Saturday July 16
My time in New York was quickly coming to an end but I had a great weekend full of amazing theatre, conversation and reflection ahead of me.
On Saturday I confirmed my lunch with alumni John Lee Beatty. He made a plan for us to meet at the Red Eye Grill (across from Carnegie Hall), one of the restaurants in Manhattan he designed.
I decided to start out several hours early and make a big loop around mid town to look at several of the sights I hadn’t seen. I headed towards Rockefeller Center, went to the Met store and continued down 5th Avenue. As I walked down the street I started taking more photos of all the interesting buildings. I’ve designed my share of sets (always with someone else making the renderings) and I continue to be intrigued by the architecture of the buildings and what I can use for a future set designs or just as inspiration for an upcoming set.
I saw a great building and starting snapping away and finally realized it was St Patrick’s Cathedral. I spent quite a bit of time inside, amazed that photography was allowed, and took many beautiful shots of the different aspects of the church's interior.
As I continued down 5th Avenue I snapped photos of the clever Louis Vuitton window display of ostriches with luggage, the front of the Plaza Hotel, the Eloise window displays, Central Park, FAO Schwartz and the seemingly always under construction Carnegie Hall.
Meeting John Beatty was one of the events I was most looking forward to. John was a legend at Claremont HS having done some amazing set designs while still in HS. Don Fruechte, our theatre instructor, had also pushed John into doing costume design while in HS, and John is also a talented costume designer.
After CHS John attended Brown for his undergrad and the Yale School of Drama. He has been nominated for 13 Tony Awards (winning one) and has won five Drama Desk awards. Some of John’s notable sets designs on Broadway include: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Talley’s Folly, Fifth of July, Crimes of the Heart, Baby, Burn This, The Most Happy Fella, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Heiress, Chicago, Once Upon a Mattress, Footloose, Proof, Morning’s at Seven, Master Harold…and the boys, Wonderful Town, Doubt, The Color Purple, Rabbit Hole, The Royal Family, A View from the Bridge, Lend Me a Tenor, Driving Miss Daisy and Born Yesterday. Not too shabby.
Although we have corresponded over the years this was our first in person meeting. When I first starting teaching at Claremont HS John’s mother Caroline used to come to my shows, give me lots of encouragement and fill me in on his latest projects.
During lunch we talked about CHS Theatre, my CTG project, 21st Century Skills and his latest projects. He had just returned from the Stratford Festival where he is designing The Misanthrope, he will soon open a production of Merrily We Roll Along, and will be in LA to design Poor Behavior at the Taper in the fall. John asked me my opinion about every show I had seen, and wanted to hear about the other alumni I had met with. Although he knew Michael Alden, (both of them had flown out Don Fruechte to attend the Tony Awards as few years ago when they were both nominated), he had worked with DJ Gray and Ana Rose several times, but had no idea they were also CHS alums. He agreed that a data base of alumni would be a good idea, especially for those who end up in New York.
John had lots of great stories about his journey from CHS to Broadway, and marveled at the changes in our department in the years since he had attended CHS. We both lamented over the sad fact that we still don’t have a fly loft and he quickly sketched out on the table (on the paper overlay) a great idea he learned in summer stock for drops when there are no flies. I’ve already shared it with my ROP Stage Technology Teacher and we hope to use it this season in either Winnie the Pooh or All Shook Up.
If his schedule allows John will bring his portfolio with him this fall and come speak to some of my theatre students while he is in Los Angeles. In the meantime, he is continuing to support our Theatre Renovation Project and hopes to get updates about the program.
I managed to squeeze in a super quick trip to the Empire State Building. Spending a short amount of time there (all I had) was hard since I can look at and photograph anything Art Deco for hours but I was scheduled to meet DJ Gray for dinner.
Book ending my NY trip with visits with DJ was the perfect plan. She and I have worked together for 18 years at CHS. She always brought a different perspective to our program from her years of performing, tours, choreography and directing. A few years ago she moved to New York, yet continued to come back and choreograph our shows. Her run as a performer in The Producers, Associate Choreography credits in Xanadu and Putnam County Spelling Bee, her projects with Stephen Sondheim and many TV choreography credits make her the perfect person to give the students an up to the minute experience about theatre’s professional side. She is amazing with young people and will give them a lifetime of experience in short time.
DJ is one of the only people who knows me and my program well enough to discuss the best way to proceed with all of the information and experiences I have over the ten days. She was a great sounding board and encouraged me to take the program to the next level, and challenged me to raise the bar with both my students, colleague and myself. She also volunteered to help develop the workshops. She still travels back to California for many projects so having her do an after school or weekend workshop is in the schedule in the near future.
A few quick steps from dinner and I arrived at Lincoln Center for War Horse.
I purposely bought my War Horse tickets for the last night I was in New York. I really didn’t think anything else would live up to it, and I didn’t want to end my experience on a down note. The show definitely didn’t disappoint. War Horse is a simple story, but the ensemble production, along with amazing puppetry, makes it more than worthy of the Tony Award.
My experience of puppetry is limited. I had the Rogue Theatre Ensemble (founded by some CHS theatre alums) come into my IB class last year and do workshops on Bunruku puppetry with my students. They took the kids through the process of building the puppets and how to make them come alive in front of an audience. A key to the believability of the puppets is the breathing and the way the puppeteers need to bend the legs and show their breath.
I remember the first time I saw The Lion King. It was a new way of looking at theatre, performances and the marriage of actor and puppet. When the first actors came onstage I kept looking back and forth between the actor and puppet. After a few short minutes the entire audience loses sight of the two separate units and we saw them as one unified character.
When the horse comes onto the stage the audience notices the actors within the body and the one manipulating the head. However, the actors quickly disappear into the background as we get caught up in the ears, flicking of the tail, breathing and horse sounds coming from the animal.
I spent 8+ years sitting at a horse ranch while one of my daughters rode horses. Although not a rider myself (I didn’t get the “horse gene”) I observed the animals close up and got to know their personalities, traits and mannerisms. As a worried parent I wanted to know what that horse was thinking and how to predict when Dylan might get thrown from the horse-an event that took us to the emergency room at least twice over the years.
So I was surprised to find myself watching War Horse and tensing up as the horses were in battle, charging and going down when wounded. Why was I tense? Because I believed those animals were real, feeling pain and dying. That investment I had in the characters is what makes great theatre.
I was also amazed at the nuances of the tail and the realistic horse sounds. Those three puppeteers had to be so in sync with each other to bring the animal to life and do it without any verbal communication. This was true ensemble work.
In addition to the amazing horses I really enjoyed the simplicity of set design. The projections were period sketches that detailed where the scene was set and moved as the show changed locations. Simple, but effective.
The puppets shouldn’t overshadow the outstanding ensemble work of the actors. Most of the cast plays multiple roles and the staging, pace and energy combined with the horses, sets and story made for an inspiring evening of theatre.
Leaving War Horse and walking back to my hotel gave me the opportunity to think about how I could use some of the work I saw in my classroom. Looking back at the BTW puppet work with John Tartaglia made me brainstorm some ideas for my IB students to take those Bunraku workshops from last fall, and make some animal puppets which could combine research, movement, ensemble work, problem solving and performance. How IB! And how 21st Century Skills.
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