Feature Friday: Looking Forward to NRT 2014

In yesterday's blog, we celebrated "Throwback Thursday" by taking a look back at the success of our 2013 season. It was great to relive the laughs, cries, and memories of last year's shows, but it also made us excited for all of the wonderful art that awaits us in this year's season. Though the Nebraska Repertory Theatre loves looking back at all we've done in previous seasons, we are still always looking forward: to new shows, new company members, and new opportunities to share our art. That being said, today we wish to show you what we are most looking forward to in this year's season.

Management

The NRT Management Team has been hard at work the past few weeks putting together special opportunities for audience and community members to get to know the Rep and come see our shows. We've been busy attending events like Jazz in June, Lincoln Community Garden Performance Series, and Hear Lincoln Concert Series to promote the Rep and give passersby chances at discount tickets. Though some of these events have passed, many of them will continue throughout the summer, so you still have the opportunity to plan attending!

The Management Team is also in the process of planning some special nights right here in Temple Building. Currently, we are scheduling artists to be part of "Fine Art Fridays,"planning a special night for our Osher Lifelong Learner Institute (OLLI) members, and brainstorming for opening night receptions. There's something for everyone to look forward to!

You can find more information about management and special Rep events on our "Events and Promotions" page here on the blog.

Technical

Whether it is in the scene shop, electrics room, or costume shop, our designers and technicians are hard at work and quickly "transforming" our spaces into the worlds of the play. The carpenters are starting to stand up scenery, paint, and put all of the pieces together in Howell Theatre. Electricians have begun hanging and focusing lighting plots in the Studio Theatre, and the costumers and stitchers in the costume shop are quickly bringing beautiful renderings to life. Once you see the photos of progress below, you'll understand why we're so excited and looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Acting and Directing

Today marks the end of the first week of rehearsals for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Circle Mirror Transformation. All of the actors, directors, and stage managers are settled in and well on their way to putting up a great show. They've made it through their first read and are in the swing of rehearsal, both inside and out of the Temple Building. Word has it that earlier this week, some management team members saw the cast of Circle Mirror Transformation playing a trust theatre game out on the grounds surrounding Temple. Things are definitely getting interesting in rehearsals!

Rehearsals for Unnecessary Farce start next week, and everyone is looking forward to start the creative process for our third and final show of the summer. We can't wait until opening nights!


There's a lot to look forward to this summer at the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, both for our company members and audience members! We can't wait to have you follow us as we transform this summer.

NRT Excitement with Emma: Throwback to NRT 2013

While we, as theatre artists, are always looking ahead to the next opening night, next season, next promotional event or what have you, sometimes it can be a joy to look back and reflect on works of the past. In honor of Throwback Thursday, today we are going to do just that, with a glimpse back to Nebraska Rep's 2013 season!

We opened the season with Jon Jory's adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, featuring Jessie Tidball and Sean Schmeits. Emma is convinced that she is the perfect matchmaker. But, in an attempt to set up her friend, Harriet, with Mr. Elton, Mr. Elton falls for Emma. As Emma deters Mr. Elton, she sets up her friend, Mr. Knightly with Harriet, which of course backfires when Emma begins to fall for Mr. Knightly. In true Jane Austen fashion, by the middle of the play, everyone seems to be in love with the wrong person!

Mr. Knightly (Sean Schmeits), Emma Woodhouse (Jessie Tidball), and Mr. Woodhouse (Alan Knoll)

The Cast of Emma
(Alan Knoll, Jessie Tidball, Emily Martinez, Chet Kincaid, Sasha Dobson, Richard Nielsen, Sean Schmeits, Dan Rodden; Not pictured: Jaimie Pruden, Alexander Jeffery, Kimberly Clark Kaczmarek)

Emma Woodhouse (Jessie Tidball) and Mr. Knightly (Sean Schmeits)

Next, we polished our etiquette skills with Mrs. Mannerly by Jeffrey Hatcher, starring Mark McCarthy and Juanita Pat Rice. In this comedy, a young boy by the name of Jeffrey attends a manners and etiquette class taught by none other than Mrs. Mannerly herself. In preparation for the final test, for which Jeffrey aims to achieve a perfect score (never before reached by one of Mrs. Mannerly's students), Jeffrey and Mrs. Mannerly may learn things about themselves they never knew, and develop an unlikely friendship along the way.

Mrs. Mannerly (Juanita Pat Rice) and Jeffrey (Mark McCarthy)

Mrs. Mannerly (Juanita Pat Rice) and Jeffrey (Mark McCarthy) sit down for a drink together.

Mrs. Mannerly (Juanita Pat Rice) and Jeffrey (Mark McCarthy) get up to dance!

Finally, our season closed with the stories of holidays past in Making God Laugh by Sean Grennan, with Alan Knoll and Melissa Epp. Spanning a time frame of four decades, this story focuses on Bill & Ruthie's family, with their children, Rick, Maddie, and Tom. The audience witnesses their Thanksgiving celebration in 1980, Christmas in 1990, New Year's Eve of 2000, and finally, Easter in 2010. A heartwarming dramedy, this play had audiences laughing and crying by the end of it!

Melissa Epp and Becky Key Boesen take a photo backstage before the show!

Tom (Dan Rodden), Maddie (Becky Key Boesen), Ruthie (Melissa Epp), Rick (Mark McCarthy), and Bill (Alan Knoll) attempt to eat the infamous cheese dip.

Bill (Alan Knoll) braces himself before taking a bite of Ruthie's fantasia cheese dip. Alan is back at NRT this season to direct Unnecessary Farce! 

Maddie (Becky Key Boesen), Tom (Dan Rodden), Ruthie (Melissa Epp), Rick (Mark McCarthy), and Bill (Alan Knoll) pose for their traditional family photo.

As we look back on the successful 2013 season of NRT, it only makes us more excited to share the 2014 season with you! We're less than a month away from our first opening, so get ready to start making new memories with the Rep.

Humpday With Howard: Vanya and Chekhov and Durang and Spike

Hello, all! For the next few weeks, the Rep's weekly newsletter will be featuring articles on the three plays we're producing this season in order to provide a little extra insight into the texts. I wrote this week's article and its focus was on our first show, Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and the play's Chekhovian roots. For those of you who don't receive our newsletter, I'm going to recap some of what I said in the newsletter, and then I'll go a little bit more in depth into playwright Christopher Durang's own background.

Durang likens his 2013 Tony award-winning play to Chekhov in a blender. It is not a parody, however, and no prior knowledge of the 19th-century Russian playwright is needed in order to enjoy this exceptional play. But it does make the story more fun!


Born in Taganrog, Russia on January 29, 1860, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a grocer's son who became one of Russia's greatest storytellers. His plays are considered comedies of the human condition, and they emphasize emotion and the exploration of character and existence in ways that his contemporaries had not done. Some of his greatest works feature characters in country estates mourning the lives they never led and living in excruciating anguish and boredom. This often makes his writing seem deeply tragic, but this was not Chekhov's intention. The playwright once explained that:

"All I wanted was to say honestly to people: 'Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!' The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life.

Enter Christopher Durang, a playwright born on January 2, 1949 in Montclair, New Jersey. This places him on planet Earth forty-five years after and 3,881 miles away from Chekhov's death (July 14, 1904 in Badenweiler, Germany). Durang holds a B.A. in English from Harvard College and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama. His writing style is darkly satirical and he uses "wit and absurdity" (The New York Times) to explore topics such as family and religion.

Durang's first professional production was the play The Idiots Karamazov, which he co-wrote with classmate Albert Innaurato. Prada-wearing Meryl Streep, a classmate of theirs at the time, starred in the play as a quirky 80 year-old at the Yale Repertory Theatre. His play, Titanic, premiered 1976 and was his first production to be transferred to off-Broadway. It starred yet another one of his famous classmates, the alien-hunting Sigourney Weaver. This was the beginning of a long line of collaborations with Weaver, leading up to her performance as Masha in Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

Left: Sigourney Weaver in Titanic.

Right: Meryl Streep in The Idiots Karamazov

Durang earned his first  nomination (Best Book of a Musical) for his 1978 musical A History Of The American Film. He earned his first Tony for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (which we'll be producing in July!). Vanya premiered at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey, in September of 2012; was transferred to Lincoln Center Theater in October 2012; and was finally transferred to Broadway in March of 2013.

In Vanya, Durang pulls character traits, situations, and themes from Chekhov's four greatest plays, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard, and creates a witty and contemporary play in dialogue with Chekhov's masterpieces. Be ready to see them on stage at the Nebraska Rep this summer!

Stephanie's Weekly Spotlight: Party Time at the Rep

Yesterday was a big day for NRT. It marked the start of rehearsals for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Circle Mirror Transformation, and for some out-of-town company members, it was their first official day in Lincoln. So what better way to end it than with a get-together! Last night, the management team hosted the annual company party. The theme was Tropical Barbeque, complete with grilled kabobs and RumChata flavored ice cream courtesy of Ivanna Cone! It was a long day of preparation, but the end product was well worth it. Take a look:

A special thanks is extended to Paul Steger and Sara Bucy for hosting the party at their beautiful home. Thank you to all of the company members who attended and made the evening a great one. Here’s to a fantastic upcoming season!

Virginia's Point of View: The Company in Years

Since it is my decade mark as being the Artistic Director, I've been thinking about longevity. So, on this last night before I really have inside news, since rehearsals don't start until tomorrow, I have been doing some counting.  It is Paul Steger, our Executive Director's 13th year working for the Rep. Julie Hagemeier, our General Manager, has logged in 29 seasons, and Brad Buffum, Production Stage manager, 18 years.  David Landis, who is playing Mayor Meekly in Unnecessary Farce this season has played at least 15 with us.  Dan Stratman, lighting design for every season in the last decade, also couldn't be pinned down to an actual number. He started working for the Rep 43 years ago, but couldn't give me an accurate count of how many shows. Judy Hart, actress extraordinaire among other things, says 5 or 6 years, though I think that must be low. Janice Stauffer, costume designer for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and I counted up all her years and it came to an even 30.  I know Ed (as in Ed Stauffer) who just retired from the Johnny Carson School after 35 years is not far behind that mark. But Ann Watson wins with 39 seasons and if you didn't already know, this is her last, as she is retiring this July after the last show is open. We will miss her like crazy!

For more recent records, Rachel Owings has worked in our costume shop for six years and Quentin Robb has worked in the scene shop or electrics for just as long! 

Clearly we all love doing what we do, and are proud to do it again and again.

Feature Fridays: The Many Hats of Management

It is not uncommon for actors to have more than one role at once. In fact, several actors in our company will be performing in multiple shows at the Rep this summer. Everyone knows that actors have several characters in their repertoire, and technicians are often skilled in more than one facet of technical theatre. Actors and technicians aren't the only ones who wear many hats; theatre managers do, too.

Each Nebraska Rep Management Team member may have his or her own title, but more often than not do they all take on multiple responsibilities that could fall under completely different job descriptions. Even in the two weeks that have passed in our 2014 season, members of our management team have already worked as publicists, event planners, tour guides, social media and mass media communicators, and salesmen. They may be known as Associate Director of Audience Development, Assistant General Manager, or Company Manager, but the truth is, they have too many titles to count (or fit on a name badge, for that matter). 

When you see a Nebraska Rep poster at your favorite coffee house, a tweet from our account on your newsfeed, or a commercial promoting our season during your favorite show, chances are one or more of our management team members have had their hands on it. It's amazing to realize that managers from all walks of life work together to promote and represent the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, whether it's on social media, radio, television, or in person. Our management team works hard to coordinate events for the public and the company, including taking part in Jazz in June, planning a company party, and putting together opening night receptions. 

Today's Feature Friday is for some of the theatre's unsung heroes: thank you, managers, for getting audience members in seats and having a good time in the process.

Some NRT Management Team members making connections and having a blast at this Tuesday's Jazz in June.

Meet Your 2014 Management Team Members:

Julie Hagemeier, General Manager

Joshua Waterstone, Director of Audience Development

Desiree Bartels, Associate Director of Audience Development

Emma Gruhl, Company Manager

Bryan Howard, Assistant General Manager and House Manager

Stephanie Kahler, Assistant General Manager and House Manager

Dylan Oxley: Public Relations and Company Management Intern

Jerica Binder: Administrative Assistant

NRT Excitement with Emma: An Introduction to our Equity Members

In the theatre world, it is common to meet someone who identifies themselves as a "people person." In fact, many of the company members of the Nebraska Rep are people people! Emma Gruhl, our Company Manager, takes great pride in being a people person--it's actually part of her job description! Emma is not only good with people, she's also pretty great with words. That's why she will be our Thursday blog contributor! Take a look as Emma gives you the inside scoop on Actors' Equity and what that means for the Nebraska Rep:

As a professional theatre company, the Nebraska Repertory Theatre is fortunate enough to have several professional actors and one professional stage manager, known as "Equity" actors/managers, in our company. The Actors' Equity Association, also known as "AEA," was founded in 1913 and is a labor union for actors and stage managers. Currently, there are more than 49,000 members in the union. As the AEA website states, "Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans, for its members."

This year, our Equity members include actors Lawrence MacGowan, Kristie Berger, Carolyn Popp, and stage manager Brad Buffum. Let's get to know them a bit, before seeing their work on the stage and behind the scenes!

Lawrence MacGowan

"Vanya" in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

"James" in Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker

This is Lawrence's first year with us here at Nebraska Rep! His theatre credits include The Time of Your Life (at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and A.C.T./San Francisco), Rain, River, Ice, Steam (Victory Gardens Theatre), Design for a Living, All's Well That Ends Well (Goodman Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Romeo & Juliet (Arkansas Repertory), The Night Hank Williams Died, A Few Good Men (Peninsula Players), Blithe Spirit, Bus Stop (SSTC/Krannert Center), Permanent Collection, Bee-Luther-Hatchie (Northlight Theatre). You may also recognize Lawrence through his film and television credits, which include Chicago Fire, Animals, The Playboy Club, 39: A Film by Carroll McKane, Harmless, Road to Perdition, and New Port South. Lawrence is a member of both AEA and SAG (Screen Actors Guild, the "AEA" equivalent to film and television). Welcome to the company, Lawrence!

Kristie Berger

"Masha" in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

"Marty" in Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker

Kristie is returning to Nebraska Rep this year. She appeared as "Grace" in Bus Stop and "Priscilla" in Resident Alien during our 2005 season. Other regional credits include Barbara Fordham in August: Osage County and "Frankie" in Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune (for which she won a DayTony Award of Excellence as a Guest Actor) at the Human Race Theatre in Dayton, and the long-running national tour of The Odd Couple: Female Version starring Barbara Eden. Chicago credits include "Jeanette" in Last of the Red Hot Lovers at Illinois Theatre Center, The Vagina Monologues, Always...Patsy Cline, and The Odd Couple: Female Version at the Apollo Theater. Kristie has also worked with such theaters as The Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Equity Library Theater, City Lit, Lifeline, Strawdog, Mary-Arrchie, Touchstone, Center Theater, and Absolute. She also works in voice-overs, commercials, films, and industrial films, and has appeared overseas at Edinburge Festival Fringe in Scotland as "Sissy" in Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, and as "Little Mary" in Stage Door. She has participated in countless staged readings, several productions, many classes, and numerous table reads at Chicago Dramatists, where she is an Associate Artist. Welcome back, Kristie!

Carolyn Popp

"Sonia" in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

"Mary Meekly" in Unnecessary Farce by Paul Slade Smith

Carolyn is making her debut at Nebraska Rep in two great comedies! Recently she played Aunt Kate in The Cripple of Inishmaan at Centenary Stage, and the evil Queen in Cymbeline with Shakespeare in the Parking Lot -- yes -- an NYC parking lot. Carolyn participated as a voice of Gettysburg in the televised live stage celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg last summer. Other NYC credits include The Hired Man, Escape from Happiness, Fifth of July, Natural Affection, A Tale of Two Cities, The Seagull, and The Comedy of Errors. Regional credits include The Last Night of Ballyhoo, The Clean House, Our Town, 110 in the Shade, I Do! I Do!, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Miracle Worker, Broadway Bound, Harvey, Footloose, Cabaret, Defiance, An Inspector Calls, A Wonderful Life, Funny Girl, Carousel. You may also recall Carolyn as Stephen Colbert's unsuspecting wife, Claire Noblet, in Comedy Central's Strangers with Candy. We're thrilled to have you, Carolyn!

Brad Buffum

Stage Manager for Unnecessary Farce by Paul Slade Smith

Production Stage Manager for Nebraska Repertory Theatre and Johnny Carson School of Theatre & Film

Brad Buffum acts as Production Stage Manager for the Johnny Carson School of Theatre & Film during the academic year as well as the Nebraska Repertory Theatre during the summer. He is a long-standing member of Actors' Equity Association. He is the national stage management coordinator for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. This is his 18th year working for NRT and for the Johnny Carson School. We're so lucky to have him!

Learn more about Actors' Equity Association by visiting their website: actorsequity.org 

Humpday With Howard: The Fun and Games of Theatre Management

Theatre Management may sound like all work and no play, but the Nebraska Repertory Theatre management team takes pride in making not only our theatre performances fun for everyone, but also our promotional events! Our Assistant General Manager and House Manager, Bryan Howard, talks about how the Nebraska Rep is connecting with audience members on a fun and personal level, and the history behind one of our favorite promotional games:

Charadtionary at Jazz in June

Hello, everyone! My name is Bryan and I'll be your weekly Wednesday blogger. I am very interested in history and so plan with my posts to connect this season's productions and marketing with some of the history behind it all.

To kick it off, I thought I'd talk a little bit about our Jazz in June booth from last night. As Stephanie mentioned, we gave those who attended the event the chance to win a free ticket to one of our shows this summer. What did they have to do? Transform a blank dry erase board into masterpiece in one minute.

Or, put simply, play some pictionary. With a splash of charades thrown in because, hey, this is a theatre company after all. So, to play this charadtionary game, we had players pick a word from a fishbowl (all of which relate to our 2014 season) and then try and draw (and mime) something in under a minute that would lead their partner(s) to guess it correctly. Here are a few of many examples of works that put Starry Night and the Mona Lisa to shame:

And now for some history! According to a 1988 article in the Los Angeles Times, Pictionary sprung from the mind of Rob Angel, a Seattle waiter who, at parties, would pick words from a dictionary at random, draw them, and have other guests guess the words. In 1985, he stopped waiting, partnered with Gary Paul Everson and founded the company that would become Seattle Games Inc., and began selling Pictionary. In 1986, the game was off to a modest start and sold about 350,000. The next year, however, sales exploded and, with 3 million copies sold, Pictionary became one of the hottest toys of the year, making it the Furby of its day. Since its creation, Pictionary has spawned many imitators, including Milton Bradley's less successful Win, Lose or Draw game, a 1989 and 1997 gameshow of the same names, and, most recently, the OMGPOP's app, Draw Something. Now, we've brought it to the Nebraska Rep!

The Nebraska Rep isn't just having fun at Jazz in June; we're also working on new events to come out and play! Keep an eye out here and on social media to stay posted on where we'll be playing.

Stephanie's Weekly Spotlight: A First Year NRT Member

Stephanie Kahler is a first-year member of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre Management Team. She is not only taking on the titles of Assistant General Manager and House Manager, but she is also our Tuesday blogger! Throughout the season, Stephanie will be giving you her first-year perspective on all things Nebraska Rep: management, technical, performance, and everything in between. She's going to have a lot ready for you, but today you can relish in her account of one of Downtown Lincoln's favorite summer events: Jazz in June!

What an incredible first week! The management team is up and running, the crews have arrived, and Temple Building is once again alive with the sounds of productivity. This can only mean one thing: another season at NRT is under way! I’m still adjusting to all of the excitement of being a company member, but it already feels like home. I have no doubt that my first season with the Nebraska Repertory Theatre will provide me with fantastic opportunities and amazing memories. So, let’s get started!

I will be blogging on Tuesdays, which just happens to be the day for Jazz in June, an annual summer music festival sponsored by the Sheldon Art Association and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Every Tuesdayevening through the month of June, people from all over Lincoln gather on the lawn behind the Sheldon Art Museum to hear the smooth sounds of jazz, sample delicious foods, and enjoy the summer weather.

Tonight’s featured musicians are CALJE (Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble). They create their unique sound by combining modern jazz harmonies with various types of rhythm, including Dominican merengue, Spanish flamenco, and Jamaican reggae. Check out their website here, and come see them live, tonight at 7pm on the green space behind the Sheldon. The market opens at 5pm on 12th and R streets, with food and crafts from 25 different vendors. NRT will be there, too! Stop by our table located on the median of 12th street, and play to win a free ticket to a show of your choice! See you there!

For more information about Jazz in June, visit their website  or social media accounts. We follow them, and you should, too!

Welcome to NRT 2014: A Summer of Transformation

Hello, and welcome to "Nebraska Repertory Theatre: Behind the Curtain," the blog that gives readers an inside view of all things Nebraska Rep 2014. Throughout the summer, check in with us to hear about our transforming season; it's sure to be one that won't disappoint! 

Though our management has been in the offices since last week, we welcome our crews into the shops today. In addition to the crews, we also welcome our first blogger of the season, Virginia Smith!

Virginia Smith is the Artistic Director of the Nebraska Rep and is also the director of Circle Mirror Transformation. You'll be hearing from her every Monday to learn how the productions are unfolding and transforming week by week:

I will be blogging every Monday this season with news from the rehearsal halls and the dressing rooms. Since none of the shows are in rehearsal yet, it may seem that nothing much is going on....wrong! All the designs are in and being built, props are being gathered, light plots are being hung, all without the guest directors having met the actors!
So, being one of the directors, I'm nervous. Have I planned expansively enough to express the play that the actors and I will discover in the rehearsal process? How much should I prepare? Shall I calculate every move, or let all of it emerge organically from the actors.

I'm not sleeping that well and think about the play day and night. But I know the actors, some of whom I've met only briefly, are much more nervous. Will I be a tyrant? Will I hate everything they've been thinking about the character? It's always a nervous moment when we meet for the first rehearsal and actually see what we've all been thinking about in the first read through.

Because I cast all the shows, every first read through is a very anxious time for me, because that is when I first hear and see the whole casts together. "Together" before this has only occurred in my brain, and now, everyone looks to see if they agree. My fervent prayer is that the guest director agrees with my vision. Yikes!

Doug and Alan are reading the play over and over, creating what they envision, and making notes to share with the actors. I am reading the script over and over and trying not to do the same "normal" preparation, which generally makes me a little less nervous at the first rehearsal. The play I'm directing has much more improvisation, and I believe that it should come from my cast as they interact in the rehearsal process. Some of our best work in the theatre comes from just jumping off the cliff. But that doesn't happen without stress.

Right now, the actors are getting ready to spend an enormous amount of time away from home and families, memorizing, absorbing, creating, sweating (it is summer in Nebraska after all) and ultimately becoming agents in the world of these plays. They might be even more nervous than I am, and I'm feeling like the earth is moving under my feet.

Follow us daily here on the blog, and keep up-to-date on updates through our social media accounts. Check out the sidebar to find links and feeds that keep you connected with NRT's 

transforming summer!