Let's Be Honest

Working on Almost, Maine has been such an amazing and different experience. I have never participated in anything like it before. With this being my first teen play, I’ve had almost nothing but new experiences in this production.

Because it’s a show made almost entirely by teens, we get little direction. Yes, adults are there to help with anything we need and to “polish” things up a bit, but, we definitely have more freedom in how we want to play our character and how we want the scene to look. In a way, this can make our scenes more honest. If we truly put ourselves in the place of that character, and ask ourselves, “What would they do?” it helps us to make our scenes so much better.

In my scene, The Story of Hope, it’s been extremely difficult to stay completely honest throughout the whole scene. Because my character has so much to say, it’s hard not to rush through it. Through this whole process, Kivan has really helped me become more and more honest with every line and to really search and discover everything that I say.

I’ve learned, more in this show than any other, that your lines can’t just be yourself reading them. It must be your character that reads them. Don’t get in the mindset of, “How would I say this in this situation?” think more, “How would my character say this in this situation?” “What’s going through this character’s mind?”

Being completely honest is such a huge part of this show because these are all normal people, with (mostly) relatable problems. These aren’t silly characters with crazy situations that would most likely never happen in real life.

Though I have so much more to learn and so much more room to improve on my honesty in acting, I’ve improved so much with being honest during Almost, Maine.

Morgan Reetz

Hope

Technically Almost Done

I'm writing this while watching one of the final tech rehearsals for STC's production of Almost, Maine. I've been grateful for the opportunity to be a co-technical director for this show. It's been a lot of work for everyone involved, and I'm happy to be breathing a sigh of relief this early. The set is mostly painted, the lights are mostly done, and the special effects are mostly finished. This show is, mostly, ready to roll.

I've never been involved in a show quite like this one. Not only are all of the actors part of the technical work - several of them are also lead designers. The range of creative choices and the amount of dedication required from everyone is staggering. We've tried to create an environment that encourages self-reliance, but also makes it okay to seek out help. I hope we've been successful.

The level of collaboration inherent in the format of the teen show has also impressed me. Each Saturday, everyone from all of the technical teams works together in the same space. This presents some challenges of its own, but regardless, the amount of interaction between the teams is fantastic, even if it's not always focused...

This show has presented some other challenges, too. It's a new space for us, and we owe a lot to Reggie for breaking it in. Still, in the last couple weeks, we've had to figure out how to juggle renovations, rehearsals, and technical work. A couple of new lights are making their debut, and check out that shiny black floor!

When we started this process, we knew we had put together an outstanding company of teens. Nothing about that has changed, and I'm excited for them to be sharing it all on Thursday.

Mat Wymore

Technical Director

Transition Time!

Not only is it important to be be actively engaged in scene, but while out of scene too. It’s very important to know when you’re involved in a scene change or a task offstage; other cast members are counting on you. This became very important when STC started tackling the transitions between vignettes this past Thursday.

Usually, there are transitions in a play for the sole purpose of getting props and set pieces on and off stage expeditiously in order to move on to the next scene. The unique thing about Almost, Maine is that we didn’t necessarily create the transitions in the hope of being expeditious. We decided to create the community of Almost, Maine by using the transitions effectively to shown character interactions. This was a really cool idea, but we had to remain with the idea that these transitions were not supposed to be “precious”. There’s a very good line in the director’s concept statement for Almost, Maine: “Our production will attempt to shuck the preciousness from the scenes, allowing these scenes to operate as the mirrors they are, accurately displaying the ambivalence that springs from the pursuit of love.” We can’t use transitions as an excuse to not follow the pursuit of love. Most scenes end in a spot of tension or questioning. We don’t know what’s about to happen, so the transitions should hopefully continue those feelings.

The first transition was from the prologue into the Her Heart. It had already been roughly planned out and shown to the rest of the cast a few rehearsals earlier. I hadn’t been in attendance the first night the transition was blocked so I was given the privilege to watch as Kivan worked out some kinks with the cast. I learned here, or a least I now believe that it’s just as important to sit back, take it all the information in, and process the images on stage as it would to get up and do it. My perspective was completely changed. I watched Kivan make only slight changes, but with considerate enhancements to the transition. This may have been the way two people acknowledged one another, or how one took another’s hand, or if recognition of a face created this facial expression or a different one. Once it was done right, you could almost hear the magical “click” as the pieces slid into place, it was very satisfying. After the transition was running smoothly, it was time for my character to be added.

First, Kivan asked me to walk with Rhonda as she entered, and I felt like it probably could have worked, but something just didn’t feel right. We tried it once or twice, but then Kivan asked me to enter with Gayle instead. Gayle and I know each other in Almost, I’ve given her love advice before, so it only seemed fit if we were talking together. Gayle then has an interaction with Lendall where then, we exit. The next of the transitions went according to plan and we finished 4 more transitions.

The growth of a scene, transition, or play as a whole is really important if it can be looked from different perspectives.  Sometimes on stage, we may think what we’re doing is really clear but to the audience it may not. So having feedback for things like that is crucial. I’m glad I got to see both sides of it on Thursday. We’ve now got all but two transitions blocked and I’m so excited to see how the last two transitions go!

Jayna Wanamaker

Marvalyn / Head of Dramaturgy

The Story Behind 'The Story Of Hope'

This week we worked on the Story Of Hope. I think this scene, done right, can make everybody's heart drop as does mine every time we practice it. I think that there are a few main things that make this scene very sentimental and beautiful.

The “thing” is that the situations of these characters are not fun for either of them, and bring back painful memories. This scene can take your breath away. I personally love the scene, but am finding it difficult to act in it.

Working with Morgan has been amazing. She comes into every scene already in a full emotional state every time. She speaks so much, yet she still keeps every line honest. If I were reading that many lines, I would find myself without any expression. Even when I don’t speak in our scene, I am struggling to find the honesty that she brings to the table.

A big part for our scene, too, is listening. Most of our scene is spent listening to one another, and throughout the whole process of listening to everything, the character’s emotion changes over and over and over.

But Morgan and I get along very and well and Kivan has helped us come as far as we have. I am very excited for this scene.

Travis Cooper

Dave

Transitions

“On Thursday’s rehearsal we worked on building the transitions between the different vignettes. Connecting the different scenes without making the play feel disjointed as a whole seemed like a daunting task, and I definitely had my doubts about our plan. After figuring out the first two, though, I understood where Kivan was coming from and how these would work. Instead of just bringing on the next set pieces, the transitions embody the community of Almost; though each transition is different, the atmosphere of the town is maintained between each individual scene.”  - Lena Menefee-Cook

“This week we worked on transitions. We discussed and tried many different ways to get all (or most) of the characters on stage to give the feeling of a hustling small town. I enjoyed working our characters and their stories into the transitions. Even if crossing the stage silently, we can show a lot about our characters and the town.” - Ben Teske

“Working on transitions helped build the community of Almost. It helped us realize the relationships between everyone in Almost, and not just those in a scene together.” - Anna Suski

“Not only is it important to be be actively engaged in scene, but while out of scene, too. We worked four transitions this Thursday. The first one, which had already been roughly planned out and shown to the rest of the cast a few rehearsals earlier, came to life as I watched from the sidelines, having not been in attendance at that previous rehearsal. I learned here, or a least I now believe, that it’s just as important to sit back, take it all in and process the images on stage as it is to get up and do it. I watched Kivan make only slight changes, but with considerate enhancements to the transition. This may have been the way two people acknowledged one another, or how one took another’s hand, or if recognition of a face created this facial expression or a different one, but once it was done right, you could almost hear the magical “click” as the pieces slid into place. I was given the privilege of watching these “clicks” start popping up more and more as small adjustments were made. It may seem weird, but I was almost sad to stop watching, and start physically engaging in the scene. I’ve learned both ways, though, are very important for the growth of a scene, transition, or play as a whole. I’m glad I got to see both sides of it on Thursday.” - Jayna Wanamaker

New Year, New Play

I can’t say having been apart of the previous teen shows has given me a sense of comfort, because when I walked into our first production meeting for Almost, Maine, I was just as nervous as I as for the first meeting of David & Lisa; the only difference now is that I have my own architects ruler. Every production is different, and while I now know how to use an impact driver / screw gun, I couldn’t go into it thinking I knew everything just because I had been involved in the last two shows and had taken a beginning theatre course at ISU. I’ve designed the past two shows, David & Lisa and Much Ado About Nothing, and each time is something new and different. My experience with Almost, Maine has been especially unique due to the style of the play, the theatre space, and the new leaders.

This production comes with a distinct set of challenges based mainly on how it’s written. The vignette form has been something new for me. It’s interesting as well as painstaking. The goal of the set for Almost, Maine is to portray the many different places of the town while still making the scenes feel connected, since they’re set at the exact same time. For the last two productions, I’ve never really had to deal with set changes and set pieces being taken on and off a lot. The idea of creating many sets was exciting but also a little daunting. However, this year I’m not the only set designer that comes into production meetings. Clove Woodworth is my Assistant Set Designer. So, along with working on the play, I have someone to more closely collaborate with and delegate harder tasks to. It’s been a bit of a learning curve for me to change some of my focus sometimes and make sure I’m keeping her fully informed as well as demonstrating what I do, designing on a closer level. Sometimes I forget that she can’t instantly read my brain and I need to remember to inform her of my plans and if anything changes. It’s a new kind of communication that has been a great experience.

Zoey Lazere

Story Theater Company has a new location on South Dayton Avenue to add onto the new and exciting happenings this year. For Almost, Maine, this is the place we’re holding rehearsals, building sets, and where the show will be performed. It’s been both helpful and a hindrance. On one side, it’s helpful because if I need to take measurements for the performing area I can just run over. We can easily move our set pieces through the garage doors without having to load them in a truck and if something needs to be repainted, I can get it done right away. However, the other side of that is since we will have more people than ever in this space during the performances, Story Theater Company is building a lobby inside the workshop. For the set crew especially, it means we can’t leave what we’re working on out and it leaves us with little space. Luckily, since the production of A Slice Of Reggie happened a few weeks prior to the start of Almost, Maine, we were able to reuse the makeshift platform stage, one of the largest things we’d have had to build otherwise. However, it’s been an adjustment that we’ve had to work around.

To add on even more change this year, we have two new Technical Directors and a new Production Manager. It was refreshing as well as a little weird to introduce myself again in a space that had become so familiar. I had gotten accustomed to working with people who were already aware of my general skill set and I wasn’t quite sure how much the new faces knew about my previous involvement. My responsibilities have shifted a bit because of this as well. Since I had learned some of the basics the years before, such as ground plans, renderings, and budgeting, they trusted me to do those jobs again without having to watch over my shoulder. I was just getting comfortable with it last year so this was something I had to work hard on. I starting to get into the swing of things last year and at the start of this year it seemed like more responsibility was coming my way. I want to take that responsibility, though, and use my previous experience to create this production and guide my set team, and Clove, to really show them how set design works.

Lena Menefee-Cook, Zoey Lazere, Kivan Kirk (Director)

I’m happy to be back and working with a new set team, a new assistant, and in a new space. Each production gives me different insights and teaches me how to deal with the different twists and turns that happen during shows.

Zoey Lazere

Set Designer/Builder

Three Block(ing)s

This week I had the first real blocking rehearsal with both Ali in Her Heart and Lena in Seeing the Thing. In Her Heart, Kivan was happy to see how we wanted to move, at first, and then gave us more specific direction later. We got rather specific and began using the space in unique ways. Because we're not performing in a normal proscenium theater, we can use the space more realistically. With an audience in front of you and only in front of you, actors have to worry about always facing them (not showing their backsides). It creates a degree of artifice that isn't conducive to good performances. You have to play to the crowd. On the other hand, with an audience on two sides, we're playing to the corner, yes, but more than that, we're playing to each other. We have the freedom to emphasize one character over another in any given moment and blocking becomes much more organic, as we interact with one another without worrying so much how it looks from one singular perspective. Ultimately, this will mean that each seat will get a little different view of the action and that's okay. Every side is interesting, in my opinion, and tells a slightly different story.

We also set some rules for ourselves. Glory, Ali's character, for example, would go downstage (towards the audience and the northern lights) when she felt more connected to her deceased husband, and upstage (towards the back wall and me) when felt more connected to East, my character. This created a unique dynamic for the scene and one that gave clear reasons for moving.

Blocking for Seeing the Thing was an unexpected consequence of the weather (I was meant to rehearse with Travis in They Fell that evening) but ended up being very productive. Kivan wasn't as prepared as he had been for Seeing the Thing but we were productive nonetheless. I guess the biggest thing that emerged for me in blocking with some idea of the ground plan, was the impact that levels can have. When Lena's character of Rhonda would be up on a platform higher than me, it drove home what a monumental task giving his gift is for Dave, my character. It made it far more daunting and her a bit more intimidating. Having to physically climb to say what I needed to say was quite effective at making the impediments to Dave's goal very clear. It was like a more physical version of psychological gestures (a technique for making lines clearer where in you deliver the lines with a physical gesture in mind. For example, an angry line can be delivered with a push). I guess that's what blocking is supposed to be; an extension of the pursuit of an objective and an outgrowth of the circumstances of these characters.

Overall, it has been an excellent first few blocking rehearsals.

Ben Sulzberger

East/Chad/Dave