Twelfth Night Wraps Up

On Saturday, November 1 Willamette University's production of Twelfth Night ended it's three week run. Our department then immediately shifted focus to our 2008-2009 dance concert "Making the Way." Included are photos of strike, the process where the department takes down the set from one show to prepare for the next...
Be sure to catch "Making the Way," it runs November 21-23, with a preview on November 20 at 7:30pm. More info/tickets at www.willamette.edu/cla/theatre

Check back soon for more information on upcoming productions at Willamette University Theatre!

Twelfth Night Opens!

Happy Opening!

The time has come to get Twelfth Night on its feet. Thursday, October 16 the cast and crew performed Twelfth Night to an appreciative preview house, and everyone is energized and excited to open tonight!

Ron Cowan of Salem's Statesman Journal composed a feature on Twelfth Night that can be found at:

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.d11/article?AID=2008810170309 

Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes photos of the complete production!

Thanks!

WU Theatre 

Twelfth Night Set Construction

Welcome back!

Willamette University Theatre's production ofTwelfth Night is a week out from Tech, which means this weekend the sound and light designers will incorporate their work into the show. Meanwhile, the department has been hard at work on the costumes, set, lights, and rehearsing the play itself.

Rachel Kinsman-Steck, resident Technical Director, Lighting Designer, and Instructor sent along a progress report of the set construction for the week of September 29, 2008.

Goals for the week included finishing basic set pieces: the stairs, platforms, walls and columns. According to Steck "The set was welded a lot faster than I had anticipated. I brought in a welder and he and I with the help of Crystal Fast (Pictured above) were able to get the basic set pieces welded in a day!" Excellent! Challenges faced this week included illness, time, and money, and a request went out for anyone willing to help Assistant Scene Designer Aaron Smith paint a large drop that will be placed above and behind the metal frame of the set.

Sarah Lydecker, Amanda Applebaum, and Set Designer Chris Harris joined forces with Smith to make serious progress on this huge project. (Pictures follow.) Additionally, Crystal Fast, a Willamette student working in the WU Theatre scene shop, helped lead the crew to a successful week with her increasing skills in welding. Thanks, Crystal! And thanks to all involved in building what is going to be an amazing set for Twelfth Night!

Thanks again to Rachel Kinsman-Steck and Chris Harris for photos and progress reports for this week's blog...

Images (From top of post)
1) Crystal Fast welding
2)The drop
3) The drop crew of: Aaron Smith, Amanda Applebaum, and Sarah Lydecker

Twelfth Night Costumes

Thank you to Twelfth Night costume designer Bobby Brewer-Wallin for photos charting the progress on costumes... 

Clockwise from top: 

1. Sara Quinn working on a pattern for Cesario and Sebastian. 

2./3. Amanda Applebaum sewing a coat for Feste

4. Beginning of a skirt for Olivia

5. Nature inspired sweaters for Sir Toby Belch and Feste. 

Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of Twelfth Night. 

For dates and ticket prices, please visit our website: http://www.willamette.edu/cla/theatre 

Color, Grace, and Levitation...

As the inaugural post of the Willamette University Theatre production blog, I would like to take a moment to welcome you - We are so excited to provide an in-depth look into the process of building a show here at WU, and hope that you will visit again soon! Check back for photos of work in the various production areas of our department, as well as input from several designers that make it all possible.

That being said, "what is 'Color, Grace, and Levitation'?" In searching for a catchy and dare-I-say clever title for our new blog, I began sifting through various quotes along the lines of "What is theatre?" One of the most striking, I feel, came from American playwright Tennessee Williams, author of such well-loved pieces as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desire...

So, Mr. Williams, what is theatre?

"The color, the grace and levitation, the structural pattern in motion, the quick interplay of live beings, suspended like fitful lightning in a cloud, these things are the play, not words on paper, no thoughts and ideas of an author, those shabby things snatched off basement counters at Gimbel's. " -Tennessee Williams, Afterword to Camino Real

Ultimately, this is what we do here at Willamette Theatre. We take the "color, grace, and levitation..." created by playwrights, and we build a world for it. We take those everyday things, those instances we so often take for granted, and we make them magical. And we share them with you. That is our job. That is our passion.

Our first show of the 2008-2009 Season is William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by guest artist Michael Brusasco. Please check back soon for photos and progress reports from the people that make it all happen!

-Willamette University Theatre