And so it begins...

It seems like yesterday we were sitting in the Regis College lobby packing up scripts and scores, vacuuming the theatre, sweeping the black box, and moving the furniture back into the Green Room. However, plans for the 49th Anniversary Season of Weston Drama Workshop are already underway. The work for the next year begins the day after strike.

The first step in the process is season selection. Shortly after Workshop, we sit down and review all the participant comments and surveys to inform how we proceed for the following year. We then send away to read for many, many scripts. After a few months of reading and discussion, we sit down to meet and put together what we believe to be a diverse, challenging, and comprehensive season of shows. We think that this year, our season certainly fits that bill.

This past Tuesday we held our Annual Meeting. It was so much fun to see all of our participants and some new faces as well. A board meeting followed. The Board of Directors of Weston Drama Workshop is a group of parents and alumni who work tirelessly year round to ensure that the program is a success. They serve on committees and carry out hundreds of hours of volunteer work each year. This year the Board has four new members: Chris Holownia, Meg Kelly, David Ortmeyer, and Betsy Selig. They have quite the year ahead of them in preparation for our 49th Season and the 50th Anniversary Celebration to follow.

The next step- hiring the staff. It is always a long process, but a fun one. We meet with old staff members, and new people we have never met before to put together our staff for the summer. This process usually takes us about two months. At the conclusion of hiring all the staff, we immediately go into pre-production for the shows. Pre-production is when we plan everything that needs to get accomplished: set designs, costume designs, lighting designs, props lists, casting breakdowns, rehearsal schedules, basically everything we need to do get ready for Auditions in May. In fact, pre-production for our set designs has already begun. Nick Sulfaro, our set designer this year, met with Director, Aidan O'Hara to discuss set conceptualization for The Who's TOMMY this morning.

So, as you can see Weston Drama Workshop may seem like a summer program, but really it takes a year of preparation to pull off four stellar productions.

This blog- Shop Talk, we hope, will be an accessible way for you to follow what's going on at Weston Drama Workshop and hear from many different voices throughout the year.

Bye for now,
C.


Chris Brindley,
Associate Producer