Saturday, February 4, 2017

Working With My Character

This week, we have been working more on putting together the lines and blocking of the play. I don’t come in until the second half of the play, and we didn’t get to that scene the other night, so I took that time to further myself. In the past week with no rehearsal, I worked on memorizing, and I am still in the middle of reading Oedipus at Colonus. I also got to look at my character. Vivian taught us about body centers and how everybody has a center. The centers are head, chest, stomach, and hips. I think that my character, Hameon, is a mainly a head center but with a second of a chest center.
We don’t get to see a lot of how Hameon acts. We only get to see how he reacts to Creon’s words. Creon has just sentences his fiancee to death. He is smart by not barging in there mad. You can tell he has thought through his words before he talks to his father, making sure to tell him that he is above all reasonable and that no wife could give Hameon better council that he, then subtle saying that Antigone may deserve honor rather than death. He is very careful as to what he said to his father because he knows his father is a king with a temper. Vivian has also told me that the relationship between father and son was different back then. It is not like the relationships we have today. He is thinking of Creon as the king, and not the father.


It is a lot like the scene between Creon and the Messenger. He knows that he can be killed or put in jail for lies. In a way, I am trying to get Creon to change his mind without upsetting him. If I upset him, he could just kill Antigone, put me in jail, banish me, or maybe even kill me. Creon has been known to lose his temper from time to time.

We ran the scene where Creon finds out about my death. It started a discussion. Should we feel bad for him? His wife and only son just killed themselves, but he had it coming. He sentenced Antigone to death, who is not only his niece, but his son’s fiancee. There are a lot of discussions to be held in these plays.


-Travis Cooper
Haemon/Eddie and Head Set Designer

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

A Look Behind The Scenes of Our Antigone

And I begin my tenth show at STC… This time, though, I will not be on the stage. In Our Antigone, I have the opportunity to work as assistant stage manager and lighting/sound designer. This has already given me a look into the side of the theater that I have only explored a few times, all of the happenings behind-the-scenes.


In this production, we have a wonderful team that is full of ideas, consisting of: stage manager, Maria Werner Anderson; set designer, Travis Cooper; costume designer, Morgan Reetz; properties master, Allyson Goodman; make-up designer, Sarah Schoppe; and lights/sound designer and ASM, myself. Additionally, all of the actors are participating on one design team (sets, costumes, props, or dramaturgy). Lastly, there are, of course, the adults and ISU students overseeing our process. In this production, we have Vivian M. Cook as our director, Sarah Bennett as our technical director, Lori Sulzberger as our managing director, and Charissa Menefee as the playwright for this original adaptation.


Teen shows are a very unique opportunity for various reasons. Perhaps the most notable is that the production team is made up of teens. The show that the audience experiences depends on the work of the students in every area of the production, since all of the “non-adult” roles mentioned above are being carried out by students. Every Saturday, there is a production meeting, which is followed by a session of work time for each of the design teams. This is the time when all of the ideas that are developed by the designers and further considered in production meeting come to life, as the entire ensemble works together to create the atmosphere of Our Antigone.


Each designer follows a very specific path, meeting many deadlines along the way. Personally, I have been working on lights and sound. This week we did not have rehearsals, as Vivian was at KCACTF, so I was given a wonderful opportunity to put additional time into my design work. After carefully considering each scene, I completed the initial draft of my cue list. This is a document that lists every lighting cue that I plan to include in the show, the action that occurs directly before the lights are changed, and a brief description of the change that occurs when the cue is hit. Here are the first ten cues in the production, to give you a general idea of the work I have been doing:Screenshot 2017-01-27 at 8.02.23 PM.png
So far, I have designed twenty-seven lighting cues for this production. However, I believe that one of the most important skills to apply when working on designs is flexibility. I am confident that many ideas will develop and change throughout this process.


I began the design process by researching the Greek ideal for lighting. I discovered that the shows were performed outdoors, in an open-air setting. This seemed to be an obstacle, as we are obviously not performing outside. However, I learned that they would purposefully perform their shows at certain times and days, so the outdoor lighting would influence the atmosphere of the show in an effective manner. It is upon this idea that I based my lighting concept for Our Antigone.


In each scene, I consider the ideal placement of the Sun in relationship to the mood of the scene. I explore many details of the scene to inform this choice. For example, a private scene may have more dim lights, while a public scene may have brighter light. Or a private scene may have contrasting lights on the key players of the interaction and the chorus. I also look at the emotional intensity of the scene and what ancient Greek associations were between colors and ideas. For example, I found that yellow, blonde, and gold were associated with gods and kings. Therefore, I made an informed choice to put yellow light on Creon during a scene where he is demonstrating power over the public.


Rehearsals are looking fantastic, and I can’t wait to continue to face the many challenges that are coming up during this process. I hope to see you all there!


-Ben Siegel

Lighting/Sound Designer and Assistant Stage Manager