Spring Play 2019
Jerry R. Knight Auditorium
April 4th, 5th, and 6th at 7:00pm
Produced by the
WG Drama Department
with
Freshly Broke Productions
Written by senior Ethan Ryan
Directed by senior Sam Toskin
Flyer and T-shirt design by Aidan Kurtz
Two banners made in Adv Tech Theater by Trinity Madison
******************************************************************************* Watch the whole stage play on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/73uhkegOUXg
********************************************************************************Rehearsals
Rehearsals were held int he Black Box after All Write week was over and everyone got a week to breath. We initially tried to do the show in the Black Box Theater, but quickly realized it wouldn't fit on the short side of the space.
Learning the blocking for the show was a major job, there was always something going on in the plot that really kept the play moving and rehearsals fun.
The wacky characters were also an added bonus for the rehearsals, everyone was cracking everyone else up the whole time...
The TECH CREW!!! (on final show night)
Sam Toskin (Director), Elsa and Zia
The show continued to rehearse on the longer wall in the Black Box and a set was built the weekend after the Broadway revue closed in the Aud.
The script was kept hidden from anyone on the outside,
and the cast and crew did a great job keeping it a mystery.
We had very little time to get the production up on its feet. It was going to be a mad dash to opening night, but we went to it and got it done!
The set got built in a weekend, painted in one night by an amazing paint crew,
and was dressed by the Advanced Tech Class and Mr. Schaefer
Voila! A mansion in the woods
The Senior Entrance display and the box office for the night of the shows
BACKSTAGE!
The entrance to the mansion... The entrance from "upstairs"...
...and the kitchen and cellar entrances
The Costumes
There were eight characters in the play. Everyone worn one outfit for the whole show (except Vanessa). They all wore very character driven costumes which made the job harder than it seems...
...and the writer was in the room the whole time.
The costumes were designed by Grey Ferber and Caroline Gillow.
Caroline also manged, organized and fixed the costumes during the run creating a portable shop backstage. It was a great solice to know everyone was dressed and secure in their clothing.
They started really early on pulling the show and got ahead of the game. That worked to their benefit and they managed to make some really great looks on their actors.
The characters looked great and had a twist to the murder mystery genre.
Crikey, Dom, Vanessa, Victoria, Neil and Jodie
The designers added some great accessories to the costumes that also added even more to the over all look of the ensemble. The furs on Victoria, the maid's apron, the crocodile hunter jewelry, the smoking jacket and the fat suit on Gregory (Hank).
The actors could move in the clothes and they all had a ball wearing the garments
Make-up and Hair
The make-up team also did very well. There was a lot of glamour in the show, but also some old age work on Hank's face and "Grey'n" his hair (see what we did there).
Hank and Grey getting Gregory to appear.
Gregory (Hank) dies from poison, but not before Victoria (Tea) attempts to save him
Ellie (Vanessa) getting ready in the new dressing room!
Maddie transforms Tea into Victoria...
Danny gets some wrinkles...
So does the Aussie!
There was a lot of glamour in this show...
...and there was Neil.
The Props
Claire McCarthy was the Property Mistress on the show and did an amazing job creating and organizing the props for the show....
...and boy were there were some props in this show!
The goose became the big prop of the show and had to be hammered to death on stage behind the couch. It required Claire to make two geese and hide one behind the couch before the show. There was also a spray bottle of fake blood that Danny would spray on himself when he was killing the goose so that he would appear again with blood sprayed from the killing.
It was theater magic and worked great. The audiences loved that moment in the script. It is when the story plays with some great dark comedy.
Neil Dunnit (Danny) with the bird attacking him
There was also the many bottles of poison...
...and the infamous blue Gushers
Sisi DeSuza was in charge of the statue that needed to be built for the show. (Thanks Ethan!) It was supposed to be a "Four foot tall ivory statue of Gregory" and she made it out of wood, masking tape and paper. It took almost a week to make and took some real endurance to get it finished, Mr. Schaefer even lended a hand in the end.
It turned out great after it's coat of white paint...
...and did it's job of killing Vanessa every night
like a real "murder mystery" pro.
One of the prop areas backstage The props mapping hung backstage
The play had everyone dead by the end... Shot.....
...and even stabbed
We had to find the right gun and knife to use for the stage combat scenes. Johnny Brocks were out of the retractable knives so we staged Rahman's character's death with Grace placing the prop knife under his upstage arm.
Sisi, Claire and Caroline
SOUND
The sound crew on the show had to provide music, sound effects and voice over. They also had to run the wireless mics on the 8 actors.
Emerald and Jaden working on getting mics ready Emerald and Aidan
Emerald really took lead with setting the mics this show!
Sadie Moore was on the sound board with Charlie Richardson giving advice when needed.
Part of the CREW
Amy, Elsa, Claire, Zia and Charlie
Stop standing on the furniture... damn Australians!
LIGHTING
The play took place mostly at night. This allowed for the use of the chandelier, some lamps and a wall sconce. It also allowed for us to make the windows glow blue.
Amelia Griesedieck was the lighting designer and board op for the show. She was in rehearsals with the director and writer and got to see the story being staged. That helped her do the lighting in the extremely short period of time we had in the space with a finished set and a fully running show.
She did an amazing job.
Amelia working on the first electric
Of course nothing good comes out of working alone.
She had lots of help with the hang, focus and gaffing.
The LED fixture used for night blue through the window and the explosion in Act II
Ethan Ryan also had some great advice for lights and the focus.
He also helped get the LED lights set up backstage.
The writer giving notes...
Please don't dump your drink on me again...
Take that Dominic!
Elsa worked very hard to keep the cast in order... ...Ethan played with the props
After the run there were trophies from Caroline!
The Cast and Crew of "It's A Mystery" say...
GO SEE A PLAY!!!
Sam Toskin - the director (not pictured)...was in New York
Melvin was the photobug on this production
(many of the cool photos on this blog page are from his lens)
CONGRATS ON ANOTHER GREAT SHOW!!!
Cast (from left to right)
Tea Garner, Nicolaus Braun, Rahman Ali, Grace Engel,
Hank Geers, Danny Chura, Ellie Gilstrap, and Zack Comegys
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