Wednesday, February 17, 2016

SLOWGIRL: One Week Until Preview!

By Alexander Coddington

This past Sunday, we had our designer run.  For those who might not know, a designer run is the first time that all of the show’s designers come for the first time to watch the actors perform the play in the rehearsal hall.  At around the halfway point in the rehearsal process (the end of week two), the designers, who’ve been working hard from home and production builds, come to see what the actors are doing onstage.  The lighting designer can get a better sense of where the actors are moving onstage to focus his lighting instruments and the scenic designer can suss out what parts of the set might need to be more fortified to support the actors and make them feel safe.  We're getting excited for folks to finally see this moving play a week from today at our Pay-What-You-Can Preview performance on Wednesday Feb. 24!

Props designer Melissa Centgraf has been hard at work on something we all love: FOOD!!  In the play, Sterling makes Becky a special dish called Chicken Los Angeles for her last meal in Costa Rica, and Melissa has tracked down a special ingredient for us.  A thin, light brown sauce, Lizano is a common condiment in Costa Rica, and found on restaurant tables as often as ketchup is “in the States.”  We put some Lizano on noodles, and thought it was pretty tasty!  The ingredients include water, sugar, salt, vegetables (onions, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers), spices, pepper, mustard, and turmeric.  In the United States, Lizano can be purchased online and at specialty food stores.  Give it a try!

As soon as Renaissance Theaterworks’ beautiful production of AGNES OF GOD closed in the Studio Theatre on Sunday, our crew and designers started loading in the set for SLOWGIRL.  We’ll continue exploring the play in the rehearsal hall until Friday when the set will be fully constructed, painted, and decorated.  And then we’ll head downstairs for tech rehearsals!  You’ll hear from me again then…


But in the meantime, here’s a fun piece of trivia!  In the production of SLOWGIRL co-produced by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse, Sterling was played by William Peterson, who you’ll recognize from his many years on CSI!

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