First Rehearsal: A New Rep Family Christmas Story

 

Cast and production team of A Christmas Story

We’re always saying that New Rep is a family, and it was never so evident as Monday night at First Rehearsal for A Christmas Story. Director, designers, adult and child actors, and extended members of the New Rep family, including guests and donors, settled into the Charles Mosesian Theater to hear how New Rep’s production will be brought to life with holiday magic. Although the kids began rehearsing over the weekend, it was the first time the whole cast had come together. 

 

The cast of A Christmas Story

After brief introductions, director Diego Arciniegas spoke about his vision for the production.  “Why do people take time out of their busy lives during the rushed holiday season to come to the theater?” Arciniegas answered his own question by saying that holiday theater is all about the “reclamation of the holiday spirit:” Audiences come to see Mr. Scrooge or Ralphie Parker find the holiday spirit on stage, and then bring it with them out into their own lives. 

Arciniegas speaks about his vision for the production.

Arciniegas also spoke about why holiday classics like A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol, and It’s A Wonderful Life become classics. According to Arciniegas, it’s because they all utilize the dramatic device of time travel. In A Christmas Story, Ralph, now grown, reflects back on the Christmas of his childhood that he spent in pursuit of the “Official Red Ryder 200 shot Carbine Action Range Model Air Rife with a compass and this thing that tells time built right into the stock!” Time travel is especially poignant at the holidays, because it is by the holidays that we measure the passage of time: how children have grown, which family members have passed, and the mishaps and mayhem of holidays past.

Model of Dahlia Al-Habieli's set design

Scenic designer Dahlia Al-Habieli then spoke about the inspiration for the set. The colors are based off of the commercialism of the advertisements of the 1940’s and 1950’s: teals, pinks, reds, and faded color photographs.  The main focus of the set is the kitchen, and the rest of the world expands outward from there, including many other locations, such as the school yard, the school house, and the Christmas tree lot. 

Costume designer Katherine O'Neill takes costume measurements.

Katherine O’Neill, costume designer, also drawing from Al-Habieli’s inspiration of vintage advertisements, has designed the costumes to represent the notion of “what you strive for, versus what you’ve actually got.”  The costumes would be a cacophony of colors and patterns, which she says is representative of the time period. In the post-depression era, people could maybe only afford a couple of new articles of clothing a year, which were integrated into whatever wardrobe they already had.  This year’s pants with last year and the year before’s shirts, creates a mix of colors and patterns that will pop onstage. 

 After the director and designers finished speaking on how the holiday spirit and the world of the play will be brought to life, the actors dove into a table reading of the script.  

Viewers examine Al-Habieli's model up-close.

New Rep staff and Behind-the-Scenes @ New Rep participants enjoy conversation and refreshments.

A Christmas Story starts on December 11 and runs through Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011. Get your tickets at http://newrep.org/christmas_story.php.

If you would like to attend First Rehearsals @ New Rep or any of our other Behind-the-Scenes @ New Rep Events, please visit http://www.newrep.org/behind_the_scenes.php!

A Commitment to new plays

I just spent this past weekend in Philadelphia at the National New Play Network’s annual Showcase.  Each year the 25 member organizations, which New Rep is a part of, along with affiliate members, agents, and playwrights meet for a weekend to watch readings of plays that could potentially wind up in our upcoming seasons.  During these weekends I get to talk to a lot of different people from all over the country who are passionate about new work and dedicated to producing and developing it.  New play development is something that New Repertory Theatre has long believed in.  Over the years we’ve produced many World and Regional Premieres – several thru our relationship with the NNPN.

This year I was really excited to attend the conference because I had some important news to share with my colleagues.  In September, New Rep embarked on a new program.  We invited four area playwrights to join us for the year to work on developing a full length play on a subject matter of their choosing to be read in June.   They are our New Voices @ New Rep Playwrighting Fellows.  During my 3 ½ years with New Rep I have been very struck by our audiences’ interest in new work.  The attendance at the readings has been very impressive and the talk backs with the playwright following the readings are always lively and engaging.  So, when we started to brainstorm different ways that we could increase the impact and awareness of new plays for our audiences we decided to explore the idea of a creating a celebration surrounding the work.  This year, for the first time, we will embark on a Festival of New Voices, the weekend of June 9^th and 10^th at the Arsenal Center for the Arts.  We will read four plays over the course of the weekend and surround each play with opportunities for the audience to engage with the playwrights about their process. 

One of the things that was very clear to me this weekend was regional theaters across the country are beginning to increase their commitment to developing plays and playwrights within their community.  Most companies rely heavily on individual and foundation support to help fund these kinds of programs.  The ability to commission a new work is usually out of our means.  So, we do our best to identify plays that can be furthered developed in a rehearsal process.  But often this isn’t enough time for playwrights.  Over the years we’ve done our best to find creative solutions and ways that we can better serve the playwrights whose work we rely so heavily on. 

I’m really excited about this season’s endeavor.  The playwrights we’ve invited I found through our open submission policy for local playwrights and readings I’ve attended in the Boston area.  New Rep would like to increase our already strong commitment to producing new work by helping playwrights develop their work here.  Throughout the rest of the season, the New Voices @ New Rep Playwrighting Fellows will be blogging about their plays, what their working on, and how they are collaborating.  You will be able to follow our process thru Backstage @ New Rep, our blog, and on Facebook and Twitter .  We look forward to continuing to talk to you about what were up to and we hope to see you at the Festival of New Voices in June.

By Bridget Kathleen O'Leary, Associate Artistic Director, New Rep

Three Viewings: First Rehearsal

The afternoon of Tuesday, November 9th brought a fresh start to New Rep, as it prepares to produce its first Black Box show of the season, Three Viewings. Directors, cast, staff, and spectators gathered in the rehearsal hall for a deep discussion of monologues, stories, death and life.

Three Viewings takes place in a funeral parlor, but its stories branch into the realms of love, blackmail, and thievery. As all of the designers were quick to point out, the emphasis of Three Viewings is not so much on death, as it is on remembrance.

Costume Designer Molly Trainer shows her collages for each character.

Virginia

Mac

Emil

Sound Designer David Reiffel plays selections of music to the crowd.

Christina Todesco, Set Designer, describes her visions for the Chihuly-inspired floor.

Many of the designers discussed the desire to work flowers into the set, but in a nontraditional method. Set Designer Christina Todesco and Lighting Designer Chris Brusberg described projecting abstracted flowers onto the back wall, treating the wall as a painting. Meanwhile, the floor of the set will display a beautifully lit Dale Chihuly image of glass sculptural flowers, with an array of color lighting the floor.

Viewers were given the chance to handle and explore Todesco's set up close.

 

Jim Petosa, director of Three Viewings.

The man who, by far, stole the show was Three Viewings Director Jim Petosa. Fresh off directing Boston Playwright Theatre's The River Was Whiskey, Petosa's deep insights on Three Viewings were as thought-provoking as they were eloquently put--embracing the power of Autumn as a time of beautiful endings, rather than being bleak, harsh, and negative.

Christine Power, Mac in Three Viewings, laughs with the rest
of the cast as they prepare for the reading.

By the end of the Meet and Greet, all participants seemed charged by the energy in the room, and by the visions of the designers, cast and crew. Three Viewings runs November 27, 2011 - December 18, 2011. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.newrep.org/three_viewings.php.

If YOU are interested in attending First Rehearsals @ New Rep or any of our other Behind-the-Scenes @ New Rep Events, please visit http://www.newrep.org/behind_the_scenes.php!