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Set Pieces
The Set for “Noises Off!” Takes Shape With Help From Theater
Students
By Allyson Brehm
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Six students in this summer’s Grand-New Surry Theatre
Performing Arts School worked with New York designer Gerry
Newman on a set for “Noises Off!,” a farce to be onstage at
The Grand Aug. 11 to 14. (From back: Amber McKay of Penobscot,
Jenni Ahern of Penobscot, Brian Harding of Bar Harbor, Nina
Pool of Brooksville, Sophy Miller of Penobscot and Rachel
Freeman of Brooksville, with Newman in front.)
Cast
members cavort on the set.
Director Bill Raiten and stage manager Jane Clarke
demonstrate how the set, mounted on a turntable, will revolve
during the play. |
ELLSWORTH —
Painting a set is messy work. Especially the elaborate set for
“Noises Off!” the upcoming production by The Grand and The New
Surry Theatre.
That fact did not
dampen the enthusiasm of six area teens led by New York set
designer Gerry Newman.
The teens spent
about a week at the end of July covered in paint, tackling the
massive job of making a 16-foot high, 30-foot wide structure look
like an English country house.
The set has been
taking shape on the stage at Ellsworth Middle School. The teens
are all summer students at The Grand-New Surry Theatre Performing
Arts School.
“I think it’s
awesome,” said bespeckled seventh grader Sophy Miller of
Penobscot. “It’s fun.”
“Noises Off!” is
the second play to be produced out of the new partnership between
The Grand Auditorium and The New Surry Theatre. Last year they
produced “Lost in Yonkers” together.
Opening on Aug. 8
for only four shows, “Noises Off!” is a play that The New York
Times called, “A journey to the outer limits of hilarity.”
Directed by NST
founder and director Bill Raiten, “Noises Off!” is a farce. That
means crazy antics and door slamming.
“Doors are a
farce comedy tradition,” said Newman, a childhood friend of
Raiten’s who came up from New York to superintend the set design. “The set is a lot of doors
and they have to slam.”
Newman designed
the two-sided set, which is on a turn table because the entire set
must reverse for the second act of the show.
Newman was
trained as a set designer in college, but now he does graphic
design. His set designs are “just for fun,” he said.
He designs sets
for friends such as Raiten as well as the Heights Players in New
York, he said. Newman also designed the set for “Lost in Yonkers,”
which Raiten also directed.
Newman’s design
for the “Noises Off!” set “took awhile because it is complicated,”
he said. Since the play is all about timing, everything must be in
just the right location, he said.
Newman enjoyed
working with his old friend. “He was wonderful,” he said of Raiten.
And everything
has been going wonderfully during his days with the performing
arts school, too, said Newman.
Things are going
so well, in fact, that Newman was planning to teach the students
some of his techniques for detail work—how to make wood look
grainy, for instance—on only their second day on the job.
The three-week
school is for ages 9 through 15. It began July 9 and ended July
26.
Every Tuesday
through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. the 30 students learned about
acting, steel drums, singing, “STOMP” type percussion, art and
dance.
“This is about
lifelong learning,” said Raiten, who runs the school. “We want
them to realize learning is fun.”
During their
final week of school six teens volunteered to work on the set.
Raiten hopes that some students will help backstage when the show
is performed.
Raiten ran the
school last summer as well.
All the set
painters agreed that Raiten is a fun guy to work with.
“Bill’s great,”
said Nina Pool of Brooksville.
“He’s really
funny,” added Miller.
Ninth grader
Brian Harding of Bar Harbor is attending the school for his second summer.
“It is a lot of
fun,” he said. “We are always doing something new every year.”
Harding’s
favorite part is acting class and many of the other students
nodded in agreement.
“Acting rocks,”
said the pigtailed Miller.
The Grand and The
New Surry Theatre will continue to collaborate on productions.
They are planning to produce plays by “two of America’s great
playwrights” in the fall.
Raiten would like
to see the development of a troupe of The Grand/New Surry Theatre
actors.
The casting of
“Noises Off!” is heading in that direction: many of the actors
have worked together, or with Raiten, before. They include Cindy
Robbins, Dennis Harrington, Ben Layman, Jenny Bragdon, Monique
Gibouleau, Dwayne Kent, Alec Aman, Bruce Reddy and Amy Spalding.
“Noises Off!”
will be performed at The Grand in Ellsworth Thursday through
Saturday, Aug. 8 through 10, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 11, at 2
p.m. Ticket prices range from $8 to $18. Tickets/information:
667-9500. |
