The day I learned so much my brain almost exploded

Friday July 15 

This was the day I was scheduled to spend with Ana Rose Greene.  Ana Rose was one of my most talented and hard working technicians who went to Boston U after graduation to major in Technical Theatre.  She spent her summers doing theatrical internships, and had the opportunity to leave school and go to work before getting her degree.  She ended up finishing at BU and joined the company Juniper Street Productions where she is a partner with three other BU grads.

In a short number of years (since 2000) Juniper Street has served as the Production Company or Technical Supervisors for shows such as The Producers, Medea, Lestat, All Shook Up, Grey Gardens, Xanadu, Gypsy, Thurgood, 33 Variations, Oleanna, Billy Elliot, Chicago, Memphis, Lend Me a Tenor, Million Dollar Quartet, Promises, Promises, How to Succeed, Spiderman and many more.

We started the day in Ana Rose’s Times Square office where she was giving a summer intern a days worth of assignments.  She packed a big bag of paperwork and off we went.  First stop was to New World Stages so she could check on the transfer of Million Dollar Quartet from Broadway.  It appears to be a new trend with BW shows to move to an Off  BW location. Apparently the thought is that as a show is slowing down it can move to a smaller, cheaper location and keep running for an indefinite time. This worked with Avenue Q and The 39 Steps, so MDQ is the next production to move in order to lengthen it’s run.  I meet members of the crew who had just finished cutting down the set in order to fit into a smaller space. I love that they just picked up the Sawzall and actually cut it down.  The show was about two weeks away from opening and she quickly checked with the Master Electrician, Carpenters, and rep from her office that was in charge of the load in.  All was going smoothly and ahead of schedule, so we went out for lunch.

Over lunch I asked her tons of questions. Most of them were about the process of  how her company got a show and what their responsibilities are once they are hired.  It seems that the company took off very quickly and immediately became one of the most sought after Production Company’s in New York.  They contract out their set work to a couple of scenic houses and have a roster of favorite Electricians, Carpenters, and Technicians who often work many of their shows.  Usually they take a show from its inception until opening night. At that point they usually check on a show once a week for a while and then once a month throughout the run.  Their pay is based is directly tied to when a show is actually performing. Getting a show ready to go out on tour is a separate project.

We spent a great deal of the day talking about Spiderman.  This project has consumed Ana Rose’s life for the last four years.  Originally she was only involved in the production aspects of the show. However, when the construction foreman in charge of re building the Foxwoods Theatre was taken ill she became the person in charge of the theatre rebuild. 

The other interesting information was that when her partner negotiated the Spiderman contract she specified that Juniper Street would get paid every week, regardless of the show running or not.  This particular clause kept their company from going under during the months that Spiderman went dark and re worked the show. Since the show went into previews, closed and was re mounted they (Juniper Street) refers to it as Spiderman 1.0 and 2.0.  This became very important when the show was performing 1.0 at night and rehearsing 2.0 during the day.  Ana Rose talked about the difficulty of the Stage Management team (there are many of them) being able to call one show at night but having to learn a new one during the day and keeping it all straight for many months.

Our next stop was the Foxwoods Theatre so Ana Rose could have a quick meeting and check on some rehearsals. Fridays are typically the day where understudies are worked into a show.  While she was having a meeting I got to sit in the house and watch one of the five actors who flies as Spiderman have a fly rehearsal.  The young man was going into the show in the next few days and the SM was working with him on his flights.  Since I had seen the show I was able to understand where the flights were in the action of the show. I was also able to sit in the front few rows and see the landing in the balcony and listen to the meticulous safety precautions being taken.

At this point I got a detailed, bottom to top tour of the entire theatre. Since Ana Rose had been there from the beginning she was able to give me the complete history of the build.  The original proscenium plaster was removed and is in storage until the show closes.  At that point it must be re installed.  We literally stood on a five foot plank overlooking the basement so I could see where they dug down so far they hit the bedrock of Manhattan, and removed the firewall of the theatre so there would be room for the motors needed to operate the effects.  A new firewall was built (a large chunk of change there).

At the stage level several huge traps were built so that many of the sets stored in the basement could be stored and come up through the floor. Every square inch of the basement was full of sets, props and items from the show.

In the wings more of the sets are stored in hammocks that hang at various levels.  I saw this in several of the Broadway houses. The wings are ridiculously small and this is a space saving solution.

We moved up through the levels of the theatre looking at the two rooms (on two different floors) where Kim Grigsby and her orchestra conduct the show using monitors.  Costumes hung on the walls of the hallways ready for that night's show and there was a great deal of actor/crew activity everywhere.

After a climb to the rafters I got to see the incredibly complicated workings of  a motor and winch system that flies the actors and sets.  This show is so dependent on this technology that when one motor recently went out the show went dark for a night.  Since most of the technology was developed for this show when a piece of equipment goes down they can only problem solve internally and go to the manufacturer for help. 

I also learned about the safety measures that were put into place from the beginning of the show and how the production is even more regulated since all of the show’s accidents. Clips attaching to the actors are checked by two technicians and radioed back to the SM.  There is an elaborate check system to ensure actor safety.

After my theatre tour I got to watch more rehearsals involving the weaving of the web (one of my favorite scenes) as they worked an understudy into the scene.  I also watched some scene work and musical rehearsals for the Peter Parker understudy who is preparing to take over for Reeve Carney when he goes on vacation in August. One of my favorite moments is when the MD had to call out the actors for screwing around and get them to settle down and rehearse. It sounded a bit like a Claremont HS rehearsal.

There was so much that I saw and learned at the theatre, but I can’t write forever so I’ve just covered the highlights.

Our next stop was at the Marquis Theatre to check on the progress of the Follies move in.  This production was moving up from the Kennedy Center and was slated to open in late August.  The only work being done at this point was the electrician staff.  Their Master Electrician is a man who has worked on many of their shows so I learned a lot about his role in the process of the move in.

During an Iced Tea break we continued to talk about the role of Juniper Street Productions in the Broadway World.  Ana Rose talked very honestly about their experiences working on Spiderman.  At one point for about a year and a half all four partners of the company were working full time on this show.  Their fear was that once the show re opened and didn’t need their day to day attention no one would know they were still in business and think to call them for a show. Luckily, the Million Dollar Quartet and Follies gigs came up and they are working on the Billy Elliot tour this summer.

Her life revolves around a great deal of work.  She usually works 7 days a week and moved closer to the city because she was usually working so late that the trains didn’t run to where she lived late at night.  Other than some work related trips to Vegas, she hasn’t been West in quite a while.  Work is so consuming that she (and the cast/crew) had Thanksgiving dinner in the lobby of the Foxwoods Theatre last year. It was during this rehearsal in NY that my brother in law was getting phone calls during our Thanksgiving with updates about the production.

We talked a lot about what the CHS Theatre prepared her for in terms of what she does now.  She said that at college no other student had worked the amount of shows she had, and the opportunities she had at CHS included a great deal of  leading other students, working out complex problems, design, solving technical dilemmas and being given a great deal of responsibility. I think Ana Rose gave CHS too much credit. She comes from a family with a wealth of theatre experiences and having a father who runs the Hyperion Theatre at California Adventure certainly puts the Technical Theatre gene in her DNA.

We talked about the idea of connecting the CHS Theatre alumni in the NY theatre world. She was excited about this idea and volunteered to mentor younger CHS students.

This was a great day. I couldn’t have written a better script in order to take a look at what skills a theatre department needs to teach students in order to prepare them for the real world-especially the world of Professional Theatre.

I think most teachers go their entire career without seeing the “fruits of their labor.”  I can’t express how appreciative I was during the day I spent with Ana Rose as she kept introducing me as her HS Theatre teacher and the reason she was doing what she is doing.  How cool is that?

I knew that after the day I had with Ana Rose whatever I did that evening would be a let down.  I snagged a ticket to Anything Goes and just went to watch a good show with some great performances.  Leave it to Sutton Foster to deliver. Joel Grey was fun, but not as electric as his performance in Cabaret (not really a fair comparison).  The show was fast paced, great dancing, costumes, sets and just plain fun.  Besides, I  love a good tap show.