theatre 

Company, founded by Vanessa and Corin Redgrave. 

In the U.S., his work has been seen at New York’s 

Roundabout Theatre and Classic Stage Company; and 

at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre. Clements, who 

is currently directing Oliver! at Walnut Street Theatre, 

will begin his debut season with The Rep in the fall of 

2010. 

Carlos Murillo New Head of Playwriting at DePaul 

Carlos Murillo will share the duties of co-head of playwriting 

with Dean Corrin for the 2009-2010 academic year 

at the Theatre School at DePaul University. Murillo will then 

transition into the position of Head of Playwriting for the 

2010-2011 school year. He currently serves on the faculty of 

The Theatre School for both performance and playwriting, 

and frequently directs workshops as well as public productions 

at The Theatre School. His plays have been produced 

at Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre 

of Louisville, the NYC Summer Play Festival, En Garde Arts, 

Soho Repertory, The Hangar Theatre Lab and many others. 

Carlos was a Jerome Fellow at The Playwrights’ Center in 

Minneapolis, and has received grants from the Rockefeller 

Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. He is a 

Carlos Murillo 

two-time recipient of the National Latino Playwriting Award from Arizona Theatre Company. Carlos won the 2009 

William Inge Theatre Festival Otis Guernsey Award, and has received commissions from Goodman Theatre, Berkeley 

Repertory Theatre, The Public Theatre, South Coast Repertory, En Garde Arts and Disney Creative Entertainment. He is 

a resident playwright at New Dramatists. 


Tools of the Trade 

Vectorworks 2010 

Nemetschek North 

America's Vectorworks 2010 

has added bi-directional 

associativity features and an 

intuitive, easy-to-approach 

3D modeling environment. 

It integrates D-Cubed 2D 

Dimensional Constraint 

Manager as well planar graphics and working plane improvements; 

associative hatching; improvements to the import or 

export of IFC, DWG, and SKP files; new wall sculpting and stair 

features; hardscape improvements; a new event-planning suite 

and video screen tools; and rendering options like decals and 

improved texture mapping. www.vectorworks2010.net 

Thern Stage Equipment Pilewind Line Sets 

The Pilewind system is designed for 

theatres and stages where space is at a 

premium and has a load capacity of up 

to 2,100 lbs. The Pilewind line set supports 

up to 10 lines to accommodate 

various batten lengths and pick point 

requirements. It can be configured for 

floor, wall or ceiling mounting as well 

as installation without a headblock. The Pilewind can also be 

rigged with drop lines directly off of the drum at 0, 180 and 270 

degrees. www.thernstage.com 

Lex Products Slim Dimmer 

Lex Products’ new Slim 

Dimmer is an ultra-portable single 

1.8kW dimmer. It features a 

high quality fader coupled with a 

digital intensity display designed 

to make intensity matching of 

multiple units a snap. The Slim 

Dimmer, while pocket sized, is 

UL Listed. Housed in an all metal 

case, it has extra protection around the display and fader area to 

survive the rigors of location use. www.lexproducts.com 

American DJ Propar 56RGB and 56CWWW 

American DJ has introduced 

two new ultra-bright LED par lights, 

the Propar 56RGB and Propar 

56CWWW, an RGB color-mixing 

and warm/cool white unit respectively. 

Each are powered by 36 

super-high-output 1-watt LEDs. The Propar 56RGB is equipped 

with 12 red, 12 green and 12 blue 1-watt LEDs, and can change 

colors fast or slow, strobe in any color, and perform gradual 

fades via 0-100% electronic dimming. The Propar 56CWWW is 

powered by 18 warm white (3000K) and 18 cool white (6000K) 

1-watt LEDs, and allows users to create the perfect shade of 

white through variable color temperature control. 

www.americandj.com 


Light on the Subject By Richard Cadena 

| 

Troubleshooting 

DMX512 

For best results, leave the audio gear in the toolbox 

Once upon a time, 

in a land not so far 

away, there was a 

lighting consultant who 

received a call from a theatre 

who wanted help. The 

theatre had just purchased 

its first automated lights 

and they asked the consultant 

to help them program 

the console. The lighting 

consultant was happy to 

comply, but he made several 

requests of the theatre 

in order to make the best 

use of the time. The first 

was that all the fixtures 

should be tested and the DMX512 addresses set before they were 

rigged and flown. The second was that the fixtures should be 

rigged, powered and connected to the DMX512 network before 

the programming started. The theatre thought the requests were 

reasonable and they complied. 

When the consultant arrived he saw that all of the fixtures 

were hanging in the air and he proceeded to test them. First he 

checked the status indicators on the fixtures. The power indicators 

were on solid but the data indicators were not. Since the 

console was not on yet, that was normal. He also looked at the 

DMX512 addresses and saw that they were all set correctly. 

Next, he went to the console, fired it up, and went into the setup 

menu to patch the new fixtures. He found the fixture profiles, loaded 

them into the patch, and configured the DMX512 addresses 

correctly. Then he got out of the set up menu, selected all of the 

new fixtures, and homed them. But instead of all of the fixtures 

going to the home position, some went off in odd directions, some 

started wigging out and some did nothing. Based on what he saw, 

the consultant said that there must be a bad data cable. 

The theatre techs were in disbelief. “We built and tested all of 

the data cables ourselves,” they said. “What could possibly have 

gone wrong?” 

After a bit of detective work, the consultant knew exactly what 

went wrong. 

Building and Blessing 

in Cableland 

When the techs built 

the data cables, they 

had a young intern solder 

all of the terminations. 

After the cables 

were built, they tested 

and blessed each one 

of them before they 

installed them. But 

because they were 

audio techs too, they 

used an audio cable 

tester, not a data cable 

tester. 

An audio cable, 

which is designed to carry analog signals of relatively low frequency, 

is very different than a data cable, which is designed to 

carry high frequency digital signals. By the same token, an audio 

cable tester is very different than a data cable tester. An audio 

cable tester typically uses a DC source, like a 9V battery, and 

checks for continuity. But a DC voltage might act very differently 

than a high frequency square wave, which is what a digital data 

signal is. Only a data cable tester can tell you with any amount of 

certainty whether or not a cable is good for carrying digital data. 

Why? 

First of all, if the cable exhibits characteristics of a capacitor 

then it will render a digital signal indecipherable. And a cold solder 

joint can act like a capacitor to a high frequency data signal. 

So can a microphone cable because it’s constructed differently 

than a data cable. 

Second, a cold solder joint represents a change of impedance, 

which can cause data signal reflections. For an audio signal that 

may or may not result in audible distortion but to a data signal it 

can cause signal cancellation corrupt the data. 

If terms like “parity errors” or “overflow errors” mean nothing to you, seek help from books like these, or other DMX guides. 

Real Data Testers for Real Data 

A continuity checker may or may not find problems that a 

digital data signal will. There are DMX512 testing devices made 

by several manufacturers including Artistic Licence, Doug Fleenor 

You wouldn’t use an audio amplifier for DMX data distribution so 

why would you use an audio cable checker to test a data cable? 

All photography by Richard Cadena 


Light on the Subject 

Design, Goddard Design, and Swisson, each of which has a cable 

test mode. Artistic Licence’s Micro-Scope, for example, is a battery 

or wall-powered handheld device that performs a variety of 

DMX tricks including testing cables. In cable 

test mode there are three different methods 

of operation. In the double-ended cable test, 

both ends of a data cable are connected to 

the tester and it verifies that there is AC continuity 

between corresponding pins on either 

end of the cable and that there are no shorts. 

In the single-ended test mode only one end 

of the data cable is connected to the test 

and it verifies that there are no short circuits 

between pins 2 and 3, which carry the data 

signal and its complement. 

The network test mode is the most sophisticated 

of the three test modes. It uses a special 

function of DMX512-A, which is the latest 

version of the standard, to send a test packet 

of data for the purpose of analyzing the integrity 

of the network. It is sent by a transmitter 

and analyzed by the receiver to make sure 

the information was received correctly. With 

the Micro-Scope, the tester is connected on 

the console end of the cable and another 

on the receiving end receives the DMX512-A 

test packet, analyzes it, and indicates whether 

or not the data is good or bad. This not only insures that every 

component in the link is working but that it is maintaining the 

integrity of the data. 

For reliable DMX cable testing, you’ll 

need the right tool. Use a data cable 

tester, like the Swisson XMT-120, 

pictured here. 


Goddard’s MiniDMXter and Doug Fleenor Devices’ Gizmo 

are two more examples of battery-operated, handheld DMX 

testers. Both check for continuity on pin 1 between both ends 

of the cable (indicating that the cable is plugged in) and then 

sends short bursts of DMX512-like data. If the data is received 

properly it confirms the proper pin connections at the other 

end of the cable. If the cable has pins 2 and 3 reversed or if 

there is high capacitance it will tell you so. 

Swisson’s XMT-120 is yet another option for testing DMX 

data cable. Like the other testers, the XMT-120 can transmit 

and receive DMX512 data for a variety of reasons. If you want 

to check an operating DMX512 network you can start at the 

end of the data link and plug in the 

tester. It will display any channel of the 

incoming data in percentage from 0 to 

100%, decimal values from 0 to 255, or 

in hexadecimal from x0 to xFF. If you 

start at the end of the run and find that 

the data is corrupt or missing, then you 

can start working back to the console 

and insert the tester between each 

successive data cable and the previous 

fixture until you find the problem 

cable. 

just scratching the surface. For more advanced troubleshooting 

some of these devices will find parity errors, framing 

errors, break and mark after break timing errors and overflow 

errors. 

If these terms are foreign to you then you should immediately 

seek help. It can be found in such books as Control 

Systems for Live Entertainment by John Hungtington, Practical 

DMX by Nick Mobsby or Recommended Practice for DMX512, 

2 nd Edition, by Adam Bennette. 

You wouldn’t use an audio amplifier for DMX data distribution 

so why would you use an audio cable checker to test a 

data cable? 

My Friend Flicker Finder 

Some of these testers, including 

the family of DMXters (MiniDMXter, 

Lil’DMXter, and the DMXter4 RDM), 

the Micro-Scope, and the Gizmo have 

a “flicker finder,” which allows you to 

find intermittent problems in a data 

network. In flicker finder mode, the 

tester is plugged in somewhere in the 

data link and receives DMX512 data. 

The console has to be set to output 

the same channel values and it can’t 

change. If there is a change in the 

value of the data the tester will indicate 

that an error has occurred. This is 

helpful for testing the integrity of the 

data over time. But the console has 

to be in one cue and cannot change 

any DMX512 values in order for this to 

work. Therefore, it cannot be used during 

a show. If it’s important to monitor 

the integrity of a DMX512 network 

during a show you can insert a tester 

somewhere near the start of the 

DMX512 network and it will interleave 

test packets along with the DMX512 

data. By plugging in another tester at 

the end of the data link you can monitor 

the network live during a show. 

These DMX512 testers vary in price 

from $356 for the Swisson XMT-120 to 

$1,296 for the Doug Fleenor Devices 

Gizmo but they are invaluable for troubleshooting 

DMX512 networks. Many 

of them have so many more features 

and functions that the cable tester is 


Theatre Space 

| 

By Michael S. Eddy 

Speaking 

Old Poetry 

Using a 

Contemporary 

Language 

Michael Fortunato 

Designing the New Henry Miller’s 

Theatre on Broadway 

Only the façade stayed the same, as Henry Miller’s Theatre became the first new Broadway theatre built in more than 20 years. 

The Henry Miller's Theatre is the first new Broadway theatre 

in more than 20 years and the first theatre to be designed 

to green standards in New York City. The 1,055-seat theatre, 

located on 43 rd Street is a part of the new Bank of America 

tower that was designed by Cook+Fox Architects in collaboration 

with theatre consultant Fisher Dachs Associates and acoustical 

consultant JaffeHolden. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre 

Company, the theatre opened in September with a revival of Bye 

Bye Birdie. 

The original Henry Miller’s Theatre was built by and named for 

the actor and producer Henry Miller in 1918. It had a long, distinguished 

history of theatrical productions including the original 

Broadway productions of Our Town, Journey’s End, Born Yesterday, 

The Trip to Bountiful, and The Subject Was Roses. Sold in 1968, 

the theatre became a movie house and then a disco until 1998, 

when it returned to legitimate use for Roundabout’s Cabaret. The 

theatre would again close after the long run of Urinetown in 2004 

to be demolished for a new office tower. The Durst Organization, 

who built the office building, decided to christen the newly-built 

theatre the Henry Miller’s Theatre. Though it is the first completely 

new Broadway theatre since the Marquis opened in 1986, the 

neo-Georgian façade of the original was historically preserved, 

so it had to be carefully protected during the demolition of the 

theatre and subsequent construction. 

Leading with LEED 

The entire building project was designed to meet the LEED 

Platinum Certification with the theatre on track for LEED Gold 

certification. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design 

(LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. 

Green Building Council, encourages global adoption of sustainable 

green building and development practices. “The theatre 

benefits from the larger project since the Bank of America tower 

has a series of very large-scale systems that puts it on track to 

achieve LEED Platinum status,” says Rick Fox, partner of Cook+Fox 

Architects. “Those benefits include the onsite power generation 

and a combined heat and power system, which generates power 

onsite at three times the efficiency of the grid.” 

Fox continues, “In addition to finding a way that the theatre 

could benefit from being a part of a much larger project, we 

wanted to respect Henry Miller’s original vision for what made 

a perfect American theatre while at the same time design a 

new theatre. He believed that you wanted to create an intimate 

room where the performance connected with the last seat in the 

house.” The theatre planning and design consulting firm for this 

project was Fisher Dachs Associates (FDA) led by Principal Joshua 

Dachs. “We worked with Rick Cook’s office and developed the 

geometry of the room, which emerged out of Henry Miller’s ideas 

about drama,” explains Dachs. “He was part of a general trend in 

those days to make rooms for drama that had a certain kind of 

intimacy and in fact he believed very strongly that it should almost 

feel like you are with a group of friends in your living room at the 

theatre.” 

“The real challenge was to recreate the intimate house feel 

while getting about two-thirds of the seats on the orchestra level,” 

says Fox. “The way he did it in 1918 was to create a two-balcony 

house. This compressed the distance to the back of the house. In 

the modern Broadway economy, there is a very strong desire to 

“We wanted to respect Henry Miller’s original vision for what made 

a perfect American theatre while at the same time design a new theatre.” 

—Rick Fox 


dbox for Cook+Fox Architects 

Richard Pieper for the Historic American Building Survey 

The new oval box office lobby mediates the transition from preserved elements of the 

theatre to new construction. 

The box office lobby from a building survey 2004. 

have a vast majority of seats being on the orchestra level and have 

one mezzanine.” 

“Broadway has its own typology and it has to do with shallow, 

curving balconies and a box or two that link that balcony 

to the stage,” adds Dachs. “We wanted to make a room that had 

intimacy, where everybody was very close to the stage; and as a 

performer standing on the stage, you feel that you could reach 

out and touch the audience.” 

The bulk of the new Henry Miller’s Theatre is below the street 

level so when you enter you are at the top of the mezzanine level 

and you go downstairs for the orchestra seats. “You find that a fair 

amount in London,” comments Dachs. “I think that this will be the 

only Broadway theatre where you enter essentially at the balcony 

level and you make your way down to the main level. Rick has 

done a masterful job of bringing in natural light and making that 

journey very pleasant.” 

FDA also focused on the design of the stage and the stage 

technology. “That means making sure that everything needed to 

be done to put on a show here can be done efficiently and economically 

so that it can be successful and sustainable,” explains 

Dachs. This included making a huge elevator to bring scenery 

down from street level to the new stage level 40 feet below. The 

25-foot-long by 8-foot-wide freight elevator, which is undercover 

of a crossover, is about half the size of a truck. “It is not some skinny 

little passenger elevator,” says Dachs. “This means that the loadins 

will be far more efficient.” 

Grid and Walls 

The theatre is designed like all Broadway theatres as a four-wall 

rental. Broadway theatres generally speaking don’t have technology; 

they have space, structural capacity and a lot of electricity. 

Each production will bring in its own dimming, rigging and technology 

suited to that specific show. “We know that the one thing 

about a Broadway theatre is that needs will change over time,” 

says Dachs. “We have tried to make it extremely easy for people 

to bring in whatever their show requires and there will be power 

for it; there will be a way to run the cable for it; we had to think 

through all of those kinds of tasks so it doesn’t cost a fortune and 

so that you don’t have to rip apart the auditorium ceiling.” 

Even though the theatre is a typical four-wall rental, there is 

some base technology to make the space work. The house lighting 

A rendering of the 1,055-seat audience chamber, designed to preserve the scale and intimate 

proportions that Henry Miller considered essential. 

controls were manufactured by Electronic Theatre Controls and 

AMX; along with power connections built by Union Connector. 

The lighting system was provided and installed by Barbizon 

Lighting. Seating is from Irwin Seating. The rigging, drapery and 

staging vendor was I. Weiss who provided the house curtain along 

with counterweight rigging and motorized fire curtain from JR 

Clancy as well as Wenger’s platform system for the trapped stage 

and orchestra pit filler. 

Being underground as well as surrounded by a high-tech office 

tower created more than a few acoustic issues. “A state-of-the-art 

Broadway theatre naturally requires a low level of background 

noise so that every nuance and detail of the actors' voices is conveyed 

to the audience,” explains Mark Reber, principal, acoustics 

with JaffeHolden. “The challenge was that the new Henry Miller's 

Theatre is surrounded, almost literally, on all sides by noisy heating 

and cooling equipment that serves the entire 54-story tower. 

The solution was to provide a completely separate structure for 

the theatre that only comes into contact with the tower structure 

at the building's foundations. Surrounding the theatre at every 

floor is a two-inch gap that prevents the equipment noise from 

migrating structurally into the theatre. The double structure 

approach also solved the potential problem of amplified theatre 

sound transmitting into occupied Bank of America space directly 



Theatre Space 

above the theatre.” Reber was pleased to be part of solving the 

challenges of this project. “The original Henry Miller's had a rich 

history, and successfully creating a new state-of-the-art facility to 

replace it was an exciting way to carry on that history.” 

Fox was also pleased with FDA as the theatre consultant for 

this project. “Josh has a real love for this Broadway typology,” says 

Fox. “It helped us understand what portions of it we wanted to 

make sure that the new Henry Miller’s Theatre had and what parts 

of it were unique to style and not necessarily relevant any longer.” 

Dachs also found the collaboration with Cook+Fox successful, 

saying, “We spent a lot of time looking at Broadway theatres so he 

could better understand what the architects of those days were 

doing that made the room feel the way that it felt. He really got 

into the way they were thinking and adapted a contemporary 

language to achieve the same ends so you will find a room that is 

really warm; intimate and makes you feel very close to the stage. 

He spoke old poetry with a contemporary language.” 

Fox feels that personally and as a firm, “It was a once in a lifetime 

opportunity; very few of us have an opportunity to design a 

brand-new Broadway theatre, so we viewed it as an opportunity 

to contribute to the theatre community and ideally respecting 

Henry Miller’s thoughts.” 

Dachs adds: “I am from New York; I grew up going to Broadway 

theatres and of course my partner Jules Fisher has spent a fair 

amount of time in them too. To have the opportunity to make 

a new Broadway theatre—from scratch and yet one that is 

completely respectful and understanding of the long-tradition 

of Broadway is a great thrill and a great honor. I am absolutely 

delighted and very proud of how it has turned out.” 

Elements of Adamesque plasterwork have been salvaged and reinstalled in the new theatre. The 

dancing muses on the salvaged plasterwork inspired the form of the main public staircases. 



Sound Design 

| 

By Bryan Reesman 

All photography by Joan Marcus 

Modernizing a Classic 

With percussion in the box seats and Spanish onstage, Dan Moses Schreier talks 

about the new (and old) twists to putting West Side Story onstage 

The works of Stephen Sondheim have been undergoing 

quite a revival on Broadway lately, from Sweeney 

Todd to Company and now West Side Story. While 

all those shows are major works, the latter musical is a 

landmark theatre classic that has always electrified audiences 

with its urban Romeo and Juliet tale. So when it was 

announced that the show was being reintroduced to the 

Great White Way after nearly 30 years, with two famous 

songs that would feature lyrics sung in Spanish, many 

eyebrows raised up; some in intrigue, others in concern. 

Not to worry. This energetic incarnation of West Side 

Story is well acted, well choreographed and well staged, 

and it’s actually a bit grittier than previous versions. 

While the Spanish lyrics have now been excised, they did 

work during their time in the production, which received 

a massive standing ovation when I witnessed it. (Of 

course, I know Spanish, so it was certainly easier for me to 

go with the flow.) And the show certainly has attracted a 

lot of high profile patrons. The night we were there, Billy 

Crystal and Steven Spielberg, not even aware of each other’s 

presence initially, were seated right in front of us. 

After witnessing the onstage spectacle, Stage Directions 

tracked down sound designer Dan Moses Schreir, who 

has worked on many recent Sondheim revivals, to get the 

inside story of this acclaimed new production. 

Stage Directions: I noticed that West Side Story is not 

overly loud like many current Broadway shows. There 

is nice range of dynamics, but nothing hits you over 

the head. What was your sonic philosophy in designing 

this show? Were you given an edict at all by the 

producers about 

which approach to 

take? 

D a n M o s e s 

Schreier: The 

dynamic range of 

the show is specifically 

written into the 

score by Leonard 

Bernstein. I spent a 

lot of time studying 

the full score going 

into production, and 

Dan Moses Schreier at rest 

I wanted the sound 

design to reflect 

what is written in the score. West Side Story is a true 

hybrid—it is a crossbreeding of many musical forces, 

specifically classical, jazz and Latin music all existing in 

the traditions of the American musicals of the 1950s. The 

score is remarkable on so many levels. My approach was 

to honor its classical traditions and yet still bring it into 

the modern era of sound design. 

How do you feel you modernized the sound design of 

West Side Story? 

The original production had no microphones on the 

orchestra and area mics for the actors/singers. The technology 

has changed so the approach to the sound design 

has changed. The history of music coincides with the 

history of the technology of music. Every since Les Paul 

invented the electric guitar, many things have changed. 


What types of mics and transmitters were you using for the 

actors? 

Sennheiser SK5212 transmitters with Sennheiser EM3532 

receivers. I am using a combination of DPA 4061 and Sennheiser 

MKE-1 microphones. 

How many of the cast members are double miked? 

Five of the principles are double miked. My biggest concerns 

were for the actors who had the most dancing and then 

had to sing, like Anita in “America” and Riff in “Cool.” The dancing 

is incredibly demanding and sweat outs were an issue. 

Did you use any foot mics at all? Were all the finger snaps 

in “Cool” captured through the actor's mics? 

The snaps are mostly captured through the actors' mics, 

except at the top of the show where Riff is wearing a wireless 

on his waist to get his solo snaps during the beginning of “The 

Prologue.” 

The complex dances and number of swing dancers who rotate through the show keep FOH mixer Lucas Indelicato on his toes. 


Sound Design 

A moment from West Side Story 

How large was the orchestra and how did you mic them? 

There are 29 musicians for West Side Story, which is very 

large by today's standards. The orchestra is primarily miked by 

Scheops CMC4 and CMC21 microphones. My approach was 

to make the orchestra sound as acoustic as possible. There are 

some moments, like the prelude to “One Hand, One Heart,” 

where the orchestra is entirely acoustic. Some of the dance 

numbers like “The Rumble” and “The Prologue” have a slightly 

“larger” sound. It is also interesting to noteethat the entire 

orchestra does not fit into the pit. It was Stephen Sondheim who 

told me that when they originally did the show on Broadway, 

the percussion was put into the mezzanine boxes house right 

and left. Keeping to the classical model, it was great being able 

to use the acoustic power of the percussion section. The percussion 

plays such an enormous role in the score. It was a much 

better solution than putting them in a dressing room on the 7th 

floor of the theatre. 

What were the main audio issues in having the percussionists 

perform in the mezzanine boxes? 

The important issues were getting the timing issues right 

so that the orchestra sounded like a cohesive ensemble and 

then to get the internal balances with the orchestra right. 

I noticed you miked each percussionist with several mics. 

How much of a challenge is that to mix? 

Once the levels were set during the sound check during 

the preview period, those levels did not change. The dynamics 

are provided by the musicians. 

Did the gang rumble at the end of Act I present any challenges, 

particularly given that the actors were pushing 

each other and rolling around? 

The most complicated aspect of “The Rumble” was keeping 

the detail of the orchestrations and the music the primary 

focus, while at the same time getting the right balances 

between the actors and their ad libs. It was not so much the 

rolling around that presented problems, but it took a while 

to figure out how to get the actors’ ad libs consistently in the 

mix. 

How has your live engineer performed so far during the 

show's run? 

Lucas Indelicato is our production sound engineer, and he 

is doing a terrific job keeping up with the heavy demands of 

the production. The instruction to have the actors ad lib during 

the show has been one of the biggest challenges to mix every 

night, and it really keeps Lucas on his toes. There are also many 

swings who go into the show because of the complexity of the 

dances. Lucas has a lot of work to keep up with the constant 

shifts in the company to keep the mix consistent. 


“Sweat outs” were a big problem on actors’ mics thanks to the strenuous choreography the show required. 

Was there anything new that you learned on this show? 

I decided to use Studer's Vista 5 console for West Side Story after 

a very long deliberation. This is the first time a have used a digital 

console for a large Broadway musical. I have resisted using digital 

consoles for my shows for many reasons, but I finally have found a 

digital console that meets my demands in audio quality and that 

could handle a show of this size with relative ease. 

To get a chance to work on this production with book writer 

Arthur Laurents and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, two of the original 

creators of the piece, was an incredible honor and joy. No matter 

what the pressures are while working on such an iconic musical, I 

have learned to savor these moments in the theatre. 

What was it like working with Sondheim and Laurents? 

Demanding and fulfilling. It is a great thrill to be working with 

the best. I had just finished designing Gypsy with Arthur when he 

asked me to work on West Side Story, and I had recently completed 

work on Steve's new musical, Road Show. I have also designed 

many of Sondheim's recent Broadway revivals, so there was a lot 

of history going into this production

Feature By Kevin M. Mitchell 

| 

High School Programs That Rock 

Readers cite great programs in six regions in North America 

The second annual Stage Directions High School Theatre 

Honors Program has once again yielded some exciting 

results from five U.S. regions and Canada. The mix is varied: 

public and private institutions; big and not-so-big cities. Some are 

very active in competitions, and others prefer to focus energies 

elsewhere. 

Common threads do exist. “We don’t do high school theatre— 

we do the best possible theatre with high school students,” says 

Lori Sessions of J.P. Taravella High School, seemingly speaking 

about all the programs. Another commonality is the passion of 

those helming these programs: “It’s quite a bit of my life,” says 

Matthew DeMerrit of Valley Christian. “It’s a wonderful program 

and I do have fun doing it.” 

Northeast 

Bromfield School, Harvard, Mass. 

Michael McGarty 

hails from a theatre 

family that traces 

their roots to their 

great-grandfather, 

who came over from 

Ireland to work on 

Buffalo Bill’s Wild 

West show. Every 

Students perform in the spring ‘09 production of generation since has 

Peter Pan at the Bromfield School 

worked on 

Broadway, mostly 

backstage, and today McGarty has a brother working on Hamlet 

and another working on Billy Elliot. “I’m the only one that got away 

from Broadway,” he laughs. 

Since 1976 he’s been both in charge of the school’s program 

and artistic director of the Harvard Community Theater. The town 

itself has a population of around 6,000 people, and the school 

has just under 1,000 students. It’s a public school that caters to 

grades 6 through 12. The theatre seats 650 and was built in 1990. 

“They did a good job supplying us with the technical aspects we 

needed,” he says. “Around 10 years ago we replaced the old lighting 

board with an ETC Express 24/48 Board.” 

The program offers beginning and advanced acting, a technical 

design class and choral classes. “We’re really good at working 

with the music department—we all get along really well, which 

is unusual!” he laughs. Last year’s productions included London 

Suite, Misconceptions (a new play by Mejjacka Del Marcca) and 

Peter Pan. 

“For Peter Pan, Flying by Foy was brought in, and the kids had 

a blast,” says McGarty. 

The school is also the location of the Massachusetts High 

School Drama Guild Festival, where 125 schools compete with 

their one acts at three different levels. This year's productions 

include Defying Gravity, with a musical to be named later. Once a 

year, they also turn their stage into a black box and do 10-minute 

plays that allow the students more experience acting, directing 

and writing. 

A recent production by the community theatre was The Mistress 

Cycle, by alumni Jenny Giering, an up-and-coming composer on 

Broadway. While created for five women, one high school student 

was talented enough to perform in it. “That’s not the first time kids 

have been part of one of their productions,” he says, citing Little 

Shop of Horrors and 110 in the Shade as other examples of students 

getting to work with adults. “It works out beautifully.” 

The program has won many honors and awards, including 

several from the festival including for their production of Acts & 

Contrition (2002 Winner). Other honors include the 2002 EMACT 

Best Production for ‘night Mother (2002); and 2003 Winner of the 

Boston Globe State Drama Festival, among others. 

Southeast 

J.P. Taravella High School, Coral Springs, Fla. 

Lori Sessions literally 

knows what it’s like 

for her kids in her 

theatre department—after 

all, 

she’s an alumna herself. 

After she graduated 

from the high 

school, she went to 

The cast of J.P. Taravella High School’s Brigadoon Florida State 

University and got a 

degree in Theatre 

and a Master’s in Education. In 1993, she returned as an instructor. 

She cites her beginning years as being important to any success: 

Supportive administrators allowed her to moonlight as a professional 

in area theatres (including a technical internship at the Flat 

Rock Playhouse). This allowed her further learning experiences. 

J.P. Taravella High School is found in a western suburb of Fort 

Lauderdale, Fla. The school itself has 3,000 students, and it offers 

a comprehensive theatre program aimed toward those who want 

to pursue a career in the arts. They offer an intro to theatre class, 

a drama II class and an acting class. Also available is a musical theatre 

and a stagecraft course. 

“I teach all of those!” Sessions laughs. 

Sessions and her students pull off six to seven productions a 

year: a big musical, a musical revue, a main stage play, a one-act 

for competition, an evening of one-acts which students direct, a 

student-produced festival and a children’s play for local schools. 

They compete in the state’s Thespian Society’s festival, which is 

the largest in the world, drawing 5,000 students. 

While some of sets are professionally designed, the students 

build them all. Their current show, Curtains, requires more than 

200 costumes, many of which are coming from the school’s fashion 

design class. Other shows on the slate for this year include 

Sam Shepard’s Icarus’s Mother, The Seussification of Romeo and 

Juliet, and a play featuring all 208 characters from the Brothers 

Grimm’s fairytales. Last year’s productions include A Doll’s House 

and Brigadoon. 

“We try to give them challenging work, but also a variety,” says 

Sessions. 

She has started a Florida chapter of the Critics and Awards 

Program (CAPPIES), which she says is very rewarding. In addition 


to placement in the a Florida State Thespians’ competition, in 2005 

Sessions won the Broward County Teacher of the Year Award. 

The students are treated like professionals: they sign a contract 

pledging themselves to a schedule worked out way in advance. 

“We try to drive home the commitment necessary,” says 

Sessions. “I have a really high expectation of all the students and 

they never fail me—they always meet it or rise above it.” 

Midwest 

Hilliard Davidson High School, Columbus, Ohio 

Music Man at the Hilliard Davidson High School 

Diana Vance is “Ohio 

bred,” and came to 

Columbus as a college 

student. She 

holds a B.S. in 

Education, a B.A. in 

Theater, and an M.A. 

in Theater from Ohio 

State University. It’s 

her 35 th year at 

Hilliard, and she’s 

department chair of a team that includes Trace Crawford, who 

handles the acting and directing classes while Vance teaches the 

technical classes. They offer Acting I, II and III and a directing class, 

plus a beginning and advanced theatrical design/production 

course. 

Hilliard has for a long time been one of the fastest growing 

schools in the state. When Vance started, the school had 

1,000 students in one high school; today the district boasts 

three high schools for a total of 5,300 students. It appears to 

give Vance pleasure to report that several key people in the 

other schools’ drama department are in fact graduates of her 

program (including her son). “I’m unofficially mentoring some 

past graduates,” she says. “A lot of what we’ve accomplished 

collectively is the result of being able to band together.” 

The community has changed a lot, too: Predominantly 

farm families in the beginnings, professors from the nearby 

college also came to call the area home. Vance says they’ve 

benefited from both demographics: “Everything really centered 

around the school, and all the parents wanted to have 

really excellent art programs.” 

Vance is also quick to give credit to her predecessor: The 

man who held her position prior was Dick Berman, who went 

to be Ron Howard’s agent and producer of the Grumpy Old 

Men movies, among others. “He did these phenomenal productions, 

so when I came, the community was used to that.” 

They like to start the season with a children’s show—this 

year it’s Stuart Little. 

“The earlier younger kids see live theatre, the more likely 

they will become members and participants,” comments 

Vance. Then an evening of improv, followed by a comedy. 

This year it’s Fools. The winter warrants two productions, one 

just for the ninth and tenth graders (Almost Maine), another 

just for the eleventh and twelfth (Radium Girls). More special 

event/improv shows lead up to the big musical: Wizard of 

Oz.

Feature 

In 2010, they will get to take 18 students to the Edinburgh 

Festival, their fourth invitation there since 1998. They’ve also 

received honors from the Kennedy Center and the Educational 

Theatre Association Hall of Fame. Vance has received the Ohio 

Theatre Alliance Lifetime Achievement award. 

Northwest 

Roosevelt High School, Seattle, Wash. 

Ruben Van 

Kempen has 

stacked up a few 

honors: He is the 

recipient of the 

2004 Butch Blum 

Award of 

Roosevelt High’s And Then They Came for Me: 

Remembering the World of Anne Frank was produced 

at the 2007 International Thespian Show. 

Excellence, the 

2000 Christa 

M c A u l i f f e 

Washington Award 

for Excellence in 

Education and the 

1986 Seattle Excellence in Education Award. He has seen 

former students perform on Broadway in Curtains, Chicago, 

Thoroughly Modern Millie, A Chorus Line and Lennon, among 

others. 

Holland-born Van Kempen immigrated with his family to 

Seattle when he was 10, and early on was inspired to pursue 

theatre. He acted throughout high school, and received a 

degree from the University of Washington in Acting/Direction 

with an emphasis in Musical Theatre. He performed for a few 

years before realizing he really wanted to teach. He’s been at 

Roosevelt since 1979. 

Today the public school has 1,650 students and is a high 

academic school with a strong performing arts component. 

Built in 1922, they shut the school down in 2004 for a major 

renovation that tossed the program out the streets for two 

years. In 2006, it was reopened with a brand new 720-seat 

theatre with a 36-foot proscenium, 40-foot deep stage, a full 

orchestra pit, a fly gallery as well as scene and costume shops. 

The program offers Acting I through VII, plus a tech class in the 

fall and two in the spring—to serve the big spring musical. 

The first major event of their year is a one-act play festival 

featuring the work of student directors, which features 10–13 

one-act plays. 

“Professional actors and directors are brought in to adjudicate,” 

he says. There are residency programs, one with the 

Seattle Rep and one in playwriting. Another program guides 

students through adapting short stories into performance art. 

“In the winter months, we do two straight plays,” Van 

Kempen says. “This year they will be She Stoops to Conquer and 

The Importance of Being Ernest. This is followed by the musical 

that typically casts around 65 students.” They’re also adding 

a second musical in the fall and early winter this year: White 

Christmas. 

The program has garnered international acclaim with their 

production of And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the 

World of Anne Frank. Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss, flew in 

for their production, which was also done at the International 

Thespian show in 2007. 

Southwest 

Valley Christian High School, San Jose, Calif. 

Mathew DeMerritt 

is likely the youngest 

in this circle of 

honorees: He’s 

only been at Valley 

Christian since 

2002. He moved 

here to teach after 

earning a B.A. in 

Valley Christian High School built a turntable for Theatre from 

their production of Les Misérables. 

South Dakota 

State University. He had been on tour performing and 

directing when he got the unexpected call. 

“I jumped at the opportunity to come to a school that 

placed high importance on their artistic program,” he says. 

“One of the greatest things about the past six years, while 

everyone else is cutting programs and funding, we’ve 

added. Just this year we’ve added an additional production 

onto our season this year. And we have a fantastic 

staff.” 

Valley Christian is a private Christian high school with 

two campuses serving students K-12. They put on three 

main stage shows a year, plus offer a summer program 

involving 100 students. There’s the musical, a full-length 

student directed show in the late spring, two junior high 

productions, two elementary productions and two dance 

programs. Students can engage in an intensive training 

program and either major or minor in the arts, and create 

an area of emphasis in theatre arts. “Students design 

shows, direct, construct, work behind and in front of the 

camera—we really put it all in the hands of the students.” 

Full time tech director Donny Fugate manages the theatre 

space—including a 1,600 square-foot scene shop the 

school recently added. 

“Right now, looking out my office, I see the kids are 

assembling a turntable on our stage,” he says. “They construct 

wood, weld, fabricate, hang the lights, focus and 

design every area of production.” 

The Importance of Being Ernest was a recent production, 

with The Crucible coming up next. The spring musical is 

going to be Singin’ in the Rain. 

“That’ll be a little daunting,” DeMerritt confesses. “We 

haven’t tried to make it rain on a show before. But then 

again, we never built a turntable before last year’s Les Miz.” 

DeMerritt seems especially proud of the summer theatre 

program, which is open to kids 7–16 years old throughout 

the San Francisco Bay area. They just did Aladdin Junior 

and are next doing Wizard of Oz. They’ve received honors 

for their 2007 Thoroughly Modern Millie and other awards, 

“but the main focus in not to be in competitive awardsbased 

programs,” he says. “We don’t compete in programs 

generally. We focus on the program.” 

“Our motto is the quest for excellence,” says DeMerritt. 

“Whatever we do, we’re going to it in the best possible 

way we can. We measure our program against the best in 

the country, and constantly try to improve on the models 

out there.” 


Canada 

Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts, 

Edmonton, Alberta 

“Wow,” exclaims Greg 

Dowler-Coltman on 

receiving the news 

that SD had selected 

his program as the 

best in Canada. “What 

a wonderful bit of 

news to get after 

coming home from a 

Victoria School’s production of The Laramie Project first rehearsal for 

White Christmas!” 

Dowler-Coltman is from the Edmonton area, and received 

his B.F.A. in acting at the University of Alberta. Soon he was 

doing more directing then acting, working with several professional 

companies. Next he was drawn to teaching. He’s been at 

Victoria since 1998, and heads a staff of five, the newest member 

a former graduate of the program. 

The school itself is one of the oldest in the city, and in 1986 it 

was turned into an arts program school. The total school population 

is 1,700, but that’s includes grades K-12. It’s International 

Baccalaureate recognized and has high academic standards. 

“One aspect we celebrate is the opportunity to explore different 

arts,” says Dowler-Coltman. “Our kids can keep a foot in 

dance and choral, for example. They can pursue more than one 

discipline.” 

The high school is for grades 10 through 12, and an audition 

is required to be allowed into the arts program. The 

theatre program offers different levels of acting, performance 

ensemble, improvisation and technical studies. Directing and 

playwriting is also part of the offerings. “We also host Playworks, an 

annual festival of 28 one-act plays.” 

The theatre itself seats 700, and “is really the jewel of the program 

with state-of-the-art audio and lighting systems. Professional lighting 

designers come in and mentor the kids, but the kids do the work.” 

Last year’s efforts include My Fair Lady and The Village of Idiots. 

This year, besides White Christmas, they will be doing Arthur Miller’s 

American Clock. Added to that are several integrated showcases 

and smaller events. One is called “Inspire” which is a collaboration 

between the band and theatre departments where students will be 

presenting inspirational speeches throughout history set to music. 

“We’re also blessed with a local arts community that has embraced 

our kids and we’ve had fabulous partnerships,” Dowler-Coltman 

says, adding that the town’s biggest professional theatre, the Citadel, 

has turned to his program for performers in shows like Oliver!. The 

community regularly raises hundreds of thousands of dollars to 

make scholarship money available to their students and have master 

classes with Broadway stars held on their campus. 

They’ve done well in the CAPPIES, though “we’ve elected not to 

compete too much because our kids are so busy with our own productions 

and the festival.” 

“The lovely thing is that we make a big enough impression on 

these kids that they want to stay in touch with us and see how they 

can contribute,” adds Dowler-Coltman. “That’s a testimonial.”

Feature By Jacob Coakley 

| 

Room to Grow 

Developing plays and playwrights. 

ONLINE 

Sara Jessup 

Dramaturg John Baker, playwright Duane Kelly and director Christopher Curry rehearsing for the sit-down reading of The Thing with Feathers at the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. 

Playwrights conferences, festivals or workshops 

are more important now than ever, 

as their small size and low overhead allow 

them to take risks and seek out new playwrights 

and fresh voices. While a large regional theatre 

may only be able to extend one slot per year to a 

new or emerging playwright, these festivals help 

ensure that new works have a place to grow. 

“It’s kind of like this funny, two-edged sword in 

a way,” says Amy Mueller, artistic director of the 

Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco. “Because 

of the recession and various other reasons, people 

have become much more conservative with what 

they’re producing. At the same time, there’s a 

huge amount of interest in new writers. So they’re 

often attached to various theatres in various ways, 

but not necessarily getting produced.” 

But festivals provide a deeper service than just 

developing plays, allowing artists to have a place 

to improve their craft and develop as artists. 

“It’s difficult to find development situ- 

www.theatreface.com/playwritingconferences. com 

BONUS! 

For full transcripts of the interviews with Amy 

Mueller of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and 

Jeni Mahoney of Seven Devils—and to share your 

experiences at these or other conferences—head 

over to 

www.theatreface.com/ 

playwritingconferences 


“If we don’t break the copy machine every week in the summer people 

aren’t working hard enough.” — Amy Mueller 

ations that are purely interested in the 

development of writers for the sake of 

developing writers, because, ultimately, theatres 

have to ultimately be interested in 

productions and making money,” explains 

Jeni Mahoney, artistic director of the Seven 

Devils Playwrights Conference. 

Over the next couple of months I’ll take a 

closer look at some of the festivals out there, 

diving into what makes them unique, and 

what you can expect if you get accepted. 

I’ll start this month with a look at 

the Bay Area Playwrights Festival in San 

Francisco, Calif., and the Seven Devils 

Playwrights Conference in McCall, Idaho. 

The Playwrights Foundation 

The Playwrights Foundation in San 

Francisco, Calif., has many programs to help 

writers develop their plays and their career, 

but the centerpiece of their mission is the 

Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Founded in 

1976 by Robert Woodruff, the Festival was 

started as a way to popularize Bay Area 

playwrights who were experiencing success 

internationally but less here in the States. 

“Robert was working with Sam Shepard 

at the time and Sam Shepard couldn’t get a 

phone call back,” says Mueller, current artistic 

director of the program. “So, Robert identified 

him and several other writers who lived 

here as extraordinary voices and talents, and 

decided to create a festival of new plays that 

would help to both get those plays up on 

their feet and created, and premiered, and 

also to shine a light on those writers to the 

larger theatre community.” 

For the first years of the Fest it was a full 

producing organization—Woodruff would 

bring in writers, directors, actors and designers, 

sometimes with a script, sometimes with 

just an idea for a show, and the artists would 

collaborate to create a show during the 

Fest. After 10 years, though, the main funding 

organization, which was based in Marin 

County, north of San Francisco, stopped 

funding the Fest because it didn’t actually 

produce in Marin County. They were forced 

to radically change, and decided to “really 

focus on the writing and on the most essential 

ingredients of a production, which is the 

actor and director. The Bay Area Playwrights 

Festival morphed into a staged reading festival 

of brand new plays,” says Mueller. 

The idea of collaboration still takes centerstage 

at BAPF, though, as they focus on 

the collaborative process of getting a play 

on its feet as the next step in the writing of 

the play. They spend a great deal of energy 

and thought matching playwrights with the 

right directors, dramaturgs and actors to 

bring the work to life. 

“They’re there to illuminate the play, 

every moment of the play, so that the playwright 

can feel it, see it, hear it and also get 

direct feedback,” says Mueller. 

To augment this the process at the 

BAPF starts with a three-day retreat with all 

the staff. The play gets read out loud and 

discussed in this artistic think tank. Next 

comes a week of rehearsals and a public 

reading. This is followed by another week 

of rehearsal with time for re-writing. A lot 

of re-writing. 

“If we don’t break the copy machine 

every week in the summer people aren’t 


Feature 

working hard enough,” jokes Mueller. This is followed by a second 

public staged reading. 

“It’s a layered process where the writer really gets to dive deep,” 

notes Mueller. 

After years of reading 500-600 submissions all the way through, 

the Playwrights Foundation decided they wanted to work more with 

some of the plays that didn’t make it to the festival itself, and so have 

developed more services to help playwrights at various stages in their 

careers and at various stages of a play’s development. 

Their Rough Reading Series is aimed at mid-career playwrights that 

better.’” 

That idea of protecting the playwright’s voice is central to the 

Foundation’s philosophy, since a unique voice is what they’re 

most interested in. 

“It’s not so much a crazy, wild, unique, out-there, never-heardbefore 

kind of thing, when I say that it’s a unique voice—but 

there’s something about the individual writer that is there on the 

page,” explains Mueller. “They’re not trying to imitate what they 

think of as the well-made play. They have a unique perspective, 

and a unique writing voice that stands out.” 

Richard Ciccarone 

Robert Parsons and others in the 2009 Bay Area Playwrights Festival production of Anomienaulis by Christopher Chen 

“We don’t want them to feel like they’re going to be judged by a bunch of 

literary managers.” — Jeni Mahoney 

can handle working on a first draft in front of an audience. Writers are 

paired with a director and actors who are given about eight hours 

of rehearsal time before a public reading. The Foundation produces 

eight of these each year between November and May. 

Another program they offer is the Producing Partnership Initiative. 

“That program really is about the connection between writers and 

people who can produce them,” says Mueller. The Foundation acts in 

several capacities in this program, including co-commissioning a work 

from a writer they’ve worked with before, usually with a producer 

in the Bay Area, offering them developmental resources including 

rehearsal space, actors, a travel fund, housing and other resources that 

smaller theatres don’t have access to. They’ve also gone a step further 

and acted as co-producer on some productions with local Bay Area 

theatres such as the Cutting Ball and Fool’s Fury. 

Lastly, they’ve also started a residency program and invited six 

writers to call the Foundation home, giving them space to meet 

every three weeks and a staff dramaturg to meet with them and 

develop their work. 

“It’s a non-judgmental environment, where the playwright is 

at the center of the conversation” explains Mueller. “Their work is 

at the center of the project, as opposed to looking at it from an 

outsider’s perspective, where you’d hear things like, ‘Oh, that’s 

unproduceable.’ Or: ‘Really, if you did this it would be so much 

But just to keep writers on their toes, Mueller adds that there’s 

more she needs, too: “I also really look for a playwright who can 

handle maintaining a sense of mystery in a play. Not mystery as in a 

mystery story, necessarily—although that’s fine, too—but mystery in 

the sense that they’re not telling you everything. That the playwright 

understands that there’s an audience there that’s bringing themselves 

to the play, and that they need to do some work, they need to 

figure things out for themselves.” 

Seven Devils Playwrights Conference 

While Woodruff started the BAPF specifically to shine a light on Bay 

Area playwrights, the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in McCall, 

Idaho, is less interested in promoting playwrights as much as they are 

interested in advancing a playwright’s craft. 

“I think we really started out with the faith that if we really helped 

people make their plays stronger, their plays would do better,” says 

Jeni Mahoney, artistic director of the Conference (and co-artistic director 

along with Sheila McDevitt of id theater). “And I think it has proven 

itself to be true to an extent now, where having been at Seven Devils 

means something.” 

What it means to Mahoney is that in order to keep the focus solely on 

helping to improve the play—as opposed to judging a play on its prospective 

production possibilities—Seven Devils never produces plays. 


“We never produce,” says Mahoney. “Because I think it’s 

a human thing—if you’re going to produce eventually, then 

you’re looking for plays that you can produce.” 

What this means, though, is that in the current theatrical 

landscape it’s hard for a playwright just starting out to get the 

kind of help they need to really develop as an artist. If every 

theatre is judging a play based on how produceable a show it 

may be, then that play is never truly evaluated on its own merits 

as a piece of art. And in order to keep the focus on the art 

side of the equation, Seven Devils doesn’t produce, because 

the sense of where they believe they are,” says Mahoney. After 

10 years she says she’s gotten a good sense of what they are 

able to accomplish in the time they have to work on a play, 

and what they can offer a playwright. 

“We don’t want to do plays where the problem is so big 

we’re not going to help, where we’re just going to make it 

worse,” explains Mahoney. “Sometimes you have to talk for 

a little while to get a sense of what they really believe about 

the play—not what everybody else told them they should do. 

And that’s difficult, because people tell you how to fix your 

Sara Jessup 

Daveed Diggs (left) and Nicole Lungerhausen in Greg Beuthin’s A Time 

Upon at the 2008 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. 

Mary Portser and Bobby Moreno in the staged reading of Idaho/Dead Idaho at the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference 

they don’t want to get caught up in the idea of having to sell 

something. During the conference they offer four fully-staged 

readings (props, lights, etc.), and between two to four table 

readings. All the readings are completely free to the public— 

no tickets are sold. 

“It’s all free of charge,” says Mahoney. “This is how serious 

we are about not producing—everything’s free.” 

Such an attitude is only possible thanks to the strong support 

of the McCall community. While the Conference receives 

support from the N.E.A. and the Idaho Commission on the 

Arts, as well as from the A.K. Starr charitable trust, they receive 

most of their support from the town of McCall itself. 

“They house everybody,” explains Mahoney. “We have 

our theatre space for free, all our rehearsal space is free. 

Community businesses give us coupons for food. They really 

take good care of us and that helps a lot.” In turn, Mahoney 

passes this altruism on to every playwright that comes in 

contact with Seven Devils. Full scripts are read cover to cover 

multiple times; a low submission fee makes the festival more 

accessible to playwrights and goes directly and completely 

to the readers. When the pool is down to 16-20 finalists, 

Mahoney and McDevitt hash out what can physically be done 

in order to best serve the plays. While this is going on they 

are also interviewing the playwrights, asking them what they 

want to get out of the Conference. 

“We ask them to basically tell us what they’re interested in 

working on, and usually by asking them that we kind of get 

play. What we really try to do is try to not tell people how to 

fix their play, but try to actually figure out how to talk to them 

about what they want the play to be, and how to get it to that 

place.” Once they know the destination, they can help the 

writer get there. 

That destination is reached through an intense period of 

rehearsals. The staged readings have a week of rehearsals: 

(two days on, one day off, two days on) and they move fast. 

The sit down readings will share actors—one group of actors 

for two plays, generally—and these readings are shaped more 

like getting ready for a rehearsal as opposed to being a show. 

“We try and do it as if—for the actors and the director and 

everybody—we’re talking about it as if the next day is going 

to be the first ‘on their feet’ rehearsal.” 

Playwrights are encouraged to rewrite as much as they like 

and new pages are brought in constantly. 

Even within this intense environment, though, Mahoney 

says that the idea is to take the pressure off of the playwright. 

“We don’t want them to feel like they’re going to be judged 

by a bunch of literary managers, people looking for plays to 

do,” she says. (They have a reading series in New York City if 

that sort of exposure is what a writer wants.) “We try to make 

it really like a dialogue with the community of the conference 

and the community of McCall, Idaho.” 

That dialogue leads to an improved play, which should be 

able to generate good word of mouth all on its own. 



Hair-Raising Wigs 

Wig designer Tom Watson talks craft and hairspray 

on Broadway’s Rock of Ages 

The fun and nostalgic ‘80s flashback that is Rock Of Ages 

has become a pop culture phenomenon on Broadway. 

The jukebox musical—about a would-rocker named Drew 

and a would-be actress named Sherrie who go to L.A. to chase 

their dreams, only to learn the harsh and seedy realities of 

Hollywood life (through song, of course)—surprised some by 

gathering five Tony nominations. Star Constantine Maroulis has 

signed on through early 2010. The tongue-in-cheek show has 

inspired guest appearances (notably, Styx’s Tommy Shaw and 

By Bryan Reesman 

For Watson, studying ‘80s hairstyles was the key to his 

success with Rock Of Ages. His extensive knowledge of hair 

allowed him to draw parallels to other eras; in this case, the 

English Restoration of the 15 th Century, “where they had all 

that crazy, big, long, wild hair,” Watson observes. “It's all really 

been done. The ‘80s could be Restoration, although it does 

have its own modern look, but has the same big hair, layered, 

lots of curls. A lot of energy went into it.” That energy certainly 

translates onstage. 

All photography by Joan Marcus 

The wig of Stacie Jaxx (played by James Carpinello, shown here) features four different colors and 

even dyed roots, for true verisimilitude. 

The actresses’ wigs in Rock of Ages have a little bit of room in front to show the 

actresses’ real hair. 

“All of those wigs are totally hand tied. Each one takes about 

35 to 40 hours to make.” —Tom Watson 

REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin) and a few after show parties at 

the neighboring China Club where Twisted Sister, Extreme guitarist 

Nuno Bettencourt and former Poison guitarist Richie Kotzen 

have appeared. There are some fans who have seen the show 

repeatedly; one claiming 75 times. 

One of the most fun aspects of the production is the hair— 

those gloriously long, often spiky or curly manes that were the 

signature of Sunset Strip rockers back in the heyday of the L.A. 

glam scene. What is impressive is that not only does everything 

feel authentic, but that nearly the entire cast is wigged. Given that 

fact, it’s even more surprising to learn that hair and wig designer 

Tom Watson, despite having over 40 Broadway and Off-Broadway 

credits, comes from the opera world, where he has resided for 

nearly 30 years. His company works on over 60 theatrical productions 

per year, with 27 of them being at the Metropolitan Opera, 

where he is the head of the wig department. 

Stage Directions: Rock of Ages is a fun show. I've seen it a 

couple of times. I have some friends who've gone many 

times. 

Tom Watson: It seems to have a certain person it appeals 

to. In the ‘80s I was already working in opera, so I didn't know 

lot about big hair bands. I had to treat it like a period piece and 

did research. When I saw the images I certainly knew what they 

were talking about, but when they were mentioning these 

groups I had no idea what they were talking about. I did have 

to approach it like you would a period piece because the ‘80s 

is now period—the fashion and hair and all that. 

Obviously a lot of the actors in Rock Of Ages are wearing 

wigs, because when you see the Playbill photo of the actor 

playing Dennis the club owner, he clearly does not have 

long hair. How many of them are wigged? 


The only cast people that don't have long hair are the 

two conservative German guys. Lonny’s little mullet is a wig. 

Nearly everybody is wigged. The band is wigged. Two of the 

band guys and then one of the cover band guys. They have 

very contemporary looks, and we just wanted to give them 

that bit of an edge. Henry, the guy on keyboards, wears a wig 

and looks pretty great actually. 

All of those wigs are totally hand tied. Each one takes 

about 35 to 40 hours to make. For the one we did for blonde 

bad boy Stacee Jaxx, we dyed the roots. It probably has about 

four different colors in it. You can't just buy hair with roots, so 

you have to dye the roots. It takes time, and there's a lot of 

after about three months. That's another reason why there’s 

that little bit of hair that we blend into the wig. They're nearly 

all wigs. 

How much work do you have to put into maintaining 

them? How many times have you redone wigs? 

There are two people on the hair crew, and they go 

in maybe three hours every day to touch things up. 

The Sherrie wigs are redone for every show, and for 

the ensemble maybe two or three times a week they’re 

pumped up, and we use a lot of Aqua Net. That holds for 

a while. 

“There’s a lot of teasing, hot irons and crimping irons in all of those 

styles, and for somebody to do that to their own hair eight times a 

week, it would be fried after about three months.” —Tom Watson 

Nearly everyone in the cast of Rock of Ages wears a wig, which must be maintained daily. 

thought that goes into it. The biggest compliment is if you 

come away thinking that there weren't that many wigs in it. 

That's always the goal. The original Stacee Jaxx was different 

off-Broadway, and I suppose if you saw the image of him you 

would think they were the same, but with the way that things 

are cut each face is taken into consideration and what suits 

them. It just isn’t a rubber stamp. Each of the girls has a different 

look, something that suits them. 

How many of the women are wearing wigs, and how 

many of them just have their hair teased up? 

Most of the girls in the ensemble have pieces or wigs, but 

the only part of their own hair is about a half-inch of the front. 

We pull that bit of their hair because honestly they work it 

so much and are so active—the dancing is so physical, and 

the front can be the most delicate part—and because of the 

action we decided to go with almost a full wig but the very 

front bit is their own hair. There’s a lot of teasing, hot irons 

and crimping irons in all of those styles, and for somebody to 

do that to their own hair eight times a week, it would be fried 

So you're hoping to keep Aqua Net in business with this 

show? 

And all my other shows. I love Aqua Net. 

How much time does it take to get each cast member 

ready every night? 

Part of the technical rehearsal process is figuring it 

out so we can get everybody ready within a half hour. 

That's another reason for wigs—it's just something that’s 

plopped on. So the girls prep themselves, and then we 

come in and put the wigs on. Our work is maybe three 

or four minutes per person. It has to be very fast. They’re 

at the theatre so much, not to mention rehearsing new 

people and stand ins. You can only expect them to come 

for a half-hour, so we take all of that into consideration 

in the beginning because we just can't call people in two 

hours before a show eight times a week. Everybody gets 

tops five minutes, including Sherrie and Stacee. It's down 

to a routine, and it's a routine that most actors like to keep. 

We don't ever just change it. 



Water Works 

How to design and tech water SFX of every kind, for any show. By Lisa Mulcahy 

Including a water effect in your show certainly adds a dash 

of the spectacular, but in order to safely include this effect 

you’ll need to make sure you’re covered in four crucial 

areas: basic set-up/execution techniques for your space; 

ease of utilization when it comes to actors working with the 

wet stuff; teamwork to ensure a fantastic SFX end result; and 

above all, safety measures that will fully protect your personnel. 

Design and Delivery 

Your first steps in planning any water effect have to be 

logistical. Whether you’re dealing with a drizzle or a flood, it’s 

essential to know where you’re going to hold your water supply, 

how you’re going to immerse the stage, and how you’re 

going to remove water from the stage without damaging 

your set pieces or, worst case scenario, your space itself. 

“Assuming real water in a rain effect, the designer would 

have to take into account the delivery system—pumps, piping, 

overhead nozzles and a water collection system,” says 

Jeff Wade, CEO of Back Stage Technologies, Inc. in Winter 

“In regard to water collection, 

making it rain is the first part of 

the challenge. What happens to 

the water once it hits the stage?” 

—Gregory Meeh 

Water Sculptures, a U.K. firm, designed the rain storm from last season’s Mary Stuart on Broadway. 

More than 400 gallons of water was purified with UV light before raining down each night. 

Joan Marcus 

Garden, Fla. “On the other hand, rain has been known to be 

produced without water, using scrims, screens, projections or 

a special type of plastic string.” 

Knowing your venue’s structural limitations is extremely 

important—if your flooring is weak, for instance, your stage 

may not be able to support or store water even minimally. 

“Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon, so even a small water 

tank will be very heavy,” warns Greg Meeh, founder and 

president of Jauchem & Meeh Special Effects in Brooklyn, NY. 

“I highly recommend gravity feed if it can be managed. This 

requires a weight bearing tank location.” 

It is tremendously helpful to consult a scenic specialist who 

is familiar with water delivery SFX before you decide how to 

plan your specific water SFX. Even if you think your venue is 

sturdy, ask your expert to analyze every angle of your stage, 

your backstage/wing space and underfloor space to ensure 

this is indeed the case. Once you get the go-ahead, your crew 

should waterproof the stage area completely—sealing spaces, 

slats and floor seams, and putting down an appropriate 

temporary stage surface, such as linoleum. In terms of actual 


water supply, how well your effect will ultimately work has 

everything to do with how much pressure you have at hand. 

For small SFX, such as a light rain shower, tapping into the city 

water feed will probably do fine, but larger volume SFX will 

probably require a pump and tank or barrel. Pipes and spray 

heads or sprinklers can be set at virtually any point onstage— 

again, when it comes to placement, your consultant can be 

a great resource, and should work with your set designer to 

guarantee the best-looking water flow areas. 

Then there’s the essential matter of directing, and collecting, 

the water you use. 

“In regard to water collection, making it rain is the first part 

of the challenge,” Meeh says. “What happens to the water 

once it hits the stage? Controlling where the water goes and 

collecting it either to drain or for recirculation are essential 

elements of an installation. Speaking of recycling, we recirculate 

water whenever possible—this requires filtration in addition 

to normal water quality treatment.” Any drains and catch 

basins you establish should additionally be large enough to 

handle your maximum pipe water flow, and your flooring 

should be lift on a slight angle to easily allow for dissolution. 

Singing (and Acting) in the Rain 

Your actors should know from the get-go—preferably, 

from auditions—that they’ll be expected to work with water 

SFX. Delivering a complex and powerful performance while 

drenched from head to toe takes fortitude and preparation. 

(Just ask the cast of Titanic.) “Actors need to know how you 

plan to execute the water SFX,” says 

Wade. “Meet with them, and then 

rehearse the scene with the SFX with 

all the actors involved.” 

It’s amazing how many designers 

tend to disregard an actor’s needs when 

he or she will be working wet—even in 

terms of basic body temperature. 

“If actors get wet, the water must 

be heated,” says Meeh. “This is not 

necessary, though, if actors are wearing 

waterproof garments, or carrying 

umbrellas and don’t actually get 

wet. It’s often necessary to provide a 

heated area for performers if they are 

wet, however.“ Every drop of water 

that touches your performers should 

also be scrupulously clean—you don’t 

want any wayward bacteria making 

your cast sick. Maintain your water 

supply with a non-chlorinated water 

treatment, and change unfiltered 

water consistently. 

Training performers as to what to 

expect on a wet floor is also crucial. 

“Treat the stage surface to improve 

traction,” advises Meeh. “Also, directorial 

and choreographic considerations 

must cover the limitations of working 

on a wet surface.” Encourage your 

actors to speak up if they’re having 

any difficulty, and make adjustments 

so they can work most comfortably. 

Controlling where water goes is important—the SFX setup for the 2003 Broadway revival of Nine 

had to collect water from the infinity pool so it didn’t flood the trap room. 

Gregory Meeh 



The rain finally comes in 110 In 

the Shade with Audra McDonald 

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times 

Keeping It Real 

Achieving the most true-to-life water 

SFX can simply boil down to how well 

you communicate, and work with, your 

team. “The creative success of water 

effects is collaboration,” Meeh stresses. 

“Especially with lighting—you can provide 

rain onstage, but if it is not lit well it 

will be almost invisible. On An Inspector 

Calls, designer Rick Fisher dedicated 

hundreds of instruments specifically to 

lighting the rain, and the results were 

stunning. Scenic design also plays an 

important role in a successful installation. 

On the Broadway revival of Nine, 

designer Scott Pask provided a beautifully 

tiled watertight pool with fill and 

drain ports—that made the effect possible 

without flooding the trap room.” 

You may have to reconfigure this 

kind of complex wet effect numerous 

times before it works. Your director 

and designers should check eye lines 

from every possible angle, and consider 

dimension extra-carefully. “For 

Broadway’s An Inspector Calls, the production 

required a long duration, fullstage 

rain effect,”says Meeh. “We supplied 

rain in several textures to create 

a feeling of density and depth.” Give 

each member of your team the chance 

to contribute their expertise and opinion 

on how the SFX looks, start to finish, 

for the best results. 

Removing the Risk 

Never cut corners when it comes to 

safety. 

“Water and electrticity don’t mix,” 

stresses Wade. All equipment must be 

safely grounded (consult with a good 

electrican), and drill your cast and crew 

in common sense (no grabbing a hot 

mic with wet hands, please). 

Overflow is also a concern, explains 

Wade: “Make sure all catch basins have 

a grating, and contain all water in the 

areas for water—don’t allow water 

onstage in a performer’s area, where 

he or she might slip unexpectedly.” 

Preparation is your best insurance 

against problems. 

“Simulate an accident such as a spillage,” 

suggests Wade. Assign your crew 

precise clean-up duties, and dry-run 

them several times. This way, safety 

will be second nature—and your group 

can concentrate on making your SFX, 

and show, terrific. 


Special Effects 

Alabama 

Snow Masters 

P.O. Box 250 

Lexington, AL 35648 

P: 256-229-5551 

F: 256-229-5552 

W: www.snowmasters. 

com 

TLS, Inc. 

Main Office 

1221 Jordan Lane 

Huntsville, AL 35816 

P: 866-254-7803 

F: 800-229-7320 

W: www.tlsinc.com 

Arkansas 

Stageworks 

1510 S. Main St. 

Little Rock, AR 72202 

P: 501-375-2243 

F: 501-375-2650 

W: www.stageworks. 

com 

California 

A.C.T Lighting, Inc. 

5308 Derry Ave. 

Unit R 

Agoura Hills, CA 91301 

P: 818-707-0884 

F: 818-707-0512 

W: www.actlighting.com 

Acey Decy Lighting / 

Lighttrader.com 

200 Parkside Dr. 

San Fernando, CA 91340 

P: 818-408-4444 

F: 818-408-2555 

W: www.lighttrader.com 

American DJ Supply, 

Inc. 

6122 S. Eastern Ave. 

Los Angeles, CA 90040 

P: 323-582-2650 

F: 323-725-6100 

W: www.americandj.com 

Avab America, Inc. 

434 Payran St. 

Petaluma, CA 94952 

P: 707-778-8990 

W: www.avab.com 

Barco/High End Systems 

Inc. - West Coast 

8200 Haskell Ave. 

Van Nuys, CA 91406 

P: 818-947-0550 

F: 818-908-8975 

W: www.highend.com 

Ben Nye Company, Inc. 

3655 Lenawee Ave. 


P: 310-839-1984 

F: 310-839-2640 

W: www.bennye.com 

Branam Enterprises Inc. 

28539 W. Industry Dr. 

Valencia, CA 91355 

P: 661-295-3300 

F: 661-295-3865 

W: www.branament.com 

Burman Industries 

13536 Saticoy St. 

Van Nuys, CA 91402 

P: 818-782-9833 

F: 818-782-2863 

W: www.burmanfoam. 

com 

Calbor Enterprises 

Two, Inc. 

10646 Chiquita St. 

Toluca Lake, CA 91602 

P: 818-760-3222 

F: 818-760-2238 

W: www.pyro-fx.net 

California Stage & 

Lighting, Inc. 

3601 W. Garry Ave. 

Santa Ana, CA 92704 

P: 714-966-1852 

F: 714-966-0104 

W: www.calstage.com 

Coherent, Inc. 

5100 Patrick Henry Dr. 

Santa Clara, CA 95054 

P: 408-764-4000 

F: 408-764-4800 

W: www.coherent.com 

Cutting Edge Productions 

22904 Lockness Ave. 

Torrance, CA 90501 

P: 310-326-4500 

F: 310-326-4715 

W: www.cuttingedgeproductions.tv 

Elation Professional 

4295 Charter St. 


P: 323-582-3322 

F: 323-582-3108 

W: www.elationlighting.com 

G&G Design Associates 

310 S. Long Beach Blvd. 

Compton, CA 90221 

P: 310-632-6300 

F: 310-632-6333 

W: www.ggda.net 

Gam Products 

4975 W. Pico Blvd. 


P: 323-935-4975 

F: 323-935-2002 

W: www.gamonline.com 

Holzmueller Productions 

1000 25th St. 

San Francisco, CA 94107 

P: 415-826-8383 

F: 415-826-2608 

W: www.holzmueller. 

com 

Laser Design Productions 

4325 W. Post Rd. 

#9 

Las Vegas, CA 89118 

P: 702-450-7976 

F: 702-407-0853 

W: www.laserdesignproductions.com 

Lightbroker.com 

215 W. Palm Ave. 

Unit 101 

Burbank, CA 91502 

P: 818-557-0903 

F: 866-836-5725 

W: www.lightbroker. 

com 

Musson Theatrical, Inc. 

890 Walsh Ave. 

Santa Clara, CA 95050 

P: 800-843-2837 

F: 408-986-9552 

W: www.musson.com 

Premier Lighting & 

Production Company 

12023 Victory Blvd. 

North Hollywood, CA 

91606 

P: 818-762-0884 

F: 818-762-0896 

W: www.premier-lighting.com 

Reel EFX, Inc. 

5539 Riverton Ave. 

North Hollywood, CA 

91601 

P: 818-762-1710 

F: 818-762-1734 

W: www.reelefx.com 

Rosco Laboratories, 

Inc. 

West Coast Office 

1265 Los Angeles St. 

Glendale, CA 91204 

P: 800-767-2652 

F: 818-662-9470 

W: www.rosco.com 

San Diego Stage & 

Lighting 

2203 Verus St. 

San Diego, CA 92154 

P: 619-299-2300 

F: 619-299-0058 

W: www.sdstagelighting.com 

Strand Lighting, Inc. 

6603 Darin Way 

Cypress, CA 90630 

P: 714-230-8200 

F: 714-899-0042 

W: www.strandlighting. 

com 

TMB, Los Angeles 

10643 Glenoaks Blvd. 

Pacoima, CA 91331 

P: 818-899-8818 

F: 818-899-8813 

W: www.tmb.com 

Tools For Stagecraft 

713 Quail View Ct 

Oak Park, CA 91377 

P: 87780 

F: 818-707-1471 

W: www.toolsforstage 

craft.com 

Warner Bros. Studio 

Facilities 

Administrative & Rentals 

4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg. 

153 

Burbank, CA 91522 

P: 818-954-1297 

F: 818-954-3685 

W: www.wbsf.com 

Connecticut 

Advanced Lighting & 

Sound Solutions 

P.O. Box 837 

Manchester, CT 06045 

P: 800-622-8872 

W: www.advancedlight 

ingandsoundsolutions. 

com 

Kabuki 

Shelton, CT 

P: 800-461-7625 

F: 800-461-4329 

W: www.kabuki.com 

Rosco Laboratories, 

Inc. 

Corporate 

52 Harbor View Ave. 

Stamford, CT 06902 

P: 800-767-2669 

F: 203-708-8919 

W: www.rosco.com 

Delaware 

Gobos To Go 

42 Lukens Dr. 

Ste. F 

New Castle, DE 19720 

P: 302-426-1898 

F: 866-558-3953 

W: www.gobostogo. 

com 

Florida 

Barbizon Lighting 

Company, Miami 

2254 Nw 93rd Ave. 

Miami, FL 33172 

P: 305-591-1449 

F: 305-593-2331 

W: www.barbizon.com 


Company, Orlando 

3309 Bartlett Blvd. 

Orlando, FL 32811 

P: 407-999-2647 

F: 407-999-7685 


Chameleon Designs 

1900 Premier Row 


P: 407-859-9300 

F: 407-859-9444 

W: www.chameleonor 

lando.com 

Chauvet 

3000 N. 29th Ct. 

Hollywood, FL 33020 

P: 800-762-1084 

F: 800-544-4898 

W: www.chauvetlight 

ing.com 

Gear-source, Inc. 

3101 Fairlane Farms Rd. 

Ste. 4 

Wellington, FL 33414 

P: 866-669-4327 

F: 561-792-0602 

W: www.gearsource. 

com 

Laser Production 

Network 

20209 Ne 15th Ct 


P: 305-690-6885 

F: 305-690-6881 

W: www.lasernet.com 

Lighting And Production 

Resources Llc 


P: 407-967-7716 

F: 877-803-2183 

W: www.mylpr.com 

Martin Professional, 

Inc. 

700 Sawgrass Corporate 

Pkwy. 

Sunrise, FL 33325 

P: 954-858-1800 

F: 954-858-1811 

W: www.martinpro.com 

Orlando Special Effects, 

Inc. 

14222 Lake Maryjane Rd. 


P: 407-648-1867 

F: 407-273-0328 

W: www.orlandospfx. 

com 

Sigma Services, Inc. 

8310 S. County Rd. 39 

Plant City, FL 33567 

P: 813-737-1904 

F: 813-737-1063 

W: www.sigmaservices. 

com 

Snowmaker Productions, 

Inc. 

1635 Dale Mabry Hwy. 

P.O. Box 1726 

Lutz, FL 33548 

P: 813-948-1717 

F: 813-354-2513 

W: www.snowmaker.net 

Stage Equipment And 

Lighting, Inc. 

Main Office 

12250 Ne 13th Ct. 


P: 305-891-2010 

W: www.stageequip 

ment.net 

Techni-lux Inc. 

10779 Satellite Blvd. 


P: 407-857-8770 

F: 407-857-8771 

W: www.techni-lux.com 

Tei Lighting Inc. 

750 W. 18th St. 

Hialeah, FL 33010 

P: 305-8882 

F: 305-885-4950 

W: www.teilighting.com 

Vadar Production 

Company Inc. 

1300 W. Mcnab Rd. 

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309 

P: 800-221-9511 

F: 954-978-8446 

W: www.avadar.com 

Georgia 


Company, Atlanta 

101 Krog St. 

Atlanta, GA 30307 

P: 404-681-5124 

F: 404-681-5315 


Illinois 

Aura Technologies, Inc. 

222 N. Maplewood Ave. 

Chicago, IL 60612 

P: 312-829-0200 

F: 312-829-1095 

W: www.aura-technologies.com 


Company, Chicago 

2525 N. Elston Ave. 

Ste. D220 


P: 773-276-8500 

F: 773-276-8504 


Chicago Spotlight, Inc. 

1658 W. Carroll St. 


P: 312-455-1171 

F: 312-455-1744 

W: www.chicagospot 

light.com 

Consolidated Display 

Company, Inc. 

1210 Us Hwy. 34 

Oswego, IL 60543 

P: 888-851-7669 

F: 630-851-8756 

W: www.letitsnow.com 

D’ Entertainment 

Group 

200 Catherine St. 

Bldg. 3 

East Peoria, IL 61611 

P: 309-699-7200 

F: 309-699-7300 

W: www.dentertainmentgroup.com 

Diversitronics, Inc. 

231 Wrightwood Ave. 

Elmhurst, IL 60126 

P: 630-833-4495 

F: 630-833-6355 

W: www.diversitronics. 

com 

Grand Stage Company 

630 W. Lake St. 


P: 312-332-5611 

F: 312-258-0056 

W: www.grandstage. 

com 

Hall Associates Flying 

Effects 

3230 Sycamore Rd. 

Ste. 143 

Dekalb, IL 60115 

P: 888 

W: www.flyingfx.com 

Z11 Pyro Supply 

P: 815-969-9652 

W: www.z11pyro.com 



Indiana 

Apollo Design Technology, 

Inc. 

4130 Fourier Dr. 

Fort Wayne, IN 46818 

P: 260-497-9191 

F: 260-497-9192 

W: www.apollodesign. 

net 

Indianapolis Stage 

Sales & Rentals, Inc. 

905 Massachusetts Ave. 

Indianapolis, IN 46202 

P: 317-635-9430 

F: 317-635-9433 

W: www.indystage.com 

Indy Pro Audio Production 

Services 

4233a Lafayette Rd. 

Indianapolis, IN 46254 

P: 800-229-4472 

F: 317-293-8393 

W: www.indyproaudio. 

com 

Mid-America Sound 

Corporation 

6643 W. 400 N 

Greenfield, IN 46140 

P: 317-947-9980 

F: 317-947-9981 

W: www.midamerica 

sound.com 

Kentucky 

Axxis, Inc. 

845 S. 9th St. 

Louisville, KY 40203 

P: 502-568-6030 

F: 502-568-6204 

W: www.axxisinc.com 

Star Light And Magic, 

Inc. 

218 Jefferson St. 

Lexington, KY 40508 

P: 800-275-4800 

F: 859-253-1962 

W: www.starlight.com 

ZFX, Inc. 

611 Industry Rd. 

Louisville, KY 40208 

P: 502-637-2500 

F: 502-637-7878 

W: www.zfxflying.com 

Maryland 

Atmosphere, Inc. 

2715 Pittman Dr. 

Silver Spring, MD 20910 

P: 301-585-2100 

F: 301-585-7615 

W: www.atmospher 

elighting.com 

Massachusetts 

ALPS/Advanced 

Lighting & Production 

Services, Inc. 

65 Teed Dr. 

Randolph, MA 02368 

P: 866-961-3066 

F: 781-961-3256 

W: www.alpsweb.com 


Company, Boston 

3 Draper St. 

Woburn, MA 01801 

P: 781-935-3920 

F: 781-935-9273 


Limelight Productions, 

Inc. 

471 Pleasant St. 

Lee, MA 01238 

P: 800-243-4950 

F: 800-243-4951 

W: www.limelightpro 

ductions.com 

Roctronics 

Roctronics Park 

Pembroke, MA 02359 

P: 781-826-8888 

F: 781-826-8889 

W: www.roctronics.com 

Tower Lighting 

Swansea, MA 

P: 508-673-4484 

F: 508-672-2782 

W: www.towerlighting. 

com 

Michigan 

Fantasee Lighting 

14857 Martinsville Rd. 

Belleville, MI 48111 

P: 734-699-7200 

F: 734-699-7400 

W: www.fantaseelight 

ing.com 

John S. Hyatt & Associates 

Main Office 

420 Alabama Ave. Nw 

Grand Rapids, MI 49504 

P: 616-451-9245 

F: 616-451-2813 

W: www.jshaa.com 

Pegasus Theatrical, Inc. 

20570 W. 8 Mile Rd. 

Southfield, MI 48075 

P: 248-353-6130 

F: 248-353-5013 

W: www.pegasustheatri 

cal.com 

Vincent Lighting 

Systems 

Grand-vincent Detroit 

Office 

317 E. Elmwood Ave. 

Troy, MI 48083 

P: 800-644-7263 

F: 248-307-9048 

W: www.vincentlight 

ing.com 

Minnesota 

Norcostco 

Headquarters 

825 Rhode Island Ave. 

South 

Golden Valley, MN 55426 

P: 800-220-6920 

W: www.norcostco.com 

Stage Technology, Inc. 

3110 Washington Ave. N 

Ste. 100 

Minneapolis, MN 55411 

P: 800-889-4081 

F: 612-455-0224 

W: www.stagetechnol 

ogy.com 

Missouri 

Associated Theatrical 

Contractors 

451 S. Union Ave. 

Springfield, MO 65802 

P: 800-672-8277 

F: 417-862-0036 

W: www.associatedthe 

atrical.com 

Theatreworks, Llc 

P.O. Box 787 

Branson, MO 65615 

P: 877-332-1821 

F: 417-332-1915 

W: www.theatreworks. 

com 

Nebraska 

Strong Entertainment 

Lighting 

4350 Mckinley St. 

Omaha, NE 68112 

P: 800-262-5016 

F: 402-453-7238 

W: www.strong-lighting. 

com 

Nevada 

4Wall-Las Vegas 

3325 W. Sunset Rd. 

Ste. F 


P: 877-789-8167 

F: 702-263-3863 

W: www.4wall.com 

Advanced Entertainment 

Services 

Las Vegas - Main Office 

4325 W. Reno Ave. 


P: 702-364-1847 

F: 702-364-1852 

W: www.aespyro.com 

Alumifax, Inc. 

4325 W. Reno Ave. 


P: 702-364-1854 

F: 702-364-1845 

W: www.alumifax.com 

Fisher Technical Services, 

Inc. 

6955 Speedway Blvd. 

Ste. T101 


P: 702-251-0700 

F: 702-251-0400 

W: www.fishertechni 

cal.com 

Flying By Foy 

3275 E. Patrick Lane 


P: 702-454-3500 

F: 702-454-7369 

W: www.flybyfoy.com 

N & N Productions 

5540 High Rock Way 

Sparks, NV 89431 

P: 775-355-9080 

F: 775-355-7859 

W: www.brassgobos. 

com 

Usedlighting.com 

Owned And Operated 

By 4wall Entertainment 

Lighting 

3325 W. Sunset Rd., 

Ste. F 


P: 702-263-3858 

F: 702-263-3863 

W: www.usedlighting. 

com 

New Jersey 

Circuit Lighting, Inc. 

299 Rt. 22 East 

Ste. 12 

Green Brook, NJ 08812 

P: 732-968-9533 

F: 732-968-9231 

W: www.circuitlighting. 

com 

City Theatrical, Inc. 

475 Barell Ave. 

Carlstadt, NJ 07072 

P: 800-230-9497 

F: 201-549-1161 

W: www.citytheatrical. 

com 

Earl Girls 

1648 White Horse Pike 

Egg Harbor City, NJ 

08215 

P: 609-965-6900 

F: 609-965-3330 

W: www.earlgirlsinc.com 

TMB, New York 

100 Asia Place 

Carlstadt, NJ 07072 

P: 201-896-8600 

F: 201-896-8601 


New Mexico 

Hogle’s Theatrical Supply, 

Inc. 

3225 Richards Ln 

Ste. B 

Santa Fe, NM 87507 

P: 505-424-7435 

F: 505-424-7434 

W: www.hogles.com 

Pro Theatrical 

1501b Mountain Rd. Nw 

Albuquerque, NM 87104 

P: 888-875-1850 

F: 505-764-1837 

W: www.protheatrical. 

com 

New York 

Altman Rentals 

57 Alexander St. 

Yonkers, NY 10701 

P: 914-476-7368 

F: 914-375-0381 

W: www.altmanrentals. 

com 


Company, NY 

456 W. 55th St. 

New York, NY 10019 

P: 800-582-9941 

F: 212-247-8818 


BMI Supply, NY 

571 Queensbury Ave. 

Queensbury, NY 12804 

P: 800-836-0524 

F: 518-793-6181 

W: www.bmisupply.com 

Farralane 

300 Rte 109 

Farmingdale, NY 11735 

P: 800-433-7057 

F: 631-752-8781 

W: www.farralane.com 

Group One, Ltd. 

70 Sea Ln 

Farmingdale, NY 11735 

P: 516-249-1399 

F: 516-249-8870 

W: www.g1limited.com 

Jauchem & Meeh, Inc 


524 Sackett St. 

Brooklyn, NY 11217 

P: 718-875-0140 

F: 718-596-8329 

W: www.jmfx.net 

Mehron, Inc. 

100 Red Schoolhouse 

Rd. 

Chestnut Ridge, NY 

10977 

P: 800-332-9955 

F: 845-426-1515 

W: www.mehron.com 

One Dream Sound 

Corp. 

36-15 48th Ave. 

Long Island City, NY 

11101 

P: 718-433-3030 

F: 718-433-1389 

W: www.onedream 

sound.com 

Scharff Weisberg Inc. 

36-36 33rd St. 

Long Island City, NY 

11106 

P: 212-582-2345 

F: 212-757-6367 

W: www.scharffweis 

berg.com 

SLD Corp. Lighting 

318 W. 47th St. 

New York, NY 10036 

P: 800-245-6630 

F: 201-531-1979 

W: www.sldlighting.com 

Soundsculpture Incorporated 

/ RC4 Wireless 

RC4 Wireless Dimming 

& Motion 

60 Industrial Pkwy., #580 

Cheektowaga, NY 14227 

P: 866-258-4577 

F: 866-237-6641 

W: www.theatrewireless.com 

Syracuse Scenery & 

Stage Lighting Co., Inc. 

101 Monarch Dr. 

Liverpool, NY 13088 

P: 800-453-7775 

F: 315-453-7897 

W: www.syracusescenery.com 

Times Square Lighting 

5 Kay Fries Dr. 

Stony Point, NY 10980 

P: 845-947-3034 

F: 845-947-3047 

W: www.tslight.com 

North Carolina 


Company, Charlotte 

1016 Mcclelland Ct 

Charlotte, NC 28206 

P: 704-372-2122 

F: 704-372-7422 


Creative Stage Design 

P.O. Box 9425 

Charlotte, NC 28299 

P: 704-375-1439 

W: www.creativestagedesign.com 

Dudley Theatrical 

3401 Indiana Ave. 

Winston-salem, NC 

27105 

P: 336-722-3255 

F: 336-722-4641 

W: www.dudleytheatri 

cal.com 

Look Solutions USA, 

Ltd. 

118 Walnut St. 

Unit #111 

Waynesboro, NC 17268 

P: 800-426-4189 

F: 888-760-7366 

W: www.fogspecs.com 

Stageworks Lighting 

1100 Capital Blvd. 

Raleigh, NC 27603 

P: 800-334-8353 

F: 919-839-8973 

W: www.stageworkslighting.com 

Ohio 

Stage Research, Inc. 

P.O. Box 670557 

Northfield, OH 44067 

P: 888-267-0859 

F: 888-668-0751 

W: www.stageresearch. 

com 

Theatre Effects 

11707 Chesterdale Rd. 

Cincinnati, OH 45246 

P: 800-791-7646 

F: 513-772-3579 

W: www.theatrefx.com 

Vincent Lighting 

Systems 

Cleveland Office 

18370 S. Miles Rd. 

Cleveland, OH 44128 

P: 18009225356 

F: 216-475-6376 

W: www.vincentlight 

ing.com 

Oregon 

Hollywood Lights Inc, 

Portland 

5251 Se Mcloughlin 

Blvd. 



Portland, OR 97202 

P: 800-826-9881 

F: 503-232-8505 

W: www.hollywoodlighting.biz 

Magic Gadgets/McIntire 

Enterprises 

12986 Mapleleaf Ct Ne 

Aurora, OR 97002 

P: 503-678-6236 

W: www.magicgadgets. 

com 

Pennsylvania 

Northern Sound & 

Light 

11 Shingiss St. 

Mckees Rocks, PA 15136 

P: 412-331-1000 

F: 412-331-1035 

W: www.northernsound. 

net 

Production Express, 

Inc. 

340 E. Boundary Ave. 

York, PA 17403 

P: 717-854-5265 

F: 717-843-7031 

W: www.proexp.com 

Pyrotecnico 

P.O. Box 149 

New Caslte, PA 16103 

P: 800-956-7976 

W: www.pyrotecnico. 

com 

Smooth-On 

2000 St.. John St. 

Easton, PA 18042 

P: 800-762-0744 

F: 610-252-6200 

W: www.smooth-on. 

com 

Rhode Island 

East Coast Lighting & 

Production Services, 

Inc. 

88 Jefferson Blvd. 

Warwick, RI 02888 

P: 888-467-9070 

F: 401-785-2299 

W: eastcoastlighting. 

com 

South Carolina 

BMI Supply, SC 

209-b Depot St. 

Greer, SC 29651 

P: 800-670-4264 

F: 864-877-1062 

W: www.bmisupply.com 

PDA Lighting And 

Sound 

2799 Three Lakes Rd. 

North Charleston, SC 

29418 

P: 843-554-3466 

F: 843-554-0169 

W: www.pdalightin 

gandsound.com 

Texas 

Barco/High End Systems 

Inc. Headquarters 

2105 Gracy Farms Lane 

Austin, TX 78758 

P: 512-836-2242 

F: 512-837-5290 

W: www.highend.com 

Inlight Gobos 

2348 Irving Blvd. 

Dallas, TX 75207 

P: 469-916-2910 

F: 469-916-2911 

W: www.inlightgobos. 

com 

World Audio & Lights 

422 Chestnut St. 

San Antonio, TX 78202 

P: 210-472-3932 

F: 210-472-3933 

W: www.worldaudio 

lights.com 

Utah 

General Theatrical 

Supply (GTS) 

2181 W. California Ave. 

Ste. 250 

Salt Lake City, UT 84104 

P: 801-485-5012 

F: 801-485-4365 

W: www.gtsmarket 

place.com 

Special Effect Supply 

Corp. 

164 E. Center St. 

North Salt Lake, UT 

84054 

P: 801-936-9762 

F: 801-936-9763 

W: www.fxsupply.com 

Special FX Lighting 

P.O. Box 177 

Hurricane, UT 84737 

P: 435-635-0239 

F: 435-635-3929 

W: www.fxlight.com 

Virginia 


Company, D.c. 

6437g General Green 

Way 

Alexandria, VA 22312 

P: 703-750-3900 

F: 703-750-1448 


Dr. Bob's Theatricity 

5325 Cleveland St. 

Ste. 306 

Virginia Beach, VA 23462 

P: 757-499-0720 

F: 757-499-2723 

W: www.prolightingsup 

plies.com 

Entertainment Systems 

Corporation 

160 Technology Park Dr. 

Kilmarnock, VA 22482 

P: 800-582-2421 

W: www.entsyscorp.com 

Optikinetics, Ltd. 

116 Sylvia Rd. 

Ste. A 

Ashland, VA 23005 

P: 800-575-6784 

F: 800-678-4575 

W: www.optikinetics. 

com 

Washington 

CITC 

2100 196th St. Sw, #138 

Lynnwood, WA 98036 

P: 888-786-2482 

F: 425-776-5129 

W: www.citcfx.com 

Hollywood Lights Inc, 

Seattle 

660 S. Dakota St. 

Seattle, WA 98108 

P: 800-547-2353 

F: 206-215-9370 

W: www.hollywood 

lighting.biz 

Wisconsin 

Graftobian Make-up 

Co. 

510 Tasman St. 

Madison, WI 53714 

P: 608-222-7849 

F: 608-222-7893 

W: www.graftobian.com 

Canada 

British Columbia 

Richmond Sound 

Design Ltd. 

5264 Ross St. 

Vancouver, BC V5W 3K7 

P: 800-664-5861 

F: 604-628-3391 

W: www.richmond 

sounddesign.com 

Ontario 

Airmagic Special 

Effects 

30 Dorchester Ave. 

Toronto, ON 

P: 877-704-0425 

F: 416-703-0424 

W: www.airmagicfx.com 

Jack A. Frost, Ltd. 

3245 Wharton Way 

Mississauga, ON L4X 2R9 

P: 800-263-7678 

F: 905-624-2386 

W: www.jfrost.com 

Performance Solutions 

Fx 

29 Basin St. 

Toronto, ON M4M 1A1 

P: 416-410-1102 

F: 416-461-0770 

W: www.performanc 

esolutions.net 

Pyrotek Special Effects, 

Inc. 

7676 Woodbine Ave. 

Ste. 7 & 8 

Markham, ON L3R 2N2 

P: 800-481-9910 

F: 905-479-3515 

W: www.pyrotekfx.com 

TMB, Toronto 

409 Saddler St. West 

Durham, ON N0G-1R0 

P: 519-369-9990 

F: 519-369-9992 


Ultratec Special Effects, 

Inc. 

1960 Blue Heron Dr. 

London, ON N6H 5L9 

P: 800-388-0617 

W: www.ultratecfx.com 

Quebec 

MDG Fog Generators 

10301 Ave.nue Pelletier 

Montreal, QC H1H 3R2 

P: 800-663-3020 

W: www.mdgfog.com 

Projec.com, Inc. 

1670 Semple St. 

Ste. 199 

Quebec, QC G1N 4B8 

P: 18775297481 

F: 418-529-8519 

W: www.projec.com 

England 

Flying by Foy, Ltd. 

Borehamwood Enterprise 

Center, Unit 4 

Theobald St. 

Borehamwood Herts 

United Kingdom, WD6 

4RQ 


The Play's the Thing By Stephen Peithman 

| 

Time Further Out 

Plays that manipulate space and time 

“ 

Spacetime” is a scientific concept that combines threedimensional 

space and time as a fourth dimension. It’s 

a concept that theatre takes to easily, as we see in this 

month’s roundup of recently-released titles that play with 

time and space in intriguing ways. 

For example, Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay’s 

award-winning play Albertine in Five Times presents the 

story of one woman at five different moments in her life. Five 

different actresses play the parts, and each Albertine warns 

the others of what will come, or of what has already passed. 

At the opening, Albertine at 30 is sitting on the veranda of 

her mother’s house. Albertine at 40 is rocking on the balcony 

of her house in Montreal. Albertine at 50 is leaning on the 

counter of her restaurant. Albertine at 60 is walking around 

her bed. And Albertine at 70 has just arrived at a home for 

the elderly. Together, the five Albertines provide a moving 

portrait of the extraordinary life of one “ordinary” woman. 

Now available in a new, updated English translation by Linda 

Gaboriau (commissioned for the Shaw Festival) Albertine in 

Five Times is a fascinating human drama. [Talon Books, $16.95; 

royalty information included] 

Time also shifts frequently in BFF ("Best Friends Forever"), 

by Anna Ziegler, as Lauren and Eliza are challenged by the 

onset of adulthood is this emotionally affecting play about 

friendship and romantic love. The story of the two best 

friends in high school takes us from Lauren's present-day 

love affair with Seth back to her and Eliza's elementary school 

days, and back again. It comes as no surprise that the “forever” 

part of this best-friends saga will be tested with serious 

consequences. But it is to Ziegler’s credit that when the 

expected does happen, it is still surprising—and devastating. 

Two females, one male. [Dramatists Play Service] 

At the heart of Ken Urban's The Private Lives of Eskimos is 

a modern-day techno-thriller of the sort that Alfred Hitchcock 

might relish if he were alive today. Marvin's life is thrown into 

chaos when he receives the news that his sister has been 

killed in a tragic train bombing. His only remaining connection 

to her is the voice mail she left on his cell phone—which 

he has just lost. His search for it leads him down a cyber noman’s-land, 

filled with mysterious spam-speaking Eskimos, 

black snow, a violent detective and a strange woman in a 

distant land who claims to have acquired his phone through 

“dishonorable means.” It’s a surreal, funny and often poignant 

tale of loss and life, whose central character is both disturbing 

and pitiable. Three females, two males, with doubling. 

[Original Works, www.originalworksonline.com] 

Frank Loesser created two of Broadway's most enduring 

musicals, Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed In Business without 

Really Trying. But he switched from the wry, urban sensibility 

of those shows to unexpected homespun tenderness 

in his mostly-forgotten 1960 fantasy charmer, Greenwillow, 

which has been released for licensing by Music Theatre 

International. This wistful, dreamlike musical, with a lush and 

romantic score, tells a tale about restlessness, adventure, 

magic and the pleasures of small town life in an undetermined 

time and place. The show boasts a fine score, including 

“Never Will I Marry” and “Summertime Love,” and “The Music 

of Home.” (The original cast recording, with Anthony Perkins, 

is available on DRG Records.) Ten males, 11 females, including 

children, plus chorus. [Music Theatre International, www. 

mtishows.com] 

There’s no doubt about the time and place of the audience-participation 

comedy, The Awesome 80s Prom, by Ken 

Davenport—it’s set in 1989 at the fictional Wanaget High 

Senior Prom. All the expected stereotypes are present—the 

captain of the football team, the foreign exchange student, 

the geek and the head cheerleader—and all are competing 

for Prom King and Queen. It’s predictable stuff, perhaps, 

except that it’s well written, and the audience gets to decides 

who wins—so every performance can end differently. Eleven 

males, eight females. [Samuel French, www.samuelfrench. 

com] 

In an isolated house at the edge of a cornfield, in the mountains 

of Virginia, something almost beyond belief is happening 

to the Cleary family. When Bridget Cleary goes missing 

in the dead of the night, her husband and son scramble to 

help find her. Then, as suddenly as she vanished, Bridget 

reappears, talking about strange visitations and otherworldly 

beings. Is she lying, or are supernatural or extraterrestrial 

forces at work? That’s the thrust of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s 

thriller, Dark Matters, which expertly blends reality and fantasy, 

as it explores secrets that hold families together and the 

truths we sometimes choose to ignore in the people we love. 

Three males, one female. [Dramatists Play Service] 


By Dave McGinnis 

| 

The Hammer That Built the Carpenter 

So often do we forget that the early bricks support the building. 

TD Talk 

This month’s edition began as a simple wish list—a list of 

new gear I would appreciate for my shop. Then again, a 

new shop also made the list, so who knows how far the 

list might have gone? As I wrote it, however, I came to the console 

that I thought would best suit my needs—the ETC Express 

24/48—and recalled that the console with which I have maintained 

a long-term love affair has rolled off the assembly line for 

the last time. 

I’m taking this opportunity to eulogize the eponymous console 

line (Expression/Express) that has single-handedly delivered so 

many theatres—whether community, academic or professional—from 

the medieval age of the two-scene preset into the contemporary 

era of computerized lighting controls. 

Of course, time ticks forward, and the dominance and availability 

of moving fixtures has required every company to advance 

their consoles to accommodate the new big dogs and available 

parts. I understand that. That said, I’ll always retain a soft spot for 

the console that taught me how to program, even if by guiding 

me through the process in tiny red letters one step at a time. 

I’ll always love the Express for its ability to allow anyone of any 

caliber to program any fixture. Sure, the touch pad took some getting 

used to (as its predecessor, the wheel, seemed so much more 

intuitive in the beginning), but once a programmer or operator 

got the hang of its nuances (which took 

around 20 minutes), the Express took us 

in directions we once thought reserved 

only for the bigger shows. 

I’ll always love the Express because it 

could serve a 99-seat thrust space and 

a 1,500-seat monster hall on consecutive 

days and perform admirably in both. 

While so many consoles will operate 

moving fixtures and standard fixtures 

concurrently, I still have difficulty finding 

one that does it so easily. 

Now, even as I weep for the console 

that bred me, I look forward to the future 

of theatre lighting, and we finally have 

within our grasp so many of those capabilities 

once reserved only for huge tours. 

Newer consoles (like ION or EOS) than my 

dear Express have brought them so nearly 

within our reach, with new capabilities 

and protocols with which my darling 

simply can’t compete. I love her no less, 

however. Part of me now loves her more. 

I do hope that one of my dear Express’ 

legacies will find purchase in one of 

her descendants: complex operations 

through simple protocols. The Express 

introduced an entire generation of lighting 

techs to the field by allowing anyone 

to learn the console with little difficulty. 

She leveled the playing field and allowed 

the artistry of lighting to once again 

become more important than the mastery 

of programming code, such as all things should be, and such 

as all things were when they began and were good. 

The hunt now begins. What console will take the place of the 

one I have held in such humble esteem? To match the Express, 

I have created a list of criteria that the Express met and that any 

console must now meet to take her place: 

Anyone with any lighting experience (not necessarily programming) 

must be able to master the console in one hour or less. 

• The console must control both standard and moving fixtures 

with little or no difference in programming. 

• The console must have both playback and submasters. 

• Can run on Ethernet, but must be able to adapt to DMX. 

• Must run at a price point no more than 10% higher than the 

Express. 

• Must be tough. 

• Must come with an ironclad lifetime guarantee. 

I never thought I could get so sentimental about equipment, 

but waving good-bye to the ETC Express 24/48 feels like waving 

good-bye to a mentor both trusted and knowing. She opened 

the doors to other consoles and provided a haven to which one 

could run when the digital mud got too deep. I don’t fear, or even 

distrust, the future; on the contrary, I look forward to it. I just hope 

at least one of my dear’s children follows that blessed path. 


Classified Advertising

For more information about the companies advertising in 

Stage Directions® and serving the theatre profession, go to 

the links listed below. 

Advertiser Page Website 

American Association of Community Theatre - AACT 36 http://info.hotims.com/23554-278 

Angstrom Lighting 42 http://info.hotims.com/23554-176 

Apollo Design 29 http://info.hotims.com/23554-104 

Arena Drapery Rental 42 http://info.hotims.com/23554-248 

Atlanta Rigging 7 http://info.hotims.com/23554-177 

AV for Sale 43 http://info.hotims.com/23554-378 

Ball State University 25 http://info.hotims.com/23554-170 

BMI Supply 22 http://info.hotims.com/23554-107 

Bulbtronics 9 http://info.hotims.com/23554-110 

Charles H. Stewart & Co. 42, C3 http://info.hotims.com/23554-113 

Chauvet Lighting 3 http://info.hotims.com/23554-155 

Checkers Industrial Products 8 http://info.hotims.com/23554-269 

Chicago Canvas 42 http://info.hotims.com/23554-179 

Eartec 21 http://info.hotims.com/23554-276 

Elation C4 http://info.hotims.com/23554-182 

Five Towns College 28 http://info.hotims.com/23554-379 

Flying By Foy 18 http://info.hotims.com/23554-244 

Full Compass 23 http://info.hotims.com/23554-274 

Graftobian 42 http://info.hotims.com/23554-208 

Advertiser Page Website 

Graham Swift & Co/ Theatre Guys 42 http://info.hotims.com/23554-168 

JR Clancy 41 http://info.hotims.com/23554-159 

Light Parts 43 http://info.hotims.com/23554-354 

Light Source, The 1 http://info.hotims.com/23554-160 

Regent University 27 http://info.hotims.com/23554-220 

Schuler Shook 14 http://info.hotims.com/23554-171 

Sculptural Arts Coating 35 http://info.hotims.com/23554-141 

Selecon Performance Lighting 15 http://info.hotims.com/23554-283 

Serapid 11 http://info.hotims.com/23554-142 

Stagelights.com 43 http://info.hotims.com/23554-167 

SUNY - Fredonia 21 http://info.hotims.com/23554-224 

Texas Scenic 6 http://info.hotims.com/23554-148 

Theatre Wireless/ RC4 Wireless Dimming 42 http://info.hotims.com/23554-166 

Theatricalhardware.com 14 http://info.hotims.com/23554-247 

Tomcat 5 http://info.hotims.com/23554-380 

Univeristy of Michigan, Ann Arbor 9 http://info.hotims.com/23554-370 

USHIO 13 http://info.hotims.com/23554-282 

Vortek 19 http://info.hotims.com/23554-265 

Wenger C2 http://info.hotims.com/23554-153

Answer Box 

| 

By Jacob Coakley 

The 

Sacrifice Nothing 

Cambiare Productions builds 

their shows and audience in 

unconventional ways 

All Photography by Will Hollis Snider 

Gabriel Luna as Orestes and Smaranda Ciceu as Helen in Cambiare’s Orestes 

Cambiare Productions from Austin, Texas, came online to 

TheatreFace.com to talk about their lightning-fast development 

of a new adaptation of the Orestes myth, which cadges from 

Sophocles’ Elektra, Aeschylus' Oresteia and Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis, 

Iphigenia Among the Taurians in addition to his Orestes. The resulting 

work ended up reflecting all those different sources in a “fractured 

fever dream” of a narrative. The production was nominated for several 

Austin Circle of Theatres B. Iden Payne Awards, including Outstanding 

Production of a Drama. 

Cambiare Managing Director Travis Bedard and Artistic Director 

Will Hollis Snider came on TheatreFace.com and talked about how 

they kept the audience situated in time and space throughout the 

feverish production as well how they streamed their production 

over the Internet, and why. You can read the full transcript at www. 

theatreface.com/cambiare 

Jacob Coakley: How did your production process help 

keep the audience situated? 

Will Hollis Snider: We spent the first week of rehearsals 

letting our actors serve as an audience. They offered 

advice and changes, and we spent the first week workshopping 

and doing rewrites. 

Travis Bedard: We handed them the script and asked 

them point blank what worked and what didn't. 

Jacob Coakley: That's one way to do a trust building 

exercise. :-) 

Travis Bedard: And to build cast ownership of a new 

work. It went from being something that Will and I owned 

to being OURS. 

Will Hollis Snider: There were significant changes to the 

script in that first week that really helped shape the play. 

Jacob Coakley: You guys streamed at least one performance 

of the play on the Internet, and still have the video 

archived online (http://www.cambiareproductions.com/ 

video/orestes.html). Could you talk about how you set that up? 

cast of Orestes. Thanks to an archived copy on the Internet, people from as far as New Zealand have been able 

to give members feedback on the production. 

Will Hollis Snider: It's actually pretty easy to do. There 

are various companies out there that offer streaming 

services. The one we used was ustream.tv. I don't know 

ALL the technical details, but it's Web-based and takes the feed 

from any camera or mic connected to a computer, and broadcasts 

that feed to the internet. So it's almost just like using a webcam 

and mic in front of your computer for a video chat. We, however, 

wanted slightly higher quality, so we used an Canon XL2 connected 

via Firewire to a PC. 

Jacob Coakley: Did the camera influence design? 

Will Hollis Snider: The camera didn't influence design 

one bit. We always knew we were going to livestream 

the show, but it was never a consideration when I was 

directing or for any of our designers. 

Michelle Moore: How many cameras did you use? 

Travis Bedard: Just the single XL2 on a tripod. 

Will Hollis Snider: Set up all the way in the back of the 

theatre so we could get a wide shot, and also zoom in for 

any intimate moments. 

Travis Bedard: For us the livestreaming isn't meant to 

be a replacement for 

being there, but an 

opportunity for those who didn't 

reach the tipping point to have 

an opportunity to have a flavor. 

There was a lot of valid feedback 

that I was able to get on Orestes 

that we never would have gotten 

without having it broadcast and 

archived—from Chicago and 

Vancouver and Australia. 

www.theatreface.com/join 

ONLINE BONUS 

For the full transcript 

of the chat 

with Cambiare, visit 

www.theatreface.com/cambiare.

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