Elder UC#1 Checks In
Busy time for me, doing the sound and lights for the local dinner theatre East of 60.
So named because Devon is on the East side of Highway 60. And I always thought artists were creative!
[WLBOTT Fact Check: Given our current understanding of “east”, we rate this as True]
The current play opened last night, with yours truly hitting the various StreamDeck buttons for sound effects and music at various times, all based on verbal and visual ques. Which makes it really interesting when the actors screw up their lines, as happened most of the time last night.
But the really fascinating thing about live theatre is the way the actors work as a team and cover mistakes. When someone misses a line, like: “I’ll just go down to the lobby and wait,” the other actor fills in with “Well, why don’t you just go down to the lobby and wait and I’ll ….”. They all support each other.
Until the post-game meeting with the director, at which point it gets rather vicious. Fortunately, I didn’t screw up so I got to go home early (by which I mean, after only 5 hours sitting at the sound / lighting board).
All told, this production will run 5 nights. With 3 dress rehearsals, that brings me to about 36 hours. Plus another couple of hours splicing audio files to get just the right sounds and just the right lengths and volumes for the intro and extro music, gunshot, ring tones, etc.
The meal was fantastic – roast beast, a salmon dish of some kind, lots of salads (the stuff that food eats), mashed potatoes, gravy and plenty of deserts.
UC#1
The Venue
Devon Community Centre
20 Haven Ave Devon, AB T9G 2B9 Canada
The Devon Community Center is east of Highway 60.
The community centre was the idea of one man, Dan Claypool, who, through his own efforts, raised $1M which was then matched by the province.
[Devon is] a great place to live. And seriously, we walk every day for about an hour and we have never been shot at or mugged. The worst thing that has ever happened was being attacked by the neighbor’s dog, and even it ran off when I roared at it. The owner is an [*%$&@%], but you have them in every town.
UC#1
Information about the community center can be found here.
Although well equipped, you may have to bring your own twine (BYOT). Full list of this well-equipped facility can be found here.
Pix of the Community Center. Very cool solar installation.
Unnecessary Farce
The Play
East of Sixty is proud to present Unnecessary Farce written by Paul Slade Smith and directed by Jennifer Phillips, coming to Devon Community Hall on April 12, 13, 14, 20 and 21 2024.
Two cops. Three crooks. Seven doors. Go. In a cheap motel room, an embezzling mayor is supposed to meet with his female accountant, while in the room next-door, two undercover cops wait to catch the meeting on videotape. But there’s some confusion as to who’s in which room, who’s being videotaped, who’s taken the money, who’s hired a hit man and why the accountant keeps taking off her clothes.
East of 60
After learning of this play, several thoughts came to mind:
- this looks like a whole lotta fun
- boxers, badges, bagpipes, and buffet
- somebody in the stage crew is in charge of making sure there are always donuts
(Non-donut scenes from various productions of Unnecessary Farce available from Google image search)
Donut scenes from various productions
Biography
Paul Slade Smith is a writer and actor based in Brooklyn, New York. His play Unnecessary Farce, winner of nine regional theatre awards, has had over 250 productions throughout the United States and in Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Switzerland, Iceland, and Singapore. As an actor, Paul has appeared in the original Broadway casts of Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Lincoln Center revival of My Fair Lady. He has also been seen in the national tours of Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera, and at regional theatres including The Goodman, Steppenwolf, American Repertory Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
Play Scripts
Will there be a Buffet?
Big time. Big Texas YES.
And because we lack even the most basic impulse control, we “fed” [ed. note: pun – yuck, yuck] the menu into an AI image generator.
We also fed the play synopsis into AI:
Two cops. Three crooks. Seven doors. Go. In a cheap motel room, an embezzling mayor is supposed to meet with his female accountant, while in the room next-door, two undercover cops wait to catch the meeting on videotape. But there’s some confusion as to who’s in which room, who’s being videotaped, who’s taken the money, who’s hired a hit man and why the accountant keeps taking off her clothes.
[WLBOTT Ministry of Virtue and Vice: we had to seriously tone down our selection to meet our family-friendly criteria, but we encourage you to use your imagination.]
3 replies on “East of 60 / Unnecessary Farce”
Thanks for highlighting one of the highlights of my year. It is a lot of fun to see a bunch of individual actors meld into a team, and it is gratifying to watch the play in its entirety, with an actual live audience laughing at all the jokes. Yesterday’s matinee performance was the best so far and yours truly didn’t miss a single que, all the sounds and lighting changes happened when they were supposed to!
And a salute to UC#1-SU who spent hours washing dishes after the event.
We all do what we can do, to contribute to this annual community events, wherein most of the people involved are volunteers. Some of us have to just dig in, knuckle under, splash about, scrub and rinse, so that the kitchen is all ready for the next event. And oh, yes, we get to take home leftovers from the sumptuous buffet and dessert tables!!!
( I don’t think I clicked on “post comment,” so will add my bit again!)
We all do what we can do, to contribute to this annual community event. (They even bus in people from surrounding communities and the metropolis of Edmonton–it’s a sold-out event). Most of the people involved–including actors–are volunteers. Some of us do our best work just knuckling under, digging in, splashing about, scrubbing and rinsing, so the kitchen is all ready for the next event. The perk is that we get to watch the show, take home leftovers from the sumptuous buffet and dessert table!!