Meet Me In The Redroom

Details for On the Verge–including dates, locations and a backstage look at what goes into a production!

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Behind the scenes at Mommy Redroom

Click on the link above to see our featurette!

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The beauty of and the pain of working with new material and having the playwright in the room is this–the piece is up on stage, we’re reading it and blocking it and suddenly the actors say “This isn’t working.”  And they mean “the script” because something can be done about it.

That’s what happened a week ago.  Two hours into a three hour rehearsal, as we  tried to block a skit about a baby shower gone wrong, we stopped halfway through.  There were a lot of funny jokes in it, and we loved the idea, but it was a long skit with a lot of sitting.  The blocking session turned into a talk about what worked and what didn’t, and then I had the less than appealing task of calling up one of the writers to let him know I was going to be completely rewriting his skits.  Take comfort, I said, I’m retooling the entire show.  While it seemed like a lot of time working on something I had thought was finished, I am forever grateful to be part of a company that keeps me on my toes, writing-wise.   It’s a little like a writing workshop, only the people around the table are a lot more invested in your work because it will eventually become their work as well.

This week, with a mostly new script, things went better.  Two hours into the three hour rehearsal things were in good shape and we did a run-through–something that not every Redroom gets a chance to have.  For Redroom, we generally have two rehearsals and a speed through before the show and that’s it.     Because we’re a little out of shape, we’re having two long rehearsals, a short rehearsal and a dress rehearsal before we open.  It leaves us little time, but it’s a highly concentrated creative burst that allows more people to be involved in the process because the comitment is so low.

I even broke out the video camera and made a trailer for Mommy Redroom.  As soon as YouTube officially posts it there, I will post it here.

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Draft one of the script=rewrite.  Draft 2=written.  T minus three rehearsals to show time.

On Sunday we ran our first Mommy Redroom rehearsal and Lex had her baby.  It was a good day.  Updates to follow.

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The press release has gone out.  Mommy Redroom is really happening.  It’s been nearly a year since we’ve all brainstormed in earnest.  It feels good to stretch those muscles again.  It will be the first weekend in August, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  We’ll be workshopping scripts on Monday, but if you have a story, let me know.  It’s never too late at Redroom.

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There are a lot of arts organizations in North Adams.  A lot.  Three theatre companies.  2 mills full of artists.  Dancers.  Writers.  Performance artists.  Photographers. Sculptors. Painters.  How does one survive?

Being a theatre artist, I smugly believe the answer lies in my own particular poison: collaboration.  One of my favorite musicians, Amanda Palmer, said that she ended up doing music rather than theatre because to do theatre she has to organize 20 people and with music she just needs a piano and an audience.

I’m not saying anything new here, but I am seeing things from a new perspective.  You see, I have this baby now.  And Lex will have a baby in the next couple of weeks.  Having me away from home at bedtime simply doesn’t work for my son. However, bedtime is prime theatre time.  How do I run a Redroom and rehearsals for a Redroom when I need to be home at 7:30?  It’s an exercise in problem solving, no doubt.

But it’s not just people with babies, people with jobs and lives need to find a way to fit in volunteer theatre.  The show we’ve planned for September is going to be broken up between two directors to fit in a couple of summer vacations.  It all works out for the best–each director will work with his/her strength.  And, as I am one of the directors, we also have to figure out the best way to make sure my baby is happy.  We have been a highly collaborative theatre company for the past several years, but the upcoming months are going to put it to the test.

One person will cast the show, another begin the rehearsal period and a third will bring it all together for the end.  We are on the verge, as it were….

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This afternoon Lex and I tried to write a grant. In the other room, her three year old played loudly with his dragon castle play set. Lex tried to find some comfortable position, a near impossibility at 8 months pregnant. My sweet little 3 month old slumbered angelically in his car seat. Just as we opened our laptops, he opened his eyes. And he started to cry.

Here we go…

We got through the history of the theatre in 500 characters or less and the mission statement, but my baby was not interested in grant writing (or eating, or having his diaper changed…). We did what we could and called it a day.

A year or so ago, Lex and I met with an MCLA arts management class. Because we were both there, no one was available to watch her little guy, so he was part of the presentation. The instructor laughed and told her students that they were getting a real look at life in the arts as we took turns chasing him around and talking about how to run a theatre.

And it’s true. Our children are a huge part of our lives, and so is the theatre, so finding how they overlap is an interesting, challenging juggling act. For the past coule years, there’s been only one theatre kid, so we could all take turns covering for babysitting during rehearsals and meetings, but now there are two and there’s another on the way. All boys. Now there is a baby I nurse during breaks in an audition, that I walk around and rock during a board meeting, who gets passed around and loved at a company meeting. He fits into the life the theatre the way he fits into mine.

It seems only fitting, then, that as my first big project back, I work on a motherhood Redroom. Stayed tuned for details.

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The Baltimore Waltz has been getting a lot of press, including a great review.  Follow the links below to learn more about the show!

Review by Larry Murray

A preview piece from Berkshire Week

A preview in The Advocate

For those of you unfamiliar with Paula Vogel’s work, she has a way of taking the most profound and tragic moments of life and finding the humor in them without compromising her commitment to the integrity of the emotional reality.  Do yourself a favor and see what her work looks like on stage; it’s beautiful.

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And the winners are…

• Grand Prize (Richie Havens concert and dinner at Gramercy Bistro): Darcie S.
• 2 tickets to Sweeney Todd at Barrington Stage: Dawn D.
• 2 tickets to Williamstown Theatre Festival: Paula J.
• 2 tickets to Shakespeare and Co.: Carol S.
• Season pass to Main Street Stage: John B.
• Season pass to Royal Berkshire Improv Troupe: Arlene C.
• Massage at Tsubo: Rich W.
• Massage at Flow Bodywork: Ron W.

Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket and supported Main Street Stage!

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Three years ago when we did a SWOT analysis of the stage (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), we wrote “real life” under threats–outside problems we could do little to control.  We’re an all volunteer company, so when real life shows up, we have to work around it.  But we do, and after a hiatus, I hope to have this blog up and running again.

The weather has made its turn toward spring.  The Short Play Festival has come and gone.   Barrington Stage’s North Adams PMP  groups had their shows and the Mayor attended. The young company (as in the really young company, aka, the children of the  Main Street Stage) is growing and expects another addition in July after its most recent addition in late February.  We’ve gotten two new board members and have started a new round of strategic planning.  It looks like we’re going to be in North Adams at least through the year, though we are still planning to collaborate with Topia.

We are currently working on Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel.  And the Redroom team, after a long, restorative break, is finding themselves thinking of skits once again.  The pregnancy and motherhood themed Redroom should be making its way to stage in the next couple of months.

If anyone has something they’d like to see written about here, leave a comment.

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