The Ladies Foursome - Character Portraits
FORE! Here we go again ... my 29th show for The Modern Theater ... The Ladies Foursome!
A couple weekends back, the cast and director of The Ladies Foursome headed to The Links Golf Course in Post Falls, ID to create some imagery for the upcoming show. It was the perfect morning to do so while having the cast learn more about golf ... especially the finer points of course etiquette. Replacing divots, how/when to wait for or begin the next hole and where or where NOT to drive the really fun carts were among the lessons learned.
The Ladies were champs when it came to the images, too. A majority of the production occurs, like in golf, when they're waiting for one of their group to take their shot. It seemed a perfect chance for a cool series.
Though there was some sun and blue skies when we started, soon after we began play, the cloud cover increased and the chilly, early spring wind put a slight damper on the morning. Extra layers of clothing were added but when it came time to create the portraits, no one blinked. Everyone was on board to help make these portraits.
Practice swings were taken, form was critiqued by the other Ladies (sometimes quite bluntly) and many attempts were made to find just the right way to capture them at 1/500th of a second. You'll notice that 'Margot' has a different pose than the others. I really did want to capture an image where all the Ladies are in a position similar to the excellent graphic created by David Clemons. Marianne, though, looked so strong and proud and regal in the one I finally chose, it was great enough for me to break the template. If you've ever seen her on stage, you know full well that she's worth making any trifling exception like that.
Theatre (or theater) isn't merely the two hours or so of a production that you see on stage. It's the months of preparations. It's the weeks of rehearsals. It's the countless hours of administration and 'house' prep. For me, it's time spent researching a production to find a style of imagery that I feel works for the piece and a lot of time editing them and find a place in the 'web' for them.
Once the pics are created, it doesn't end there. In a world where Netflix, Hulu and Youtube are content kings, we have to put our stage in front of folks that have countless hours of programming at their fingertips. We at The Modern Theater try our very best to create a production that reaches past the edge of the stage and far into the daily lives of our patrons and community.
A community can be measured by the questions its theater asks
- Liviu Ciulei
A community NEEDS good theater. I do what I can to make certain that the playwright, creative crew and cast are seen in the best light possible by as many people as possible in an attempt to stir interest. I WANT my friends colleagues to have an audience to see their work, to FEEL it.
