10A • July 3, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Behind the scenes at the Coaster Theatre
How should the actor playing a
bum lean against a trash can?
By Nancy McCarthy
Cannon Beach Gazette
Only two weeks before
opening night for the sum-
mer season, the Coaster
Theatre Playhouse is abuzz
with activity.
Summer is different at the
Coaster than other times of
the year because two plays are
performed at the same time.
This year, “It Could Be Any
One of Us,” a British comedy
murder mystery, opened June
12 and will run until Sept. 5.
”Little Shop of Horrors,” a
musical, opened June 19 and
closes Sept. 6.
While behind-the-scenes
activity goes on all year at the
small theater, which is staging
seven shows in 2015, the sum-
mer season is subtly frantic.
Rehearsals for both shows
began in March, and with just
two weeks to go before open-
ing night, the directors, actors
and set and light designers
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During an evening re-
hearsal for “Little Shop of
Horrors,” director Patrick
Lathrop (who also is the
Coaster’s executive director),
worked with two actors to
perfect a tricky tango while
the three women in the “girls
group” harmonized on a song.
“Little Shop of Horrors”
is about a blood-loving plant
named Audrey 2 and the love
story of a nerd, Seymour, and a
tawdry girl, Audrey, who work
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The nine cast members
live in Cannon Beach or Sea-
side and work in other jobs
during the day. Some have
formal eduction in theater;
all of them have acted in past
productions.
Before opening night ar-
rived, numerous details had to
be sorted out. It’s not enough
to nail the dialogue, the songs
and the dances. During this
rehearsal, Lathrop went over
his notes: How should the ac-
tor playing a bum lean against
a trash can? Who will close
the curtain after act one? Are
all the props ready to go, and
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“The thing we have to con-
sider for summer is the length
of the run,” Lathrop said. “The
costumes and props have to
last throughout the play.”
The actors — all volun-
teers — also must be commit-
ted to a long run, but Lathrop
has worked with them in oth-
er plays over the past several
years and isn’t concerned.
“They’re very passionate
about what they do,” he said.
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ible. With two plays being
produced at the same time
and other events taking up
theater space, the directors
alternate their rehearsals in
the theater or, when they can’t
use the stage, they go else-
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of the U.S. Bank Building or
at Tolovana Hall or even in a
small apartment behind the
theater known affectionately
as the “Buddha.”
At only 10 days to go be-
fore “One of Us” opened, the
six cast members had pegged
their characters and their Brit-
ish accents. They were “off
book”; they knew their lines
and didn’t need their scripts.
It was time for the play’s
director, Ryan Hull, to tweak
the small stuff: He assigned
an actor to create the “crash”
behind the curtain before
another actor screamed. He
reminded everyone to pro-
nounce their words clearly.
He changed the way one
character entered a scene.
But even that close to open-
ing night, Hull still encour-
PHOTO BY NANCY MCCARTHY
A chorus, much like the “girls groups” of the 1950s, moves the story along in “Little Shop of Horrors.” They are, from left,
Aly Hanson playing Chiffon; Amanda Payne, who is Ronnette; and Cindy Karr as Crystal.
aged the actors to take chances
by experimenting with their
characters’ personalities.
“I still like seeing people
trying new things,” Hull said.
“We’re still working through
things and seeing how they
look.”
The directors and actors
weren’t the only people on
a timetable. After consulting
with Lathrop and Hull, light-
ing designer Mick Alderman
set the lights for both pro-
ductions and programmed
the light cues on the theater’s
light board in the control
booth. Two or three volun-
teers work the lights and
sound all summer.
Meanwhile, Krista Guen-
ther also did double duty by
helping to design and build
the stage sets for both plays.
Her challenge: Build a set that
could act as a backdrop for
1950s New York Skid Row
one night and become the
drawing room of a Victorian
mansion in rural England the
next night.
With rehearsals at the the-
ater nearly every night for three
months, Guenther had to work
when the actors weren’t on
stage. She would come in mid-
morning, clean up at 4:45 p.m.,
then return at 9:30 p.m. and
work until midnight. “I like
working at night,” she said.
Before she started with the
Coaster late last year, Guen-
ther said she had no idea how
much work went into each
production.
“There are so many tal-
ented people who can do so
many things,” she said. “It’s
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where everybody does every-
thing.”
ABOVE LEFT: Krista Guenther paints the set of “It Could Be Any One Of Us.” Guenther
was involved in designing both stage sets for the two plays running this summer at the
Coaster Theatre Playhouse. ABOVE RIGHT: Seymour Krelborn, played by Todd Payne,
urges a plant he has named Audrey 2 to bloom during a rehearsal of “Little Shop of Hor-
rors.” All his blood, toil and trouble brings Seymour success, at a price.
PHOTOS BY NANCY MCCARTHY
Ca n n on Be a ch ’s La rge s t Se le ction
of Ore gon a n d W a s h in gton W in e !
PHOTO BY NANCY MCCARTHY
Ryan Hull, director of “It Could Be Any One Of Us,” gives a few notes following a rehearsal.
Hull records his notes on his phone, then plays them back. With him is Gretchen Koekstre,
who plays Amy Polegate, the daughter in the play.
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