The Neverending Blog - Tech Begins

Behind the Curtain welcomes guest blogger Gabriel Baron, playing Bastian in SCT's production of The Neverending Story, which opens December 7th.

Tech, Day 1

Tech is usually my favorite part of a rehearsal process. You finally have all the physical elements you’ve had to imagine in the rehearsal room: the props, the set, the costume, the lights, the sound. Your character’s situation really starts to come into light. And the best part is that since everyone is paying attention to the technical elements, you get to run moments and scenes over and over again without those pesky directors telling you what to do. So it really does become a great time for exploration and specification with what you’re doing as an actor. And because you are being asked to run a scene mainly just for the tech folks to learn what they have to do, you feel the freedom to have fun being goofy and silly with your acting (as long as you say the right lines for the cues), which can sometimes wind up being better than what you were doing when you were trying to get it “right” in the rehearsal room.

None of this, however, was applicable to me on this first day of tech for The Neverending Story. Since my character basically just sits up in the attic of his school the whole show and doesn’t actually talk to another actor or even move around, on this day I found myself just sitting in the audience of the Charlotte Martin Theatre, while everyone focused on the exciting and technically difficult parts of the show: flying and puppets.

2:00 - Safety meeting and tour of backstage with [Company Manager] Linda Jo Greenberg. Ooh look! The candy drawer already has candy in it! Thanks Brad. Then a testing of the stage platform. Yup, it’s walkable alright. I don’t know about that downstage ramp, a little shaky if you ask me. Luckily, I don’t use it the whole show. Whew.

2:45- I finally get to go up in my attic! Yup, it’s a high platform. All the fun dressing that the designers and prop people found really make it feel like an old school storage area. Old tennis rackets, a science class skeleton, are those ice skates? And of course, books. Director David Bennett and I decide that with just a few items of clutter near my main playing area removed, the attic is good to go.

3:15- David has me try a variety of positions in the attic to maximize my visibility to the audience. Which is good, because with a face like mine I need to be seen by as many people as possible. These tickets don’t sell themselves you know.

3:28- We’re done with the attic for today. Now I just have to wait around to do my flying rehearsal. My favorite part! Just after these next two scenes, says Stage Manager Claire Zawa.

3:36- There’s a giant turtle on stage. She looks sleepy as her neck lumbers up and down, left and right, while puppet designer and creator Doug Paasch makes minute adjustments.

David Bennett steps on that downstage ramp and requests some extra support.

Mikey Place as Atreyu perches on Chad Jennings’ back. As the hero’s faithful horse, Artax, there has been much concern about Chad’s back carrying a full grown man on a raked (slanted) stage 11 shows a week.

Hans Altweis enters with his flying harness strapped over his street clothes. He looks like some kind of special forces MacGyver. He’s ready to review his intricate and difficult flying choreography as the Luck Dragon, Falkor, with the spider Ygramul.

4:10- Haven’t gotten to my flying yet. Right after Mikey and Hans, says Claire Zawa.

Mikey and Hans hang in mid air dead center of the proscenium, while movement coach Kathryn VanMeter adjusts the blocking of the wind giants.

Understudy David Goldstein sits toward the back of the house studying his many lines for the roles of both Atreyu and Bastian, but he is clearly more interested in the flying on stage. And who can blame him? Who hasn’t wished they could fly? And how often do we get to see live and in person even the illusion that someone is hovering in mid air? It’s magical even though we know there are wires. You can’t take your eyes off them.

In my brief time practicing my simple flying for the show yesterday, I could barely contain the giddy playfulness of my eight year old self which was brimming to my ears. The mild discomfort of the harness quickly fell away when I was lifted up and flown back and forth, up and down. I felt like a superhero, or Luke Skywalker, or Neo. I wanted to act out every imaginable gag of silliness in the air, but here in this professional theater, I had to force my adult self to limit my shenanigans to just a few Chaplinesque arms and leg movements. I got some laughs, I was satisfied.

5:17pm- Still sitting in the audience. I’ve played a few rounds of Star Wars - Rogue Squadron on the N64 in the green room, eaten a Bumblebar and wandered the theater a few times. My flying is coming up right after this next scene, says Claire Zawa. Sure, sure, I say, no problem.

On stage, five actors manipulate the four body pieces and one head of the giant spider Ygramul. David, Doug and Kathryn want to see two body pieces move along with the head as the spider tries to sting Falkor. It’s a tricky illusion to create, having five actors work together to manipulate one creature, doing one fluid action. And even though the pieces of the body are relatively light, holding them up for so long is taxing on the actors.

Meanwhile, over stage right, Hans hangs 15 feet in the air, practicing flipping in place. It’s a beautiful and graceful motion. He controls the action as though he were born on the air. We’ll see if he maintains that grace in performance, adding lateral movement to the wires, lights, sounds, costume and adrenaline. Knowing Hans, I have no doubt he will.

6:28pm- Ten minute break. When we return we’ll only be working the Gmork fight, so everyone except Mikey, Hans and Brad are released for the day. We never got to my flying. I am bummed. Not that I sat and did nothing for five hours, but that I didn’t get to be my eight year old self as a superhero. That’s what tomorrows are good for!