Ave Theresa!

I've just returned to Atlanta from my whirlwind trip to Boston and NYC. I had an amazing time, and I'll review a few of the productions I saw on this blog later this week, but right now I'd love to sum up the experience of Theresa at Home!

The music I wrote for this show is your basic run of the mill doo-wop. Since Theresa is an ex novice nun who, in the script, has a propensity for playing Schubert's Ave Maria when she gets blue, I decided to take Mr. Schuberts harmonic structure and change the lyrics a bit. Here's an example:

Theresa at Home - Ave Theresa



I think it's safe to say that we had a great time over tech week for this show. Under the amazing direction of Vinnie Murphy we all put our heads and hearts together and came up with a good, if not completely finished, show. The character of Theresa reminds me a bit of my wife Katie, a loving soul with a talent for listening. I haven't fallen this hard for a fictional character in quite some time. Jessica Rabbit might have been the last one... Stacy Fisher, the actress who portrays Theresa is doing an amazing job in the role as well, which made my work that much easier!

Here's another cue from the show. The end of Act One. It's a scene in which Theresa finds herself unable to pray the way she used to in the convent even though she puts up a good fight to do so. Stacy is brillant in this scene I wish I had some video to show, but the actors union nixed that one right quick. Still, here's the cue, and below it, some stills from the show with an interview from Janet Kenney our playwright...

Theresa at Home - End of Act One



Theresa at Home - Interview with Janet Kenney


The craziest thing I've had to deal with soundwise in a long time happened during this show. I had originally designed the show for two Minidisc decks... Old school, if there ever was such a thing. Anyhow, these decks were on their last legs. One ended up ERASING 20 or so cues one morning. So BPT ended up purchasing a new laptop with SFX on it. I hate SFX, but it gets the job done. Completely NON intuitive software. Ugly UI and an all around crappy Windoze program, except that it really does control theater sound pretty well... So I ended up having to rebuild the entire show. 4 solid days of work, in less than 3 hours during the night of our final dress. Good times! Luckily our lighting designer had a friend who came in and helped me out. Thanks Matt!

Anyhow, I'm hoping to put together a podcast episode this week about Theresa. Should be fun. I promise lots of stuff though, so we'll just have to see if I come through or not. I had a GREAT time on this show and I also learned about some new show control software for the MAC!!!! It's called QLab. Check it out, it might be just what I've always wanted!