Wednesday, 5/21/97 Making of a miralce Staging a play means
weeks of rehearsal, revision and dedication for UCLA’s MFA
students. The Daily Bruin watches this quarter’s ‘The Miracle
Worker’ make its way from early run-throughs to the final
product.
By Vanessa VanderZanden Daily Bruin Staff They deliver their
lines as we watch in starved anticipation for the next flip of the
hand, the next flash of lights, the next change of scene. At the
last curtain call, we exit the theater, taking with us the
epiphanies and emotions the production provoked over a two-hour
period. But for the cast and crew involved in such plays as "The
Miracle Worker," which opens Thursday at Macgowan Hall’s Little
Theater, this experience is the culmination of more than a
quarter’s worth of physically and psychologically challenging
labor. "I wanted to do a play of transformation, to make it
meaningful and exciting to me," explains director Meg Wilbur,
taking a break during the first week of rehearsals. "’Miracle
Worker’ is about the birth of a soul, yet we want to go against the
simplicity of the script, adding anything onto it that will
encumber its themes of real values and love." Bringing these
aspects to the UCLA production has proven a tedious process.
Especially trying for the cast and crew of master of fine arts
graduate students is that the show, based on Hellen Keller’s life,
will run in repertoire with "Journey of the Fifth Horse." The
13-member cast has had to balance rehearsals of both shows
alongside their daily schedule of acting classes. "We spend about
12 hours a day on campus," says Grace Jun. "All year we’ve been
together, getting on each other’s nerves, but we’re like a family.
Everyone sort of gets split personalities, coming and going out of
character." During the first week of rehearsals, actors strive to
familiarize themselves with their roles. They hold scripts as they
move around imaginary walls and gates with partial gestures. Wilbur
has the actors discard the written words, asking them instead to
improvise the action, getting in touch with the motivations behind
their characters. Soon, instead of speaking about themselves in
third person, they merge into the role. "What do you think begins
this moment?" prompts Wilbur to Joseph DeMonico, who plays a
teacher to Helen Keller’s personal tutor. With inquisitive eyes, he
searches Margaret Kenny’s (Annie’s) face, "You’re like a daughter
to me, and I’m scared to see you leave, but I’m also deeply proud.
I just don’t know how or if I want to show it," DeMonico begins.
The three-minute scene takes an hour and a quarter to run through,
as duct tape for future props is constantly being attached to the
ground by the prop guy, just behind the actor’s movements. Yet,
while the actors meet with scripts during the first week of this
quarter, the designing crew has already begun work since Winter
Quarter. After first producing a color rendering, or watercolor
painting of the proposed set, scenic designer Chris Kerins started
creating a white model, which he eventually painted to match the
show’s needs. Before this process came meetings with Wilbur and
numerous sketches, which kept the busy student grounded in the
play, staying in the design studio for up to 14 hours a day,
including weekends. "Scripts mean as much to designers as to the
actors. We just work through our own medium," Kerins explains from
his workshop table. "It’s a meaningful experience because this
production explores what it means to be human. Therefore, I’m going
with the director’s vision to contrast the house with the
surrounding natural world." Meanwhile, the rehearsals continue into
the second week, as actors strive to contrast their perceptions of
their character with the scripted lines. In order to better
understand these relationships, Wilbur has the cast read aloud
artificial autobiographies which they themselves have created.
After the culmination of each heartfelt speech, the rest of the
actors ask questions from their seats at the square group of
tables. "How do you feel about being more book-read than your
husband?" one half-costumed actor asks of Keller. "I shut it up. I
don’t really reveal my knowledge to him, it just enrages him," she
answers, as other actors speculate on how much power she wields in
the marriage. Soon, they fall into a discussion of some members’
experiences at a blind school, which provides further background
information for the show. Yet, even a story about a vision-impaired
child requires stage lights, which is where lighting designer
Steven Shea enters the scene. Having begun work on the show in 10th
week of Winter Quarter, he, too, spends long hours at the office
trying to plan out where the lights need to be hung in order to
best illuminate "The Miracle Worker" and "Journey of the Fifth
Horse." "While the majority of lights stay in the same position for
both shows, 60 bulbs are show specific," Shea explains as he hovers
over an enormous blueprint of the stage’s lighting positions.
"There’s only about one to two hours between the shows to change
the lighting. But, you always come away with a positive feeling,
because you make everything look nice. When people walk away,
you’re the one to turn the lights off." Choosing which lights
become a part of the performance requires as much skill as any
other aspect of the play’s conception. Based on time of day,
costume colors and set creations, Shea decides upon shade, location
and intensity of the bulbs. In order to best represent this
realistic production, he will opt for an illumination which will
enhance the characters’ actions. "I need to enliven the set design,
not blotch it out, and be aware of the characters’ location on
stage," Shea explains." By this time, the same polishing effect has
begun to infiltrate the casts’ rehearsals as they enter the fourth
week of preparation. Having memorized their lines and decided upon
their characters’ driving energy, the actors appear looser, joking
at times with one another while perfecting specific scenes. Still,
they continue to question exactly how to deliver particular lines
and enact certain moments. "I’m not sure that in the South a man
would shake a woman’s hand," Christopher Fairbanks, who plays Capt.
Keller, suggests. In just a moment a solution presents itself, and
he goes back to repeating, "Welcome to Ivy Green Ms. Sullivan," as
the scene takes shape. The process doesn’t end there, though. Every
shape has yet to be fitted, as costume designer Abra Berman
finalizes the classic 1890s Southern summer apparel. After
countless meetings with Wilbur concerning the mood of the
performance, she consults antique photographs of the story’s actual
characters. Soon, she will send shots to a costume shop where the
clothes will be made from her sketches. "Annie was the most
difficult to find a costume for because she’s a young Yankee
concerned with making a good impression on the Southern
conservative society," Berman describes of the contemplative
process each character required. "I finally decided upon a burgundy
traveling suit, to represent how she’s the heart and emotion of the
play. Later, she’ll change into pastel colors to represent her
coming into the genteel, soft world of the South." To further
illustrate this calm Southern atmosphere, the stage set offers wood
tones and assembled greenery. Vines crawl up the rooms of a
predominately wall-less house, as designer Kerins captures the
realistic look of the play. Entering the final week of rehearsals,
characters and designers merely sit back and enjoy watching their
handiwork come to fruition. By now, the show has but two more dress
rehearsals until opening night, which promises to be an exciting
yet difficult experience. They finally have time to sit back and
reflect on the quarter’s events. "This production stands the chance
of being really emotionally draining," Kerins notes. "By the end, I
get so wrapped up in it that I’ll have a tough time adjusting to
not working on it anymore." Such a view proliferates throughout
most of the cast and crew. Actor Joseph DeMonico, for example,
feels the work here actually changed him as a person. Not only has
it strengthened a personal relationship with a classmate, but it
has enlightened him on his own personality. "This character is
different from myself," he begins. "He’s a showman, and
egotistical, but I think I am somewhat of this person on the
inside. I’ve allowed the positive aspects of these traits to come
out in me." Yet, perhaps the most compelling results of this
production are due to the efforts of Wilbur’s directorial vision.
Students agree that she was supportive and even sent inspirational
memos about the play to the actors. This dedication will surely
come through in Thursday’s performance. "Meg has an uncanny way of
making the issues of the character relate to the actors
themselves," praises assistant director and soon- to-be class of
’97 graduate Kathleen Collins. "She never makes us feel beneath
her. She made me feel instead that I have worthwhile creative
impulses as an actress. In fact, through her and the production, I
believe everyone experienced quite an awakening throughout the
process." THEATER: "Miracle Worker" plays at the Little Theater
from May 26 to June 7. Student tickets are $7. For more information
call 825-2278. Yvonne Caro-Caro takes on the role of Helen Keller
in "The Miracle Worker," which opens May 26 at Macgowan Hall’s
Little Theater. GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin Director Meg Wilbur
(left) oversees a rehearsal for "Miracle Worker." GENEVIEVE
LIANG/Daily Bruin Chris Kerins works on the "Miracle Worker" set
design. Related Links: Official Alabama Outdoor Drama