by Anne Flinders, dramaturg
Brigham Young University’s production of Pride and Prejudice opens this coming Friday, March 21st, which means the week leading up to those final dress rehearsals and opening night is dedicated to technical rehearsals, a.k.a. tech week. This is the week the cast begins rehearsing on the set in the Pardoe Theatre; the lights are hung, focused and finalized by the light designer and crew; the sound is equipped and cued by the sound designer; the set dressings and props are labeled and placed, and the costumes are “paraded” (or worn by the actors onstage) for one last, long, decisive look by the costume designer and staff. This is the week everything–the writing, acting and technical theatre–comes together.
Culminating tech week at BYU is a Saturday technical rehearsal known as a 10-out-of-12. This rehearsal is pretty much what it sounds like: a 12-hour day in which 10 hours are spent working the technical aspects into the show with the actors, broken up by two one-hour breaks. The rehearsal is run cue-to-cue, meaning the actors play a scene at the beginning of a cue and then skip to the end of that scene and the beginning of the next. This gives the technical crew opportunities to work their cues into the context of the play’s flow without having to wait for entire scenes to be played.
Tech rehearsal also means the actors spend a lot of time waiting…waiting for lighting adjustments to be made, waiting for sound cues to be replayed, and waiting to learn where that prop will be laid. All that waiting means one thing…social media! Below are pics and posts that were made during tech week for Pride and Prejudice.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE TECH WEEK with pictures from Becky Maskell, Lindsay Clark, Hillary Straga and Melissa Leilani Larson, our guides for this social media tour.
Becky Maskell: And. Here. We. Go! Welcome to tech week errybody! Today is a day of patience, long suffering, temperance, etc. Welcome to 12 hour tech rehearsal. So grateful for our awesome cast & crew. Let the bonding commence!
Becky Maskell: Rehearsal corset. Apparently it’s the latest fashion…
Melissa Leilani Larson: A letter from Jane.
Comments below this picture include: “All those lovely gowns.” “And regimentals!” “What a fun pic!” “This makes me feel excited to see the play!”
Lindsay Clark: Our lovely set.
Becky Maskell: 8 hrs down…4 to go! We got this!
Logan Hayden: Among the frames I have worked on for PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
Melissa Leilani Larson: Woohoo Logan!
Lindsay Clark: …Mr. Collins’ portrait.
Melissa Leilani Larson: Collins, Charlotte, and a ring to rule them all…
An admirer on Facebook: Logan, you were born to wear that outfit. Logan Hayden replies: Awe shucks.
And at the end of a 12-hour day…
Logan Hayden: Prayers ascended, answers descended and now it has ended. For today at least.
All Melissa Leilani Larson wants to know is….
