Production Meeting Notes Dec 28

We had a quick production meeting today, between Dave's rehearsal and my interviewing Audio Engineers.

Attending:
Dave, Gene, Carl, Ananda, Patrick, Christi, and Chris.

WHITE CHRISTMAS/I LOVE YOU BECAUSE:
- COSTUMES:
- need to create a schedule for the drycleaning
- rentals/loans first
- stock upon p/u of above
- Need to arrange labor for re-stock
- Jillian should put in about 40 hours this week and next
- we can schedule Heather and Anni as needed
-Anni has expressed interest in helping clean up laundry areas and dressing rooms

- SHOP
- Dumposter arranged for Tuesday
- Gene is short on overhire labor; only has 4 lined up
- Strike on Jan 2 and 3, load in following Sunday (Jan 7)
- Target is set up for Tuesday PM LX focus, and actors onstage Friday, or Thurs if poss.

- LIGHTS
- LX focus on Jan 9 and 10
- Will look into working around track from WC; trying to leave it up due to short turnaround and lack of manpower over the holidays.


MADELINE'S CHRISTMAS
- clean and store costumes for future use
- store scenery and props as unit; legs and portals to be skinned and the fabric stored

CHARLOTTE'S WEB (opens Jan 31)
- Targetting Jan 24 Earl onstage.

ILYB props questions/findings

Just so everyone knows were we stand on certain props:

• Hasbro never made a "My Lil' Pony" abacus. I have acquired a wooden one and will paint it to look as if it were part of that toy series.
  
• Brooklyn Lager is only available in bottles - it's not on tap anywhere. I will acquire either beer or labels to apply to bottles of our own choosing.
• Jeff's bedroom - do we want a stereo in it for sc 5?
• Austin - small legal pad, or fancy schmancy pretentious journal? Pencil or pen?
• Austin - thermos preference?
• pg 49 - should picture be framed? Or just tacked up?
• Shop should build Marcy's "bed." I will dress it up once it's built.
  

New post on the La Cage Blog

Mike Amico emailed me an overview of the set design. I copied it to the La Cage blog. He discusses the general layout, how it will work, and some color. Check it out.

Production Meeting

We're going to try to do a production meeting on Thursday, December 28 at around 1:30 pm.

This is subject to change, so please check with me that morning to confirm. It may move to Friday if Dave feels he doesn't have the time on Thursday.

We will be reviewing WC and MC strike, and the load in schedule for I LOVE YOU BECAUSE. This SHOULD be a quick meeting. Dave will need to eat lunch, and I have a 2pm interview with a possible sound op.

ARRRRGH! Horrible Traffic Alert

JR ORANGE BOWL PARADE @ 7:00PM NEXT SAT THE 30TH OF DECEMBER

(Thanks, Carl)

WHITE CHRISTMAS photo call update

The photo call has been moved to Thursday, Dec 28 due to a scheduling conflict.

ILYB: Coffee machine

I spoke with Gene briefly about the espresso machine for the set. We need to get measurments for a commercial type machine so it has clearance to fit into whatever slot it's going into.

My questions:

• Are we actually making coffee onstage?
• What style should the machine be? How many spouts?

Do we want something like:






Or something like this:

LA CAGE update

Dave has talked Mike Amico into designing the set. Mike has taken on a staff position at Palm Beach DramaWorks, which has a play opening on the exact night we open. He can design the set for us, but he will not be able to come down and do those final touches he has done in the past. To offset this, I will work a little more closely with Mike and spend more time tracking the construction and load-in of the set, and act on Mike's behalf to make sure the set is finished to his satisfaction.

I will also be starting a Blog just for La Cage, where I can post notes, drawings, and photos to help everyone keep up with where we are and where we need to get to.

Dario and Ellis visited Costume World to look at the LA CAGE costumes they have. Unfortunately, while CW bought the Broadway costumes, it seems that they've been largely replaced with..other costumes. Ellis is going to check out some things at Valentina's while he's out in LA, and I'm trying to get some pictures out of Pierre's in Philadelphia.

WHITE CHRISTMAS updates

There will be a photo call after the 10am matinee on the 20th.

Cecilia will be back in for Wednesday's show.

John will not be returning to the show. Our sympathies go out to him and his family during this crisis.

Chris Jahn and Patrick Tennent will be out of town over the Chrismas Holiday. Chris leaves early Saturday and will be back Wednesday. Patrick leaves Sunday, and will be back on Thursday.

White Christmas, week ending Dec 17

From stage manager reports:

• JOHN W. WILL BE OUT OF THE SHOW UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE/ MOTHER HAS TAKEN A TURN FOR THE WORSE
• CHRISSI AND CARL HAVE WRITTEN ADJUSTMENTS/ MAY HAVE A SPACING CALL FOR THE TWELVE ON WED.
• CECELIA TWISTED HER ANKLE BACKSTAGE ON STAIRS/ SENT HER HOME DURING SECOND ACT

CHARLOTTE'S WEB

I met with Earl, Kathy and Gene to sort out some problems with the approach to constructing the kitchen. We eventually worked out that building sliders instead of wagons would not take any more time to construct and paint. And although we lose the impact of having a "floor" treatment specific to the kitchen, Earl will have more flexibility in his staging without the wagons. Earl also feels he has enough hands to strike the kitchen set dressing without putting everything on a wagon or two.

NOTE FOR RENTALS:
The "midstage" traveller will be moving downstage: this will give us a depth of about 14 to the edge of the stage. Still room for lectures and award ceremonies, but this will affect projections, as the screen will be several feet closer to the projector.

It was my first chance to see Kathy's plans and drawings; it's going to look GREAT.

She will try to have a plan and section for Patrick by the middle of next week (December 20-ish),

Reviews for the movie are out; they're lukewarm. I don't know how that's going to affect our ticket sales, but we'll have SINGING and DANCING. Maybe that will put us over the top.

I LOVE YOU BECAUSE updates

Rehearsals will begin prior to the new year, on December 28, from 10am to 6pm. On January 2nd, rehearsals will shift from 2pm to 10pm. Also on January 2nd, we will start the day with our traditional "meet and greet." Everyone will be back from their holidays to meet the cast and share coffee and bagels.

DESIGN TEAM:
Set - Gene Seyffer
Costumes - Ellis Tillman
Lights - Patrick Tennent
Sound - Nate Rausch (still)(as far as I know, anyway)
Choreography - Chrissy Ardito
Musical Direction - Kevin Wallace

Dates to know:
January 11, promo at the Rotary Club Luncheon. This will at noon, the logistics of how to get there will be worked sometime earlier that week.

January 27, meet the producers of the NY production of I LOVE YOU BECAUSE after the show. this will probably include photos on the set.

There are two Wednesday 2pm matinees for this production: January 24th and February 7th.

Nate Rausch will be leaving us as Audio Engineer, so we are now searching for someone to run sound for the theatre. Steve Shapiro is NOT available; save the quarter.

We need to find someone to do props for this show.

Dave and I have discussed stage crew, but I have since found some flaws in our reasoning. I will discuss this with him when I can.

Calendar Updates

Thanks to Joy, I have updated the calendars to match the dates being sold by the Box Office. Every mainstage performance date is now correct; every matinee and extra performance is listed. Joy has also promised to keep me informed of changes, so they should stay up-to-date.

Here are direct web-browser links:
Rehearsal and Performances (MS)
Mainstage
Balcony
Black Box

Welcome to the new Production Dept. Blog!

Nate gave me the idea for a blog instead of a website. The site is still up, and I will continue to update it, but I wanted to see if this was a more effective tool.

Links:
Production Homepage
Calendar