The Citizen-Blyth Festival, 1999-06-23, Page 42BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1999. PAGE23.
Technical director makes designs real
By Janice Becker
Citizen staff
“We turn art into the physical
while maintaining the magic the
designer was trying to achieve.”
In a single sentence, Blyth
Festival Theatre’s Technical
Director Alistair Hepbum sums up
what the technical crew does to
create and enhance the theatrical
productions which hit the stage
each summer.
Having seen the renderings of
designs for the first two
productions by early May, Hepbum
says he has been working with the
designer to transform their
drawings to life.
After deciding if the set is
affordable, the work begins, he
says.
The hardest part is the
procurement of materials for the
sets.
That material can range from
finding dynamite fuses (without
raising suspicions that he wants to
build a bomb) to tracking down old
farm implements.
The first two shows, That
Summer and Big Box, are very
different in design, says Hepbum.
That Summer will be very beautiful
and serene while Big Box will be
almost cartoon-like.
“The designers give us high-end
art and colour schemes and we
figure out the mechanics, how to
make it stand up,” Hepburn says.
“It has to look like a cabin or that
there really is a pool on the stage.”
With the help of the production
manager, carpenter, props head,
painter, three production assistants
and the wardrobe head, Hepburn
says they make the designers’
concepts a physical reality.
When asked how much
adjustment is required to bring
those artists’ conceptions to reality,
Hepbum says most designers have
been working in the business for
many years and know how it
works.
“They will ask for the world, but
if you can give them a couple of
continents, they are happy. They
ask for more than they want and it
is perfect if they get a portion.”
Hepbum brings his own creative
touches to the project, allowing
him to maintain the integrity and
intent of the designer’s drawings.
“Instead of just building the set, we
keep the magic.”
An added complexity to working
at the Festival theatre is the
repertoire aspect. Because several
shows run a the same time,
Hepburn must design sets which
are relatively easy to dismantle,
move, store away in a small space
and can stand alone while still
retaining the original vision.
Hepburn accepts this challenge,
saying working on many shows at
once allows for more creativity and
imagination. It is more exciting.
In addition to the actual sets,
Hepburn is also responsible for any
special effects from gunfire to
smoke and explosions.
With his many responsibilities
and weeks of work ahead of him,
Hepburn says opening night of
each show is what he enjoys
most.
“It is why I do what I do, to
the audience’s reaction. They
and appreciate my work.”
Though Hepburn has been
working in professional theatre for
four years, this is his first venture
outside Toronto.
“So far, so good,” he says. “It is
great (in Blyth). It is so quiet when
I close my eyes at night I hear
nothing. Others have said you can
feel the city melt away from your
exterior here and I agree.”
Congratulations
Blyth Festival
on your 25th
season
across from the
Bly th Festival theatre
100 Queen St., Blyth
523-9381
tbe Blyth Ipo
Alistair Hepburn: In charge of
making the magic work.
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Stage managers bring it all together
Only those involved in theatre
truly appreciate the work that stage
managers do in pulling the various
parts of the production together.
This year’s stage management
team includes stage managers
Michael Wallace, Christine Oakey
and Kendra Fry and assistant stage
managers Tanya Greve and Gretel
Odell-Myer.
Stage managers play different
roles at different times in the
creation of a stage play. During
rehearsal, they are vital for making
the most efficient use of time.
Working with the director they
schedule what scenes will be
worked on at what time and which
actors will be needed, leaving cast
members not needed to make more
efficient use of their time, like
learning their lines.
They also co-ordinate with the
production staff —? scheduling
actors for costume fittings, for
instance. If an actor needs a prop,
they notify
department.
With new
management
responsibility of making sure all
actors get the latest revisions by
the playwright.
Once the show is on stage, the
stage manager is in charge of
making sure the production
remains, night after night, faithful
to the vision of the director, who is
generally no longer around after
opening night.
Mike Wallace is a graduate of
University of King’s College in
Halifax and the Dalhousie
University’s Technical Theatre
program. Since 1992 he has
worked on 20 shows at Blyth.
Christine Oakey, in her third
season at Blyth, graduated from
University of King’s College and
technical production at the
National Theatre School.
Tanya Greve has spent five
summers working at the Festival.
Kendra Fry last year helped lead
the Young Company. Gretel Odell-
Myer is in her second season with
the Festival.
Head carpenter loves
4wonderful facility’
the properties
scripts, stage
also has the
Running six
shows at once
can be hectic
Whether happenstance or fate, a
chance involvement in community
theatre while still in high school
brought John Kelly Cuthbertson
into the theatre world behind the
scenes.
As the head carpenter for the
1999 season of the Blyth Festival
Theatre, Cuthbertson’s job is to
create the “framework of the visual
presentation”.
Very understated in his role in
mounting the productions, it is his
handiwork, and that of his
assistant, which takes the
designers’ drawings from a
concept on paper to reality.
The carpenters’ creation then
allows the painters to work their
bit of magic in creating the
illusions of the stage.
Since attending Ryerson Theatre
School, Cuthbertson worked as a
freelance tech for 13 years as well
as running his own carpentry shop
for five.
Though he started in lighting
design after he finished school, he
also work as an electrician and
technical director. A switch to
production management eventually
saw him move into carpentry,
which he found he enjoyed the
most.
While Cuthbertson has been
involved in 200 productions for
Toronto theatre the most famous
might be the second mounting of
Les Mis at the Royal Alexander in
Toronto.
Working in Blyth for the first
time, Cuthbertson says the
workshop provided for the
carpenters is a “wonderful facility,
the best non-union shop to work
in”.
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Continued from Pg. 22
there are six shows before then, but
it will be a handful when we get to
it.”
While some of the behind the
scenes people have time to relax
once their play hits the stage, for
James the work isn’t done until the
season ends.
Creating for repertory (where
plays alternate even from matinee
to evening performances) is
always a challenge, says James.
“You have essentially two hours to
change over lighting, sound,
costumes.”
“Then again, figuring it out can
seem pretty magical sometimes.”
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