Honk!Music by George Stiles Show sponsor was Blue Cross Season Sponsor was Performed in the Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre On this page: Stage Manager's musingsBy David Watts What a fun show Honk was. I knew it was going to be good when I read the script and listened to the music for the first time as part of the RLT play reading committee. In fact, I think we did a better job than those guys on the CD! RLT had originally planned to have Honk play in the Fletcher Theatre in downtown Raleigh for two weeks. That fell through so the entire theatre calendar was rearranged so that the production could play in the Gaddy for four weeks. Four weeks was going to be a challenge for the kids in the show.
Sue Scarborough was selected to be the guest director with Diane Petteway as music director and Missy Dapper as the choreographer. Auditions were early - the first week of December 2003, with the first rehearsal January 20. So the cast had plenty of time to get the music into their heads before rehearsals began. Sue was able to pick an excellent cast. She decided to select three sets of actors to play the four duck roles. They were known as the little ducks (LDs), middle ducks (MDs) and big ducks (BDs). This wasn't in the original budget, but as usual costume designer Vicki Olson managed to make it happen. Go Vicki! Because the run was four weeks, Sue also decided to cast two additional people as understudies for the ducks. I must say I was initially dubious of the need and concerned as to how much stage time they'd get, but in hindsight, it was a very clever and useful decision.
The rehearsal schedule was complicated because there were four sets of actors to coordinate and we wanted to ensure people didn't come to rehearsal when they weren't needed. This was especially important for the little ducks and their parents. All was set and under control. Then the snow came down! The snow meant we had to cancel 2-3 rehearsals, but some cast members missed more because they couldn't get their cars out of their local streets. Fortunately, between Sue, Missy, Diane, and me, we were able to get them all back on track and on schedule.
Everyone had his/her work cut out for him/her. There were blocking, lines, words to music, and choreography to learn -- and only five weeks from first rehearsal to tech weekend. Some choreographed numbers involved 16 actors and the finale involved the entire 20 members of the cast. Nerves got a little frayed at times, but everyone pulled through to produce a very successful production.
Rick Young's set was a very clever use of the space. With the original plan to run the show downtown on the big Fletcher stage squashed, it was quite a challenge to fit the production into the Gaddy space. So Rick's plan involved using the entire gallery - all three sides - to provide space and levels. It was funny to see the audience following the activity, even when it involved them turning around to look behind and above them! Rick's barnyard platforms were also fun (and to some, terrifying) to work on. These included narrow ramps, which enabled the "animals" to move from one level to the other, even up to the gallery. The set also included ladders to climb and a fireman's pole to slide down.
Up in the gallery, Rick had devised curtains which the actors opened and closed to form the different scenes. In "Collage", which involved 10 vignettes all within the same song, hidden actors pulled open and closed different curtains, while other actors and members of the dresser crew hid behind them! Oh the rehearsals on that!
Two words that brought fear into the hearts of the Stage Manager, the ASM (Gerrie, Dee, and Deanna) and the props crew members for each show were "snow" and "water". First: water... The story included a scene above water and under water ("Hold Your Head Up High"). So Ugly and his mother Ida are swimming on the surface of the water, a dancin' and a singin'. The water is a large piece of greeny-blue fabric that the four big duck actors held (The BDs and the MDs also had the roles of stagehands, dressed in overalls). There was a big slit in the center of the fabric where Ugly and Ida are swimming. Then Ida says "let's take a dive". That's the cue to the ASM to raise the water fabric above their heads. The four BDs attach the corners of the fabric to four ropes and the ASM pulls all four up into the grid via a system of pulleys. Andy's lights then shine up onto the underside of the fabric, complete with rotators, for a wonderful water effect. Alas it didn't always go as planned. Let's see... A couple of nights one of the water ropes jammed in the pulleys; one night a rope came untied; and one night the ropes weren't preset properly which meant the BDs couldn't reach them to attach to the fabric. Oh well - it worked most nights!
The other technical component that caused us grief were the snow curtains. At the end of Act II, there's the blizzard scene where Ugly and the Cat get lost in a snow blizzard. So Rick's idea was to have the snow appear "as if by magic", and then to melt at the end of the scene. He and Roger came up with a clever solution. The snow would be large white sheets made of a fine white tricot (pronounced "tree-co") fabric that hangs down from the grid. The tricot would be hidden in bags just below the grid and then, on cue, be pulled out (by Jess, one of the middle ducks) to form one large sheet separating the audience and the actors. The effect is that the audience has to look through the fabric and in combination with lighting and sound effects, there appears to be a blizzard. Similarly, Ugly and The Cat get "burried" under a "pile" of snow in one corner. This was really two layers of tricot that the ASM had to release so that it would fall down in front of the two actors. The snow then "melts". The BDs as stagehands pull down the fabric (it is attached by velcro tabs) and they drag it off stage in a melted-snow kind-of-way.
The trick was to make it work every night. The night before a performance, I would be up in the Genie presetting the big pieces of fabric -- reattaching the fabric and stuffing it into the three bags. As I discovered, the way I put it into the bags made a huge difference. Otherwise the results were unfortunate. One night, one of the ropes got caught so that the fabric didn't come all the way out; other nights, one of the sheets would get hung up on the ropes. One particular night, the snow got caught and then refused to come undone when the BDs pulled them down. The result was that the snow on that side remained tangled up and still hanging there for the remainder of the show! The Cat/Ugly snow was often equally belligerent. Stagehands Meredith and Desteny had the job of removing the snow from the two actors as the other snow was "melting". This involved the stagehands pulling on the fabric thereby releasing a set of velcro pieces. The ASM was to help by pulling on a rope to help the release. Alas some nights it was a major battle to convince that snow to "melt"! Ouch. Still, the snow worked most nights!
Sue cast two duck understudies. She thought this necessary because the four-week run would mean that someone would no doubt be sick for some of the shows. Being an understudy was not a simple task at all. Sarah, the LD and MD understudy, basically had to learn eight roles! Fortunately they weren't major always-on-stage roles, but she had to remember which one was which. I was amazed at her abilities. Lianne had a similar task - she was understudy for the four big ducks so she had to learn their parts, plus all the stagehand activities they performed. Sarah was called even before the show opened. Patrick Clanton (a middle duck) injured his ankle on Preview night. So Sarah stood in for him for the next week's worth of shows. Then she stood in for Jess one night, and at the end of the run, several shows for Hannah who had the pleasure of strep throat. Lianne didn't have the emergencies as did Sarah, but she did stand in for Desteny for two shows. So the understudies were an essential part of the show!
Let me end this with some of the highlights of the shows from my perspective:
Honk had a great cast and a great crew. The show broke box office records and audiences really enjoyed it. And I'm pleased that 3 months after strike, those songs are finally out of my head!
Members of the castUgly: John Arnold Ducklings:
Middle ducks:
Sarah Griffin was the understudy for both the duckling and the middle duck roles
Lianne Gonsalves was the understudy for the big duck roles
Production crewDirector: Sue Scarborough Box Office Volunteers: Joe Ali, Laura Barrier, Beckie Bumgardner, Harvey Bumgardner, Cornell Chappell, Patsy Clarke, Johnna Lynn Cottrell, Deanna Eckert, Joyce Donaldson, Bonnie Flynn, Vivian Gilfeather, Lynn Hardison, Connie McDaniel, Rose Melvin, Martha Noyes, Pats Palmer, Linda Pritchard, Linda Shore, Edythe Stanislaw, Jane Stikeleather, Marian Susann, Jean Wilkinson Concessions Crew: Pat Brown, Ted Emigh, Gini Emigh, Wayne Fretwell, Jackie Glasser, Ann Monte, Carol Friedlander, Clint Lienau, OB Lienau, Roxanne Manning, Bobbi Jo Marceno, Tracey Powell Costume Shop Crew: Amy Bartley, Marie Berry, Lauren Britt, Barbara Corbin, Kenna Covington, Sherry Derry, Kat Henwood, Catherine Lambe, Cathy Lehman, Connie McDaniel, Wayne Olson, Yvonne Terrelongue, Jean Wilkinson Dressers Crew: Kat Henwood (Chief), Marie Berry, Mandy Bullman, Becca Carter, Kenna Covington, Cathie Ingram, Catherine Lambe, Becki Muvison House Managers: Brad Ainge, Keith Bugner, Deanna Eckert, Lynn Freeman, Barbette Hunter, Lilo Miles, Cathy Sprankle, Judi Wilkinson Light Crew: Ken Nyren (Chief), Chris Eckert, David Langmeyer, Kiron Rakkar, Asher Robinson, Nikolai Rogers, Kerry Sullivan, Aleshia Van Duyn Light Hang/Focus: Ken Nyren (Chief), Brad Ainge, Keith Bugner, Chris Eckert, Deanna Eckert, Josh Gilliam, Evan Kochuk, Andy Parks, David Petrons, Kiron Rakkar, Asher Robinson, Lucius Robinson, David Watts, Zoe Watts Props/Running Crew: Jeff Eckert (Chief), Brad Ainge, Ruth Berry, Teri Caldwell, Chris Eckert, Dan Eckert, Michelle Potts Public Relations Crew: Don Akin, Marlys Akin, Amy Berenson, Carolyn Busse, Barbara Corbin, Catherine Lambe, Anne Miesel, Thomas Porter, Jacqueline Smallwood Set Construction Crew: Desteny Adams, Brad Ainge, John Arnold, Ruth Berry, Ed Bodell, Gayle Bonner, Meredith Budlong, Keith Bugner, Noel Butzke, Patrick Clanton, Barbara Corbin, Steven Darden, Maureen Dollinger, Deanna Eckert, Jeannine Erasmus, Lianne Gonsalves, Anastasia Gray, Erin Hanehan, Christopher Hawkins, Heidi Johnston, Jessica Kala, Jess Lawrence, Mark Lawrence, Richard Mancini, Brett Peterman, Diane Petteway, Allison Powell, John Price, Kiron Rakkar, Lance Rappaport, Linda Ross, Dick Shirk, Margaret Jeffreys Shouse, David Shouse, David Watts, Zoe Watts, Matthew-Jason Willis, Brett Wilson Sound Crew: Barbara Corbin (Chief), Brad Ainge, Pat Berry, Jeff Eckert, Brett Peterman Special thanks to Arts Access for audio description; Capstone Production Group for Web hosting; Luna Designs for Web site design and maintenance; the Raleigh Chapter of the National Charity League; and PIP Printing for posters. You are here: Photo home > 2003-2004 Yearbook > Honk! |
