Guthrie Theater

Apparently I had a fan who asked how the undulating floor works. I asked my trusty stage crew Thrust Master, Craig for help with this question and this is the statement I received: There are 67 trolls that are living under the stage that stand up then sit down on cue. This makes me wonder how long they've been down there without my knowledge and how we get them to go away before Midsummer. Maybe we can lead them away with the smell of all the onions that we go thru during the run of this show. Or maybe we can get them to go down the hall and work on Martha's show, Third, in a few weeks because I've heard that trolls don't have Meals on Wheels.

So, it's already been quite a week here on the Thrust Stage with Peer Gynt. Tuesday we had our understudy rehearsal with our 15 understudies who did a fabulous job. I'm always amazed at how well understudies are prepared. They are basically paid to be on call throughout the entire run of our show from January to the beginning of March. They can be called in to go on in any production with as little as 15 minutes notice (sometimes less!). Some actors who I have worked with tell their own understudy not to worry about going on because they feel healthy and strong, only to find a few weeks later that they got food poisoning and were unable to go on. Most people don't realize how important the understudy role is just for this reason. The world of Peer Gynt is larger than just the actors on the stage during those three hours that the audience spends seeing them. We've already had one of our understudies go on and we've been performing for just over a week. They truly are the unsung heroes of a production and I respect them greatly because I'd never be able to do it!

On Wednesday, we had a put-in rehearsal for a few hours in the afternoon for one of our actors who had missed a few shows just to refresh his mind after being gone for a few days. The show is always changing, so it's good thing to do for everyone.

Now, it's Thursday and I'm sitting backstage during the first scene of the show. I just returned Maha Chehlaoui's wedding ring to her dressing room because she realized that she was still wearing it right before she went onstage and she handed it to me. Mark Rylance also noticed that he had worn his wedding band for the whole first part of the first Preview and handed it to me before he walked onstage for the second part. I told him that I'd return it to his dressing room if I didn't decide to sell it on eBay instead. I asked him how much he thought it would go for and we had a good laugh!  Tonight I got a kick out of Mark Rylance when I met him backstage at a point in the play where I give him water to drink and a towel to wipe his face. While he drank the water, he unbuttoned his pants and untucked his shirt and talked to me about where he just came from in the previous wedding scene and where he was going to go next. I smiled and assured "Peer" that I was listening to the tale he was telling me (even though I know perfectly well what "Peer" just experienced in the last scene and knew even better where he was supposed to go next because I've been working on the show for 6 weeks now!).

We're into our run now and finally learning how well the scenes and moments are working for those of us backstage and for the audience. The show has so many location changes, actor entrances and lines that once it starts, we know we're in for 3 hours of non-stop work backstage. It takes a lot of talented people to make Peer Gynt happen both onstage and backstage and I'm here to give credit where is it most definitely deserved! Behind the scenes - those of us who have an entire wardrobe in the color black -

[Real Time Update: I just had to leave my computer because Tyson Forbes accidentally left his flask (rest assured, it is in fact a prop flask!) onstage. I had to go over to the other side of the stage where I knew Bill McCallum would be waiting to go on for his next scene and told him what part of the stage the flask was and if he could find a good place in his scene to pick it up. And just like the great actor that he is, he went onstage for his scene and very casually picked it up, put it in his pocket and continued on. Did the audience know ever know that that had never happened before? It's our job to work behind the scenes during time like this so that the audience doesn't notice when things "go wrong" from our point of view. This is just a small example to help understand the fact that theater is live and things don't always go as planned and while we do our best to anticipate and troubleshoot problem areas in a production, the real work happens from thinking on the fly and finding the best solution for a show that isn't going to stop moving forward while we figure out what to do!]

While writing that "real time update," the show has rolled on and we're coming up on intermission shortly. I don't even remember how I was going to finish that sentence that I started before I left...hmm...Maybe it'll come back.

Intermission has come and gone. It's my job to check that the actors are all in the proper place before we start the second half of the show and I found one in the wrong place. Jonas Goslow went to the wrong entrance for the top of Part 2. He was supposed to go to the Left Vom for his entrance, but he instead, out of habit for Part 1, he went Up Stage Center where he enters at the top of the show. Also, while we waited for the audience to settle in, I was in the Right Vom with Mark Rylance, Bill McCallum and Michelle O'Neill right before they went onstage. Mark was pacing, singing a song he was making up about the Guthrie, while Bill and Michelle were talking about what plans they had for tomorrow. I love how actors can be talking about their day one minute backstage and then walk onstage 3 seconds later and just jump right into a scene. 

Matt Amendt wants me to mention him in the blog. Matt, consider yourself mentioned.

And now, a small note from my assistant child blogger, Mac Rasmus:

Hi im mac rasmus one of the kids in peer gynt and "cocos" assistant blogger

im writing before im going to sing the hymn and go on stage well I will see you again soon by bye

oo com li le barnnnnnnnnnn

Now, here's the real answer to the floor question for those of you who didn't believe that ad lib troll answer. (Don't fault me for trying the ad lib approach. It's kind of how things are done here on Peer Gynt!)

There are 3 sets of drive shafts that push up in the center of the boards. Just like a child's seesaw, when one end of the board goes up, the other end goes down. The operator, Craig, operates the 3 computers and winches that control the drive shafts from directly under the stage while keeping an eye on its action on closed circuit monitor. Craig takes his cues to start, stop and manipulate the speed of the motion over headset communication from the stage manager, Chris Code.

Coco