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"Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, June 1, 1999 13 How it's all made to work work to an audience By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star With the arrival of opening night, The Borelians present months of Final installment of a series Wednesday, February 24, 7 p.m. Town Hall 1873 This is it. The final dress rehearsal before opening night, some 49 hours hence. The the- atre is a hive of nervous, busy, thriving activi- ty, with people darting here and there to com- plete the final preparations. Come quarter after eight it's house lights down, theme music up, and it's showtime. : The stage manager and producers are fuss- ing over all manner of details on the stage, including debating the best means of distribu- tion of the handfuls of leaves that are to be strewn about, the setting being Ottawa in the fall. Norma as usual is busy, intensely so, but with an air of calm and organization about her. 'She has time for everyone and deals with them pleasantly, never failing to smile, despite an ailing back which causes her great pain. She is being apprised of every detail as the clock ticks toward curtain time. "If I have a strength, it's organization," Norma admits. _-- "I hate surprises," she confides as she takes a break before the rehearsal begins. "I hate not knowing what's going to happen." Although opening night, of course, is the culmination of her directorial efforts, this. evening is something of a climactic point, as well. It feels like a long night at the end of summer. Tomorrow there's the trip to the train station, and you're waving farewell. This love affair is waning, and soon will be over. "This is as far as I can take it," says Norma. "It's the stage manager's baby now. There comes a point at which the director has to step back and let what's going to happen, happen." Despite her stoic -attitude, the director admits it's hard to let go. "You always want to keep working on it, to make an improvement," says Norma. But she admits the time for rehearsals has elapsed. The past couple of run-throughs have been flat, and the cast needs the thrill of a real, live audience to provide them the spark all performers require. oo "They need an audience now," says Norma, glancing at the stage. "We're ready for an audi- ence." Finally it's time. The house lights fade and the brooding, atmospheric music composed by Irwin Smith begins as a collage of images depicting the world at war and peace is flashed onto the screen at the back of the stage. The first lines are uttered off stage and then, sud- denly, there they are. The actors. The play has begun. The rehearsal goes well. Norma is due backstage to give her cast some final notes before sending them home. It's now she's beginning to feel reflective about the exercise, and even looking beyond the play's run to when she'll have a life away from this theatre again. It has been a good experience, particu- larly because she feels so strongly about this play, and has worked so hard to bring it to the stage in Port Perry. "It's a really exciting exercise, going from words on a page to a living, breathing produc- tion," says Norma. "When you get a group of people who are really committed -- which isn't always the case -- it can be a real joy." Anyway. Home to bed. Tomorrow's a day a relative peace, with just a few details to attend to, and then comes Friday, and the world is invited to see what's been going on here for the past three months. Friday, February 26 Opening Night Kathy Chapman is a woman with a lot of things on her mind just now. There are dozens of details she and the rest of the production staff must attend to at the theatre, and, of course, she must remember to stop at Trader Director Norma Van Camp accepts a THEA award during the ACT-CO ban- quet after being selected Most Promising Director for her work on The Stillborn Lover. The play was staged in Port Perry in February. Sam's to pick up the pizza that will be devoured by Inspector Jackman and Corporal Mahavolitch in Act Two, Scene Four. The local restaurant will supply the pizzas each night. They are among the numerous donations the producers have solicited from the commu- nity as the show has come together. Contributions range from bouquets of flowers to the use of furniture to costumes and other items, says Kathy. Whatever has been needed, the merchants and residents of the community have given cheerfully. An example is Pam Henshall, who has for years been selling tickets to shows for The Borelians and Choral Society. from her cloth- ing store on Queen St. "She's trying to run a business, yet she'll pick up the phone and talk to customers and reserve seats," says Kathy. Kathy's also had success with the local IGA, where they've been running public ser- vice announcements about the play on the in- store PA system, and a few other media outlets. It's important to generate as much publicity for the show as possible, within the confines of a tight advertising budget. That means sending out lots of press releases and hoping they'll appeal to newspaper editors who are notori- ously stingy with their space, radio station news directors, and the like. "Being community theatre the biggest thing you do (with regards to promotion) is to do it on the cheap, and as often as possible," says Kathy. Now all the preparatory work has been done. By now everyone, from the front of house folks who will greet the audience, to the volunteers who will pour coffee and wine during intermission, should be set. For Kathy, Donna, and stage manager Kellea Passmore, the emphasis will be taking care of the actors until the curtain goes up. "Our biggest function now is that we're there for the actors," she says. And actors can require some maintenance, especially as curtain time approaches and ten- sion begins to percolate. There have been a few signs of high anxiety already, says Kathy. "The night of the last dress rehearsal -- the night before last -- we had an actor come and say to us, 'I can't do this..." Her eyes are wide with disbelief. "What do you do with that information?" stage. One small technical glitch at the beginning of the play -- a recorded voice-over by Marion isn't heard -- does not hinder the rest of the production. The actors handle themselves well. The production crew makes sure everything else happens when it's supposed to. Friendly people have greeted us at the door, taken our tickets and led us to our seats. We're given the refreshments we desire at intermission. The audience is accepting of the play; they are not shocked and outraged to be pre- sented with a homosexual character, although there is an audible gasp at the end of the first act when Harry reveals to Diana that the murder victim was his lover. Some audience members have a bit of trouble with the Marion character, perhaps forgetting she suffers from Alzheimer's and mistaking her for a batty old woman who's playing it for laughs. Eventually, however, they realize the tragic nature of the character. Except for one woman who, annoyingly, snickers every time the character says something for the duration of the play. She missed the point. But that's okay. There's one in every crowd. number of weeks later, The Stillborn Lover is a memory. Its run has concluded, the elaborately- constructed set has been disassembled, and I: the end, everyone makes it onto the cast that had been thrown together for so many hours and days and weeks has dis- persed. A feeling of emptiness can set in, says Kathy Chapman. "You've devoted so much to the show," she says in retrospect. "In November, it was so far away. Then it's here, and in 10 days it will be over. You wonder, what will I do with my life?" What indeed? Rest for a while, maybe, get reacquainted with the family. Maybe watch some movies, read some books, anything but go over and over that damned script, looking for the mes- sage just below the surface, and worrying about where to get a silver coffee service, and a tuxedo, and flowers, and the damned pizza every night... And maybe, in a while, it will be time (o start working on another project. "If they ask me again, I'll be right there," says Kathy. For her part, Norma can't help but feel relief at the end of the production. She has invested so much time, energy, worry, and love... but now it's time to move on. "I thought I would be sad, that I would miss the camaraderie, and the busy-ness," she says. "But I think because I worked on it for so long, I was happy to put it to bed." In the end, the show is a success. Norma has received good reviews from theatre "patrons, and compliments for having the courage to bring the work to the local stage. The audiences were about 60 per cent of house capacity for the run, average for a Borelians production. The play fared well when an adjudicator from the Association of Community Theatre - Central Ontario visited during the first weekend of the run, and the Borelians now await word on how well the show has done at awards time in April. Norma has a personal feeling of satisfaction for having brought to the project her best effort, and capably handling a huge task. "It felt under control the whole time," she says. "I know what a nightmare productions can be, so I was prepared." She also credits her cast and crew with having provided and come through on the commitment they made back in November to immerse themselves in a difficult, com- plex piece of theatre, with which they were taking a risk of falling flat on their faces. It was a risk worth taking. Saturday, April 10 Hotel Marriott, Toronto This is an epilogue of sorts, a happy one. At the annual ACT-CO Awards banquet, The Stillborn Lover has been recognized for excellence in community theatre. On Tuesday, in the paper, there will be a story describing how Irwin Smith received an honourable mention for his original music for the production. Congratulations, Irwin. Winning a THEA is Denise Del Greco, who played Diana, judged to be Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Congratulations, Denise. And there will be a picture in Tuesday's paper of Norma Van Camp, accepting her statuette after winning the THEA for Most Promising Director. Congratulations, Norma. In the future, would-be actors attending open auditions for the next play will let their eyes wander the walls of the Town Hall green room. They'll see pictures of the many famous performers who've appeared on the stage. And there, on the wall, maybe by the grand piano, will be a collage of pictures taken during rehearsals for a play that once ran here. THE STILLBORN LOVER - FEBRU- ARY, 1999, someone may write in red ink. Congratulations, everyone.