Hair
Director: Jim Wren
Music Director: Dominick Amendum
Choreographer: Robin Gee
Scenic Designer: Randall McMullen
Lighting Designer: Caleb Taylor
Costume Designers: Amy Holroyd and Emily Heilig
Photos: Bert VanderVeen
I was the stage manager of UNCG Theatre's production of Hair. There was a cast of 28 adults and a stage management team of 6, including myself. This production was my first musical as a stage manager. It included full nudity, racial slurs, weapons, references to various sexual acts, and a lot of drugs. This show was very cue heavy and required constant conversations regarding safety due to various lighting effects and scenic elements. Mental safety was also something that was consistently thought of due to the fact that this show asked actors to expose themselves and willingly put themselves in vulnerable positions. Included in this production of Hair, was an extended preshow bit where actors interacted with the audience during preshow which set the tone for the rest of the performance where actors utilized house entrances, exits, and aisles quite a lot.
Conversations between the director and lighting designer determined that the nudity scene had to occur in dim lighting that showcased silhouettes. The actress playing Jeannie wanted to be a part of the scene, so costumes worked with her and the other departments to make sure the seams of her belly could not be seen by the audience. All of this required clear channels of communication and correct cue calling to ensure actors were not in bright lights when emerging from the parachute.
*This photo reflects show lighting as actors emerged naked, but is from a rehearsal with all actors fully clothed.
*An example of a light cue before the nudity scene .
The actors interacted with the audience on numerous occasions before, during, and after each performance. House entrances and exits were used frequently and required ASMs to be posted at either house door for any prop handoffs that may have had to occur.
WARNING: HURRICANE FLORENCE INCOMING
As the production entered the tech process, Hurricane Florence hit and the University shut down all operations. Tech days were lost and performances were shifted and moved to later dates. Lighting lost their time to set cues and levels and dry tech was combined with tech runs. Due to the hurricane and the nature of the cues, many changes occurred throughout the tech process going into dress rehearsals. In order to ensure that cues were correct and to create an easily trackable record of cues, I created a master cue sheet. It included all standbys, cues, and notes. The PDF button will take you to page one of the master cue sheet that was used in the production.
This production had an assortment of elements that provided unique opportunities all together. There was a rope swing, a parachute, numerous weapons, the trip sequence for everyone killing each other which included strobe lights, among many other aspects.
Below I have included samples of my paperwork that best highlight my skillset at the time of this production and the needs of the show. Discussions held during my visits to the various shops were reported in the rehearsal reports to keep everyone on the same page. In order to provide a complete report of the performances, it was necessary to provide a general section and an action section. This way the shop heads could locate notes that needed to be taken care of without searching through the general run of show notes.
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