I’m a member of the merry band of Apollo players. We’re all thrilled and delighted to be here, and are getting very excited about the upcoming opening of our show.

I thought I’d share some of the photos I’ve taken since arriving from Los Angeles on December 15, 2008.

FYI, all my photos are taken without a flash to avoid startling the actors during rehearsal (they’re very high-strung and prone to stampeding if provoked) so please forgive the somewhat grainy quality of some of the images. Hey–it’s art!

This is Nancy Keystone, director, playwright, scenic designer, all-around girl genius, bravely trying to explain the gist of our “little skit” (as we affectionately call it) at the Meet & Greet on December 16, 2008.

The rehearsal room is adorned with these marvelous photo panels. Here are just a few:

Some of the people that appear as characters in Apollo.

Wernher von Braun and friends.

Ralph Abernathy, RFK, and images of the Civil Rights Movement.

And here are some of my fellow Apollo crew members:

From the left: JKaren Thomas, Lorne Green, Angie Browne, Richard Gallegos, Nancy Keystone, Andy Hirsch and Brandon Ford Green.

Here are some random shots from the rehearsal room:

Christopher Shaw cradles his beloved Sputnik from Part 1.

Here I am, having a blast bringing Mickey Mouse to irreverent life in Part 1, along with Jeffrey Johnson as Walt Disney, and Russell Edge as Wernher von Braun.
Andy Hirsch takes a much-needed break from the rigors of playing Eli Rosenbaum in Part 2.

Jeffrey Johnson, Russell Edge, Christopher Shaw (partially blocked) and Nick Santoro dance a smoldering Tango between the German Rocket Scientists and the US Army in Part 2.

This is a scene that was recently added to Part 1. Shown from left are: JKaren Thomas, Lorne Green, Angie Browne, Andy Hirsch as Senator Sparkman of Alabama, Ray Ford and Brandon Ford Green.

Rehearsing the fantasy production number in Part 2, “Fly Me to the Moon.” From the left: Russell Edge, Andy Hirsch, Richard Gallegos, Nick Santoro and Jeffrey Johnson.

Be sure to look for my next post, where I’ll give you a behind-the-scenes peek at Part 3!  (If I can manage to take pictures during the run-through tomorrow!)

Oregon Public Broadcasting interviews author/director D.W. Jacobs about R. Buckminster Fuller: the History [and Mystery] of the Universe.  http://news.opb.org/article/3271-portland-center-stage-presents-genius/

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“I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process — an integral function of the universe.” - Buckminster Fuller

Today’s conversation with Doug started a bit differently. For one thing, I already had my coffee (I’m working on substituting one bad habit with another right now, and that means doubling my coffee intake). This made me twitchy, but therefore oddly attuned to the topic of the day.

We were talking about Bucky’s movement principles- the 6 movement types that could be used to describe all movement in the universe. We were looking at them with an eye toward how those movement principles could help Doug (the actor) find a physical path through the show in rehearsal.

Briefly, here’s his basic movement principles:

• Axial Rotation- spinning around a interior point (imagine a five yearold spinning around and round)
• Orbital Rotation- revolving around an exterior point (imagine the same five year old spinning around you)
• Expansion/Contraction (five year old at little ball, five year old stretched to tippy toes)
• Inside/Outside (five year old going in and out of a box, which, incidentally, they love to do)
• Torque (what happens to your soda can when you twist the top and bottom in opposite directions)
• Precession- unpredictable forces acted on a spinning object which tend to create effects at a ninety degree angle from the direction of force (think of waves moving out sideways from a moving boat)

It is hard to think about these movement principles without applying them to the movements of a human body. It’s like the dance of the universe, really, but its also oddly reminiscent of those beginning dance classes as a child where you are asked to shrink into a ball and then leap like a lion.

Which is, incidentally, an exercise you also do in every beginning acting class. Which brought us around to the various acting techniques that employ a kind of physical vocabulary similar to Bucky’s- am I attracted to this person/idea/statement or repelled from it (Expansion contraction)? Am I inside this group or out of it? Am I in but trying to get out? Or torque- is my body taking me one direction and my head another? And what unpredicatable effects (precession) is the thing I’m saying having on people outside my immediate line of sight?

This last idea, that an intention focused in one direction could have unintended consequences on either side, has become an incredibly useful approach for directing the production in a three quarter thrust space (seating on three sides of the stage). Unlike a traditional staging, with the actor on one side and the audience on the other, where any sideways, “precessional” effects roll off into the wings (where only the stage hands get sideswiped by them), a three-quarter thrust staging has a performer constantly speaking to one section of the audience while another section is getting the side, or the back of his head. What are the unintended sideways consequences of this performance choice on the audience behind me? or to my right?

It becomes a more sculptural approach to theater…moving beyond the notebook sketch that implies dimension with tricks of light and misdirection and into the world of dance, where basic geometry is at least as important as color or sound.

Which reminded me, in the end, of Bucky’s daughter, Allegra Fuller Snyder, a retired professor of dance, who wrote of her father, “In order to really understand Bucky’s work, you must, in essence, be a dancer yourself. You must understand your body and experience as a way of knowing… his understanding of universe was through his dancing in his mind.”

R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE will open October 14th in the Ellyn Bye Studio. Until then, I will continue to spin tales of my chats with writer/director Doug Jacobs.

P.S.- In a weird kind of synchronicity, it turns out that Buckminster Fuller was born the same year as Busby Berkeley, the famous creator of synchronized swimming musical numbers that artfully demonstrate ALL of Bucky’s Movement principles…

Read Part I of Conversations with Doug
Read Part II of Conversations with Doug

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In this webisode of PCS Backstage, we take you into the rehearsal process with Chris Coleman, talk with costuming about those amazing pull-away dresses,  and talk shop with Don Crossley and Chris Rousseau.  Enjoy!

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YysY4uwBp_k w=425 h=344]

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{photo: Veronica DiPerna as a Chorus Girl in Runyonland.}

The past week and a half has been (as always) a race toward the finish line.  Final days in the rehearsal hall were spent cleaning, focusing, tightening, throwing out, rethinking and speeding up.

{photo:Todd A. Horman and the company of Sit Down.}

Sit Down, You’re Rockin the Boat was a blast and a bear at the same time.  It is rhythmically quite challenging, but so exciting to sing that the company has a natural tendency to speed things up.  Which may be fun, but can also prove lethal if you can’t keep up with the choreography (we did have a few spills from the mission benches).

Loesser’s score continues to dazzle me.  It is beautiful to listen to.  But when you get in and actually try to learn the harmonies and intervals, it is far more complex than you might have originally imagined.

{photo: Stacia Fernandez (center) and the Hot Box girls.}

The dance numbers have required an equal amount of attention.  A cast of 19 is not small for PCS, but it’s not huge for a Guys and Dolls - and so finding a balance of choreography that can convey the intent of a number, while not wearing out the tightened number of performers you are leaning on to pull it off - has been a challenge.

We finally moved onstage Wednesday evening for the Sitzprobe (the company sings through the show with the band for the first time).  It’s always such a gas to move into the theater, and begin to imagine how the show will feel with an audience.  It’s also deeply disorienting (’wow - I thought it would be deeper than this’, etc.)

The band is in the pit again this year, but will sit lower than they did for Cabaret.  This should make it easier to balance the sound, but it also poses a few challenges for our musical director, Rick Lewis (pictured above) - as he will be standing about two and half feet above the rest of the musicians - so the actors can see his hands.

{photo: Robert Mammana, who plays Sky Masterson, in his sightseeing guide costume.}

Adding costumes has a variety of effects on the company.  Some actors feel overwhelmed, others totally excited.  And then some (ala Robert Mammana, who makes a cameo in Runyonland as a Sightseeing Guide) just enjoys the new look.

Loads of logistics are brought to the company for the first time:  a discussion with our sound technicians about how the body microphones are handled, protected, and worn.  Or here (with Richard Mathews and our Stage Management team listening intently) as Bonnie, our Wardrobe Mistress outlines how costumes will be cleaned, managed and organized.

Bonnie shared that the show contains 95 costumes changes, including 21 that have to occur in less than one minute.

{photo: John Plumpis as Nathan; Leif Norby as Benny Southstreet; and Todd Harmon as Nicely-Nicely.}

All the visuals for the production have aimed at achieving a “hyper-theatrical quality” - and our first day on stage allowed us to see all the costumes in motion, and together for the first time.  Many were on the right track, some were a bit too realistic to compete with the cacophony and will require further exaggeration.

{photo: Robert Mammana as Sky kisses Carey Brown as Sarah.}

But the real excitement of moving onstage comes when the lights, costumes and vocals all begin to contribute to creating a moment that begins have a magic of its own.

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