"SHAKESPEARE IN HOLLYWOOD"
A Comedy by Ken Ludwig

FALL PLAY 2008

• Directed by: Barbara Ridenour
• Performances: 7 p.m. Nov. 6,
  7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 & 8, North Attic Playhouse

Three members of the Gargoyle staff — senior editor Lauren Piester and senior reporters Lor Sligar and Joy Shapley — will perform in this year's fall play, "Shakespeare in Hollywood." This week they will take us backstage to get a sense of what goes into putting on a school production. Joy got things rolling on Tuesday with her account of the start of tech week. Lor continues with the second installment today.

I'M ALWAYS TIRED. Most people know that. If I'm not in the lounge catching up on homework that didn't get finished because I fell asleep the night before, I'm performing some semblance of napping.

Swimming, therefore, is probably not the best of sport choices. Waking up at 5 a.m.? Not quite my cup of tea. But I do it anyway. And putting play practice on top of that?

Well, needless to say, my caffeine intake has gone up dramatically since practice for "Shakespeare in Hollywood" started in late September. Ha. "Dramatically." Get it?

So now it's tech week. Luckily it coincides with my last week of swimming, so practices aren't as hard until our last meet. However. Getting home at 10:30 and getting up at 5 holds NO APPEAL. NONE. IT NEVER WILL.

Anyway, here's what I did on Tuesday:

5 a.m. — Crawl out of bed.

5:20 a.m. — Crawl to Freer Pool.

5:30 - 7:15 a.m. — Crawl underwater.

7:15 a.m. — Crawl to the locker room.

7:45 a.m. — Crawl to school.

8 - 9:45 a.m. — Nice happy lounge nap.

9:50 a.m. - 3:50 p.m. — Blahhh sleepy school time.

3:55 p.m. Run to James Smith's (James Cagney) car with Lauren Piester (Awesome Person), Hannah Leskosky (Lydia Lansing), and Ethan Schiller (Will Hays). We've planned a strange binge of restaurants beginning with the letter F this week, and we proceeded to drive to Fazoli's. Monday we hit up Fat Sandwich on John — it was disgustingly gross. Anyway, Ethan calls "Blitz" on my "Shotgun" and snatches the front seat. Man, best free breadsticks ever. We stuff our faces with 40 or 50, then get extras to bring back with us. Ethan doesn't bother "Blitz"-ing, just steals the seat anyway. Grr.

4:50 p.m. — Arrive at the south entrance. Are taunted by Assistant Director Sue Kovacs, who will not let us into the building.

5 p.m. — Wait for director Barbara Ridenour.

5:03 p.m. — Laaadeedaaaa …

5:10 p.m. — Yay! She has arrived. We proceed upstairs to the South Attic and eat some more. Oops, I mean do hair and makeup. Some people have brought laptops, and live election results are kept running. Numbers are being yelled throughout the South Attic and whispered backstage before people go on.

6:30 p.m. — Ah, so it turns out my costume is still more theoretical than anything. Oh well. I have my pretty dress that I brought. I'll just wear that the whole time.

7:20 p.m. — Curtain up! And now for my opening monologue. I stumble a little, but Ms. Ridenour is luckily absent at that particular instant, and I escape unscathed.

8 p.m. — Wow, red lipstick stains! My lips may never regain their normal color.

9 p.m. — Nish Nookala (Daryl) looks like he's been attacked by an old grandmother with more lipstick than lips. My bad. The South Attic has become a frenzy of numbers and state names. It's like one big, red-lipsticked election extravaganza. My head starts to spin.

10 p.m. — After being scolded about costumes and hangers, we are released into the free world. Finally! I go home, pack my swim bag, and crawl under the covers. Finally.

10:13 p.m. — False alarm. We had to stay and pick up until the attics looked cleaner than they did when we started. Oh wait. All of us stayed, some of us picked up. Irritation. I walk, relieved, into the night air.

10:25 p.m. — Arrive home. Warm up Fazoli's leftovers. Eat.

11:04 p.m. — Crawl into bed, dreading my alarm clock. Finally, I can get some sleep.

FALL PLAY '08 CAST & CREW

• Louella Parsons — Lor Sligar (sr)
• Max Reinhardt — Rob Diehl (sr)
• Dick Powell — Ben Daniels (sr)
• Jack Warner — Zack Goldberg (jr)
• Daryl — Nish Nookala (sr)
• Lydia Lansing — Hannah Leskosky (sr)
• Oberon — Dillon Price (so)
• Puck — Sarah Lake-Rayburn (sr)
• Olivia Darnell — Anna Gooler (jr)
• Will Hays — Ethan Schiller (jr)
• Joe E. Brown — Ollie Goldbart (so)
• Jimmy Cagney — James Smith (sr)
• Ensemble — Adam Joseph (so), Rodney LeNoir (fr), Lauren Piester (sr), Joy Shapley (sr), Sierra Marcum (sr), Daniel Wilson (jr)
• Stage Manager — Tianna Pittenger (jr)
• Choreography — Karolina Kalbarczyk (sr)
• Lights and Sound — Natsuki Nakamura (sr)

"SHAKESPEARE IN HOLLYWOOD" AT A GLANCE

• Author: Ken Ludwig, an American playwright and theater director best known for his light comedies

• Premiere: Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the comedy debuted in 2003 at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

• Awards: "Shakespeare in Hollywood" won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Play of the Year from the Washington Theatre Awards Society; Ludwig himself has been nominated for two Tony Awards and won a Laurence Olivier Award from the Society of London Theatre

• Synopsis: From Ken Ludwig's official site: "It's 1934, and Shakespeare's most famous fairies, Oberon and Puck, have magically materialized on the Warner Bros. Hollywood set of Max Reinhardt's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' Instantly smitten by the glitz and glamour of show biz, the two are ushered onto the silver screen to play (who else?) themselves. With a little help from a feisty flower, blonde bombshells, movie moguls, and arrogant 'asses' are tossed into loopy love triangles, with raucous results."