“Good sniffing, but more sounds, if you can,” Wade Tandy (COL ‘09) said.
These are the director’s notes after a rehearsal, discussing Mitchell’s portrayal of a dog. It is January 11th, roughly two weeks before opening night on Nomadic Theater’s production of Zoo Story. It’s down to the nitty-gritty now: the specifics of the noise a dog makes and how, exactly, the newspaper should be shoved under a bench. This is a far cry from rehearsals a month earlier, when the concerns were broader – whether one could walk behind a tree and how this scene should be timed.
Zoo Story is a simple show – two characters, one setting, and one guy doing most of the talking. It’s genius lies in the writing, the interaction between two people and the way the characters portray a microcosm of the world. The set, while apparently simple, reflects this level of complexity. (www.marketshirt.com) The backdrop (it’s not entirely finished yet, but a little diorama shows how it will look) is a series of cutouts of people incised with windows, a combination of skyline and people-scape. According to Jessie Stone (COL ‘08), the producer, this scenery reflects how these two men are surrounded by people in a big city and yet still alone.
Rehearsals are a slow process, as actors come to terms with their characters, refine reactions, timing, lines and delivery, and grow comfortable with the world they inhabit. The producer, designers, stage manager and tech crew are also busy. There are the usual scenery and costume design issues, but also other tasks as strange and sundry as ordering a retractable knife from a slow-delivering theater supply company, and arranging housing for 13 cast and crew members when they arrive early from winter break.
“I didn’t realize when I started how many small details go into things…I was surprised at how much work it actually takes,” Stone said.
The cast and crew had much to do when rehearsals resumed in January. For Stone, it was getting people back “into the swing of things” after winter break. For Tandy, it was keeping up the creative energy of such a small team – the play only has two characters, Jerry, played by Mitchell, and Peter, played by Mark Visona (COL ‘09). For Mitchell, it was the lines he had to memorize; his character speaks for the bulk of the play, sometimes going on for pages without interruption.
At the December rehearsal, Mitchell had almost every line down, only needing prompting a few times. Now, he knows it all. Visona’s biggest worry, he told me in December, was working with Mike, and in this he echoed a common concern for the whole crew – the gelling of different personalities to make one concrete whole.
When the cast first met, they had a polite camaraderie but were clearly fixed in their roles – director, actor, etc. By January, they were laughing with each other, and had grown at ease in each other’s company. As Visona said in December, “working with Mike has been a big relief…he’s doing great. It makes my job easier.”
Now the cast and crew is watching the show coalesce and the rest of us will see the final product – complete with sniffing.
Zoo Story runs Jan. 24 -28, at Walsh Black Box Theater. Tickets are $9 and can be purchased online at performingarts.georgetown.edu/BOXOFFICE/nomadic.htm.
