It's Wednesday at MET, and here's what we're up to:
It's 9:30am and Sarah Straw is at her desk! (I'd like to say my work area usually looks more organized, but when you're working on 5 million projects at a time, it's kinda hard to stay neat!)
It's 10am and Karen Paone, box office manager, is waiting for you to call!
Ensemble member and props mistress for A Doll's House Lorrie Tripp stops by later in the morning. Lorrie chats with me a bit about props for the show (I'm the stage manager) and then works on some items. I try to help with the ornery copier, but....
We end up breaking it! This piece just fell out as we were trying to fix a paper jam! Fortunately it snapped right back in and everything was fine.
At MET, we ensemble members share the responsibility for keeping our space clean. Everyone signs up for a month-long shift. Julie and I are the October cleaning crew. Above, Julie takes out the trash from the lobby.
In addition to teaching, performing, directing and doing
MET's graphic design,
Gené also does our accounting. Here she's getting ready to make a deposit.
A quick trip into the theatre finds A Doll's House lighting designer and Ensemble Member Karina Wright supervising her daughter, Diana. They spent most of the day hanging Karina's light plot.
Mark
Barnhart was down in the scene shop, working on trim for the set. It was dusty.
After lunch, our friend and cast member from
Company, Nick
Mullinix stopped by!
MET intern and Ensemble School student Luke de Boinville sorts costume patterns.
Every Wednesday, from 2-6pm, Jenn Irons gives private voice lessons in
MET's Greene Room. Here is Jenn, working with Lena
Janes, daughter of Tad and
Gené
The Ensemble School starts at 4:30 with Teen
Improv, taught by Denny Grizzle, who you may remember as Bobby in
Company and Joe in
Killer Joe.
At 5:30 Julie teaches Teen Scene Study - we love our new classroom!
At 6pm we have a
Doll's House production meeting. Tad, the director, sits down with all the designers, and the stage manager, and we talk over what is happening, what needs to happen and who is going to do it.
Milee was there during the production meeting, priming all the walls. Tad is going to pick out the paint on Thursday morning!
After the production meeting, sound designer Tom
Majarov played several sambas for Tad to choose from. There was dancing. Costumer designer Sherry
Shaner, and...
Tad!
At 7pm, after the production meeting we had a company meeting. MET ensemble members meet once a week, every week but during tech weeks, to talk about our company and get everyone on the same page. Tonight we talked about Fall for the MET - our annual fall event that is this Saturday, October 18
th, and work call plans to get the Doll's House set finished.
Also at 7pm, Actors Anonymous was meeting, led by Comedy Pigs member James "
Jiggy'McGarvey. AA is an opportunity for our Ensemble School students to use what they've learned in class in their own
improv troupe. In the past, they're produced a couple of shows each season.
And at 7:30 it was time for
A Doll's House rehearsal! During rehearsal, Sherry pulled actors into the costume shop for fittings.
Also during rehearsal, ensemble member Rona
Mensah stopped by with some soap! And also some decorations for Fall for the MET.
And then finally, at 10:30pm, rehearsal is over and we're going home!
That's it, that's a day in the life of MET. If you come by on a Thursday, or a Saturday, it looks much the same - there's always a class, a rehearsal, a work call. There's always people stopping by to borrow things, return things or just say hi. There's always administrative work to do, ticket orders to fill and cleaning to be done. And sometimes we even have a show! : )
First, we clear all the props and set dressing.
Then it's time to remove the bigger furniture items. Some of the props and furniture pieces belong to MET, but most of them were loaned from various company members, so we had to sort everything as well.
Joann poses with her beautiful floor. We hated to paint over this masterpiece!
The stage is almost clear and the windows have been removed, so it's time to start dismantling the walls.
We try to reuse everything we can, so in addition to taking the walls down, we have to pull out every single nail, screw and staple.
Reiner is He-Man!
At this point, everyone needs a screw gun, but unfortunately we don't have enough to go around.
We had a lot of people help with this strike, which made the whole process go quickly. By the end of strike, the stage was clear, except for the things that were going to be throw out or given away. The next day we had a work call and a dump run.
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