For those of you who have not been religiously following our tweets (how DARE you), I have been stuck inside all day at tech rehearsals for the Theatre Department’s These Seven Sicknesses. For this show, I will be a part of the run crew.
What is tech week? It’s the end of the rehearsal process, where everything is finally put together. The actors have costumes, the lighting board operators finally figure out the lights, the sound board operators learn their portions, and the stage crew (me) learns when they have to operate special effects and aid actors with changes/entrances.
Why are these tech rehearsals more ridiculous than most? This is a 30+ student cast, and a 4 hour show. (At performances, food WILL be served…thank goodness). There are also many huge special effects. Many deaths and injuries take place – including a foot amputation. The stage is set up to be a theatre in the round – the audience sits in what is essentially a circle around the stage. Nothing can “happen” behind something else – everything happens in front of the audience’s eyes. Which makes for a SICK show, but a terrifying tech.
These actors have put in a total of 36 hours of rehearsal between Saturday and Monday. You were happy to have a long weekend to relax – not once have they sat down. While I hold stage lights and clean up giant stains of blood, I have watched them sobbing on the floor, screaming in pain, and performing elaborate fight sequences. What they’re doing is incredible, and I don’t want to see their hard work go unseen.
This is the first time this brand-new production has ever been performed in Boston. History in the making, and Suffolk University is making it happen.
Come see this fantastic performance – bleach drinking, wrist-slitting, eyeball-gouging and all! Tickets are nearly sold out, so don’t waste your time!
…Also. I just want to throw this out there. There are a lot of scantily clad ladies, and extremely muscular gentlemen in this production. Gore and sex appeal. Not much more you need, so don’t miss it. Really.
Check out our Instagram at @InstaRamSU for some tech week pics, or our Twitter @InstaRamSU for updates on These Seven Sicknesses!
