Setting the Stage for Emma

For about a month, the carpenters and crew have been hard at work on the set of Emma.   Below, you can see a collage of the set in its many stages.

Thanks to Trip Snyder, Greg Rishoi, Michael Fortkamp, +Vicki Halverson, Erica King, A.J. Lowery, Quentin Robb, Morgan Robertson, Patrick Stayer, Chris Stepanek, Forrest Teske, +Clay Van winkle, Jeff Stander, Steven Grair, and Brad Buffum

Emma: A Popplet

In honor of the opening of Emma this week, I made a Popplet dedicated to Austen's classic story. Popplet is an online program that allows you to create graphic organizers and diagrams. In this Popplet, I've given you a "who's who" of the characters, information on the setting, a little bit about Jane Austen herself, and more!  I hope this Popplet is informative and helps you get ready for the show, which opens this Thursday!

To see the Popplet, use the zoom buttons and just "click and drag" below.  Or, you can click on the link below to open in a new screen!

Emma: A Popplet

Season Pass Giveaway Winner

The winner of the "Season Pass Giveway" is . . . .

Rachele Stoops Brown!!!!!!!!

Rachele, please email NebraskaRepertoryTheatre@gmail.com within three days (so by the end of the day, July 9th) with an address I can mail your Season Pass to.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for playing!!!!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking Forward Friday: Teaser Video, Pt. 2

Nebraska Repertory Theatre's first show, Emma, opens next Thursday, July 11 @ 7:30.  The opening of that show will launch the start of the 2013 Season and the whole crew is excited.  To get ready for the opening, the blog will be running a "Countdown to Emma" and will have lots of great previews into the costumes, sets, and more.  So, make sure to comeback on Monday to start the countdown with us.

In the meantime, here is another Nebraska Repertory Teaser video, brought to us by +Michael Reinmiller.  You can watch it by clicking here, or by clicking the picture below.

Scene Design for Mrs. Mannerly

Last week, I sat down with Laurel Shoemaker, who is the scenic designer for Mrs. Mannerly.  What is really exciting and fascinating about this production is that it utilizes very little set design, and instead relies on projections, which Laurel has been creating and photo-shopping.

The director for Mrs. Mannerly, Rob Urbinati is interested in creating sets out of found spaces.   So, in the Spring, Laurel took pictures of the Studio Theatre to help give him ideas about how to use the space.  What they decided was to put the production in the back, right corner and use minimal sets.  The set is the outline of a basketball court, a basketball net, a chandelier that will drop down for the bar scene, and then props and furniture Mrs. Mannerly will arrange during the performance.  In the collage below, you can see Laurel's picture of the Studio and then her design for the set.

With a minimal set, a lot of the stage story is going to be told by projections.  For the projections, Laurel brought in lots of images from the internet, photo-shopped to create what she needed, or with the help of a former grad student, created original drawings.  Here is just a smattering of different types of projections you'll see in the show.

School Pictures:
In the production, Jeffrey and the other kids in the manners class are all played by one actor, Mark McCarthy.  Laurel created a class of five students using old photos and photoshop.  There are couple of different pictures of the class, but here is one that shows them all together.

Manner's Book Illustrations
One of the other projections in the show are original pictures illustrated by David Tousley, a former UNL graduate student.  Laurel had found pictures in old manners books, and David created pictures modeled after some of the images.  Here is an example of two of them:

Different Inspirations for the Gym:

Although not part of the projection series, before the production Laurel researched older style gyms and pulled a couple of pictures that she shared with me.  My favorite one was the picture of the dance in the gym.  In Mrs. Mannerly, the gym doubles as a manners classroom, so I thought it was neat to see all the ways gyms get to perform multiple functions and create many types of settings.   

There is lots of other things that Laurel talked to me about, but the rest of it is up on our Pinterest page, in the board called "NRT's Production of Mrs. Mannerly."  While you are there, you can also check out Pinterest board for "NRT's Production of Emma."  

Clueless: a 20th Century Emma

There are just some things 90's kids understand: scrunchies, Furbies, Nickelodeon when it was good, and Alicia Silverstone in the entertainment classic Clueless. Yes, it's a 1990's staple without which no sleepover would have been complete. The moment the opening credits flash on the screen, the audience is transported into the mystical world of Beverly Hills, where Valley Girls roam in herds and plastic surgeons abound. It's a classic.

But did you know Clueless was inspired by another, even greater classic? That's right, folks, Amy Heckerling's screenplay is based loosely off of Jane Austen's Emma.

It is for this reason (along with the fact that we LOVE hosting events for our friends throughout Lincoln) that the Nebraska Repertory Theatre is partnering with University Program Council and the Ross Media Arts Center to bring a free screening of Clueless to you! Yes, even! Everyone knows the Huskers like to prep for a big event in a great way, and the theatre is no different!

In order to get you pumped for Emma (opening on July 11) and Clueless (showing on July 14 @ 7:00 PM), we wanted to share some memorable quotes from our modern day Emma, Cher, and her Beverly Hills posse*: 

• Cher: Okay, so you're probably going, "Is this like a Noxzema commercial or what?" But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl.
• Cher: Searching for a boy in high school is as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.
• Travis: I would like to say this. Tardiness is not something you can do on your own. Many, many people contributed to my tardiness. I would like to thank my parents for never giving me a ride to school, the LA city bus driver who took a chance on an unknown kid and last but not least, the wonderful crew from McDonalds who spend hours making those egg McMuffins without which I might never be tardy.
• Cher: Everything I think and everything I do is wrong. I was wrong about Elton, I was wrong about Christian, and now Josh hated me. It all boiled down to one inevitable conclusion, I was just totally clueless. Oh, and this Josh and Tai thing was wigging me more than anything. I mean, what was my problem? Tai is my pal, I don't begrudge her a boyfriend, I really... Ooh, I wonder if they have that in my size. 

Did you recognize some of these quotes? Do you know even more than we do? (Feel free to comment them in the space available below!) Are you totally excited for Clueless at the Ross and Emma at the Nebraska Rep? Of course you are! And the great news is, it doesn't matter if you're a product of the 90's, 80's, or even the 1960's; we want to see you filling up those seats! So join the Nebraska Rep and UPC at the Ross on July 14, 7:00 pm to see the 20th Century Emma: Clueless!

While you're at it, visit us on specific dates from July 11-August 11 at the Howell Theatre to see the Jane Austen classic rendition of "Emma" come to life on stage!  Would you totally regret that decision? As if!

*Quotes provided by www.imdb.com

Meet the Cast of Making God Laugh

The last show the Nebraska Rep will open this season is Making God Laugh.  Here is the cast for this show.

Virginia Smith - Director

This is my 9th year as the Artistic Director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre. As I've so often said, I have the best job in the midwest! And it's wonderful to be able to bring these five terrific new plays to you this summer! My Rep directing credits include God of Carnage, Church Basement Ladies, Vino Veritas, Santaland Diaries, Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, Metamorphoses, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, Omnium Gatherum, Crimes of the Heart and Dinnertime which was performed at the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Theatre Festival in New York City and in Krakow, Poland. Other favorite productions include The Voice of the Prairie at the Podium Festival in Moscow, Romeo and Juliet for Oak Park Festival Theatre, and Ride Down Mount Morgan, Hamlet, Judevine, and Marisol for Equity Library Theatre. My work directing for Still Point Theatre Collective, a touring company based in Chicago, has been seen across Europe and the U.S. I'm the Head of Graduate and Undergraduate Directing at UNL, and run our M.F.A. Program in Directing for Stage and Screen. My musical adaptation of Local Wonders, former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's book by the same name, had a successful run in Chicago 2011 and the Lied Center in 2012.

Melissa Epps -- Ruthie

Melissa Critchfield Epp – Is returning for her 8^th NRT season.  A graduate of UNL Theater department it was on this stage that Melissa began her professional journey.  Some of her favorite roles include Meredith from STEAMBATH, Flo in PICNIC and Nancy Twinkle in LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE.  She also loved being on stage with fellow alums as Sister Woman in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.  As a former member of SAG and Equity, her career has ranged from coast to coast including, recording, commercial, voice over work and film.  She had a starring role in Ted Lange’s award winning Indie film FOR LOVE OF AMY and is featured in the UNL’s film departments project DIGS directed by Donald Petrie.  For several years she and husband Mark produced children’s music, television and film projects.

Their two kids Ryan, a Chef and Ashley, an aspiring actress/singer are currently pursuing their own arts in New York City and the world.  A special thanks to her mom, Joyce, who continues to shine and help guide her artistic expression, to her loving soul mate Mark, and to the two best kids in the world.  Oh yeah, and their dog Bailey!  

Alan Knoll - Bill

Alan Knoll is a St Louis-based actor, and he's thrilled to return for another season at the Nebraska Rep; last year he was seen as Jeeves in Jeeves Intervenes and Phillipe in Heroes.  Other favorite roles include George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Riverfront Times 2010 Best Actor),  Max in Laughter on the 23rd Floor,  Graham in A Chip in the Sugar,  and all the residents of Bedford Falls in This Wonderful Life, named St Louis' best one-man show in 2011. Thanks to Virginia for the chance to return to Lincoln, and to his wonderful wife Laurie McConnell for her love and support.

Becky Key Boesen - Maddie

Becky is an actor, director and playwright.   Becky’s most recent play, What the Wind Taught Me was commissioned and debuted at the Lied Center for Performing Arts in March 2013 and will tour the state of Nebraska through the Lied Center’s Arts Across Nebraska program in the fall.   Becky recently directed Much Ado About Nothing for Flatwater Shakespeare and is looking forward to directing Nocturne for the Rep’s Destination Series.  She is a recipient of a Mayor’s Arts Award and was selected as one of Lincoln’s 2013 “Top 20 Under 40” for her leadership in the arts community.  Becky teaches acting and playwriting at Doane College and is currently writing her first full-length screenplay, titled Celia Skates.  Becky is overjoyed to return to Nebraska Repertory Theatre this summer – she last appeared on the NRT stage as Becky Foster in Becky’s New Car.   Thanks for supporting live theatre!

Dan Rodden - Tom

Dan happily returns to Lincoln for his second season, where NRT audiences will recall his performances as Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps and Steve in Becky's New Car.  His career has allowed him to perform for theaters across the U.S. and Canada.  Last fall, he had the honor of playing the iconic role of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird at Cardinal Stage Company in Bloomington, IN.  Other selected credits: Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha (Guest Artist - Normandale Community College, Bloomington, MN); Felix, The Odd Couple (Drury Lane Oakbrook); Antipholus of Syracuse, The Comedy of Errors (Oak Park Festival Theatre); Dr. Adams, Marrying Terry (Nightingale Group); Charles, Blithe Spirit; Mortimer, Arsenic And Old Lace; Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (New American Theater), IO Chicago; Texas Shakespeare Festival, and Cidermill Playhouse. Back home in Chicago, he performs frequently with The Shakespeare Project of Chicago in numerous classical staged readings, including Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and Antonio in The Duchess Of Malfi.  Dan resides with his talented wife, actress Gail Rastorfer, whom he met a number of years ago while touring with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan.

Mark McCarthy -- Rick

Mark McCarthy is proud to make his Nebraska Rep debut.  

Previous Roles: 

• Hampton Theatre Company: How the Other Half Loves
• Shadowland Theatre Company: Dangers, Of Electric Lighting,The Seafarer
• International Mystery Writers’ Festival: Sherlock Holmes: the Final Toast (Dr. Watson)
• Illinois Theatre Center: Moonlight and Magnolias 
• Mercury Theatre (Chicago): King O' the Moon 
• Denver Center Theatre Company: The Rivals 
• Portland Center Stage: The Rivals, Macbeth, As You Like It
• Notre Dame Shakespeare: Tamking of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing 
• Heart of America Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream 
• Kansas City Rep: Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Tempest,The Deputy, Julius Caesar, The Imaginary Invalid.  

Mark has played hapless people in several cheesy TV movies and independent films. He voices over a

hundred characters in the audio book version of Alan Brennert’s new novel Palisades Park. He’s also a

stage combat choreographer and published playwright. He lives just outside New York City with his wife,

the brilliant and talented Hollis McCarthy. 

Mannerly Mondays: Children's Etiquette, 19th century vs. 21st century

Think back to the first manners you were taught as a child. Personally, I remember these: be kind to others, respect your elders, keep your hands to yourself, and do not talk when others (especially adults) are talking.  I will admit, I did not always follow these rules; I loved to talk during class and always had a story to tell my neighbor. So, I was often reprimanded by both teachers and my parents, and thus I was taught what was expected of me as a youngster. 

In the 19th century, children were taught many rules we still practice today. As you can image, there were a couple of etiquette rules that we in the modern age might think strange. Here are a few examples:

• Always greet every family member when entering a room
• Keep yourself clean and tidy at all times 
• Always bid your elders and parents goodnight 
• Remember to wear the appropriate clothing for indoors and outdoors.

I think that it would be exhausting as a child to be expected to be so prim and proper at such a young age. Likewise, it would seem difficult for parents to keep watch over unruly children who might get too dirty or not greet you in the right way. 

Now-a-days parents still expect their children to have manners but go about it in a more casual way. In the 21st century we can expect our children to behave with manners like these:

• Using words such as "thank you" and "excuse me"
• Being friendly to the people your parents introduce you to
• Not raising your voice or screaming at your parents. 
• Being willing to try different foods and using your napkin 
• Using your big girl/boy voice when talking to adults instead of mumbling or whining.

I’m just thankful for childhood memories of making mud pies and dancing around the kitchen in my underwear. Thankfully I had great parents that knew where the balance between being polite and being a kid was.

Looking Forward Friday: 2013 Teaser

For the last three weeks, I've been featuring "Flashback Fridays" that looked back at the previous 2012 season of Nebraska Repertory.  Since I've gone through all of the old shows, and the new season is quickly approaching, it is time to start looking forward at the upcoming season.  

So, for the first "Looking Forward Friday," here is a teaser video created for Nebraska Repertory by Michael Reinmiller, the Digital Arts Support Technician.  Since I can't embed it here, you can watch it by clicking here or clicking the picture below. 

    

Emma's Interviews: Erica King, NRT Prop Master

Last week, Emma Gruhl, the Company Manager and Audience Development Assistant, sat down with Erica King,  Nebraska Repertory Theatre's Prop Master for all three shows.  In the interview, Erica talked about memories of the shows from last season and gave insights into making the props for these shows.

In the player below, you can listen to the interview.  Sorry that the sound quality isn't as sharp as it could be; for the blog we went with informal podcasting by using cell phones for the recording.