BRIAN'S TAKE

This astonishing production used every square inch of available space on stage. All masking was removed and the audience was able to see the upstage wall and side physical walls of the theater. The entire company was on stage the whole show, with the exception of some secret exits for costume changes. This also meant all the props for the show (and there were a lot!) had to be preset on stage in precise locations since there wasn't a crew member supervising handoffs in the wings. Side Note: We did have two costumed ASMs who snuck on stage to help with some flying elements. The upstage wall had countless cubbies and nooks in it where the memories of Jo's past lived in the attic. These artifacts would light up at key moments and others were taken down and used during the storytelling sequences. To track placement and size of objects, we labeled every cubby with a unique code and used that in conversations with the design team. For example, we noted the picnic basket needed to fit inside A8. We also taped out all the cubbies in the rehearsal studio so the actors could get used to where objects would be.