by
MRTC on December 22nd, 2011
“Mother Road Theatre Company has produced a show that may be the best to
come out of Albuquerque in 2011. Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water,
directed by Mark Hisler and Vic Browder, is in one great eruption
heartbreaking, fantastically funny and absolutely riveting.”
“Every time I write about this company I have to talk about how
outstanding it is…”
“Stephenson’s script is is gorgeous and sharp, but it’s the actors who
make this piece mesmerizing.”
“Stepenson’s piece seems like an appropriate play for this time of year,
which has a way of heightening our joys and heartaches. Don’t go because
you want to feel warm and fuzzy. Go because you want to feel.”
by
Julia Thudium on September 5th, 2011
Less than a week until our production of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge”!
This is the first show in our 4th Season. I really still can’t believe we’ve been around for 4 years already.
We’ve been so blessed to be welcomed into Albuquerque’s theatrical community.
One of our biggest blessings this year came in the form of our sponsor:
They are providing us with rehearsal space for our season. Yay!!!
As I’m writing this – lighting is being focused, set is being painted and Brent Stevens our sound designer and my co-host on Classical 95.5 KHFM is creating a 1950′s radio broadcast for walk in. Exciting stuff as it all comes together.
Here’s a total list of the cast: William R. Stafford, Nicholas Ballas, Kristín Hansen, Julia Harris, Julian Singer-Corbin, Justin Tade, Bill Mohr, William Johnson and Kevin O’Boyle.
Opening Night will feature catering by Alexa Grodner. She’s promised to make her famous Pork Loin. Oy. Tractor Brewing will also be there selling beer and wine… What could be better!
This just in: on the Saturday Sept. 10th show, we will have 2 signers for the hearing impaired. Very excited to have them onboard for this show, so please spread the word!
I was hoping to write a blog for the whole rehearsal process but time slipped away. I’ll try to keep you posted this week.
by
Julia Thudium on September 3rd, 2010
Opening night is always crazy. It couldn’t be done without all the Mutha’s that show up to help. We are also very blessed to have the talents of Scott Sharot to do the catering opening night – sushi and wontons and rum balls to die for!
It’s strange and wonderful and awful to send a show out into the world. I love to watch the blossoming of the actors as they respond to the energy of the audience. I have to say we have the BEST opening night audiences for our shows. Responsive, friendly, tipsy…!
We were so packed I was sitting on a box tucked into a corner. I go through so many emotions watching the show. Scared, excited, sad, worried I didn’t do enough or pushed too much. Mostly I’m just proud. Proud we’re still around, proud we are giving Albuquerque some amazing theatre, and proud to be the “Chief Instigator” of this theatre company filled with unbelievable individuals.
Some of my favorite things about the show:
The hymn sung in harmony in the Whaleman’s chapel
After – Death to the White Whale chant – the crew telling Ishmael about Moby Dick – through the fight.
Starbuck and Stubb after the fight – Peter’s delivery on “Thank you Mr. Stubb”
How Nicholas looks at the Harpoon after he “baptizes” it.
Rebecca’s voice
Queequeg in his top hat
John Hardman trying to steal the show
Ernie and the harmony on the death of Ahab
And on and on and on…
by
Julia Thudium on September 1st, 2010
So there we are in the theatre today working – and we notice a little issue. We noticed the houselights dimming and then flaring up high. We only had fans and houselights on, so we weren’t using very much power. I called David Sinkus, and when we told him we weren’t running anything, he immediately called PNM. PNM came by to check out the situation and lo and behold, the transformer on the telephone pole behind the Filling Station was going bad fast! So bad that they shut down power to the block for the rest of the day and night. You guessed it, no dress rehearsal in the Filling Station!
Thank God for the folks at SunVista, Maestas and Ward. They invited us back to our rehearsal space for one more night. The trick was that since we’d left, they had started doing construction in the space, so we couldn’t have a run through due to noise. We headed into the conference room and had ourselves another line through. I asked the cast just to have fun, let go of all their acting choices and see what popped up. I love what happened. It was playful and joyful. Everyone got into the spirit of it.
We got to tell each other what we learned from each other and how much we appreciated each other.
Things happen for a reason. I feel good. Really good. And I think the actors and Mandie do too. I am very blessed with this cast, this show.
by
Julia Thudium on August 31st, 2010
Back at the theatre almost all day. Not sleeping all that well. Today we have one of our favorite people with us. Pim Koenig is our scenic painter and you’ve seen her work at all our shows. She is a true artist and we are blessed to have her. We meet to discuss the invisible ghost set and do some tests on the walls. We think it will work. Fingers crossed.
Something strange started happening during the run tonight. Weird light flickers during cues. Turns out Mandie is having to keep her finger hovering over the lighting board, cause the lights keep blacking out. She will talk to David tomorrow as we need to figure that out.
We’re getting there. The show is coming together. The actors are getting used to the space. These next 2 rehearsals will be key. We’ve tech’d the show and now we can really dig in for the next 2 dress rehearsals.
Bed. Now.
by
Julia Thudium on August 30th, 2010
Mandie, Vic and I have been here all day. Did I mention that none of us are really lighting designers? Did I mention we have an invisible set? Lighting something invisible can REALLY be a challenge.
We had to get this done today because we needed to do a cue to cue for the actors tonight. Vic also has to have a moment to transform himself from techie to actor. Mandie and I get the whole show cued, right before we need to let the actors in the space to do a warm up and fight call. We know we will have a lot to redo as we are rushing rushing rushing.
Actors are getting into costume for the first time. Yahoo to Paula and Peggy our costumers! Actually I’ve decided to call them each Pleggy cause my brain is so fried I keep calling them by their wrong names. We decide to do a cue to cue of Act I only, so they can do their first run in the space. As you can imagine this makes for a long night. They are figuring if they can haul and row without splitting their pants. We’ve had a heck of a time figuring out Ahab’s peg leg. Vic has been scrambling to try and make something that looks realistic without having to tie up Nicholas’ leg. Ugh.
Cue to cue goes well and so does the run. Our last run through at the rehearsal hall came in at 2 hours 8 minutes with intermission. We were ecstatic and hoping it would hold. We’re REALLY close.
I. Need. Sleep.
by
Julia Thudium on August 25th, 2010
Work, work, work the scenes. We started calling the scenes between the sailors on deck the “campfire” scenes. It has the feel of it for sure. The boys need to top each other in energy – we learn a lot about Ahab in these scenes and all the myths that surround him. We worked the whale head scene. Telling an actor “now imagine a giant whale head in front of you” sounds funny, but we have to create the reality in this play.
by
Julia Thudium on August 24th, 2010
It must be Tuesday if Carlyn’s back. Here’s a little background on Carlyn Wade. We’ve known each other since 10th grade. Both our fathers were stationed at The Pentagon in Washington DC. We played sisters in “The Diary of Ann Frank”, my first play in high school – she was Ann, I was Margo. I still feel she’s my sister to this day. We were known for our ferocious matches of tennis late at night during the summer. We pretended she was Tracy Austin, and I was Evan Goolagong. God, if that doesn’t date me…
She’s part guru, part drill sergeant. We cleaned up a lot of the movement, in particular the whaleboat sequences. You know, the men in the whaleboats used to do their best to sneak up on the pods of whales, so they’d be rowing as hard and as quietly as they could, and then switch to paddles as they got closer to the whales so the Harpooneer could do his job. Kind of complicated with no boat, no oars, no paddles and no harpoon…
by
Julia Thudium on August 23rd, 2010
First stumble through of the show. Cheat sheets backstage for the actors is going to be key. Which scene are we doing next? What shanty, how hauling? Am I pulling or am I releasing rope? Who starts the shanty? Looking through my notes there are at least 8 times I wrote WORK in caps on certain sections.
I’m including here a picture of my director’s book. Some directors are crazy like me and need to have large expanses of paper – in my case a blank sketchbook 14 inches X 17 inches. Read more…
by
Julia Thudium on August 21st, 2010
Off book for Act I – how actors dread the off book day. In reality it went well. The work they did Thursday on the hauling and tying really paid off. What the actors have to start doing now is invest in the show. They are creating the world for the audience and if they drop it, even for a second, phone in the hauling or any of the space object work, it collapses. By investing I also mean buying into it themselves – seeing the ropes, the pins, the masts, the sails. If you are spilling a bucket of water on the deck that others are swabbing – we have to see the bucket, we have to see where you are throwing the water, and we have to believe the deck is getting cleaner.
