Here's a teaser for our new play Bear Country starting Jan. 9th! Tickets make a great last minute gift!
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Cloverdale Playhouse: "Shadowlands"
6 days ago
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Bear Country Teaser
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Costumes of Bear Country
By Beth Novak, Costume Designer for Bear Country
Bear Country is a play that takes place over a 50+ year span of time dramatizing important moments both real and imagined in the life of Coach Bear Bryant. There is a cast of only four actors, one who plays Coach Bryant at the end of his career looking back on his life; one who plays Coach Bryant throughout his life; and two who play all of the other important people that populated his life during important decision making and life changing moments. The mature Bryant wears only one iconic outfit – instantly recognizable to anyone. The other three actors have close to thirty different looks, some that have to happen in just seconds. The creative team (director, designers) decided to take a somewhat presentational approach to the costumes.
The play is written in a fluid style with scenes bleeding into scenes and actors changing characters within the context of a scene. If we tried to create completely different visual statements for each character the production would run the risk of becoming a frantic “fashion” show which could actually be more intrusive than helpful. We chose to use very realistic “period” clothing pieces to enhance the time, place and character of each scene of the play, but also chose not to attempt extremely detailed changes (wigs, facial hair, body padding, etc). Thus, an actor that plays two coaches during the late 1920’s and early 1930’s wears the same pants and shoes, but changes his jacket and adds a hat for one of the coaches.
We all recognized from the very beginning of the project that we would have to be especially true to the details of Coach Bryant’s life because we are in the heart of “Bear” country and there is an enormous amount of common knowledge about him and his story. But we are also fortunate to have fantastic resources at our fingertips. So, in addition to book research, I have been to the
An important element of the visual story is the “period” football paraphernalia from the 1920’s, 30’s and 1970’s. We found a company in Los Angeles that rents authentic athletic costumes for movies, TV and commercials and they have much of what we need in their stock. In addition they are building other special items just for us. These uniforms (helmets, shoes, jerseys, padding, etc) greatly enhance the authentic feeling that we are trying to create for our production of Bear Country.
Bear Country Set (pt. 2)
As promised, part two of the Bear Country set build!
The crew tapes out the hashmarks on the field.
A Ghost! Not really, though we are rumored to have a few ghosts running around the theatre.
The last few panels for the stadium, here being dried before installation.
The stadium is a series of large panels that carry the perspective of being in the crowd at a game.
Spot the crew member in the light grid! One of our brightest ideas (haha) was building a light grid using airline wire. This lets the crew walk out and set the lights and the wires don't cast shadows on the action below.
The infamous tower. Coach Bryant would spend the practice up in the tall metal tower watching his team below. Woe to the person that caused him to climb down before a practice was over.
A door to nowhere? (Or an entrance/exit for the actors.)
That's the last post for the set of Bear Country. They're almost done with it and I'm not allowed to take photos once it is completed, so if you want to see the final version call 334-271-5353 -or- 1-800-841-4273 or visit www.asf.net to purchase tickets to fantastic show. Better hurry, tickets are going quickly!
That's the last post for the set of Bear Country. They're almost done with it and I'm not allowed to take photos once it is completed, so if you want to see the final version call 334-271-5353 -or- 1-800-841-4273 or visit www.asf.net to purchase tickets to fantastic show. Better hurry, tickets are going quickly!
The Scene At ASF
Hiya! Don't forget that The Scene party is on January 16th here at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. We'll have live music by Lance Brown, food, drinks, and highlights from Paul Bryant's career at UA. Top it off with a 7:30 showing of the new play Bear Country and you'll have a great night of football, friends, and fun!
Tickets are going quickly for this show so if you want to come to the party then call 334-271-5353 -or- 1-800-841-4273 -or- email thescene@asf.net.
If you like to party and you like theatre, then this is your Scene!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Merry Christmas from ASF!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Today we had our Christmas Party with everyone gathering together in the front hall to eat a great lunch (some went with the traditional turkey but I went with the Southern favorite of pulled pork barbecue) and all kinds of sides and desserts. I managed to snap some pictures between visiting friends and enjoying lunch. It's picture time!
Even Shakespeare is festive!
A view from the balcony over the spread.
The line's starting for the food.
I didn't know Santa moonlighted! (hehe)
Kristi W, our sassy intern, poses for a picture.
Surprise picture!
Pretty posing!
Food and tickets!
Door prizes that were given away during the party. These are sure to raise everyone's spirits!
Eat, Drink, and be Merry! Father Christmas (aka Ghost of Christmas Present) would be proud!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Sideline Specials for Bear Country
The Men of Bear Country Offer You a Seat on The Sideline!
Our next production, Bear Country, a play about the great Paul "Bear" Bryant, is starting is a month here at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. In fact, the first rehearsal is this afternoon. I'll try to get a few photos so you can see the four amazing actors that we have for this production. In fact, the lead for Bear Country will be in rehearsals in as well as finishing up the last few weeks of A Christmas Carol: The Musical as the old miser Scrooge.
But the big news for today is that we've got a great special going on for this show called the Sideline Special. We're offering a discount on the seats in our 100 and 500 sections of the theatre, the "sidelines" where you buy one adult tickets and get the second for half price. You have to act fast, though, because this offer is only for the Tuesday and Wednesday shows in the first two weeks. So if you've been waiting to get your tickets then go ahead and give the box office a call at 1-800-841-4273 or visit the link at the side to buy online.
I'll be back with more fun pictures and another update on the Bear Bryant Set soon!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Christmas Carol Promo Extended!
More discounted tickets are available to our production of A Christmas Carol: The Musical for selected shows (this weekend and next at the 7:30pm shows mostly)! If you've been waiting to see the show then this is your moment! Call 1-800-841-4273 or visit www.asf.net for a great deal on your tickets to this amazing musical production.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Bear Bryant Set (pt. 1)
So the other day I was snooping down in the Scene Shop and came across parts of the set for Bear Country, the next play to be in our Octagon Theatre. I caught the boys laying down the astro turf and saw the plans to turn our thrust theatre into a football stadium. Here are the pictures I snapped while spying downstairs.
Here's a sample of what the set will look like. Sorry the flash washed it out a bit.
It's Bryant in his tower where he watched how the plays worked on the field. The designer does tons of research for each set.
A little blurry shot of placing the Astroturf. (The guys couldn't stop moving because of the tape!)
A Bird's Eye View!
A Bug's Eye View!
Since the football field starts at the 50 yard line, this ramp provides the perspective in the corner that the field continues down to the field goal.
The top of Bear Bryant's tower. This gave Coach Bryant a better view to watch practices and see how strategies were working.
Annnnnnd...Poof! The magic of the painting crew transforms a bit of Astroturf into a beautiful field!
"Action!Ramp" holds up the rest of the field and once everything is painted it'll look like our Octagon Stage holds half a football field.
That's all for now. Next time I'll have more photos of the set being assembled and hopefully will have lots of great shots from our Christmas Party next week. Last year someone proposed, I wonder what will happen this year.
Happy Holidays!
*edit*: The original picture of stairs were removed because they are part of another show. The correct stairs to the tower are pictured in Part 2 of the build for Bear Country.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Turntable for the Stage
For three shows in our 2008-2009 season (A Christmas Carol: The Musical, the Three Musketeers, and Les Miserables) our scene shop built a turntable to go on the Festival stage. It's installed right now and will go until next summer when we close the season and dismantle it. The turntable (think lazy susan) makes quick scene changes easier and sets up some dynamite blocking choices. Here's a quick podcast on how it was made!
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