Going behind Into The Woods

Largest Upstage Players production to date opens this Friday.

With just a few short days until curtain, Andrew Lidestri and his behind-the-scenes team are hard at work in Littleton. The Upstage Players are set to open “Into The Woods” on Friday May 18th at 7:00pm at the Littleton Opera House in Littleton NH. We stopped into the Opera House to chat with the workers and grabbed a sneak peek of whats to come. We took in the sets, the props, some costumes, and portions of the rehearsal on Tuesday and are here now to share in the glory that is Into the Woods.

Easily one of their most ambitious performances to date, a staff of dedicated volunteers work tirelessly to make sure the curtain goes up to reveal a magical fairy tale wonderland at the Opera House. Paired with the scale of the set design and production itself, Stephen Sondheim’s play is no short undertaking. The musical arrangements for this performance are very ambitious and complex. Along with singing and orchestration, there is dialog layered over the arrangements as well. To accomplish this effectively there are more wireless microphones used in this production than ever before; 16 in total. When you also add in the 15 piece orchestra made of regional musicians from NH and VT, you have a perfect storm of difficulty that is enough to shake any Artistic Director’s tree.

Preparing the magic

I had the chance to speak with Jen Donovan and Jakob Berbich to get a sense of the scope the production the team is bringing into the space. It is clear when walking into the performance hall that this performance’s requirements are a grand undertaking. The two were in the midst of creating the bark for the trees on the stage, layering fabric over the cardboard creations. When asked about the level of work involved as it compares to past shows, Jen easily responded with “I think this is the most ambitious show that we have done in terms of being difficult… with sets, and costumes… I think we have gone above and beyond what we have done in the past.”

Jen is the owner of the Purple Peacock here in Littleton. Though she has a full-time commitment at that location, it doesn’t seem to pull her away from her volunteer efforts here. She is the Head of Marketing for the Upstage Players, as well as the property (prop) master for Into the Woods. If this wasn’t enough commitment, she is also performing in the play as well. She joined upstage players a little over a year ago and hasn’t looked back. Part of her commitment lies within the opportunities it presents the community.

Setting the stage

Jakob was also on hand assisting to help the show come together. He has been working with the Upstage players for the last few years. He says his first “real crew experience” was with Little Shop of Horrors back in the spring of 2016. “I would agree that this has been a huge undertaking” He added while discussing the size of the show. Though there have been a few set backs in terms of goals for the set design and production, the finished results are nothing short of incredible. “We wanted this to be an even bigger production, and we have faced a few challenges, but we are still doing the best we can.” He continued. Jakob is performing as “Milky White” for Into the Woods. In addition to acting, he has previously worked spotlight, sound, set preparation, and today as “cardboard tree creator”

Raising the production bar

For lighting, set construction and sound, I talked to George Mitchell. George has been part of the Upstage Players production staff for many years. “This is the biggest we’ve done so far” he said without hesitation. “There is just a lot going on with this show. It’s a little longer show than normal so there is more to it, more rehearsal time, more technical time. We still have a couple of days to get it final, but things are looking really good.” Using what was on hand from previous performances has allowed them to create a very realistic set with minimal cost. Most of the wood from Romeo and Juliet’s set has been re-imagined into Rapunzel’s castle. “I don’t think I had to buy any lumber for this set” George added.

Though they reused and recycled and made best use of the materials at hand, there are still shortfalls. Unfortunately, due to limitations on many levels, the scale of the production has actually been pared down from the original designs. Early on there was discussion of the forest moving about on the stage to simulate walking through the forest. However, with so much at stake there had to be some elements that were removed to meet the tight deadline of Friday’s opening night.

Build to scale

Back in the fall of 2017, during discussions of the set design for Romeo and Juliet, George found himself going back and forth with Andrew on development ideas. Eventually they landed on the scale model to help them see the vision of the stage. This is what the team did again for Into the Woods. The scale model is actually on display across the street from The Opera House at the Upstage Player’s costume shop.

Dressed for success

I stopped into the costume shop, located across the street from the Opera House and had a chance to talk to Andrew and Cynthia Nielson about the show. In keeping with the tradition of trying to break barriers of the previous performance, Andrew said that Into the Woods was no different. “Our musicals are always the biggest shows that we do. They seem to grow every year.” Add together the full orchestra, more than 20 cast members, and all of the back stage persons, the team is nearly 50 individuals deep.

Knowing what was in store to pull off the production, Andrew sent out word to enlist volunteers to help make all of the costumes from scratch. What started out as a short list of 2 to 3 volunteers, quickly grew to a team of 15. No stranger to accepting volunteer efforts, Andrew also prides himself on helping place people into the right places to help the larger mission. He is a believer that every helper has a place and the key is finding that correct location. Not everyone wants to work on painting or sewing, however, another role may be available. The trick is finding that role.

Start from the beginning

Andrew was hard at work creating a costume from scratch when we spoke. He was building, from foam padding and cloth, an outfit that will eventually become an 11 foot tree. The actors portraying the trees will be on stilts, and in costume, which has taken them weeks to train and prepare for. As he pinned foam to a mannequin which slowly looked less and less human, He said that there is an odd balance in what can be purchased and what can be made. Budgeting clearly plays a key role in those decisions. Sometimes creating the costume from scratch is a necessity because the funds are just not there. On the other hand sometimes items are purchased because there just isn’t time, or skills, available to complete them.

As a community theater there are certainly opportunities to work with other theaters in the area as well. Andrew shared how they have worked with other production companies and traded costumes, props, and sets. Some costs simply cannot be glossed over. Nearly every play that is performed requires licensing rights to be paid in order to show the production.

Want more Upstage Players?

Take a look at Andrew’s work with the Haunted House for the Gathering of the Jack-o-Lanterns Walk.

Start big, end big

Andrew, though trained as a professional actor, finds himself off of the stage for this performance. Though he has been on stage for recent productions of The Actor’s Nightmare and Romeo and Juliet, he has stepped away for this performance. He stated that he couldn’t give the show what it needs as an actor, while bouncing back and forth between the different duties he has as Artistic Director. He has taken the role of the orchestra conductor for this show. This has also given opportunities for others to learn new roles on their way up within the troupe.

Where things are different for Andrew, is in his background. As a professional actor, his experience is less within community theater. This allows him to really adjust and work with his actors and team. He wants the group to stretch and grow and raise their bar continuously. Rather than start with a low-level production and add if time permits, Andrew likes to start with a production and a scale that is larger than anticipated, working to accomplish as best as possible and scale back as needed.

As needed, if needed, they shave off levels of detail to make the goal attainable. He tries to have them work at the professional level as often as possible. There is a lot of learning and growth, along with many challenges within this method. However, it allows them all to become better in the end. There is an understanding of their limitations, but not a fear of the growth opportunity. It is his way of helping to coach and train his players to be better actors, performers, and production staff.

Curtain call

As a final thought Andrew laughed at the level of commitment and work associated with this production. “This is the time, in the mix of it, where we’re like alright, there is a lot of craziness here…what were we thinking? And then in the next couple of days it will all come together and we go THAT’S what we were thinking.”

Into the Woods will be opening at 7:00 pm this Friday, May 18th at The Opera House in Littleton NH. Performances are May 18, 19th, 225th, 26th at 7 pm, and matinee on ​May 20th and 27th at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available through Catamount Arts.