1999
The
Unsung Heroes of the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre Stage:
Stage Managers Bill Wunderlin
and Joyce Van Ry
By Jennifer Poiry
Audiences who have attended any of the
forty community theater productions per season in the Fort Wayne area have
become familiar with the actors, the directors, even the box office
personnel. But almost nobody notices the most unsung of theatrical heroes --
the stage manager.
Two of the hardest working stage managers
in Fort Wayne got their start at the Civic Theatre, and continue working
there today. Bill Wunderlin and Joyce Van Ry, both retired schoolteachers,
have worked together on over a dozen productions, and separately on even
more. Van Ry was a member of the Civic Theatre Guild and started her Civic
"career" in 1984 with HELLO DOLLY. Longtime Civic assistant stage
manager Jane Woolery recruited her as a props crew member, and Van Ry went
on to become her assistant stage manager in many shows until Woolery's
death. Van Ry had learned enough from Woolery to take over her job as
assistant stage manager, working most often under Bill Wunderlin.
Wunderlin has been involved with the
Civic since 1977, where he began "in the flies" -- pulling the
ropes to allow the curtains and the stage drops to rise and fall -- for
TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON. "I'd been wanting to [get involved] for a
long time," Wunderlin says. "I had heard that you could just go
down there and volunteer, but I was always kind of too shy to do that."
His road to stage managing was a bit
longer than Van Ry's. "I worked all the jobs in the theatre," he
says. "Floor crew, props, follow spot, lightboard, sound. I wanted to
get to know it from every angle. It helped me as a stage manager so I would
have a knowledge of what [the crew] has to deal with."
If Jane Woolery was Van Ry's theatre
mentor, Wunderlin attributes his learning experience to Arena Dinner
Theatre president Darrell Monroe and former Civic Theatre director Richard
Casey. "Darrell was stage manager at Civic for Dick Casey," he
says, "and Dick was a stage manager in New York. Dick taught all his
stage managers [the job]."
Wunderlin and Van Ry have now been doing
their part in teaching the younger generation the ins and outs of stage
management. Wunderlin so inspired Josh Osbun, his young assistant in GUYS
AND DOLLS last February, that Osbun decided to study stage management at
Purdue.
Jennifer Root, stage manager for HAMLET
and CRIMES OF THE HEART this season, has worked under Van Ry for several
productions the past two seasons. "She's very good," says Van Ry.
"I like having her as an assistant because she's so dependable."
Van Ry will be working next with Sharon Smith, a new assistant stage
manager, for the upcoming RODGERS & HART: A CELEBRATION. "She may
even be calling the show," says Van Ry. "It's definitely going to
be a learning experience for her, and hopefully she'll want to do more
shows."
One of the tasks the stage manager is
responsible for is to check in auditioners. Wunderlin prides himself in the
ability to make newcomers to the Civic Theatre feel welcome and at ease at
their first auditions. During the rehearsal process, stage managers must
set up the rehearsal hall with props and furniture and keep track of all
blocking (stage movements). They must also keep track of all props and
furniture that are needed, and see that they are obtained, either from the
Civic Theatre's vast storage area, from other theaters, or from the
community.
But both Wunderlin and Van Ry agree that
the single most important role a stage manager plays is "calling a
show." The Saturday before the show opens the technical crew has an
all-day "dry tech" rehearsal in which they receive their
technical cues -- lighting, sound, and set change -- for the first time. It
is the stage manager's responsibility to "call" the cues via
headset. The stage manager must follow the script closely throughout the
entire performance because the crew members operating the lights, the
follow spotlight, and the sound board will not make their required changes
unless they hear the cue from the stage manager.
Therefore, one of the most important
skills a good stage manager or assistant must have, says Van Ry, is the
ability to concentrate and pay attention. "To call a show you have to
have a high level of concentration and sustained attention," she says.
"You don't come across that kind of requirement in daily living."
Musicals have far more cues to be called
than straight plays, and are therefore the most challenging for a stage
manager. Musicals have more light and set changes to be done, drops to be
flown in, and follow spots to contend with. Van Ry found this out the hard
way when she had to call her first musical, GUYS AND DOLLS, with only a
week's notice. "Bill was the stage manager, but he had a heart attack
the week before tech Sunday, and I had to step in and learn it," she
recalls. "It had so many flies coming in at the same time I couldn't
always see what was happening to know what to call."
Actors can also make calling a show easy
or difficult for a stage manager, depending on how well they follow the
script. "You have to keep your eyes on the script the whole time
because actors do make mistakes," says Wunderlin. "It kind of
makes you a little nervous when they do, because you don't know if they're
going to jump to a different scene or if it's going to affect your light
cues." Neither have had this experience, however. "People have
said the wrong lines, of course," says Wunderlin, "but they've
managed to get back on track."
Accuracy is also important. If a stage
manager is waiting for a particular line to call a cue, but the line is
paraphrased, the stage manager has to be familiar enough with the scene to
know that the cue needs to be called at that moment, with or without the
exact line reading. "Recently I have been so pleased with how they
stay on their lines with such accuracy," says Van Ry.
Wunderlin concurs, although neither is
certain whether the actors themselves have become more conscientious of
accuracy, or if it has been the influence of current executive director Al
Franklin. "Al does like them to say the right lines," Wunderlin deadpans.
Like anyone involved with theatre, both
Wunderlin and Van Ry have their share of amusing theatre stories. Van Ry
recalls an early Civic Theatre Guild show in which she and another floor
crew member, dressed in black, "actually had to go out onstage while
this guy was singing and put his army uniform on. He was singing his song,
and there were two of us in our little black clothes, out there dressing
him."
Wunderlin's favorite story demonstrates
the lengths to which theatre people will go to relieve tension during a
long, difficult run. "During FIDDLER ON THE ROOF," he says,
"Jim Clauser, who played Tevye, had a line about kidneys. The
lightboard operator for the show worked for [Northeast Indiana Kidney
Center]. She brought an artificial kidney, and we would hide it on the
stage for him to find." Wunderlin knew that Clauser, a thespian of
true professionalism, wouldn't miss a beat, and he never let it register on
his face.
Did any of the other actors ever run
across the kidney? "Um, yes," Wunderlin says after a thoughtful
pause. "We put it in various places."
Wunderlin and Van Ry urge anyone in the
community who has dreamed of a career on or behind the stage, to get over
their qualms and join the fun at the Civic Theatre. Prospective actors or
technicians can call the theater business office at (219) 422-8641 to
request to be put on their audition mailing list, or they can leave a
message for the current production's stage manager to volunteer their time
behind the scenes.