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Sir Toby and Andrew (traditionally Sir Andrew) praise Maria for the letter she has forged to scheme Malvolio as Fabiana (traditionally Fabian) observes. Photo by Phillip Hamer Photography.
Production photographs by Phillip Hamer Photography (@phillip_hamer_photography on Instagram)
Twelfth Night was produced with about 140 hours of rehearsal time, including two 10/12 rehearsals. We started in a rehearsal space with our set taped onto the rehearsal floor, as well as all design sketches and a model of our set design posted in the rehearsal space to reference whenever needed. We officially moved into our performance space one week before our opening night performance.
Our Character/Scene Breakdown was necessary for our stage manager to create daily calls. This was also helpful for organizing page numbers between two different scripts - because the Arden version of Twelfth Night had so many annotations surrounding the text, the stage management team decided it was impractical to call from. Instead, we re-typed the script (including line numbers and the original page numbers from the Arden script) into a much more condensed version that was more practical to call from and take notes when needed. It was also more space-efficient in our binders.
The monument build process started with the trunk: The trunk needed to have the monument gravestone stand on top of it, while also being able to open after the monument falls and hold Sebastian's jacket and LED lighting inside. It also needed to be lightweight enough to be carried offstage by two actors, and have the ability to look like a monument when it was meant to be a monument and look like a trunk when it was meant to be a trunk.
Build process picture of the monument/trunk before it was cut into pieces or painted.
Feste kneels in front of the finished monument in scene 0.0. The monument has finishing details and text. It is cut into seven pieces that are held together with magnets and some Velcro for stability.
The Assistant Stage Managers and Technical Director (Trevor Hannagan) were all involved in presetting the monument to ensure it looked correct and was safe each night.
A closer look at the finalized monument onstage.
Director Jason Spelbring stands behind the monument pieces after knocking them over in a test run, while the stage manager (Jacob Farkus) and technical director (Trevor Hannagan) watch. The monument pieces are held together using a combination of velcro and magnets.
The monument stood onstage in the preshow as the audience began to enter the house and remained until the end of scene 0.0
Viola, after waking up from a shipwreck, opens a trunk that doubles as the base of the monument in scene 0.0. The concept for the monument was to have it double as a trunk from the shipwreck after the monument falls to avoid clunky scene transitions and seamlessly move into the next scene with only lighting cues.
In the Instagram video (left) taken and posted by Director Jason Spelbring, you can watch the monument fall with surrounding lighting cues in slow-motion.
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Please click on the Instagram caption, left, to open and watch the video in a separate browser tab.
Above are photos of the set build and paint process for Twelfth Night.
Above is the Run Sheet we used during the run of Twelfth Night. We began developing our run sheet in the week before tech week and continued updating it through dress rehearsals to make sure it stayed as accurate as possible, even after set and props changes before the show's opening. It was important that we keep this document simple and easy for anyone to read, including our deck crew, but ensured it had all necessary information on it.
As an assistant stage manager for Twelfth Night, much of my responsibilities in running the backstage area revolved around props. This started each day with checking our Props Preset. We developed this document based off of the Enter/Exit paperwork we created in the rehearsal space, and continued to update it after we were in the performance space. Once we knew it was finalized, we created two laminated copies and had two people check the props with Vis-a-Vis markers before every performance.
The set design rendering for the Twelfth Night set, designed by Kendrick Lawson-Knight with lighting design by Jayson Lawshee.
The finished Twelfth Night set, preset for the top of the show.
Director: Jason Spelbring
Stage Manager: Jacob Farkus
Assistant Stage Managers: Jenna Koch & Emily Martin
Scenic Design: Kendrick Lawson-Knight
Scenic Artist: Chasyn Andrews-Philbin
Lighting Design: Jayson Lawshee
Costume Design: Zahrah Agha
Photography: Philip Hamer Photography (unless noted otherwise)
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