Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

Theatre 179
17. Sound. Sound Designer Palmer Jankens, in the sound
design studio, records and assembles digital soundtracks of
the harpsichord music (by seventeenth-century composer
Jacques Duphly) that will be used in the production, along
with other offstage sounds, including a horse’s hoofbeats and
whinnying, crashing dishes, breaking vases, and the footsteps
of three persons racing up a flight of stairs. © Robert Cohen
18. Voice Recording. The director decided to add to
the digital soundtrack Arnolphe’s ad-lib grunts
and yelps as he runs into a horse offstage, so
Sound Designer Jankens has brought Tim Casto
into the sound studio to record the actor’s voicing
of such nonverbal utterances, which Jankens will
later combine with the horse whinny and crashing
sounds. © Robert Cohen
19. (Left) Acting Rehearsal. In the rehearsal
room, actors rehearse the second of
the four farcical interludes that the
director has interpolated between the
acts of Molière’s play. Here Agnès, at
the demand of Arnolphe, is throwing a
large “stone” down from her “balcony”
at her lover Horace, played by Kevin
Kiler, as the comic servants Alain and
Georgette (Rick Ford and Lillian Castillo)
egg her on from each side. These
interludes are mimed by the actors,
who use exaggerated commedia
dell’arte–style movements but do not
speak (because Molière wrote no lines
for them). © Robert Cohen
20. (Left) Fight Rehearsal. This rehearsal of
the third interlude, in which Alain and
Georgette attempt to beat Horace as he
ascends a ladder to rescue Agnès from
her guardian’s captivity, is overseen by
Fight Director Christopher Villa. Trained—
and desirably certified—fight directors are
employed whenever stage actions involve
potentially dangerous movements such
as dueling, hitting, or falling, to make
such actions theatrically vivid (realistic,
convincing, dramatic, and/or hilarious,
depending on the production’s style) yet
absolutely safe for the actors executing
them in performance after performance.
© Robert Cohen
21. Painting. In the paint shop,
Scenic Charge Artist Michelle
Fullerton, with Winiarski’s
rendering (finished sketch)
in hand, paints the “portal”
that, when erected vertically,
will frame the scenic picture.
© Robert Cohen