All in the Timing

All in the Timing is a hilarious collection of one-act plays written by David Ives, possibly the best thing that has happened to dramatic comedy in the entire 20^th Century.

As a One Song Production, it took place at 304 Weaver Street, in the large upstairs front room of what most people call retail space, but One Song calls theatrical potential. In order to make the space remotely theatre-like, we built and loaded in over a dozen curtain stands made out of two-by-fours. Onto these we stapled black cloth. Lots of black cloth.

The plays, one-by-one:

• "Sure Thing" - An exploration of the multiple possibilities of conversation. Basically, a woman in a café is joined by a man, and they flirt. Only, everything goes wrong, and every time it does, a bell is heard offstage which resets the scene to right before the gaffe was made. In this way, a perfect encounter develops between them, and they resolve to marry at the conclusion, after finding out how much they have in common. It seems more trite than it really is in my description above, and for that I apologize.
  
  Katie and Kit acted this one brilliantly. They both have an excellent ear for comedy. I never tired of this play, and I heard it enough times that I definitely should have. I was in charge of ringing the bell, and I had extremely helpful assistance from stagehand/costume assistant Suzannah. You see, there were several times that I almost forgot to ring it due to the sheer number of things going through my head (as a stage manager) and she was helpful in reminding me.
• "Words, Words, Words" - Well-acted, but I tired of it quickly. It's based on the saying that monkeys banging on typewriters would eventually reproduce Shakespeare. And so the actors portrayed talking monkeys who were able, eventually, to accomplish the feat. My parents remember Jonah as "monkey boy" even today. Apparently he was a very convincing monkey.
• "The Universal Language" - An hilarious play about the "linkwa looniversahl." Basically, a crooked salesman makes up a fake language (Unamunda) and tries to sell lessons to a woman who responds to his advertisement. In the process of teaching her Unamunda, though, they unexpectedly fall in love. The actors were perfect for their roles. I have to especially commend Emily for this one.
  
  The set piece for this one was well thought-out and extremely well-built by setbuilder Jeff. It was a folding desk-thing. It was also used for "Trotsky" and "Philip Glass," and it worked well.
• "Foreplay" - I thought it was fairly weak. Basically, a guy takes three different girls golfing with the intention to seduce them. All three dates are on the stage simultaneously, for a total of six people. This play used every single cast member in All in the Timing. Repeated sexual jokes colored this one, and marred it, in my opinion.
• "Variations on the Death of Trotsky" - Initially, this play annoyed me, but I now believe it to be one of the best-written plays in the entire collection. Travis is a terrific actor, and played Leon Trotsky flawlessly. The story of this one is Trotsky wakes up on the day after his death with an axe sticking out of his head. He realizes, nine different times, that he has been murdered by Spanish communist Ramon Mercader. It's educational, too.
• "Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread" - Easily the weakest of the six plays, in my opinion. It was unfortunate that this one was the last. Basically it was a big polyphonic, atonal ballet. It's impossible to describe outside those words, but I didn't like it much. The story (if it can be called that) is that Philip Glass (apparently a composer) enters a bakery where two women are buying a loaf of bread. One woman recognizes him: apparently they had a fling in the past. They kind of relive that, and then the women leave. Suzannah saved me with the bell on this one, too.

It was my very first (and only, until On the Verge) stage management position, and it wasn't very much of a stage management position. I was closer to a director's assistant. My jobs included:

1. Drink runs from 304 down the street to the quickie mart (courtesy Jonah and Katie, mostly)
2. Pretzel runs from 304 to Katie's Pretzels in Carr Mill Mall (courtesy Katie and Susie)
3. Weaver Street runs from 304 to Weaver Street Market (courtesy the entire cast)
4. Armadillo runs from 304 to Armadillo Grill on East Main (courtesy Katie, mostly)
5. Line notes
6. Blocking notes so cryptic that I couldn't even decipher them. Fortunately, Susie didn't trust me and so took her own
7. Solving my Rubik's cube. Again and again.
8. Putting up with even less respect from the actors than they afforded the crazy lady who owned the venue (this one was all Jonah)
9. Stopping the actors from thumping, which annoyed the crazy lady who owned the venue (Travis and Jonah)
10. Making fun of the actors (every single one of them)
11. Keeping the actors (and the director) focused during notes (what a distractable bunch)
12. During the show, acting in a stagehand's capacity (moving stuff on and off stage)
13. During the show, running the music
14. Attending the cast party

Do any of those sound like stage management? The answer is no. Numbers five and twelve are the types of job an assistant stage manager might expect, and six would be the job of a stage manager if I'd done it right. Eight and ten are par for the course for all techies. Eleven is the only thing that happened how it was supposed to.

Even though I never felt like I was really in control of anything, I learned several important things from All in the Timing:

1. Youth theatre is disorganized by its very nature.
2. Adults aren't very receptive when teens ask, "could we (insert verb normally associated with mature individuals here) please?"
3. The cast members of All in the Timing are some of the awesomest people ever. Every single one of them.
4. Even when you know something is complete crap, audiences will enjoy it.
5. Jonah isn't quite as annoying once you get to know him.
6. If you do a Rubik's cube to pass the time, people will assume you are smart.

Those are a few important things I learned from it. It took place at a time in my life where I needed some tech; I wasn't in the class due to other graduation requirements, and there weren't any school plays going on that I could help with. And so it provided me an outlet that I greatly appreciated.

At the conclusion of All in the Timing, I resolved never again to stage manage. I intend to violate this resolution in February 2005. I also resolved never again to set foot in 304, which I haven't violated.