Good evening folks
welcome back this is your Half Hour Call
half hour please half hour
[Curt] Good evening folks, I'm Curt Columbus
Artistic Director at Trinity Repertory Company
Welcome to our half hour call and thank you
to our sponsor tonight,
Washington Trust. Thanks for being with us
and with my guest, the indomitable
the inimitable, the incredible
Laura Smith.
Hello, Laura Smith thank you for being here
[Laura] Of course my pleasure, I get to wear makeup again, it's nice.
[Curt] It's so nice. So for folks who don't know.
Laura Smith is our Production Director and has been for 20-ish years.
[Laura] Well, I started off in 1996
as the Assistant Production Director
and then
a year before you started became the
Production Director so
13 years
[Curt] No dear 16, it's 16.
[Curt] and scene.  [Laura] and scene.
[Curt] So tell me what does a Production
Director do, Laura Smith?
[Laura] Well, we do lots of things.
Starting off we do the schedule
for the entire season. The performance
schedule for the entire season
And then I work with you with season
planning and reading the plays but then
budgeting them.
So then I'm also responsible for
creating the entire production
department for a
production budget for the entire season.
And then I hire
and negotiate all the directors and
designers
and outside actors that we work with.
I work with all of the three unions that
we work with. I do all of that
contracting and everything like that.
And then
the best part about it is I get to
produce all the plays
with an absolutely incredibly talented
group of people, that I miss every day.
And then I just spend the day fixing
things. I fix a lot.
[Curt] You're yeah you're a
fixer
You also spend a lot of the day
causing me grief
I wanted to say Laura Smith's
favorite phrase
is "I love you but..." and then
the but is here are the things you can't do, right?
[Laura] Yes, I love having an office next to you
so when someone leaves I walk in and go
okay, no.
[Curt] I love you but I can't do that
That happens daily yeah yeah.
So before we get started into our
conversation I wanted to lay in here
this which is if you have questions for
Laura Smith.
Please don't hesitate to put them in the
chat in Facebook live and we will get
them to
us and we'll answer your questions after
we have our conversation.
Thanks. Okay so tonight
Laura we're going to talk about there
are so many elements to production that
we can talk about right
lighting, sound, costumes
special effects, projections.
But tonight we're gonna talk about
scenery and the physical elements
that make up the stage space, right.
And you and I
decided to do this because there's a
there's a long-standing lore at Trinity
Rep about the way that the scenery
helps us to make the plays that we do, right
It's not like in a lot of other theaters
where the the you walk in and the
scenery represents
some actual thing. Often, the
scenery is a space that's entirely
unexpected.
And I can remember coming to Trinity Rep
15 years ago
and having someone say to me
Oh I wish you'd been here for
Billy Bishop Goes To War and we have a
slide from that. Peter, if you can
show this slide. There's the great
Peter Gerety
Directed by Richard Jenkins, Set by
Eugene Lee
And 1982-83
Richard Jenkins said he read the play
and it's about a World War One pilot, right.
Who's telling war stories.
Richard said he read the plane he
thought I don't I don't know what to
what to do. Eugene read it and he said
well darling it's set in a bar.
It's in a bar so he took the Dowling Theater.
He tore it out and he made a bar
and Peter Gerety every night came in
and told his war stories in a bar
And it is such a brilliant container for that story
And it's definitive in the way
that
Trinity's aesthetic has grown up over
the years, right.
[Laura] Yeah it's ingrained
that's
that's just who we are and have always been.
Since the beginning of it
is it's just taking a story and telling it
Kind of stripped down in a sense and you know leaving all of that you know,
woooo
you know somewhere else.
[Curt] Yeah, moving scenery all of that other stuff
you don't need it you need an actor and
an audience right
to make a play happen. And the container
The bar container is something
actually we
used more than once. I was talking
to Richard Jenkins the other night
he said
yeah it worked so well in Billy Bishop
we did it again for Lady Day
Sings the Blues and it was a giant hit
and Grapes of Wrath
[Laura] Just an absolutely incredible play that
I do not believe
the audience would have left feeling the
way that they did
if it was just you know I'm sitting here
and you're
and you're there doing your thing. I mean
it was it was beautiful but a bar
[Curt] It took place all around they used they
walked on the bar I remember
and then and that was a Michael McGarty
said I think that
that back mural that he had made a kind
of WPA sort of mural so that you were you
were simultaneously in the period
but then we had a contemporary rock band
as you would have in a
in a dive bar.
[Laura] It was I mean
and you know being a Production Director
and part of that. You see the show
a number of times tech'ing it and the
previews
and all of that stuff like that and
there was just moments of that play.
Like when we built the car the
you know the van and everyone was going
that
the baby when the baby was going down
there
I mean it's just like you know tears
just come up because it's just
such simple beautiful storytelling
[Curt] Yeah yeah yeah stagecraft at its best so you got here
a century ago and
26 years is a century in the theater
in the theater world
And in your first season
what's the show that stands out for you
in this discussion around
how we remade the space well
[Laura] Well, there's a lot the one that
you know we start like
My Fair Lady all of those
were I had no clue about Trinity when
I interviewed for the job and got started
and then I'm thrown into this
absolutely incredible whirlwind of 
moving the theater around every time you
did something. But Virginia Woolf is one
of the first ones that just
I sat there in
this photo I sat in one of those chairs
behind the bar.
For one of the previews and you're
it's frightening you're it you were in
that
crazy living room
with these two people and it was just
it was, I will never forget sitting in that audience watching that happen.
It just kind of shifted the whole
theater around
[Curt] And if you look at that
photograph and you can see you know
there's a door
but there are no walls right and so it's
as if the walls have been
blown away
[Laura] And those were
in the house left
side of the theater so we just kind of
took the set and just kind of went like
this and built
you know seats upstage where you would
normally be
And then that became the front door
and it was it was crazy it was wonderful
it was amazing. And you know and like
Trinity fashion we act on the aisles
we're all
over the place but that was one of
the first
ones of just watching
five you know three feet away from you
just an incredible
incredible production.
[Curt] So was there
another show where you went
wow we're moving the scenery around
in a way that
and or we're not moving the scenery
around we're changing the audience
perspective in a way that i'd never
imagined
[Laura] Yeah, I mean this is one of my favorite
questions
[Curt] Leading question, I know the answer
[Laura] Yes, Noises Off
Amanda Dehnert's Noises Off
Designed by David Jenkins
this is one of those and I will
set it up. So Noises Off happens in three
acts and the first
act is the audience sitting watching
a technical rehearsal happening
on the set
and all of the you know hilarity with
that and then an intermission happens.
And then the audience watches the
backstage of a performance and then
the performance is going wrong and they
were backstage and then another
intermission happens
and the audience sees that that
performance that they just saw from
backstage they see it
you know the actual performance as
audience members.
So most theaters will take this and they
do a turntable to where
you know you have the set and all of
that stuff intermission happens it turns
around you go back to your same seat
and then you watch that intermission
happens turn table
around. We ripped out the entire here you
go we ripped out
the entire Chace Theater except for
the concrete
balcony there and we
reconfigured it and built the set kind
of in the middle of the space.
And we had you know around 400
seats and then so
you know you can see where the audience
is and that would be you know act one
and that's the stage.
But then at the first intermission we
had little ushers come out and say
you know here's the deal. At intermission
you have a color coded
card on your armrest that's the color
that you're going to go find
backstage at the end of the
intermission so we actually
had those 400 people move to the actual
backstage.
And watch the actual backstage
and watch act 2 and then at the third
intermission go back to the seats that
they're originally in
to watch that and it was it was
absolutely I mean it was a feat it was
crazy. But it was truly remarkable
and you know.
[Curt] What is it what does
it
do okay so you sat in that audience. What
does it do it's 2001
you know it opened right around
September 11th and then
the company talk about how a lot
of company members were in that
Timmy Crow
Angela Brazil, Steve Thorne, Mauro Hantman
Janice Duclos, Stephen Berenson
Cynthia Strickland and
they would all talk about how
deeply felt that play was
at that time because it's all it's just
such a glorious
play. But do you think anything
changed by actually having people get up
and move backstage and
instead of just sitting there and having
the the set turn around.
[Laura] Well I mean we you know we made some
people
unhappy. There were a couple of times
where people refuse to go back there and
they just watched the second act from
their normal seat
Albeit, yes we were asking you to sit on
wooden bleachers and those are
uncomfortable.
But for me it's
[Curt] but the people
that stayed there they got to see
because we did the production on the
stage, right?
[Laura] yeah so they were seeing it from yeah
[Curt] So they got to see a performance just
not
the full thing because you have to go
backstage to see the full thing right?
[Laura] But for me they were backstage and yeah
they were on wooden risers because it's
backstage.
And you're not in your cushiony
little theater seat
you're in you were you were in the
backstage area
once again we use this all the time you
you were immersed
in the play. I apologize for it being
incredibly uncomfortable.
[Curt] But it's but I don't think that that I
think actually people
love that sort of thing because you're
asking them to participate
and everyone wants to go backstage we
hear that all the time.
Oh my gosh we've already got a
question
oh look at this you're that popular a
question from a gentleman named Jim
Briggs.
What was your favorite set or setting
[Laura] That's a hard one
[Curt] And we can come back to that you can think about that
[Laura] Well we're going to talk about it
we're going to talk about it later
[Curt] I know we are yes you're right
okay okay Jim we're gonna get to your
question. Stay tuned we'll l come
back to this
Okay now I'd like to go from
the ridiculous to the impossible, right.
So getting an audience up moving them
around in order to watch Noises Off and
then moving them back around
to watch Noises Off.
We're going to watch a little bit from
King Lear. I'm not going to set it up too
much
Peter, let's play that clip.
[Laura] Hooray it worked
[Curt] Okay, that's some of the coolest
stagecraft
I've ever had the pleasure to enjoy
[Laura] That was a that was a lot of fun and it was
very difficult, not so much the walls
because that's gravity I mean that was
you know that's that. But I will
never forget
Karl Orall, who's the Technical Director
at the time he walks into my office
knowing I was just gonna be like no.
He walks in he's like I got a good one
for you I got one for you and I'm like
what Karl? He goes so
Kevin and Michael want
all of the walls to fall in all
different directions.
Right before the storm and I was like
cool, oh my god yes
and he's like really. I'm like yes
really let's figure that out. Now when we
were first talking about that
Kevin was very adamant of he did not
want
water. He didn't want rain he wanted
something more theatrical
than rain.
[Curt] Sound, lighting, fog. I was there, I remember.
[Laura] It ended up raining for almost 14
minutes
[Curt] I remember that too.
Just a deluge this is one of those
moments where
where the stage scenery
also. It just it's so reflective of
the character's inner state
right. And so what you've you've got a
couple of things going on
you have Edmond's line that old age doth
fall
and you know the that is the
throne room
where we first see Lear. But then it's
also Lear's mind where the walls have
all tumbled down
and so they fall to reveal Lear
in his madness and the storm and it was
just like
it it's giving me chills actually even
to talk about it because that that
rain. I still remember the rain falling I
remember
being in that room and feeling that
wind
right.  And his first line is "blow,
wind, crack cheeks."
[Laura] Yeah and I think we have the
other
video that truly shows what the audience
felt the audience because that camera
was so far away. But
the other video truly shows kind of
what was happening to the front couple
of rows great let's
roll that. Pete.
[Curt] Thank you Mark Turek
Nice to have Mark Turek in our little
evening together
Yeah okay so
Mark talks about some of the challenges
because it wasn't
This was a collaboration with the Dallas
Theater Center right.
[Laura] Yes it was
it was a co-production so it started
here and then
it was going to Dallas
and then running in Dallas's theater
lots of theaters do co-production they
are very tough
Just because theater spaces are not
the same and there's not a lot of
theater spaces like the Dowling.
It's own little weird thing so
that was a challenge
in itself and it was also a challenge of
building something
that then constantly needed
to be changed or rethought out at the
last moment.
I mean and I will take
some I will take a lot of responsibility.
So you know this is one of those
Production Directors you know which way
do you go. And my philosophy is I
never want to go no
That never wants to be I mean
sometimes that is
the immediate. Only to you
it's you know but it's like a pastime
But I wanna see if there's
something that we can do
Because it may not be exactly the way
it's explained to us but maybe there's a
way that we can collaborate
and discuss and work on things to
make it happen
in some way. But there is a time in which
that you're too far past that. And for me
I got caught up in wanting to
make everything that needed to happen
for that so
it's like you know we built a set Yes
we used marine ply because we had an idea
there might be some water, but not 14
minutes of water.
And so it was caulked it was leaking
we had to get vacuums that
you know. Oh it was just you know at some
point I needed to step
up and go okay Kevin we can't accomplish
that but no I kept going until opening
night and I was like
[Curt] And it was spectacular
I mean this is the thing you know that
part of the experience of going to
the live theater
is the liveness of it. Is the way that
things might
mess up. It's the way that things
require hand making, hand installing you know someone
standing backstage and pulling those
lines that then release the walls right
or they may have been solenoids but
you know what I mean
[Laura] Like we're fancy every once in awhile.
[Curt] We're fancy every once in a while
but it but it's kind of
without that
why go, right. Because movies can do
all of the other stuff ever so much
better.
[Laura] Well and it's like Peter Pan
our production of Peter Pan. You know
it's kind of like you know yeah we had
these big white ropes come down.
We hooked people up and people laid on
their back and
swung them in a circle
and it was glorious and once again
that's what theater asks you to do it's
not the movies.
You have to suspend your belief on
certain you have to be
and make believe and all of that
stuff and
that's you know and that's the fun part
about it. And to me
you know we don't have a lot of the
bells and whistles that a lot of
theaters
have. You know I you know I remember you
coming back
from Steppenwolf and then the room rotated
around and I'm like
I can't do that
[Curt] No I remember the moving
scenery we used to have at Steppenwolf
where they'd be like
and go and the walls would just do this
and that right.
[Laura] Yeah we have people you know and you know.
So, yes there's a time in which that
would make things easier but I
also think that old school way of
telling a story
Is just sometimes just beautiful.
[Curt] You just said
something really important that
hadn't even really considered
[Laura] Say that again say that again
[Curt] You said that's something important I know I know
I'm calling it out
Which was that that
that you have to be part of the play
and using that in the sense the way the
children play right
I think we're often most successful
when they
we have that kind of
play playfulness and in fact this
Oh look at us we're so good this is a
great segue for our next clip
Peter, let's play this clip from
Midsummer Night's Dream
Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky and set
by Michael McGarty
yeah you can run it whenever you're
ready bud.
[Curt] Ilove that clip because it's during a
student matinee and the kids are like
what what's happening.
We're being spun around what these
people are insane
and it was just so brilliant again
sense of play simple stage craft
and a really you know it's that it's
always that challenge of that play right
you go from
Athens and the and the rigid the
rigidness of
Athens and all we did was sort of put
things as
a askew a little bit and suddenly we're
in the forest.
[Laura] Yes yeah and also Brian McEleney
we had moving scenery in the Dowling
Theater which is a little bit
trickier because it's so much smaller
for All The King's Men.
Back then but it was great because
there was a you know
there was I think a scene where it's
like a football game or something so we
could
move the seating risers to be like
stadium seating.
And all of that stuff like that you
know it was a powerful
it was a powerful you know set element
to tell the story.
[Curt] Yeah, I just I love again the
playfulness and the way that in that
particular
clip all of the elements of production
are at play right
[Laura] Lights, the sound, the sets, the costumes
yeah.
[Curt] And they're all participating
in my
sense of the magical.
Which is part of what is so great about
the theater okay
So now i think we're going to get to
what may be
your favorite set is that right?
[Laura] no King Lear, was my favorite set
I apologize King Lear was my favorite set
that was
that and also just because of the
the carpet padding which we use a lot to
make look like
plaster that was on the back wall and
just the
Seth Reiser did the light design of that
and the way that he sculpt
that space and that set. Especially once
the walls came down.
I just thought was like that is
this just was beautiful this.
This is as a not a lot of production directors
get a chance to do
this next feat and once again it was
with
Brian McEleney, who can figure out
anything
[Curt] I still remember when I came into your
office and I said so I have two plays
for you to read
but they're happening in both theaters
at the same time.
[Laura] Yeah and I
was like crazy and I think I read
10 pages of both of them next to each
other. And I stopped and I walked back
into your office and I said
we're doing this. I was like I don't care
how much it costs
we will figure it out we we are
doing these plays because
[Curt] So for the long time
folks
who are watching tonight this is of
course House and Garden by Alan Ayckbourn.
It's two separate plays one
takes place in the house
the other one takes place in the garden.
They take place simultaneously
with one cast between two theaters right
[Laura[ Yes yes and that's
how awesome is that
[Curt] Okay so Peter
let's play this the clip where we're
gonna watch Steve Thorne
leave Garden and enter House
whenever you're ready Peter
[Laura] I like the fact that the character that
talking about not being there
is actually downstairs performing in the
garden at that
[Curt] Thing yeah that's Katy playing Pearl.
That's part of the beauty of this script right
[Laura] Yeah until you produce it you don't
quite see how brilliant
[Curt] Right and it's also it's also one of
these old fashioned comedies
and there's a whole other storyline going on downstairs.
[Curt] And there's Steven Thorne
he's back so so um yeah go ahead
[Laura] So that took just on the production end
you had
your typical stage management and
crew for each
space. So you got a stage manager
assistant stage manager PAs
stage crew for each space just to do
the normal play. Either the House or the
Garden but then we had like the uber
Stage Manager Chris Borg
who was in our paint shop which is like
in between
both theaters. At like you know
like this the mother station where he
had like six or seven
monitors seeing all different type
places of the set seeking backstage so he
kind of could in
lobby spaces. So he could see where
everyone was
but then he also had both scripts in
front of him
with times. And he was timing
both shows and if one show started to
get faster or slower because you also
have audience reaction
that you don't you know is
different every night. And with Garden
there's that whole
fountain scene that just stops to play
I mean so he's timing everything
and when one play got too far off
and Stephen Thorne has a thing on our
Facebook page recently they talked about
the devil eyes come on. And so we had
like green
green lights were on when everything was
going well and then when
things were going bad and the person
was not going to make their
entrance and you needed to start making
stuff
up the big red light came on and then
these actors had to
to you know kind of add-lib which is
also great having a company of actors
who have worked with each other so much
that
it's you know second nature to them.
[Curt] Yeah, this
is we're going to play another
because
what we which what we just showed you
Stephen had
plenty of time to get up there. I mean I
used to watch from backstage and
you know he would have a good 10 or 15
seconds
because they don't always know how close
the two theaters are right.
And if you have to take an elevator
and if there's a
stairway whatever it is but
but this was the real feat was the
curtain called so set it up for us a little bit.
[Laura] Well this was
so Brian came to me because the way that
if you read all of the stuff the way he
wrote it they're not
set to come down at the same time.
There's a couple of
minute difference in that
and so Brian was like I want to do
single bow curtain calls of every
actor
in on on both stages every night.
So which is like
okay and I mean and he figured this out
this wasn't
on the production end as far as that
goes. I mean it was
in timing everything and keeping the
actors on that
but the idea was both shows came
down you know within seconds of each
other
and then wherever you were at that
moment you bowed and then you ran
upstairs
to the next theater and bowed and ran
upstairs
but we have this video so Peter do you
mind playing it
Peter's put this together side by
side so that we can see
[Curt] The same last line yeah right
in both plays and Trish walks out of the
house and
Teddy's left by himself all right
now here people are banging that was Joe
Wilson
bowing right and you can see there this
is speeded up just a little bit because
it does take a while Barbra Meek.
Janice Duclos those are little
kids that were part of the
they had they were drum majors
and oh and there's Ted he realizes he's
going out the wrong way and he can't go
out that way or
he'll be in trouble right yeah
And now you have okay
[Laura] Joe's now bowing in House.
[Curt] That's how long Joe had to get from
downstairs to upstairs
[Laura] And you can see it they start getting
later and later it's like it turns later
up in House
[Curt] And oh here's yes there you go
okay and then here's Janice
all right yeah and there's Barbara
and oh wait oh there's some more people Angela Brazil
oh no Steve Thorne. Yeah it I mean it was
crazy
[Laura] It was crazy
And eight times a week for four and a half
weeks
and that was Eugene Lee said it was
brilliant it was so
What was interesting because Eugene
doesn't necessarily like to do it like
what the play says to do  but it was
one of those times where he did this
beautiful
country house interior beautiful fully
realized garden with an actual tree
that we went out and cut down right?
[Laura[ Well, yeah the tree
the tree bases the trunks were the two
columns that are in theater
but yes we did go out and get actual
trees
and then hot glued leaves on them I mean
we sprayed them down with fire spray.
And then we glued actually you know fake
leaves on them
What we do man what we do.
[Curt] Oh, man
this is what adults do for a living okay
so you answered we've got we've got a
couple of questions here you
answered Jim's question about what
your favorite set was
and Lear. What's been your most
heartfelt and fulfilling play Laura Smith?
This person doesn't know you don't have a heart.
Heartfelt and fulfilling play over the
past decade
[Laura] Wow I mean there's
lucky enough to have
to have a number of plays that have
that
I will never forget that I produce. I
will go back to
Grapes Of Wrath
I will go back to that I will also
put your Ragtime
in there as well just because of what
you were showing especially at the end
of that play.
I will go back to that but Grapes
of Wrath
was just a collaboration
all around with the MFA
students that made up the band to the
set to
to just us doing what we do. And
you know and Brian is such a wonderful
director
to work with so that is one that I could
have probably watched every
every day and that's what got me here
My Fair Lady is also another that was
just that was just a you know that was an
incredible play as well so
[Curt] It's interesting i still remember being
there
you know that was during the housing
crisis
and that
production of Grapes Of Wrath really
spoke directly to people's
experience at that time.
it was 2010 i think
yeah something right in there and it
just
I don't know
that one because it was set in a bar and
it was
all around you it was so
spectacular and I was with Sharon
Jenkins the other night and she
and I were talking about Camelot
[Laura] Okay I okay that might be the most
beautiful set.
That is one of the most beautiful
sets we've done oh thank you for
mentioning that.
That was set in the tube station in
London it was it was
[Curt] And I have to set
this up in the sense that I
you know and I didn't even expect to
talk about this tonight
but I remember calling up Eugene and saying.
Hey Gene, I had this idea to stay
Camelot during the blitz of London
and he said oh darling no no one needs
to see that play. And I said no no no
I know but that they don't need to see
it as swords and sorcery
but I have this idea in my head
somewhere.
There's the story that
acting companies during the blitz
went and performed on the the
station platforms right. The station
platforms
of the tube stops and did whole plays
there. And the next week
in just inimitable Eugene Lee fashion.
A little manila envelope showed up with
a with a tie
on the back and his beautiful
handwriting on the front.
And just my name and I opened it up and
it was a photograph that he had found
of actors on a tube station platform. And
then he made
that tube station we know he drew that
tube station platform and we made it
[Laura] Yeah, yeah I mean it was a
big
big big big set and and I had to stop
right now
and I mean everyone but Phil Creech
[Curt] I'm so glad that's what I was going to
say.
[Laura]  You know because you know the subway tiles I mean we
we took masonite and cut those down and
beveled the edges
and I mean we're talking 19
feet tall this huge round
curve within the top looked
like plaster
and aged and it I mean
he's a genius and that set is one of
those
and Kabul. Homebody, Kabul you didn't
see that what was one
of you just I just would sit down
there and watch Philp
work his magic that was you know making
things
out of things you wouldn't even think
about and making them look aged and worn
and you could stand
right up to it and not know it's
theatrical painting.
Funny story about Camelot,
if we have time which is you know one of
the things that we do especially a lot
with Christmas Carols we'll have like
you know
swings coming down and beds flying and
you know we've had rope gags a lot. And I
am
one person that I want to you know we
build it and then I try it you know
zip lines. Just because if we're asking
an actor to do this eight times a week
I want to make sure I feel comfortable do
it and then I can work with them as far
as telling them the best way. So I it was
late in
in the Camelot process
and most of the set,  the tech process and most
of this that have been built and all
that stuff and so like I said it was a
curve so you couldn't get really to the
grid in a lot of areas.
And then it was like how you were
struggling I don't know if you were
struggling but it was
it was Sir Lancelot's entrance how are
we going to make this first
entrance. And so Eugene came up with a
great idea
you know where you would see in all the
movies of someone would grab onto a rope
and the rope would lower down to the
stage and then it would stop
right when it got to the stage and you
would hop off and then the rope would
you know disappear.
But there's a lot of things in our way
so we couldn't rig it the way we wanted to
but Karl was like let me try something
and so he called me up one day he's like so
you want to come try this and I'm like
sure. So I stand up on the second
level this, sorry Mom.
I stand up on the second level you know.
railing and I grab the rope and I jump off.
And I go flying to the ground and then
it starts slowing down
as I'm getting to the stage and I'm like
oh my god this
is brilliant. And before I could step off
it shot me straight back
up into the air and then it was kind of
like a bungee at one point. And I
literally
waited like I did that like maybe three
times and then got like maybe four feet
from the ground and I just jumped and
then I looked at Karl he goes
nope and so
so Joe ended up just sliding down the
rope
[Curt] And that was that was within the song he
would climb up and then
slide down because he actually entered
on the motorcycle, right.
He was the American army officer and and
Eugene said
I have an idea Lancelot should come in
on a motorcycl.
And he did the
[Laura] It was a green bike that we made
into a motorcycle.
[Laura] It was incredible so those are the kinds
of things that you can do with the
physical setting
that really help to tell the story
in an exciting way. And when you get it right
[Laura] and I think that you've said that
Middletown
Deb O's set for Middletown I think
was one of those it did it was so
well it looked easy and small
but it was stunning you know so for
those of you
who saw it did not see it the entire
background was like a ground row, I mean
it was like well it was like a cyc
of cardboard two-ish dimensional
houses, neighborhood houses. There were
I don't know 500 I don't know
[Curt] No I think
it's closer to like 800, there were hundreds of them.
[Laura] Like I said it would and
and then the set was pieces that moved
in and out and all of that stuff.
You know furniture moved in and out but
the set was this backdrop of these
houses
that took absolutely
forever,  it might be the most expensive labor set
that we've ever done.
[Curt] We all built them at a certain point
you're like you sent out an email to the
all
all staff and you're like come to the
shop everyone needs to come and build
two. I built two houses everyone
[Laura] You know coming back and making him and
you're sitting there and you're like
and Deb, I love you you're a genius, but I was
sitting there
making these things going this is either
going to be the stupidest thing ever or
it's going to be brilliant
and we put those up and we turned the
lights on and it was
it was breathtaking, it was brilliant it
was absolutely
one of you just like you're like who who
could have thunk
uh yeah but all of her sets are like
that they're just stunning
[Curt] Yeah I mean that that one
I remember like the sunset
on those houses made me cry because it
was just
it was like a small town
just you know captured in an art
installation it was incredible
[Laura] And Josh did a great job lighting
those and gave them depth
[Curt] Yeah and dimensionality and warmth.
Okay, so I have a question because I've
never asked you this question
what's the craziest
mishap you've ever seen or been part
of
on a stage. Like
you just mentioned the thing with the
rope and
[Laura] Well, I mean almost every Christmas Carol I think.
[Curt] I knew  Christmas Carol was going to be
in the top 10 if not the top two
[Laura] There yeah there I mean there haven't
been
an insane amount.  I will say
that they're always generally every once
in a while
there's an elevator mishap with
Christmas Carol.
And you just you just figure it out and
and you don't stop the show you know
unless it's dangerous you don't stop the
show. But
it the elevator was like maybe two
feet from reaching the top and it just
it just stopped.
So we all ran down there they're acting
we tried to push it up
It wasn't moving so we braced it to
where just
it couldn't move and we were like this
is this is it this is where it's going
to be. And I remember Stephen Thorne we're
talking about Stephen a lot tonight.
I remember Stephen Thorne came in as
Cratchit and he was like oh
what a lovely sunken dining room we have.
it was just what and we had to get
notes to Brian, because Brian McEleney
was playing, Scrooge
who never leaves the set so we had to
get notes to him
that the elevator wasn't working because
the gravestone wasn't going to come up
on it and all that stuff and I believe
Stephen wrote on his
solicit solicitor uh the three
uh oh
no like that
[Curt] The solicitors the guys oh
no the three
the three not nice people and oh that
[Curt] Oh  The exchange men
[Curt] Exchange the Royal
Exchange he wrote on his
briefcase on a piece of paper elevator
not working no gravestone or something
like that and he was in the scene and he
held it up to where
the audience couldn't see it but Brian
could read it
the thing so that is one recently
was it was A Little Shop of Horrors
Where the cables you know
drooped down and got caught so we had to
hold the set and I was on the back of a chair
and heels, you know taping it back up
but
[Curt] That that was on opening night too I believe.
[Laura] That was on opening night, yeah But I'll have to say the most
incredible thing I've ever witnessed and
it had nothing to do with scenery or
or production at that point was 
was when
one of my first first or second year
early on.
We were doing A Christmas Carol and
the late Barbara Orson
was playing Mrs Fezziwig and we were
downstairs
it was running but we were downstairs
tech'ing a show and one of the stage
managers from Christmas Carol came down
and goes
uh Barbara fell during a dance and broke
her
wrist. And so I went up there and I went
to the dressing room because we had
taken her out of a couple of things
and it was broken
I said Barbara do you want to go
to the hospital and she goes no
the show we need to finish the show so
she's like just give me some ice and a
bandage and
ice and bandaged it up. Tim was playing
Scrooge that year and she
grabbed her it was you know the end stave
where Mrs Fezziwig goes on and he
chases her around and you know
Christmas day.
[Curt] Mrs. Partlet, Mre Partlet
[Larura] Mrs. Partlet, Mre. Partlet, sorry.
and she grabs that tray with both hands
walks on that stage does her blocking
which was
rolling around on the bed while
Tim chased her. Did it flawlessly
ran out came off stays and she's like
I'd like to go to the hospital now.
and I was like bow
bow, down.
[Curt] That is the essence of the show must go
on
[Laura] That is the essence of the show must
go on I will never forget
that at all now
[Curt] So we have a we have
a couple more questions
one is what's been your favorite
Christmas Carol?
I actually have an answer to that one
but
um do you want me to go first yes.
It was Angela Brazil and
Stephen Thorne's Christmas Carol
[Laura] That was a that was a wonderful one
especially with the community
and all of that stuff it was just a it
was an incredible way to tell the story
I'm i guess I'm more horrible than you
because my favorite one
was Kevin Moriarty and Michael
McGarty where we had the furnace
and the fire shooting out. And we had a
kid throw up on the first performance
but kids ran
from that theater on a daily basis and
that is my favorite Christmas Carol.
[Curt] Merry Christmas to you too, Laura Smith.
The other question that we just got
is there a recent time we've used puppets?
I didn't make that up that's right there
it's not me
[Laura] They whoever that is should be banned
I hate puppets, I hate puppets.
[Curt] So whoever asked that question, thank you.
I love puppets which is why
Laura's saying what she's saying.
The last time that we used them
was in a Beowulf 1000 Years of Baggage.
Which actually like that I just
watched that sequence
with Annie and Charlie doing the
the overhead projector oh that was
the work of genius.
[Laura] Yeah that was that
was
fantastic and those puppets were I
mean the only
frustration I have with puppets is
that you
don't have the sometimes you
can't afford or you just the person
that's making the puppets just
isn't there to manipulate and help
and teach. There's never enough time
there
or they just don't listen to your
dimensions and then they build things
that don't fit.
They're supposed to fit but we won't talk about.
[Curt] Oh my gosh, but that I do also
remember the thing
that again watching Beowulf the
dragon at the end
where and McGarty was
the one I think that came up with he
goes you know how you have those garbage
cans that hang down in a construction
site you throw trash down it. That looks
like a dragon's tail
and if you watch that final sequence
where there's a head and wings
but then this garbage can tail that's
like thrashing around it was just
[Curt] That was like that was the last
time they have been mentioned
since then but we haven't seen them
[Curt] A Christmas Carol, anyway
Laura Smith
I really can't thank you enough you are
a treasure of the American Theater, don't get to say that very
often in public but it's true.
And anyone who knows you knows that and
there are very few people who love the
theater as much as you do
for someone who professes that she hates
watching plays.
You really love the theater
[Laura] Look it's
like you know
it's a job that never ends but it truly
is of one of the most fulfilling jobs
I think anyone could have and I feel lucky every
day to to get to do what I do but get it's more
about the people that you get to do it with
that make it just that more and
the Trinity Rep family are just some of
the best people there ever been.
Yeah and I miss them.
[Curt] You're one of them so thanks.
In order to take us out we're gonna
see one of those family members Stephen
Thorne.
Talking about House and Garden
actually we'll see you on October no
Sorry September 17th for our next show
and thanks for joining us tonight.
Peter, whenever you're ready let's play Steve Thorne.
Thank you everyone great show tonight as
a reminder we are
off next week there is no show next week
so we will see you back here two
Thursdays from now
for another 7:30 pm half hour
thanks have a great night
