Behind the scenes of the Laramie Project
by Jenni Grubbs
The Metropolitan

As the clock ticks closer to 5:30 p.m., actors scurry to grab their coats and get into place.
“On your mark. Get set. Go!” the director says.

With that, the last “practice run” of The Laramie Project kicked off Nov. 6.

The Laramie Project, a play about the aftereffect of Matthew Shepard’s death on the town of Laramie, Wyo., is being produced by the Metro Theatre Department.

This run was a not dress-rehearsal or a technical rehearsal, but the last rehearsal where the actors were on their own before it’s all put together. This was the last time the actors will be able to call for a line prompt. This was their final chance to redo blocking or rework delivery.
5:43 p.m. - Not even 20 minutes into rehearsal there are chair issues: one actor thought he was supposed carry a chair offstage to make way for another actor’s moment in the spotlight. However, that actor’s blocking had been changed the night before so that he now needs the chair onstage.

When that problem was finally sorted out, director Christy Montour-Larson threw her hands in the air and yelled “Yeah!” The cast members all started clapping.

Next, there are blocking issues. As they get ready to start a new scene, an actress asked Montour-Larson if she could switch places with the actor standing next to her because it was easier to get into each other’s places in the time allowed.

“That’s fine,” the director said.

For this part of the rehearsal, Montour-Larson has the cast run through what she calls “moments,” or pieces of the larger scenes and their transitions. Along the way Montour-Larson told the cast to “think faster.” She meant for them to jump on cues and anticipate what the others are doing and how it related to them. She also wanted the cast to show what their characters are feeling. “I want your attitude about it,” she said.

“I love the little bits and pieces section,” she said. “We accomplish so much.”

While this is going on, the stage crew was preparing for the full run-through.

Stage manager Jen Orf wandered around double-checking chairs, talking with her staff, who are in charge of props, lighting, photography, the house, the pulleys that control the various curtains, or legs, that rise and drop, and worrying about the logistics of the rain which will fall on the stage during one scene.

Prop coordinator Terri Fong figured out where all the tape recorders have gone, which cast members need umbrellas on which side of the stage and when to strike video cameras.

Lights flashed and glared as the lighting crew worked on figuring out which cues can be eliminated from the 300-some that were originally slated.

In the back of the house, on the second level, assistant director Gregg Vigil was charged with watching for actors falling out of character, unclear enunciation and their vocal projection. With 16 actor playing 69 characters, that was a lot to watch for, and that was only part of Vigil’s job that night.

“She’ll have me, each night, perform a different task,” Vigil said later. Vigil also acts as a sounding-board for Montour-Larson and helps the actors run lines when they need assistance, among other things.

6:15 p.m. – The cast started warm-ups, which consisted of vocal and physical exercises. In one, they grouped in a circle and someone shouts “everybody go…” then makes a combination physical/vocal move. Some of those involved disco-style dancing and Bee Gees-style high-pitched noises or “booga booga” combined with shaking their rear ends. Next everybody huddled, yelled “Yeah!,” clapped and did the move and made the sound.

6:45 p.m. – “Production, go!” Orf said into her microphone, officially starting the run- through. After this rehearsal, that phrase would be replaced with visual cues from monitors in the back of the house.

Other than a few line calls and a couple chair mishaps, the first act ran pretty cleanly.

7:40 p.m. – As several shivering actors and the director came in from smoking and the first break came to an end, there was another mishap: Montour-Larson couldn’t find her notes and was frantic. They were found, by her, in a matter of minutes, and the second act started and ran cleanly except for line calls.

8:50 p.m. – Another smoke break and another chair drama as the second act closed and the third act began.

9:30 p.m. – The run-through ended three minutes ahead of schedule. The cast took a break then reassembled in a semi-circle around Montour-Larson to hear her notes on the run-through.

“We are in very nice shape,” she said.

Next, they talked about what the following night’s first technical rehearsal will bring.

“Is it going to be perfect tomorrow? No, no it’s not,” Montour-Larson said.

She then started going over all of the little details she saw that need work. They included shuffling, focus and whether or not to clink plastic bottles.

10:08 p.m. – Montour-Larson asked Orf for the time. She announced that because they started on time, they should end on time. 10 p.m. was the scheduled end time. The actors started gathering their stuff, hanging up costume coats and putting on their real coats.

They all knew that the next day would bring something entirely different with the addition of the technical elements. Yet, in a play, there is always something new to add.

“Sometimes theater people say ‘thank God for opening night’ because otherwise it would never be done,” Montour-Larson said.

By now, the show is halfway through its run and is going into the homestretch. One would hope they have found their “done point”. On Nov. 7, Montour-Larson said she had no doubt they would.

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