TECH

Wednesday was an interesting night.

The whole cast and crew piled into Mary’s car and left from Hoboken in the early evening for a trip up the Palisades Parkway. An hour later, we found ourselves outside the Depot Theater—with an hour to wait before the tech rehearsal was to begin. Two important notes: there really is no place to eat or hang out in Garrison, and each play got a forty minute slot, with the rehearsal proceeding in the order of the show. We, who had traveled the farthest and would have to travel back the farthest, were last. So, to kill time, we left the one-horse town for some grub. And after driving along some windy country roads in the encroaching darkness, we ended up at the local watering hole in the town of Cold Springs. Relaxing to kill time, we had burgers and fries—before booking it out of there as “open mic” began.

However, when we returned to the theater, we found out that we were far from going on. So, we hung out in the chill night air along the Hudson: Tim & Giselle running lines in the moonlit gazebo, me pacing along the shore freaking out after catching a glimpse of one of the other shows, and Mary texting patiently (at the moment). It was like the existential ending to an hours-long French movie, but with less art, and fewer nude models. Not even one.

Eventually, we convened on the boardwalk porch outside the theater to run through the show again and again. By this point, I had overcome my confidence issues, but Tim and Giselle decided to question the script and explore their characters. So, although we had the time, tech night is usually not the time for changing lines or blocking or motivation. Unwisely, we deliberated. Improvements did arise from the discussion, but much remained the same.

At ten of 10, we were called in. We got to work as quickly as possible. I dressed the set, made sure the actors understood what they would need to do in the scene change, and then scurried up to the booth. With the patient help of Jen, the lighting girl, I got to work creating light looks. It was actually fortunate that no other show required as complex lighting as ours; it allowed me to create and program our cues into the board. But unfortunately, we were limited by the general lighting available in the festival plot. Actually, that’s a good thing—keep it simple stupid. But that wouldn’t stop Mary from asking for gelled light, or rave-like effects. And then we ran the cue-to-cue, Jen following right along, as I fiddled with sounds, gave cues to Jen, got feedback from Mary, and yelled at my actors. Before we knew it, it was 10:30—no dress rehearsal in the space tonight.

Back to Jersey! Or NYC? Uh…we should not have gone over the GW Bridge.