Riders To The Sea

Memories from the director

I know the Brandeis setup & strike crew included Bob and Bill but I'm not sure who else... probably Belle and Jean helped with set dressing (I can still see Bob carrying the center section of the back wall across the Brandeis stage -- all you could see were his legs, as he stood literally in the fireplace to carry the thing).

I had designed that set while housesitting for friend and then-FOPAC prez Lee Gillespie, in her beautiful place out Lowell Road across from Middlesex, and I built it in Mary and Leroy Newbold's barn. ... I'm trying to remember the tech staff: I _think_ Bill Smith did sound for us, and Randy Clark handled the lights, but it would be good if someone else could confirm that. (We got into hot water because we had an appointment to check out the booth at Brandeis beforehand, and when the theater manager didn't show up at the appointed hour, since Randy was on a tight schedule, we got someone else to let us in. When the manager showed up he was livid that we were in there without him -- tho' frankly it was his own fault -- and I explained to him in rather definite terms that while -- as a sometime semipro techie myself -- I appreciated his concern, it was his responsibility to get there when he said he would, and besides, Randy was of a skill level such that he had literally put the 51 Walden Street light system together with his own hands... so there really wasn't much to worry about when it came to turning him loose inside a light booth!)

Again, I'm 99 percent sure we won the Best Ensemble Acting award. The show was an NETC Finalist, and we were runner-up for design and, I think, direction, to the Garrett Players' rather brilliant production of a cutting from Beckett's _Endgame_. As noted in my slide captions, we did a special performance in a commercial courtyard on Brattle Street right near the Square -- I forget how that happened, probably Mary arranged it.

There are other anecdotes I recall but I'll save 'em for now.

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