Gossamer Meet and Greet

By Laura Nicholas, who plays "Fastidious" in GOSSAMER

Our first day of GOSSAMER rehearsal this week was exciting. I must admit, I am always nervous on the first day. We call it a “meet and greet.” For the first and only time during this process, everyone working on the show is in the same room together. There were about 50 people there, everyone from costumers, designers, marketing, accounting, development, teachers, actors, stage managers and crew. It was such a great feeling to know that all of these people want the show to be great.

Costume designer, Kim Instenes, discussed each costume’s design. She has thought so much about the play and its themes and somehow manages to put those insights into our costumes. I posted my costume rendering. Isn’t she a great artist too? One of her thoughts is that as the “dream giver” characters (I am one) get older the center core of their body gets darker. I am pretty dark. Littlest, the young dream giver is still pretty light in the center.

We also saw the model of the set. The designer, Bruce Brockman, showed us models and drawings. It is going to look incredible. We have a giant door that will make us look tiny, there is also holes in the stage floor and a spandex wall that will make the nightmare creatures look like they are coming through it! Wow. I am so excited to come through a wall.

We then read through the play twice. I don’t know if everyone knows, but for each production we have two casts of young performers. For GOSSAMER, they’re referred to as the Day Cast and the Night Cast. The adult actors stay the same but the young performers switch off when we rehearse. It is actually a great thing for us “old” folks: we get a chance to do the scene twice. The more practice, the better.

We also started “blocking” our first scene. Blocking is when you actually get up on your feet and try and to figure out where you move on the set. Our director, Jeff Frank is great at this because he always discusses why you would move from one place to another. We are learning about the story and characters as we work.

I do have a pretty big challenge. I need to “dissolve” or disappear on stage. If there are any superheroes out there that can give me some tips, I would appreciate it. I have been practicing at home, but no luck I can’t seem to disappear. I guess I will have to count on the fantastic Jason Fassl, out lighting designer to help me out. I think he may be part superhero, he can do it.