PCS Blog
The Backstage Blog Is Born!
Posted by Katie Nolen | 10 December 2010 | Comments (7)
A night at the theater can be, and arguably should be, a magical experience. Additionally the set, lights, costumes, and sounds of a show should serve to enhance and support the script and the actors. But they are also wicked cool, and surprisingly complex.
So I asked the company if I could blog about them. Permission was granted. OMG.
But where to start? There are so many technical facets to a production, and so many talented individuals doing amazing work in each area. Over time, I hope this blog can explore many of the different production departments, as well as their equipment, practices, and staff here at PCS. But to get us started off, right now, today, (with the pictures already in my camera from last night's performance...), let's start with some of what goes on in my world backstage during A Christmas Story.
Hi! My name is Katie Nolen, I'm the Deck Manager at Portland Center Stage at the Armory. My job title is confusing, but ultimately I am the flyman, and I work behind the scenes during performances to move scenery and facilitate effects as needed, usually with a small crew of fantastically talented/helpful/smart/good-looking stagehands.
.jpg)
The Go-To Crew: Kailyn McCord, Tim McGarry, & me Katie Nolen (the Irish force backstage is strong...) For A Christmas Story, Matt Jones is also a member of the run crew team. But he is not Irish, nor is he pictured here. He IS pictured below.
Anywho, sometimes that means we're pulling ropes to make walls or people fly in and out with our in-house rigging system, sometimes it means using automation software to move a turn table, sometimes it means rolling thousands of cotton balls.
But for now we'll focus on this production:
This is what the Christmas Story set looks like to an audience.
This is how I see the show. On a 5x7 B&W monitor. (Thank you Casi!) There are larger, color monitors in both the main stage and studio green rooms, so the actors can keep tabs on the shows progress, but this little guy is great for my purposes.
You can see the monitor there on the left in these pictures (sorry for the blurriness, there's not a lot of light backstage during a show...). It's sitting next to the mass of cables & computers & PLCs & motors we use to automate the house wagons. Er, wagon. But we'll get into that another time. :) The house where Ralphie & his family lives actually splits into three sections, which track off-stage to allow us to move additional scenery in front of it.
See?! Note the Oldsmobile & the infamous flagpole in the wings...
The upstage sides of the house are unfinished, but labeled so that we can easily re-assemble the set for future productions. Also note the sight-lines taped to the deck floor, reminding us to keep our bodies and props out of the audience's view...
.jpg)
The fence panels close during scene changes to mask the houses splitting off, and the classroom/jungle/christmas tree lot/goldblatt's scenery moving on-stage. It looks pretty cool back there.
Here you can see how the house has split to allow the Goldblatt's department store slide to move downstage, and the decorative fabric and mylar and lightbulb "wall" to fly in from the rigged batten above. You can also see Kailyn, celebrating a successful costume change with Randy, Ralphie's younger brother, out of his regular costume pants and into the pants treated to look like he's wet himself.
And here, Kailyn cues Randy to go down the slide. Below sits the aforementioned Matt Jones, waiting to help me strike the slide back upstage when the scene is over. You can also see the electric cables we need to dress out of the way of the wheels as we move the set piece. It's hard to tell in these pictures, but we all wear wireless headsets so that our fearless leader and stage manager Jamie Hill can cue all of us. Conversely, we can tell Jamie when transitions are complete, or of any troubles that might arise backstage during a show. The headsets also have an isolated channel that allows us to talk just with each other, so that we can communicate during transitions, without interfering with Jamie's light and sound calls. Aaaannd, there's a fair amount of joking around on our channel if I'm being honest...
Here the house wagon has split & we've brought on the jungle wagon. You can just see one of the young actors climbing through the UNFORGIVING swamps of Indiana. You can also see the black drop we fly in behind the wagon to completely hide the house from view. The PA Joey Edwards stands by to strike the wagon and signal to me when he is clear of the house tracking path, and I'm clear to move the house sections back on-stage.
Looking up from the deck you can see the the black drop when it's all the way out, as well as lights hanging above focused specifically on different portions of the set, and also the hanging scenery we fly in at various moments.
Okay! Good first blog. Stage management just called half-hour, so I should go change into blacks. But I hope you enjoyed it. If there's anything in particular you want to know more about, let me know! I'm hoping to visit the scene shop soon, to see what they're working on, also planning to check in with the light, sound, and wardrobe departments in short order.
Thanks, enjoy the show...
Next week, WARDROBE!
Comments (7)
Very cool, getting a back stage tour from the crew that works it. Coming to Santaland Diaries tomorrow, can’t wait.
Hey Katie,
Thanks for making the show go! Great first blog. I agree that the backstage folks never get enough credit. Brilliant work on Christmas Story and seamless even without all the automation.
Alan
I love this! I think it’s really cool to see what happens backstage. Sometimes I forget that there are tons of super-hardworking people doing stuff behind the scenes. Thanks for sharing!
What a holiday gift for the mumsy! Loved learning more of the inside job. Looks like a good crew to me….. looking forward to your next post.
Pull rope! Get Banana!
What a wonderful post!
It reminds me of a Penn & Teller magic show. In many of their tricks,
they tell you what they are going to do, then they do it—then the tell
you how they did it. The audience STILL can’t figure it out!
The folks back stage never get enough credit.
Good job Katie!
jim
Nice job. Looking forward to chapter 2. Pls post on FB when you do it.
Add a comment
Portland Center Stage welcomes your comments and criticism.