Mousetrap, part 3

Friday morning, we had full dress rehearsal at 10:00 AM. That gave time for setting props, doing hair and makeup, posing for photos, and practicing the curtain call. When you are sitting 24 inches from a mirror, it is easy to think you have put on too much makeup. That's what Jennifer thought. She played the part of an eighty-year-old woman and thought that these were too many wrinkles. But When we got on stage under lights, from the third row of the audience you couldn't even see the makeup. She had to add more and darker lines for the performance.


It dawned on me that I had to treat the face that I was seeing in the mirror as a flat, colorless surface on which it would be necessary to paint a face. Every square inch has to be colored with makeup and all wrinkles need shadows. Since my character was a policeman, I thought it good to give him a bit of red on the nose and cheeks. When Cat took this shot, I was about halfway through putting on makeup. There was a student snapping photos all through the week. She promised to send me the files, but I never got them. So I can't show you what I looked like onstage (I know you are bitterly disappointed). But here is one more photo of backstage.

You can see from the people standing there just how tall the set was at the back. The opening in the background entered the stage about two-thirds of the way up. The table there is on a platform which was the highest point at which people walked around. Tell you what, if I get those photos from the student, I will post something later.

The next posting to expect on this site will be from Kenya. Yep, we are going again.

Mousetrap, part 2

We had scripts and full cast for less than two weeks. We assembled this massive set in the auditorium at our university, had two or three days of rehearsal on the set, then took it all down to move it to Ruidoso. We arrived on a Friday and parked the truck and trailer on a church parking lot. Over the next several days we rehearsed in the church gym and once in the sanctuary (where we could not disturb the setup for the next day's worship service). When the Spencer Theater finally was available for us, we spent a whole day putting up the set. The next day we rehearsed in the morning while the technical director set the light and sound cues. So sometimes he would call "black" and all the lights would go off. Made for an interruptive rehearsal, but the show must go on.

On Thursday, all the props were ready, the set was completed, and we could rehearse with light. Sounds still had to be played on a boom box since only the Spencer personnel can touch the sound board. The afternoon was a time to work with hair and makeup. After dinner was dress rehearsal. The youngest member of the cast was grumpy over the removal of all iPods and cell phones from backstage, but we were all eager to get on stage in costume under lights with sound. The director reminded us one more time of how important it was to do an outstanding job. We had all worked very hard, physically and emotionally, and there needed to be a payoff.


Here's what it looked like backstage. The set had a snow device so that when the window was open, little (plastic) flakes drifted down outside. The floor of the set was raked at 8 degrees; that meant that we entered through level doors and stepped onto a slanting stage. That floor was made of 17 full (4 X 8) sheets and at least half a dozen cut sheets of particle board on 2 X 4 frames and legs screwed and clamped together. There were 25 wall panels that were sixteen feet tall, five entrance platforms, six sets of steps, two working doors and a working window. The crown molding at the top was 12 inches wide; imagine mitering those joints!

Only one more full dress rehearsal on Friday morning and we would be ready. We were exhausted Thursday night, but exhilarated by the potential. After lunching on sandwiches for the last week, the possibility of a restaurant dinner beckoned.

Mousetrap, part 1

First let's talk about the Spencer Theater outside Ruidoso, NM. This place is beautiful. The photo here is from the lobby area. That giant red Christmas tree is made of hundreds of individual glass tubes. There is glass art like this throughout the theater. So you should go sometime just to see the place.


The day after we performed, they were having an art auction and so there was even more art than usual hanging around. Wall space was at a premium as indicated by the fact that they had to squeeze this piece between two fire alarm instruments. It was kind of cool hanging around listening to an art expert telling the staff about detecting forgeries and copies of lithographs made after the death of the artist. If I had had an extra million bucks, I might have bought a painting. Just to suppoort the arts, you understand.


Here's another wall of glass art. Cat took all these photos while I was in rehearsal. She was a real trooper, running errands and cleaning up and taking photos. Next posting, I will show you the set. It was truly awesome (and profoundly heavy).