tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29175306.post8547297553566776374..comments2023-05-04T04:20:10.423-04:00Comments on Dave's Theater Blog: Nuts, bolts, etc.Dave Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01554650648344826824noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29175306.post-54799546575030282172011-02-27T21:58:24.773-05:002011-02-27T21:58:24.773-05:00Thanks, Michael, for sharing Wendy with us! As El...Thanks, Michael, for sharing Wendy with us! As Ellie's mom, I truly appreciate Wendy's kindness and good humor, especially as she deals with our young ones. She has helped make this show a wonderful experience for Ellie (and everyone else) and we are all grateful to her!<br /><br />--KatieKatiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02009126598406345119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29175306.post-9715266124838077872011-02-19T12:56:56.738-05:002011-02-19T12:56:56.738-05:00"Wendy Vandergrift is stage-managing “BFG” an..."Wendy Vandergrift is stage-managing “BFG” and she is awesome. The energy, focus and good-humor she brings to the job makes everything (at least from the outside) seem like a party, even though I’m sure she’s just as tired and cranky as everyone else as the crush of tech week comes to a close."<br /><br />As her spouse, I might be biased (just a teensy bit), and I wholeheartedly agree...<b>Wengen's the BEST!</b> I learn another lesson in patience from her with every show she does. As you might imagine, we share many conversations about her workdays and about rehearsals, and of course I hear her unfiltered emotions and thoughts(i.e. I get the crankiness); an outsider would never guess what lies beneath the surface. What everyone else observes is a fairly calm exterior, and how deftly and diplomatically she handles challenges.<br /><br />The secret to the energy, focus and good-humor? She truly loves what she does. As with everyone in theatre, there are shows which might not be among her favorites, and then there are shows like BFG with Cooper and Ellie and all of the theatre magic packed to one tiny package - and those shows are the rewards.<br /><br />Thank you for taking the time to mention her. BTW, you might want to keep an eye on Cooper; I think Wengen has worked out a deal involving pizza and our beagle that might lead him to jump the Timberline ship and follow her home!<br /><br />-MichaelSparkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11701943586900221967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29175306.post-81914559781513241142011-02-19T11:21:18.817-05:002011-02-19T11:21:18.817-05:00I also saw that Theatre Gym performance of The Syr...I also saw that Theatre Gym performance of <i>The Syringa Tree</i>. Magnificent; also one of my favorite theatrical experiences of all time.<br /><br />Staging a show for one space and then moving it to another is always harder than you think it's going to be. Sometimes you don't know you're re-staging it; I didn't know <i>As You Like It</i> would be re-mounted outside, but I did know that <i>Midsummer</i> would. For <i>Midsummer,</i> we utilized the flexible space of the chapel at Second Presbyterian to make a playing space the approximate size and shape of the stage at Agecroft Hall. In retrospect, that ended up being a lot of sacrifices indoors for an outdoor payoff that was months away.<br /><br />For this summer's Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, I have been given the honor and responsibility of inaugurating not one but two new performance spaces, an outdoor stage in a new community called Hendrix Village, and a just-completed performing arts center in Little Rock called the Argenta Community Theater. Again, it's <i>As You Like It,</i> with seventeen actors and a musician (me). Again, we have a flexible space in the first place, so we're constructing a stage the approximate dimensions of the Argenta stage. But this time we're not going to build one show for another space; we're going maximize the uniqueness of each space as best we can. It will make rehearsals a bit confusing, but hopefully I can draw on past experience.Andrew Hammhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714127938846605400noreply@blogger.com