From the Director's Desk:

One week now until we open. Sheesh! Where has the time gone!?! The set is built. My assistant (author of the posts, From Behind the Curtain) and I stayed up waaaaAAAAAaaay past our collective bed times on Friday and Saturday nights to finish. The pillars for the temple (the Atash Dadgah) like awesome, as does the faux stone box which the fire pit sits on. (This "stone" box also doubles as the well in a later scene.)

Everything seems to be coming together. Now if I can only learn the roles I'm singing. Just kidding! They're simple enough. (Even though I am a tenor, not a baritone.)

From the Director's Desk:

Wow...Two weeks from today is our first performance of The Other Wise Man. Where has the time gone?

So, I found out Friday night that Abgarus, the baritone in scene 1, has Swine Flu. Oh, excuse me...I mean the H1N1 Flu virus.... We blocked Scene1 on Saturday and with only two weeks to go until the performances, I felt it was in the best interest of the production and the cast to recast the role of Abgarus. (I'm keeping him on for the chorus and as the Voice...depending on how he feels as the time comes.) And now I am stuck singing the role. I'm a tenor!!! But thankfully, the baritone role of Abgarus was relatively easy to adapt...well, some what. I still have to sing a low A (I have problems singing a c sometimes!), but the low G's have been "altered" to an octave higher, which puts them right in my "mid-voice." Very nice for me.

Other then having just two weeks to learn this role, everything is going great. Costumes are coming together...Now if I can only get the bloody set built. Okay, it's just the "temple" for scene 1. I just need to fine the time to do it.

From Behind the Curtain:

As the Stage Manager for UNIPAC’s up and coming performance of M. Ryan Taylor's: The Other Wise Man; I'd like to take a moment to thank Joey for the amazing opportunity. Thanks Joey, I’m really excited to be part of this show.

This show has an amazing story and with that comes an amazing set. We like to keep sets small because in retrospect it’s about the performance, not the background, though it is important to have a set that can flatter what you’re trying to get across on stage. We have five set changes for this show. (Well, one is already pre-set, (thank you Venus.)) My amazing visionary, Director/Producer (I just call him boss) has a gift for set design; and with that gift, comes all of my ultimate challenges. Right now I’m building rocks and if you knew of the materials I’ve found and what I had to do to find them, you’d have a good idea of why they call us Stage Managers “slightly off balance.”

Now, creating and exerting these sets is fairly simple. Taking the sets down in under 30 seconds and putting up something new without killing actors, falling off stage, tipping flats, and keeping my sanity in almost a pitch black atmosphere… that’s the “tricky” part.

I’m still searching for a stage crew of hopefully ten, and I’m trying to figure out how to get my fire pit to look about ten times more realistic then it did our last show. (What’s so bad about having a REAL fire on stage, I mean c’mon!) So far so good, Joey hasn’t yelled at me, (yet) and I’m desperately trying to keep it that way. I love my job. All in all everything seems to be coming together great and I believe the show will come off amazing.

From the Director's Desk:

I love it when everything comes together. It's beginning to do that with The Other Wise Man. Which is very exciting. Of course there are a couple rough spots. (Mostly the scene I'm in. This music ain't exactly easy! But it's fun.)

I anxiously await the time when we can move into the theatre and begin working with the set pieces. (That's seriously going to change everything!)

From the Director's Desk:

Well we are now down to about three weeks until our performance of The Other Wise Man by M. Ryan Taylor. As always I'm getting the pre-performance jitters, but that's to be expected. "Will the audience like it?" "The composer is going to be there...will he approve of this production?" You know, the typical stuff. The last production I directed (Dido and Aeneas) was nerve-racking, but I didnt' have the stress of the composer being in the audience. Henry Purcell died a LONG time ago. M. Ryan Taylor, on the other hand, is alive and well living in American Fork, Utah and HE'S COMING BOTH NIGHTS!!!!!

But enough of my personal fears...The cast is doing well. As with any show, we've hit some bumps, but thankfully, we've come over them virtually unscathed. My stage manager is ready to kill me. (She seems to think I expect a lot from her...Well, okay, I do.)

Tickets are on Sale and a Special ANNOUNCEMENT

Tickets are on sale. See the column to the right for detailed information.

For this production, UNIPAC will be collecting donations of food items for the Utah Food Bank.

Tickets are on Sale

Tickets for The Other Wise Man go on sale today. You may order your tickets by filling out this form or you may reserve tickets by calling 801.842.6292 or by emailing, unipac150@gmail.com.

See the column to the right for more information (and prices).