CHORA — 2008

our heart is luttering, beating out a unique time sig nature as the room hushes with anticipation; the lights have gone down, the pre-show music has stopped; it’s showtime, and all the hard work of the past few months is about to be put on the line. I’ve tried to give a snapshot of what goes through my head on opening night. We recently had ours for KWLT’s produc tion of , a “swashbuckling, sword-illed romp” in which we try to capture on stage the essence of Dumas’ classic: cheesy but inspiring dialogue, the buckling of swashes, colourful characters, and a general feeling of awesomeness as rapiers clash and villains chortle. In a production, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that someday, in the near future, you are going to be perform ing all the things you’ve been rehearsing in front of a full house. However, when the “two-weeks-to-show” mark hits, the realization smacks you in the face with all the activity of the week itself. The weekend before show week is normally “tech week end,” when the actors and crew spend essentially all day Saturday and Sunday putting together the technical aspects of the play. In our case, that involved building the extension (a.k.a. “thrust”), which essentially took all day Saturday, leav ing us with Sunday to do what’s called “cue-to-cue:” a very stop-and-go process in which lighting cues, sound cues and other crucial bits are igured out. This whole thing can be very exhausting as actors will be cut off mid-line to be told, “Ok... back up to [insert line here] so we can get the lighting,” or something along those lines. Monday was the irst dress rehearsal — an interesting time, as the characters we have been playing for weeks come to life visually with the aid of costumes. With another dress rehearsal the night after, having nothing to do on Wednesday night comes as something of a shock. Then, it’s showtime With an 8 p.m. curtain and a 6 p.m. call, the reality of the play begins to set in at an alarming rate. The general murmur of voices as the audience iles in is like a jolt of adrenaline in and of itself. As we get ready, sometimes splitting off into group to do vocal warm ups such as “The tip of the tongue and the teeth and the lips,” and, “She stood upon the balustrade of her balcony, inexplicably mimicing him hiccuping and amicably welcoming him in.” Say that ive times fast, I dare you. However, despite all of the vocal warm-ups, and all the rehearsals in the world, accidents do happen. A missed piece of choreography, a forgotten line; these can be potentially disastrous, except that we try to prepare as much as we can for them. In the case of ight choreography, if a move is forgotten, we are told to skip ahead to the next one; however, if that move is important — e.g. a disarm, then the actors will pause, reset, and start from a previously agreed-upon point. In the case of a forgotten line, it’s up to the other actors to improv a line which makes their fellow actors lines make sense. Most times, the audience won’t even be aware of mishaps happening on stage. On our opening night, between our inal ight scene and the end of the play, a fuse blew, knocking out half of the stage lights, and causing the techies to run around trying to ix the problem whilst we continued with the show and the audience wondered if we were going for mood lighting. Honestly, it’s little quirks like this that make theatre differ ent then ilm; when you watch a movie, no matter how many times you re-watch it you will always see the exact same thing. A well-staged play, however, is a living thing; subtly different from one night to the next as actors adjust to audience reac tion and errors, both technical and acting-wise. As it is said, “Television is furniture; ilm is art; theatre is life.” Chora: Daedalus and the Labyrinth courtesy of the school of architecture Cait Davidson staff reporter he ire in the eyes of the creator, the intense joy of a working piece; the practical application of hard earned knowledge. Architecture courses are known to be some of the more work intensive programs available at UW — at its satellite campus in Cambridge. When the inal show comes together as an innovation of architectural and dramatic narrative, Chora: Daedalus and the Labyrinth will show the imagination of both the inventors, Daedalus, and those at the architecture campus who look to follow in his footsteps. One word represents each of the ive scenes: murder, light, labyrinth, dream, creation. Moving through the Cornerstone warehouse, the audience will be drawn in to watch from every angle, to witness the architectural and dramatic narrative from closer than the traditional perspective. This performance is for two classes — the architecture students 2B studio course and iconography courses. Every 2B class in architecture puts on a performance, for these two classes as a practical application of knowledge taught up until that point. In the past, performances have been traditional, while this year, the students are putting together a diverse combination of sound, light, and movement. Producer Shane Neill commented that set and construction are the catalyst for this story. In the irst scene, the set itself is a balancing act, telling the story of the murder of Daedalus’s nephew, Perdix. Written and directed by students, the tale weaves T together myths and Homer’s stories of the innovator and architect Daedalus. While there have been challenges in co-ordinating 80 people to put this project together, Neill was encouraged by the leadership and determination of students involved. Citing that the lines of leadership and roles of responsibility were beginning to blur, students were coming together to put the project together to completion ive doing whatever needs to be done. Just a few weeks ago, the students were spending 24/7 in the architecture building for another studio assignment, Neill and one of the student director’s, Adam Schwartzentruber, commented that they were gearing up to do the same thing for this production. Neill noted that some of the challenges with the production were inding time, organizing 80 students, and inding a venue that would serve their needs. A traditional theatre would not suit the needs of this performance. Each scene is set up simultaneously, having the audience move through the large industrial space to move through the story itself. Typically, Millwork has a good relationship with the architecture campus and the students would use their space, but since Millwork is currently undergoing construction the students were forced to look elsewhere. Cornerstone Home Interiors have recently renovated their warehouse space and allowed the students to use it for their production. With the venue set, the students just had to come through with the production. Another student, Virginia Fernandez, brought up the fact that this was the irst project they, the students, put together that went beyond the drawings, all the way to building the set and working with a budget. With a public to impress and such a large group it led to some dificulties in organization. With 80 students in the classes, they had to organize their thoughts and ideas, splitting into ive groups of around 15 to 16 students each; each group was given one scene to take care of in the production. This delegating allowed each student more input in their separate scene. Each of the ive scenes was developed autonomously, creating a diverse and dynamic atmosphere of contrast. Writer/scene director Richard Kim commented that the project allowed students to show aspects of their personality that they hadn’t shown before, creative genius in areas other than architecture. Kim went on to say that the assignment encompasses philosophy, lighting, sound, environment of the people, creating a community in Cambridge and the greater architecture community. Running on August 1 and 2, with two showings a night, 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Neill and Schwartzentruber are excited to encourage students from main campus to come down and see the production. Ticket prices being $5, the production team is working as hard as they can to make the show accessible to the students. Following the inal show there will be a reception in the atmosphere created by the play, and the students are also working on getting a licensed bar for after all of the performances. The show will be at 90 Main Street, close to the iXpress bus terminal. For more information on the show check out www.studentarchitecture.com, or email them at [email protected]. [email protected]