BWW Blog: Amanda Grillo - Our School, Our Show, OUR TOWN: Meet the Stage Manager(s)

Welcome back! Now, the first article was called "a first look", the second was "meet the director", and I suppose you can guess what the third will be...Stage Managers! This show is graced with four. One stage manager, two assistant stage managers, and an actor. In the name of metatheatricality, Thornton Wilder constructed a stage manager character that acts as the narrator. I was lucky enough to get the chance to discuss the show and their roles, with Kate Herr (the stage manager) and Zach Fontanez (who plays the stage manager).

Kate Herr is the stage manager of this production and her efforts go beyond the call of duty. Her preparedness and adaptability are commendable. Herr was generous enough to share advice to those stage managing at a collegiate level:

"Basically, stay calm and roll with anything that comes your way. Things go wrong and come out weird and don't work and as a stage manager, you have to be able to take a step back, look at the problem objectively and then fix it. Sometimes that means hunting down people who aren't in class to repaint a stage floor, and sometimes it means staying extra hours to make sure the light cables are gaffed properly."

She also disclosed her favorite part of the rehearsal process:

"My favorite moment in the rehearsal process is kind of an odd one. It is when the set is half built and there are only pieces of costumes, but you can see the play coming together. Like one day, something just clicks with the actors and there is a flash of what the finished product will be like."

A stage manager's work is never done and it certainly doesn't go unnoticed. Herr shares that:

"I felt most rewarded as a Stage Manager a couple of days ago when one of the freshman actors told my ASM [assistant stage manager] that she really really does appreciate everything we do to make the show happen. It doesn't happen very often, but something like that really makes our day. That is one of the best things you can do for a Stage Manager, just tell them that you see how hard they work, because they do a LOT of work that no one sees. And I may have possibly teared up slightly. But I admit to nothing."

Have you thanked your stage manager today?

Herr's favorite moment in Our Town is

"My favorite moment in the rehearsal process is kind of an odd one. It is when the set is half built and there are only pieces of costumes, but you can see the play coming together. Like one day, something just clicks with the actors and there is a flash of what the finished product will be like."

I also had the pleasure of speaking with Zach Fontanez, who plays the role of the Stage Manager, our all-knowing narrator. He first tells us a little bit about what you can expect to see when you come see the final product:

"When audiences come to see this show, they will see a group of people come together to tell a story about daily life, love, and death in a small town in New Hampshire. The story is told through a series of short vignettes, which detail the lives of the townspeople. These vignettes, though apparently mundane, give audiences a look into the infinite universes that are contained in the small spaces we are accustomed to. They will experience the strength of community, the wonder of love, the finality of death, and the boundless existential nightmare of human existence. Long story short, there is a reason why Our Town is called one of the greatest plays of all time."

Fontanez gets to have the fun task of breaking the fourth wall, joining two worlds and he shares with us:

"I've always been attracted to metatheatrical techniques. I've liked metatheatre before I knew there was a word for it. I love it when characters in fiction are self-aware and fully cognizant of the fact that they are in a work of fiction. I think one of the most entertaining things in the world is when a character on stage or on a screen suddenly turns to the audience and beg the question, "Who writes this crap?" As the Stage Manager, I don't get to drop one of those exactly, but I do get to do provide another brilliant metatheatrical service, which is being a conduit between the real world and the world being presented onstage, and getting the audience to accept that those two are not mutually exclusive, nor are they very different from one another."

Not only narrating the story for us, the Stage Manager gets to step in as various roles throughout the show. Fontanez discloses to us which he likes the most:

"If I had to choose one, I would say Mr. Morgan, the man behind the counter at the local drugstore. He's a jovial, amicable gentleman, and he basically witnesses the beginning of George and Emily's love, more so than the minister. The minister marries George and Emily, and is a witness of the official, ink-and-paper beginning of their lives together, but Mr. Morgan sees their real beginning. He also seems less jaded than the minister, who's sort of mellowed with the passage of time, having married so many people. Mrs. Forrest is a close second, though, because doing the voice of a crotchety old woman is a party no matter who you are."

His character(s) hold a great influence on what the story is. All characters have a quintessential role to this production to make the audience feel like Grover's Corners could very well be your own hometown. There is a sense of familiarity with the citizens as we are granted a look into their daily life.

Come see this beloved classic at the UNH Bucknall Theater.

November 16th thru 19th

More details to follow.

Stay Tuned!

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