Final Stretch!

Having finished tech weekend, we at Willamette University Theatre are forging ahead to Opening Night of Beauty Queen of Leenane! Starting Monday, February 16 until opening on Friday, the cast and crew will run the show each night to iron out any issues with the production. The shop crew and several hard-working volunteers are laboring overtime to complete the set: the kitchen and living room of an Irish farmhouse. Set, costume, lighting, sound and props are all falling into place, and it has been such an exciting process to witness first hand. At this point in the production, everyone is working their hardest to ensure a smooth opening night. Tech rehearsals this weekend allowed designers, board operators, and run crew to set light and sound cues and organize the show technically. Stage Manager Tess Falcone will call all of the cues for every performance, and tech is an important time to write, set, and get familiar with how all of the elements interact in a live performance. Good luck to Tess and all of the crew of Beauty Queen..., your work is so appreciated!


Speaking of opening night, tickets are available for the opening performance and gala celebration on Friday, February 20th at 7:30 pm. WU Theatre traditionally hosts a reception following the opening night performance where audience members can have a chance to enjoy refreshments and meet the cast, crew, and all of us here at the theatre department.

There will be a final dress rehearsal, or "preview" performance on Thursday, Febrary 19th at 7:30pm. Tickets are half price, and you'll get to see the process of live theatre in action!

Remember, Beauty Queen of Leenane runs February 20th-March 7th: Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2:00pm. Please see our website www.wutheatre.com for details on ticket prices and dates.
See you at the show!

Moving Toward Tech...

Hello again! The Willamette University Theatre production of Martin McDonagh's Beauty Queen of Leenane is coming along quickly... We go into tech next weekend! What does this mean? Technical rehearsals are used to incorporate light and sound cues into the show itself. The lighting designer, technical director, light staff, light board operator, sound board operator, Stage Manager and various other technical roles come together with the cast to put all the pieces of the production together. For Beauty Queen of Leenane, the large overhead beams incorporated into the set provide a new challenge for hanging lights and speakers, which will happen this weekend! Technical Director and Lighting Designer Rachel Kinsman Steck provided an update on this process, saying:

Not only did the scene shop get the floor down in record time, they also put the last wall in place at 5:00 this evening. Steve's [Shop Supervisor] expertise at making curved doorways was important! By the way, Steve also made all of the curved doors and frame for the remodel! His craftmanship will live on! We hope to hang the large beams by Friday evening so that hang and focus can happen saturday. Speaking of the lighting crew, they were in cutting pipes to create special hanging positions. We won't give away all of the trade secrets but we hope our experiment will work and make this production special. Thanks, as always, for all those who go the extra mile...
Cheers,
Rachel

We so look forward to seeing the results! Stay tuned for photos...

While the shop crew and various hard working volunteers poured the concrete for the flagstone floor, (special thanks to all that came in and lent a hand) the cast moved up to the acting lab for rehearsals. It looks like Set Designer Christopher L. Harris came in to discuss the floor plan with the cast and crew as well!


Good luck to all involved with the quickly approaching Beauty Queen of Leenane! Check back next week for additional updates, and be sure to catch the show!

Runs: February 19-March 7. Visit wutheatre.com or call (503)370-6221 for information and tickets.

McDonagh's "Beauty Queen of Leenane"

Welcome back! Following what we hope was a relaxing a productive winter break, Willamette University Theatre is hard at work on its third production of the season: Martin McDonagh's Beauty Queen of Leenane.

This dark, offbeat comedy takes place in a small house on a big hill in County Galway, Ireland where the Folan women live out an uneasy truce. Forty year old Maureen and her elderly but iron-willed mother Mag spend their days in endless rounds of petty insults and physical threats as each maneuvers for control of their isolated existence. But when an old family friend reappears and offers Maureen a chance at love and a new life, this once-benign terrain grows treacherous and the two women, bound by blood but driven by desperation, will do anything to survive.

The Tony Award-winning Beauty Queen of Leenane contains the brash humor, rich language and inventive storytelling for which Martin McDonagh has been widely praised and which mark him as one Britain's most promising young writers.

WU Theatre's production of Beauty Queen of Leenane provides significant challenges for the company in acting and technical areas. Senior theatre/psychology major Tara McLauchlan will take on the formidable role of Mag, an elderly and "iron-willed" woman. In addition, the rest of the cast (including junior theatre major Britt Lauer as Maureen, senior theatre major Cory Goble as Pato, and freshman theatre major Josh Rice as Ray) will be speaking in an Irish dialect. Beauty Queen of Leenane will surely provide stellar performances, directed by WU Theatre co-chair and acting professor Susan Coromel.

Technically, this production will be employing new techniques and talent. Senior theatre major Anya Ballinger will undertake the role of costume designer, with help from faculty member and resident designer Bobby Brewer-Wallin as a mentor. When asked about her experience thus far, Anya described the nerves and excitement that she experienced with her first company "show-and-tell," where she was given the opportunity to explain her research, her intended process, and show us excellent renderings of costumes. We look forward to seeing Anya's work, which will be quite the collage created from found pieces.

Set design by professor and resident scene designer Christopher L. Harris evokes a weather-beaten interior of the Folan farm. While the play is set in the late 1980's, everything in the Folan household has certainly seen better days. The use of wooden beams and an imitation flagstone concrete floor will lay a foundation for the oppressive and lonely world of the play. Technical director Rachel Kinsman Steck submitted photos of students and faculty pouring the concrete that will become the flagstone floor of the household. Because concrete takes significant time to cure, this process will provide and exciting and interesting experience to all involved.

Check back soon for more production progress reports for Beauty Queen of Leenane, which runs Thursdays-Saturdays February 19-March 7 at 7:30pm, with 2:00pm Sunday matinees.

Note:
Please be aware that Beauty Queen of Leenane contains adult language and situations and is not suitable for children.