Gideon & the Blundersnorp by Michael Shapiro (Creative Movement Practices, Summer 2022)
My Roles:
Co-Director, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer, COVID Protocol Manager
DIRECTORS - SARAH SNEESBY & ANDREW ROBLYER
MOVEMENT & CHOREOGRAPHY - SARAH SNEESBY
MUSIC DIRE
LIGHTING, SOUND, & PROJECTION DESIGN - ANDREW ROBLYER
COSTUME DESIGN - SARAH SNEESBY
PROPS & ARMOR - S&D CUSTOM PROPS AND COSTUMES
PRODUCTION PHOTOGRPAPHER - PIN LIM
Why This Show?
After working on Macbeth with Sarah in the spring of 2022, I jumped at the opportunity to work with her again, this time on a regional premiere one-act musical that had everything my nerd heart needed: swords, heroes and heroines, dangerous monsters, and pure theatricality. I said yes to Sarah even before I read the script or heard the music because I trusted her so much, and she didn’t let me down.
Lessons Learned
This show was an absolute delight to work on. We chose to double-cast our three leads to give more local artists a chance to shine, which added a bit of extra effort for all involved (the leads were in the ensemble on their off nights, plus there were key differences for two of them, so everyone had to learn those songs in more than one key), but it was beyond worth it. Not only did it give the leads a partner in the role to learn from and lean on, but it also meant that we could bring a more diverse cast to the forefront than we would have been able to with just one person in each role. It was a joy to discover how the story changed and shifted depending on which cast was on.
Concept
Sarah and I leaned heavily into the theatricality that comes with this heightened style of material, allowing us to use movement and projections to have horses and their riders flying through the air, smashing into trees, getting shot with arrows, and more. It just reinforced for me the beauty of being able to “see the strings” when working in live theatre as opposed to trying to make everything on stage feel like it’s actually happening like we might in a film.