The Clackamas print., March 02, 2016, Page 2, Image 2

T H E
U 0 E N î
F IL E S
ASPIRING PLAYWRIGHT SETS THE STAGE
CCC STUDENT JACK EIKREM GIVES HIS PERSPECTIVE ON STAGE MANAGING ‘THE SHADOW TESTAMENT’
BY MERARI CALDERON RUIZ
photo by Victoria Tinker
cult and there were some murders involved and
it’s a pretty ripe subject for drama and I think Sue
has done a terrific job adapting it into a play that
I think people will be very excited about seeing.
TCP: What are some of the things going on in
your head while preparing for a play?
JE: I have a long mental list and a physical list of
things that have to get done before the show starts.
This play has a lot of props in it, and we have to
make sure that the props are set in places where
the actors can easily get to them before they go on
stage. We have to check lights and sounds before
every performance to make sure that every cue
looks and sounds like we expect it to. The theatrical
lights we use have physical light bulbs in them
and sometimes those lights burn out and have to
be replaced. Sim ilarly, we have to look at every
sound cue because sometimes things get kind of
turned around in the board and then we m ight
lose a speaker or something and we have to figure
out how to get that back. So there is really quite
and extensive list o f things we check before every
performance to make sure that the audience gets
a really nice experience.
TCP: What was it like using a blank gun on set?
JE: We have another added layer of complexity in
this show because we use a blank gun on stage. A
blank gun is harmless; it doesn’.t have a barrel on it
but it does fire explosive blanks that sound exactly
like a gun shot. It’s a potential concern because we
have these little explosions going off in the theater
and we’ve worked with campus safety so they know
what’s going on. We have Brandon Coombes who
is a member of my backstage crew, who’s a former
Marine. He’s handling all the blanks and so he has
and so I have to anticipate something and call it expertise in that area. So we have a safety protocol
5a little differently than I did before th a t’s why for how to properly handle the blank gun.
we rehearse a lot because in live theater, no two TCP: What do you plan to do after CCC?
performances are exactly the sam e. And th at’s JE: I’m in the English department here, mostly as
a major. I’m doing the English AS degree, with the
why I am there.
TCP: What is “ The Shadow Testament” about? intent to transfer to Marylhurst to their creative
JE: It’s about some people who are involved in a w riting program . I ’m interested in eventually
religious cult that was active in Corvallis and Seattle perusing a MFA/ MS Masters Degree in playwriting.
in the early 1900s. It’s loosely based on these true So I w ant to write plays.
events but it’s a pretty intense story. There was this
John “Jack” Eikrem is a student working towards
an English AS Degree with aspirations of being a
playwright. H e’s also the stage manager for the
Clackam as Com m unity College performance of
“The Shadow T estam en t,” w ritten by English
instructor Sue M ach and being staged through
March 6.
The Clackamas Print: What is a stage manager?
Jack Eikrem: A stage manager in the theater is
sort of like the conductor for an orchestra. When I
stage manage a show, it’s my job to make sure that
everyone gets to the right place at the right time
and executes all their cues correctly according to
the script. I spend a lot of time recording all those
meticulously and with our various designers and
the director, who is actually my father. They are
in charge of things while we are in rehearsal and,
once the show opens, I’m really the one who’s in
charge o f making sure that the show runs. Once
we open, the director and designer step away and
it’s our show and I’m kind of the leader of that.
TCP: How long have you been a stage manager?
JE: My first show I stage managed was not this fall
but the fall before that, and that was “Dead M an’s
Cell Phone.” Then, I assisted fall production this
year, which was “Sylvia.”
TCP: What has been one of the hardest decisions
you’ve had to make while stage managing?
JE : W hen y o u ’re goin g through a show and
so m eth in g d o esn ’t h ap p en the w ay y o u ’ve
rehearsed it, that’s always a tough call and I don’t
really have any super specific examples because
those are decisions that have to be made in a split
second. I probably have to do one or two of those
\ night, just where something is slightly different
Jack Eikrem is currently working on his English AS degree and
intends to transfer to Marylhurst to pursue a degree In playwriting.
ON THE COVER: C over illustration by Brandon Chorum d e p ictin g tech n ical d ifficu ltie s th at have p lagued th e O regon C ity cam pus.
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