BRINGING SOUND TO LIFE, BY ANGIE HAZEN
THE CHILDREN is a one act play, set in the real world, and structured as only one scene. How much sound design could there be? Despite the deceptive simplicity, plenty! The sound equipment still has to be set up, other designers need to be collaborated with, and decisions about content need to be made. By giving you insight into my work as the sound designer on THE CHILDREN, I hope to help you more fully engage with this play but also more deeply appreciate the sound of all future productions you attend.
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AN INTERVIEW WITH LAURA STARNIK
We recently had the opportunity to sit down for a chat with Laura Starnik, who plays Rose in our current production of THE CHILDREN, running through November 9th, and here’s what she had to say.
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DESIGNING THE CHILDREN: A SCENIC JOURNEY, BY AL COSTA
In the end, the design is about containment. It’s a single room, but one that holds memory, regret, and consequence. The beams lean, the windows look out toward the sea, and the cottage becomes a vessel for human lives caught between the comfort of home and the vast uncertainty pressing at the edges.
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INTERROGATING INTIMACY, BY JULIA FISHER
As an intimacy director, at least half of my job is asking questions. I have questions for actors; for directors; for costume, lighting, sound, and set designers. But my favorite questions (even when they can’t be answered directly) are for the playwright.
As a playwright myself, I know that every stage direction (at least in most scripts written since the ‘70s – but that’s a conversation for a separate blog post) has been just as carefully crafted by the playwright as any line of dialogue. So it is my job (and joy!) to analyze intimacy-related stage directions with as much love and vigor as an actor will analyze their lines.
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THE WORK OF THE DIALECT COACH, BY MATT KOENIG
Ever wonder what exactly a dialect coach does on a production? Now’s your chance to find out! In today’s blog, join Matt Koenig as he walks you through the type of work he’s doing for our upcoming production of THE CHILDREN. And try out some dialects for yourself!
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AN INTERVIEW WITH NANNA INGVARSSON
Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with Nanna Ingvarsson, who is making her Seat of the Pants debut in our production of THE CHILDREN, playing the role of Hazel. Here are some excerpts of what she had to say about the play, her role, and her process of acting in general.
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THE GENERAL BEAUTY OF THE CHILDREN, BY CRAIG JOSEPH
If you’ve been following Seat of the Pants for a while, you know that one thing we do to get our cast and production team on the same page is to collaboratively create a conceptual statement to guide our interpretation of a script. Though it’s written by the director, it comes out of conversations we have as a team around the table and discoveries that we make on our feet in the rehearsal room. Here’s a teaser of where we’ve landed for our production of THE CHILDREN, opening on October 24th!
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PROP CONSTRUCTION: FROM CONCEPTION TO EXECUTION, BY ERIN OCAMPO
The prop I’ll be walking you through is the ideation and build of a Geiger counter. I’ll avoid spoilers for the play, but physically, this particular prop had to “measure radiation” and be able to distinctly point to highly-radiated areas.
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AN APPROACH TO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, BY TOM WOODWARD
So, my approach to creating the character of Robin in THE CHILDREN by Lucy Kirkwood is not about actually creating him at all. I consider Lucy Kirkwood the creator; I am merely a Vessel and a Messenger of her words. I am also an Interpreter of her punctuation, the spaces and pauses she offers up in the threads and the thru-line of how Robin co-exists in the shrinking world borne out of a dire and heightened circumstance that has changed everything for him and his wife.
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