Tech week’’ to iron out
production bugs
Stage manager Ted Anderson is heart and soul of
production.
Another bug to be worked out
This Thursday, the Theater
Department' opens its second
production of the school year,
“Play It' Again Sam,” by
Woody Allen. The protagonist
(Rod Ragsdale), is a movie
reviewer who fantasizes being
in famous' scenes from his.
favorite movies.
duction. It’s called “Cue-to-
Cue.” Each technician has a set
of plans, called light plots or set
plans, that outlines every move
the tech must make during the
production.
In order to produce a play
with any semblance of realism,
it is necessary to have good
sound and lighting technicians.
For example, in this play the
audience has to believe that the
main character is having a fan
tasy, that he is dreaming. The
viewers have to be able to see'
into his mind and see" what he
sees. This is where the techni
cians (“techs”.) come in.
Since, last Sunday, and on
through today, all of the techs
have been working with the ac
tors and the director to smooth
out the rough spots in the pro-
Kermit Shafer, producer for
the 'play, , said, “It gives
everyone four 'days to calm
down and get used to what
they are doing. If things are
readyy.
goes
smoother.
Staff photos by Duffy Coffman
Shafer has some 43 years
experience in stage production,
and has done over 360 shows
in his life. “Once I did 32 shows
in 15 months. I was a' wreck
after that.”
He says that being a pro
ducer means constantly super
vising -people because they
don’Jt hâve the skills to do many
things themselves. But his
students, do learn the skills
needed to put on a good show.
“We have no prima donnas
here. Everybody is willing to
learn and they complain very
Jittie,”"he said.
Another area of producing a
good show is in building sets.
For this upcoming show, the
tireless stagehands have put
over 300 man hours of labor
into the set. There are eight
people who regularly work six
to eight hours a week building
sets for the Theater Depart
ment.
Shafer himself spent over 60
hours just designing the set and
laying out the plans for the
crew to' work from. Still, he has
a mellow way of controlling all
that goes on. For example,
while this interview was taking
place, people came tp him for
ie gets under his
advice and help no less than 15
times in a one-hour period.
Never once did Shafer get
upset or raise his voice. This is
probably why there are no
prima donnas in the Theater
Department—they are treated
like people, not stupid idiots or
“screw ups.” Shafer summed it
up by saying, “We don’t yell
around here, we like to keep it
nice-and calm.”
“The whole object .of educa
tional theater is to give them
(the . students) a feeling of
achievement,” says Shafer. He
also has a neat way of letting
them know when he doesn’t
like the way they have done
something. It is the sarrie as
when he is praising them.
Quietly and calmly, he explains
what they have done, and
either praises or razes them.
Proud of his stage crew,
Shafer says of the stage
manager, “I give him a list of
things to do for the day, and he
sees to it that things get done.”
The stage manager is responsi
ble for everything that is going
on behind the stage, and if the
producer wants to correct
somebody, he goes to the stage
manager and tells him who he
wants chewed out.
One of world's best climbers slated
Outdoor Program
Specialist Kelly Sullivan
and Chuck Adams,
veteran mountaineer,
have gotten together to
bring Jim Bridwell, 30,
Bne of the five best moun
tain climbers in the world,
Io the College.. He will be
■appearing in the Fireside
lounge on Friday from
Boon to 1:30 p..m., to
ednesday, March 4, 1981
give a lecture and show a most experience of any
man in climbing Yosemite
film.
Bridwell is' an excellent Valley, Calif. Bridwell
speaker, and of course, developed the modern
an excellent climber, ac- method of “freeclimbing”
used
by
climbers
cording to Sullivan.
hasz climbed most of the everywhere.
To have such an expert
major mountains in the
World, including Cerro outdoorsman as Jim
Torre and the north pillar Bridwell speak here is an
ofFitzroy, both in Argen opportunity that may not
tina and the north face of come again for a long,
the Eiger. He has the long time, n,
OREGON CITY
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