Hedda Gabler

Richard's first play in college was this past week. They had rehearsals last week and performances this week. This made for long days and late nights for Richard.  He was getting home around 11:30 p.m. during rehearsals and 10:30 p.m. when the show was on. Most of the time, Lynn was driving him to school in the morning for classes, picking him up in the afternoon so he could be home for a couple hours, then taking him back to school ~ 6 p.m. and picking him up at the end of rehearsal or play. I took over a few times in order to give her a break.

Richard is credited in the program as "Light Board Operator." He was involved with installing the various lights, focusing, and setting up the light cues. He said that this show had more cues (over 100) than any show he's been involved with. During the performance run, he had to arrive early and check to make sure all the lights and lighting equipment was working properly; if not, it had to be reported and resolved prior to the start of the show.

The play was an adaptation of Hedda Gabler (A Dream Play),  the classic Henrik Ibsen play: a psychological study of a cultivated woman, recently returned from her honeymoon, whose boredom and dissatisfaction in a stifling environment lead her to destroy others — and herself. Steve Ginsburg, the co-Artistic Director of HartBeat Ensemble was guest director. Steve conceived this production as a dream, which underscores the central character’s desperation as well as its early feminist themes.

Lynn and I went to the Saturday evening performance. We like attending the last show. I have to confess that although I had a vague concept of what the play was about, I really had a difficult time following the story. I kept waiting for the feminist part but I just didn't catch it. All I saw was play about a neurotic woman. Perhaps that is what today's feminism has morphed into. I hope not.

Ironically, one of the biggest sensations of the evening had nothing to do with radical feminism but rather a newborn baby.  After the show, the director was walking around with his newborn baby (less than 2 weeks old) carried in one of those sling pouches at his chest. Of course, everyone had to have an admiring look. So tiny and fragile. For all of Hedda Gabler's feminist ranting about wanting "the power to mold a human destiny", becoming a parent is such an awesome and creative act.

Richard got comp tickets for us. We were a little nervous because the tickets were printed for Thursday rather than Saturday. But there was no question and we picked out our seats per Richard's suggestion. The theater is a black box theater. This type of theater is a very intimate setting.  The show was about 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission.  Richard did a good job with the lighting-it all looked good to me.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedda_Gabler
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/theater/18ishe.html?pagewanted=all
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box_theater

Updated T10/29/2013 for director's baby and NYT article.