The show goes on behind the curtain
Behind the scenes of TheatreMcLean’s fall production, “Don’t Drink the Water”
Freshman Hershel Carillo-Klein works on the show from the sound booth.
November 22, 2016
From a technical standpoint, TheatreMcLean’s production of Don’t Drink the Water is summed up by a massive dollhouse-like set, hairspray, and a heinous mint green paint. Beyond the technical feats, TheatreMcLean actors are tackling a wacky, dynamic political comedy, taking Woody Allen’s classic as a challenge to be accepted.
The play takes place in an American embassy in an unnamed Eastern European Soviet country in the 1960’s. With the task of capturing this very specific ambience that has been left to the technical heads and their subordinates.
“We just worked together to look for pieces that fit the 60’s vibe, but also were professional enough to make sense in an American embassy,” sophomore Ariana Colder, head of Set Decoration, said.
The set itself, a massive compartmentalized construction, has been no small undertaking to design and build.
The massive set is a “unit set”, meaning it doesn’t move and stays stagnant throughout the show. It’s a complex construction with cubicle-like rooms that has been no easy task to design, build, and set up on stage.
“We’re in an embassy so we didn’t want to keep it one level, we wanted to stretch ourselves. It’s a two level set with a staircase center with a lot of doors that open to other locations in the embassy. [In] both shows we did last year, there were a lot of scene changes and a lot of pieces that come in and out. This is completely opposite of that, it’s a fully constructed set that’s basically if you took a house and split it down the center and you open it up, that’s what you would see,” Theater teacher, Phillip Reid said.
Preparation for the production has taken a lot of time and energy from the cast and crew. The show, being presented on November 18th, 19th, and 20th, has been worked on since late September.
“We’ve been rehearsing since the end of September and we have five days of rehearsal a week, then one day of tech. Within those five days we do character research, blocking, and discuss the wants and needs of our characters. Then on Wednesdays is we meet for tech, I have meetings with the tech heads and crew member and discuss what they’ve been working on and what do they need to work on in the future,” Reid said.
In general, political comedies are an amusing genre of theater that challenges actors and garners a lot of attention and support from audiences.
“I think it entertaining because people can relate to it, depending on the current situation they’re in. At this a point in this generation, everything is a joke, so political comedies are a more sophisticated way of joking around with big issues,” sophomore Ruby Larimer who is playing Susan in Don’t Drink the Water said.
TheatreMcLean’s production is sure to be successful, considering the massive amount of effort contributed by the cast and crew, its appropriate timing, and its feel good tone.
“The subject matter isn’t light-hearted, but the delivery is light-hearted. There are bombs, but there’s also love,” Larimer said.
