Producing the Play Statement

Problems that must be addressed in The Quick-Change Room are things like the set design in your space. The script asks for an office for Sergey, a rehearsal room, a committee room, a neutral space. There is a note in the script that explains how it can be done. It states that though the Quick-Change itself is the main playing area, it is a mini-box set on a rolling platform that is capable of moving up and down stage and can be curtained off. While it is upstage the main stage area becomes the rehearsal room. There is an area stage right that is Sergey's office and there is a neutral area stage left where Sergey and Timofey do their addresses to the company and where Boris does his "business". Also at the end of the play the stage becomes the actual stage for the finale of O' My Sister!. But is there enough room in their theatre space for all this or the rolling mini set? Or if using the mini-box set method then does their theatre have enough room for an almost midstage curtain to cover the rolling set when it's upstage?

Now as for Sam Houston State, I think that they would have a lot of the same question to ask if they did this play here, but some more things to consider for our particular institution would be things like the budget. Even with the space we do have here, whether it be the Mainstage or even possibly the Showcase, the problem would most likely be can we afford the rolling box set on stage with there being other shows that share the budget, or enough crew members to help move this if it is done. I think that it could be done with mostly lightning, but how do you even do that if there aren't people to help. Also at the end of the play when they do the finale to O' My Sister! there is supposed to be a train cutout that rolls on to the stage puffing smoke and then they ride it off stage at the end of the number. Another thing would be that there are characters in this show that are older than most of our theatre students, more specifically the Ludmilla character is "of a certain age". This can be solved with make-up but if it's in the showcase, depending on how old she's played, it might be obvious that she's younger. Then again... suspension of disbelief.

The University of Washington performed this show in their Theatre in the Round/arena space and the way they solved the problem of the mini-box set is they used lighting and rugs to give each space it's own shape and designation. The Quick-Change Room was originally produced by The Denver Center Theatre Company so the notes in the script are actually just the way that they staged it and it doesn't mean that it has to be done that way, so I find UW's method to be a cheaper, yet effective way of going about it. Whitman College used the Mini-box set approach like the Denver Center production did.

The critics all around loved the script by Nagle Jackson saying things like, "The lighthearted farce only suggests the incredible change in the lives of the Russian people, its central metaphor a brilliant way of doing so. Jackson embeds in the play... a powerful regard for the glories of Russian theater's great tradition and the vulgarization of theater as it seeks to "face reality."- Variety Magazine. As well as critical acclaim from Westwolrd saying,"Though his subject is very serious, Jackson keeps the tone of the play almost frothy.... His handling of the absurdities of greed never goes too far--and he keeps you laughing." There was some dislike of the sets by Westworld because they felt the set didn't "show the deterioration" of the Kuzlov theatre(due to their situation) in the design. And one critic did not like the direction of the performance they did at the Pacific Resident Theatre directed by Orson Bean. Ben Brantley from the New York Times felt it "...seldom achieves the breakneck timing it needs..."


Source links:

http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrama/performances/past_seasons.shtml

http://www.whitman.edu/theatre/tech/qk.chg.rm.html

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117909708.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

http://www.westword.com/1995-02-01/culture/russian-dressing/

http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?pagewanted=print&html_title=&tols_title=QUICK-CHANGE%20ROOM,%20THE%20(PLAY)&pdate=19971013&byline=By%20BEN%20BRANTLEY&id=1077011432738