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A tale of two stages
Stage one: the rehearsals
By Adam Goldstein
goldstea@mscd.edu

Laurence Olivier once said, “I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theater is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture.”

In this three-part series, we explore Metro’s homegrown dramatic culture. The series follows the development of a Metro play, from its first auditions, through its rehearsals, to its first performances in front of an audience.

Part 1 | 2 | 3

Photo by Heather Longway-Burke • longway@mscd.edu Michelle Gibson takes the stage as Raven Nov. 6.

“How do you do that wrinkled-skin thing again? Remind me,” Jose Zuniga asked as he peered at himself in a mirror.

His face was covered in the first layers of the makeup that would help define Goat, his clueless stage persona. Deep lines of black emphasized his natural contours, while a pale base over his face provided a palette for the putty that would add artificial warts and scars.

“You’re going to take the latex – you’re going to stretch your skin out first,” Brian Kusic advised. Kusic sat on the opposite side of the cramped dressing room, adding his own unsightly moles and cicatrices. His character, Big Harp, appears on stage only as a decapitated head sticking out of a trunk. “After that, you’re going to take one side of Kleenex, put it down and then latex over that,” he said, continuing his impromptu tutorial.

“I don’t want it super-wrinkly,” Zuniga warned.

A little over a month after the first auditions, the cast of The Robber Bridegroom was adding the aesthetic exclamation points to their characters. The 15 Metro students were crammed into the King Center’s dressing room, busily preparing for their first dress rehearsal. There was less than a week before the cast’s first performance for an audience on Nov. 8.

In the four weeks since the audition, the cast had endured a four-hour-a-day, six-day-a-week rehearsal schedule. In the space of a month, they’d memorized dialogue, blocking, music and dance for a play that clocks in at just under two hours.

“It has been challenging. It has been exciting,” Ben Cowhick said earlier in the day. Cowhick won one of the lead roles as the robber who lends the musical its title and its main conflict. “I quote (Oscar) Wilde: ‘The anxiety is unbearable; I only hope it lasts forever.’ That’s how it’s been.”

Despite the limited rehearsal time, Cowhick was confident about the play’s premiere. “We’re ready. It’ll be passionate.”

Courtney Capek, the female lead, felt alternately pressured and inspired by the short time frame and heavier workload.

“It’s been a little hectic, kind of scary at times,” she said. “There’s a lot that needs to be done within a matter of seconds. I’m very anxious for an audience.”

Part of the play’s challenge resides in its participatory structure. Every member of the cast is on stage throughout the show, and there is no intermission.

Director Scott Lubinski added that the more challenging format as a way to make the action more fluid and as a way to spotlight the talent of his cast.

“Every person in this cast matters,” he said. “I could have made the show easier on myself. You can do the scenes with two or three actors, but I had to have (everyone) … I have too many talented actors to leave on the floor.”

The participatory arrangement of the musical has made the entire rehearsal process demanding for its cast and its crew. Many facets of the students’ lives have become subordinate to preparing for opening night.

“I dropped two classes,” said Jared Ming, who plays one of the ensemble townspeople in the play.

“I have a social life with the people in the cast,” Zuniga said as he rounded out his makeup base. “As far as everyone else is concerned, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone.”

The cast used the evening’s second dress rehearsal to iron out last-minute complications, perfect the subtleties of blocking and streamline many complicated costume changes in the play. Despite the hectic atmosphere and last-minute corrections, most of the cast and crew seemed eager for their first audience on Nov. 8.

“It’s stressful,” Kusic admitted as he applied an artificial nose and toyed with the idea of adding a neck scar to round out the image of a decapitated head. “But we know it’s going to come together.”