The Great American Trailerpark Musical

Yes, 2012. I realize I am somewhat late with this post, but my 2012 has thus far involved rehearsals for three shows, two full performance runs plus performances in three events, three jobs, and one adventurous and perhaps somewhat tragic not-a-relationship thing. But those are for NEXT year’s post. 🙂

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My Theatrical 2012, in pictures!

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Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (as Wakey Faker at The Metro)

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The Mystery of Edwin Drood (as Throttle, with Fighting Chance Productions)

4Villains.org (just helped out on the set for a day during a weekend trip to Victoria)

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Some filming with HTVBC in Victoria. SO MUCH FUN to be the villainous henchman, bleeding to death, laughing as he declares that he’ll tell the hero NOTHING! Then collapsing. Cliche and awesome.

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Ran a handful of house-party improv workshops! (Image isn’t mine – it comes care of Jayeb333 on Flickr)

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A return to Science World centre-stage shows! (With Grossology and Bubbles! And Balloons added in 2013.)

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The Great American Trailerpark Musical (as Stage Manager, with Ghost Light Projects)

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The Boys In The Band (as Donald, with Ghost Light Projects)

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A Shpadoinkle Musical! (as Frenchie, Elder Cunningham, and others, with Rock Theatre Co.)

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The Romantics (Playwright, for both The YOU Show and IGNITE! 2012 at The Cultch)

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2012 National Voice Intensive

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Golf: The Musical (with Viva Musica’s Kelowna Summer Theatre Festival)

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Fortune’s Fools (Assistant Stage Manager with Viva Musica’s Kelowna Summer Theatre Festival)

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Henry V (a semi-remount with KeepItSimple for Victoria Fringe)

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Volunteered as a Rescue Ranger for Vancouver Fringe

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Dracula: The Musical? (as Van Helsing! Loved the audience reaction from biting through that clove of garlic every night. With Awkward Stage Productions.)

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Closer (as Stage Manager, with Shift Theatre)

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Began working with The Justice Institute as an actor

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Flora The Red Menace (with Applause! Musicals. So good, I joined their next show as well!)

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Awkward Stage fundraiser – Baby It’s Cold Outside (singer)

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Revue at the Revue (as Jesus, Santa, a New Kid On The Block, and others, at A New Year’s bash with Rock Theatre Co.)

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Okay, a relatively full year. Makes me feel a little more like I’ve been using my time well. (Feel free to compare it to last year: https://adewade.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/my-theatrical-2011-in-pictures/ .) Looking forward to another full year!

Cheers,
Andrew Wade

A Really Useful Engine

To Thomas the Tank Engine, the greatest compliment in the world is to be declared a ‘really useful engine’, which is to say, an engine that not only performs their job efficiently and effectively, but employs problem solving skills and smarts to seek out difficulties and resolve them.

And while I do love the creative spark of acting and writing, there is a very different, and very real, satisfaction in being a really useful engine. Which is what draws me to stage management.
Stage managing, particularly when there aren’t any ASMs, is all about supporting the production in any way. Primarily, stage managers provide a concrete, stable foundation for a production to stand on, through scheduling, through open communication between all the various departments, and through discipline. Spreadsheets of props, set pieces, and costume items. Entrances and exits, movement patterns written down. Lighting and sound cues noted. In a world full of creative actors, directors, artists, and designers, someone needs to be there with a calm, steady hand and a mindset that looks immediately to finding solutions, to helping foster everyone else’s visions (while being mindful of the budget). Essentially, stage management do everything they can to get these great lumbering beasts on their feet.

And all that can be so very, very satisfying.

Tonight is opening night for The Great American Trailerpark Musical, which I was brought in to stage manage midway through the rehearsal process. The last project I stage managed, Sonnets For An Old Century, also brought me in midway through their process. Hopefully, one of these days, I’ll be able to enter a project right from the first design meetings. Because if there is anything I have learned from this process, it is how key and crucial pre-planning and prep work is for this position. I did a lot of things right (such as having a conversation with the director on how he wanted me to act within the rehearsal process, particularly when it came to giving line notes and the like), but I also have a lot to build on, including building a proper stage management kit. Perhaps not as grandiose as Lois’s kit, but then, I’m not the professional she is. Yet.

Right, almost time for the opening curtain. The audience is pouring in. The adventure awaits.

Wish us broken legs!

Cheers,
Andrew Wade

Tag: The Great American Trailerpark Musical

My Theatrical 2012 in Pictures

How to be A Really Useful Engine