Tornado Magnet has been a pretty relaxed show thus far. So much so that Karen Johnson-Diamond and the stage management team have been having a little pre-show fun that I thought I would share here.
I’ve been doing the majority of the pre-show chats for this show because Rona has been working from Toronto. As a result Karen (as Dotty) has decided to take it upon herself to guess what “DJ” stands for during the opening of each pre-show chat. Below is what she’s guessed up until this point – as revealed in the stage management reports. To me, the funniest thing about this is that Karen actually knows what DJ stands for; I’m not sure if she remembers though. Dotty on the other hand has come up with some crazy guesses.
The other bit of fun they’ve been having in the pre-show is coming up with an “excuse” for Alec, the apprentice stage manager, to go out on stage and give Dotty her cue to start playing “Sweet Caroline” on the accordion. This is the official beginning of the show and happens right before the pre-show chat. It’s not the conversation they have that is important; it is just the fact Alec has come out to talk to her that is the cue. So they thought they’d have a little fun and say something a little more interesting than “this is your 2 minute cue”. Below are the excuses for starting in 2 minutes that they’ve come up with up to now.
As more of these happen each day, I’ll update them on the Lunchbox Theatre Twitter page. Follow us @lunchboxtheatre to see what wackiness is made up each day before the show even starts.
-dj
February 26 - DJ was Dijon
February 27 Evening - DJ was Derek Joseph
March 2 - DJ was Desmond Joshua, and the 2 minute call was “We were locked out of the booth.”
March 3 - DJ was Dexter Joshua, and the 2 minute call was “Rosie needed to finish reading the lighting board manual.”
March 5 - DJ was Dweezl Jasper, and the 2 minute call was “Rosie has to finish a level of her video game.”
March 6 afternoon - DJ was Dilly James, and the 2 minute call was “DJ couldn’t find his pre-show chat script”
March 6 evening - DJ was Dasheel Johnson, and the 2 minute call was “We are still looking for the place where we turn the lights on and off from”
March 7 - Caroline was Christine, and the 2 minute call was “ we are waiting for a couple more lunches”
March 9 - DJ was Denmon Jacob, and the 2 minute call was “The Stage Manager for the next show came in and, well, you know Stage Manager’s”
Photos of the Lunchbox production of Darrin Hagen’s Tornado Magnet are available online now here.
I saw the show earlier this week and couldn’t be happier with the work that Karen, Kate, Terry, Deitra and our production staff put into the it. It looks absolutely perfect and is funny as just about anything I’ve seen. I expect anyone who thought Ivanka was hilarious when we did those shows a couple of years ago is certainly going to love Dotty Parsons.
Tickets can be purchased online at tickets.lunchboxtheatre.com.
-dj
Lunchbox Theatre has just sent out a Request for Proposals to agencies who might like to design the marketing material for the 2009/10 season. It’s not a huge campaign, but it is the life blood of our advertising. If you, or any one you know, might like to make a proposal please feel free to email me at dj.kelly@lunchboxtheatre.com and I’ll happily forward you a copy of the RFP.
-dj
Fast Forward Weekly theatre writers Kathleen Renne and Dan Perry gave their musings on the year that theatre was and the one upcoming. One of the companies they focussed on was Lunchbox. Here’s what they said:
Another exciting development this fall was the reinvigoration of Lunchbox Theatre under artistic director Martin Fishman. I’ll be honest. In the past, I often overlooked Lunchbox Theatre and its one-act plays. Under Fishman, Lunchbox is heading in a slightly new, edgy direction. He christened the new Lunchbox space at the base of the Calgary Tower with a staging of David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre. It was a different, bold choice for Lunchbox and one that reawakened my interest in the work it presents.
I take this to be one of the best pats on the back we could have had up to this point. Martie sure has been working hard to take Lunchbox in a slightly different direction, and I’ve been working equally hard to communicate this - through our communications to patrons, changes in how we do things, and our visual identity.
In all, I expect this kind of buzz will bode well for Lunchbox in 2009. We are certainly looking forward to the year and we hope you are too!
-dj
We’ve finally done it! The new theatre is open, but that does not mean the hardwork is done. As you can tell from the recent posts here on this blog we’ve been doing a lot of press lately; however no one has had much time to write a new blog entry to update you on how things are going with the move into the theatre.
When the theatre opened there were a few things not completed that are now getting finished. Our new door hardware has been installed, the actual exterior doors have arrived (did you know you could have “temporary doors”?), and the exterior signage has been installed.
Probably most importantly, our Box Office has moved down to the theatre from our administrative offices on the fourth floor of Tower Centre. It’s nice to have Stephanie down there to greet all the people, but her move certainly hasn’t been without its difficulty! Apparently running a network cable - so the box office computer could have its all important access to the ticket sales database - was not possible. As a result we had to create a VPN connection and to do that we had to have a dedicated internet connection in the theatre. Telus couldn’t hook it up for over two weeks and that just wouldn’t do. Two weeks with no Box Office! Fortunately Shaw said they could do it the next day. Of course once the internet and VPN connections were in place we found that it took FOREVER for Stephanie’s computer to process a credit card. Apparently our internet connection in the upstairs office was just too slow. So now we are in the process of switching from Telus to Shaw upstairs too. Which sadly means our Online Box Office will be offline for a couple of days.
This is just one example of the trials faced when opening a new theatre. Lately, it has not been uncommon to hear the phrase “why can’t things just be easy” bellowed around the office!
The theatre itself is beautiful though. I think the theatre is “very Lunchbox”. It could have been painted all black and been a “black box theatre”, but I think the burgundy walls keep the same charm the old Bow Valley Square theatre did. Except that burgundy is better than the old purple! While A Life in the Theatre is getting a pretty good audience reaction I think the main thing audiences are noticing when attending the first show is the TONS of legroom, and the stage setup for the production - the theatre is in an alley configuration right now.
It looks like our audiences are really liking the new theatre. I just can’t wait to get everything else finished so we can enjoy it just as much too!
Finally, the doors have opened to the Transcanada Stage in our new home at the base of the Calgary Tower. The journey to opening has been just like theatre itself: part comedy, part drama and even part farce! But as the opening night of A Life In the Theatre began, the real reason why we went through all of this was once again clear. We produce theatre! As obvious as that sounds, it was hard at times to remember that what all of this was for was for us to be able to offer what Lunchbox does best to our audience in a comfortable space with flexibility and warmth.
There are far to many people to thank, but I would like to offer my appreciation to the Lunchbox staff who went through this process with dignity, humour anfd grace. Now we can roll up our sleeves and get back to doing our core business.
If you haven’t scene our little jewel of a theatre, please stop by and say hello. I am certain you will be impressed!
From all of us at Lunchbox, thanks to everyone who made this possible and worthwhile.
See you at the theatre.
Martie
After having spent two weeks in rehearsals this week saw StageFright leave the rehearsal hall and move into the Studio at Vertigo where it will live until October 4th. This past week has been what is referred to as “Tech Week” where the show gets transformed into its final product with the addition of lights, costumes and set pieces. The cast and crew have spent tireless hours working with director Mark Bellamy and our wonderful design team: Deitra Kalyn (costumes), and Terry Gunvordah (set and lights) to bring StageFright to life.
While the cast spent Monday putting the finishing touches on the show acting wise, the crew (lead by Production Manager Caitlin Ferguson) prepared the Studio Theatre, moving set pieces, building risers and hanging and focusing lights. Tuesday was spent running the show numerous times to allow for every technical element to be tweaked to perfection. Wednesday brought an audience into the Studio for the first time as StageFright had its preview performance, followed by opening on Thursday. As the week comes to a close both cast and crew are well into the routine of the run.
On behalf of the cast and crew I’d like to thank the entire staff at Lunchbox Theatre for facilitating our needs and allowing us to make StageFright a success. I’d also like to thank our amazing volunteer ushers that make every performance possible.
Looking forward to seeing everybody at the theatre,
Alec McCauley
Apprentice Stage Manager
Well. It’s official. Our 2008 season has begun. Today Stagefright opened to an enthusiastic response. Natascha, Mallory and Kevin under the guidance of Mr. Bellamy, sang and danced their way into our hearts. Thanks to all including our production, admin and front of house staff for a great job. That’s what team work is all about!
The stage floor is being laid today in our theatre. Soon actors will be trodding the boards in our new home. The countdown is on.
Can’t wait!
Martie
Our first week of rehearsals for StageFright has come to a close, and what a week it has been. This week has been spent creating a shell for the show and starting to fill in the gaps. After spending the first couple days working out all the little kinks textually and musically in the show, we’ve moved into the process of blocking and choreography. There is an interesting aspect of this show as it is being “improvised” by the characters onstage. As such the movements and characterizations need to be “discovered” by the characters throughout the show. As the play goes on characters find props and costumes onstage and use them to create their characters.
There are a staggering number of musical numbers in relation to the length of the show. As such Brent Rock, our musical director, has spent hours ensuring that everything sounds magical and flows smoothly together. This fun filled, energetic show was cut down from the original two-act version of StageFright by the original playwright Jim Betts. As such, the cast and Director Mark Bellamy spent a day going through the show and trying to ensure that as much of the original characters and plot come through in this shortened form.
As we move into our second week, we’ve started to fill in the gaps of the shell we created last week and begun working through the show scene by scene. In this process the cast takes the time to clarify their intentions for saying each line and executing each movement. Though it can be slow and painstaking, it is this process that really brings the show together. At the same time we’ve been working on each musical number making sure that the choreography matches both the tone of the music, as well as the words and context of the show.
We’ve also begun to slowly add technical elements into the rehearsal process, such as props and costumes. As actors start to put down their scripts they have their hands free and can start to figure out what will work and what won’t, both in the context of their characters and also what they are able to work with onstage. Due to the relatively small cast for this show it allows us, the stage management team, to take the time to respond to the individual needs of every actor and help to facilitate everyone’s specific process.
- Alec McCauley (Apprentice Stage Manager)
We just had our umpteenth fire alarm evacuation notice come over the intercom here at Tower Centre. Like anyone who has worked downtown and been in that situation we slowly and calmly exited the building - a little slower than we probably should have as we waited for our auditor to pack up her belongings, after just unpacking them.
We exited the building and wandered on over to chat with the Vertigo Theatre people when, to our surprise, we watched the construction workers inside our theatre shovelling water out the exterior door. Wow, that is a lot of water… Where did it come from? We were told by bystanders the crew hit a sprinker head and the theatre began flooding. And flooding. And… won’t the water just stop already! (We have photos and will post them as soon as the pain of the scene has diminished.
Right now we’re scheduled to have a press conference in the theatre in the theatre tomorrow morning with the Minister of Culture! Keep your fingers crossed…
Leslie, our general manager and project manager, has gone to investigate the damage. Let’s hope it is minimal and doesn’t result in having to replace too much drywall or put the construction too far off schedule.
More details as they come up to us…
UPDATE 1: Mark Bellamy, who is directing our first show and is the Artistic Director of Vertigo Theatre, just told me there theatre is flooding from the roof too. Apparently its just coming in through all the pot lights. Sigh… We’re going to go see if there is anything we can do to help them as our construction crew gets things under control in our theatre.