...one of them tried to kill her husband, and it takes the whole family to find a way to heal.
The three sisters unite...and cousin Chick stands in disapproval
The new WG Black Box Theater is an awesome new space for the drama department that will offer tons of different options for staging the different productions we do. This play was a great way to show what can be done in there.
The set for WG Drama's Crimes of the Heart
It was a perfect location to show Beth Henley's Pulitzer-Prize Winning play "Crimes of the Heart", presented as the second Fall play our 2017-2018 season of love and murder. The set was place in the corner of the space.
The audience during the pre-show...with lots of great music from the 70's
provided by Sam Hayden our sound designer on the show
The new WG Black Box Theater is an awesome space that will also offer tons of different options for staging and this was a great way to show what can be done in there. The two Technical Theater classes constructed the set and kids stayed after school and came in one weekend to finish the final details.
The poster design we used for the show to promote in the hallways around campus.
AUDITIONS
We held auditions at the same time as Never the Sinner since both shows required a smaller number of actors, the shows would be in rehearsal at the same time, and no one was aloud to double up on parts. The cast and crew worked very well together and stayed on task. They achieved a lot in a very short amount of time. This is a very tough play with lots of dialogue and long challenging monologues.
The cast and crew (missing Joe Castleman) of "Crimes"
They all carried certain parts of the show and as an ensemble they really put a lot of individual personalities into the character work. Each character stood out as a real individual and when they all came together the chemistry really shined between the sisters and with the gentlemen in the story and the quiet romantic moments.
THE CAST
Meredith Grimm-Howell.............................Lenny
Grace Engel.................................................Babe
Trinity Madison...........................................Meg
Hank Geers..................................................Barnett
Suzanna Kessler...........................................Chick
Joe Castleman..............................................Doc
The CREW
Director........................................................Mr. Schaefer
Assistant Dir...............................................Ashley Landau
Stage Manger..............................................Amelia
Asst. Stage Mgr...........................................Caroline Gillows
Lighting Designer (s)..................................Ethan Ryan (Mgr.) / Mr.Schaefer
Light Crew..................................................Eva Berger / Sam Habecker
Light Board Op...........................................Basil Sessen
Sound Design / Op.....................................Sam Hayden
Sound Tech.................................................Sam Toskin (Mgr.)
Costume Design..........................................Grey Ferber
Costume Crew.............................................Caroline Gillows
Props Design...............................................Eli
Running Crew.............................................Amelia and Elliot Williams
House Management....................................Aidan Kurtz
Ushers.........................................................Lots of people..Thanks to those who volunteered!
Set Construction.........................................1st and 2nd Hour Tech
Paint Crew..................................................Amelia, Gwen Fairbanks, Danny Chura, Sean Mullins, Reece Hohle, and Mr. Schaefer
Ashley (Assistant Director), Grey (Costumes), Amelia (SM), and Eli (Props)
The SET DESIGN
The Tech Classes worked a bit in the classroom on the concept before they started the build, but we puzzle pieced this set into the corner and we just added the walls as we went. We knew the shape we needed from the floor plans in rehearsal.
The Technical Theater classes built the whole set in roughly three days of classes...all out of stock
The after school helpers really made a difference in getting the color on the walls and the trim painted so that the scenic artists could get the details completed soon after...
We stayed for a few after school painting sessions and one 6 hour day over tech weekend to get it all done!
The painting crew rocked it out with the detailing of the set. We got some real texture artists on board and the results were fantastic!
In the end we created a gorgeous old southern Mississippi farm house kitchen interior. It had a ton of charm, felt lived in, and contained all of the necessary stuff the script called for. The Macgrath house was complete and the actors loved telling the story on this set.
The final set design completed for WG Drama's production
of Beth Henley's "Crimes of the Heart"
COSTUME Design
Grey Ferber (Junior) - was the costume designer on the show.
She worked hard collecting images of the 1970's time period and creating an inspiration board for the show's closet. The costumes were great and the colors really popped on the stage against the grey/blue set.
The costume room became the dressing room for this show. .
The cast and crew definitely bonded backstage before the show while getting ready.
Each actor had two looks for the show and that allowed us to show time passing
It could a bit tight with everyone backstage
Eli Bent (soph) organized and pulled the props for the show. This show had quite a bit of food and drink involved and there was a nice size props table and preset on stage before each show.
Eli during a rehearsal making sure we were getting everything collected
SOUND DESIGN / BOARD OP
Sam Hayden (Junior) was in charge of the sound for the show and had to design pre-show music, transitional songs for the scene changes and several sound effects during the show. He made the sound effects seem so believable. We also leveled some choir mics above the stage to help amplify the actors voices more.
Sam behind the sound board the night of the show.
This was the first main stage show in the Black Box Theater, and it sounded great!
Once things were rolling, it ran smooth!
The Technical Theater Class helped make a ton of the chalked banners to hang around the school.
Meagan Brown designed a simple flyer for the ECHO insert
The T-shirt Design
The display case outside of the Library entrance with the cast/crew head shots and the show poster
LIGHTING DESIGN
Ethan Ryan and Mr. Schaefer worked on the lighting for this show and created a very simple plot that in the end gave the house a warmth and charm. We were able to do daytime and nighttime lighting. We had a special for the fridge light, we lit the windows, and we added a practical above the table for some interesting texture in the evening scenes.
This show was produced at the same time as our other Fall Play Never the Sinner and the department was able to create two separate teams to manage and design both shows. It was awesome in the end that we got to do two plays this Fall.
The cast warming up for a final dress rehearsal
Amelia during a final dress taking notes and staying on book. (right) A view from the booth
Aidan Kurtz (junior) ran the house for the run of the show and organized all of the ushers and additional help for concessions.
Annelise and Aidan
Danny, Aidan and Emerald running the box office and selling concessions for the audience
We sat over 60 people each night,
and audiences were fabulous!
The view from the back of the house the first night of the run
This was an amazing experience, we loved working with Beth Henley's Pulitzer script and the WG Drama students worked extremely hard to make an honest and truthful show.
Special thanks to everyone who helped bring this show to the stage and everyone who came out and supported the show by buying a ticket!
GO SEE A PLAY!!!
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