Yesterday, as I rounded the corner that leads to my office, I noticed our new Technical Director, Neil Williamson, speeding towards me. The Nicholas Nickleby build has begun and the shop is literally covered in steel, which Neil wanted me to see and photograph for the blog. I’m so glad he did because it is an awesome… Read more »
As promised, director Tom Quaintance has provided today’s blog post. Rehearsals got underway today as well, so check back later in the week for photos of the presentations and table read. NICHOLAS. And there was so much to be done, KATE. And so little time to do it in. I think I caught… Read more »
Last week I asked directors Joe Haj and Tom Quaintance to submit new posts from their perspective, as we rapidly approached first rehearsal (10/6). Tom has promised us something for next week, and Joe was gracious enough to fight through a nasty cold to deliver the piece below. So here I am, lying in bed,… Read more »
Librarians think a lot about the “appeal factors” of books and authors. If you’ve ever asked a librarian, “so . . . what should I read next?”, we’re trained to ask exploratory questions to get you to identify what appeals to you about the books you enjoy. Then, we can lead you towards books with… Read more »
While we will return to costumes in very short order, I thought it might be time to ask “who this Nicholas Nickleby is anyway?” Dramaturg Anthony Fichera has been gracious enough to provide a brief character analysis of not only Nicholas, but his sister Kate as well. In the coming weeks, Anthony will help us… Read more »
A couple of weeks ago, we took a look at costumer designer Jan Chambers’ most amazing first-round sketches. This week, we move into the finalized sketches. These are still black and white because many (certainly not all) of the costume pieces for this show are going to either be pulled from our enormous costume storage or rented,… Read more »
How does a hat go from page to stage? Let’s follow the progress of Miss LaCreevey’s hat from design to reality! First, as a milliner, i receive a costume design and some research from the costume designer. I also get a sheet with head measurements for the actors (or, i take them myself) so… Read more »
So you’ve seen the CHART (if not, see video Casting Process with Joe & Tom -June). Costume pieces for a show the size of Nicholas Nickleby number in the hundreds! Costume designer Jan Chambers started with the color palette below and began sketching only to end up with hundreds of sketches. I’ve worked in this building… Read more »
The poster art process for Nickleby started by meeting with the directors, Joe and Tom back in July. This is much earlier than we typically discuss artwork – but of course Nickleby isn’t a typical show. In our initial meeting many themes were discussed including the people of Nicholas Nickleby, the locations, hope, loss, family,… Read more »
McKay Coble’s set model is now complete. She’s painted it and even included figures just for fun (or for scale). Either way, her attention to detail in this model is staggering to me, a lowly graphic designer. On the day I went in to shoot these photos, it took much longer than planned because I… Read more »