At the end of Herringbone, George sings, “My thanks to my crew…”
So, how many people does it really take to put on a one-person musical – and who is that “crew” that Herringbone is thanking?
Well, before anything – you need writers/creators – artists with the imagination, talent, tenacity, diligence, and just enough crazy to create what never was, but had to be.
You need an actor (two in our case): artists who can carry a show on their own, learn nearly two hours of material, 15 songs, dialogue, choreography, and bring 11 different characters to life on stage.
You need a director: an outside eye to help guide and inform the actors – to help bring a unity of vision to the piece with the entire creative team, and to be the collaborative centre of the whole experience.
You need designers: a costume designer to create something fun, fanciful, and transformative, a lighting & set designer to create the space in which the story is lived out, a sound designer to ensure that everything we hear is perfectly balanced and clear.
You need tradespeople to build your set pieces and your costumes.
You need a musical director: someone who is going to dig into the music and help the actors understand its nuance – who can lead a band through the maze of performing a live piece of theatre. In the case of Herringbonein two different keys for two different voices!
You need a band: a groovy bass player, and a sharp drummer to play the hell out of the incredible score.
You need technicians: a sound operator to mix the show each night, a board operator to run the lighting, crew to load-in the set, hang and focus lights, set up microphones, and then strike it all when you’re done.
You need a Stage Manager: the person who will keep everyone and everything organized and make sure the show comes off each night as the director and designers envisioned – to be the calm eye in the middle of the theatrical hurricane.
You need an Assistant Stage Manager, to run backstage… and run to the hardware store…
You need a designer for your marketing materials: someone who can create a captivating image that might draw people in, then format it in myriad different versions for all the various media.
You need a photographer, and a videographer to capture imagery before rehearsals begin, during the process,
and in the venue to help create enticing content that will draw more people in.
You need a publicist to help get the word out about the show (especially, when it’s a show that people don’t know well) – someone who will be your ambassador, and champion, and cheerleader.
You need a production manager: someone to watch the budget and find an emergency dance floor for rehearsals.
You need producers: two crazy-ass people who are going to try and raise the money to pay everyone equitable, professional fees for the extraordinary work they all do.
All in all, Herringbone, our delightfully upsetting one-person musical, brought together 22 professionals, many of them doubling their duties/roles to bring this “one-person” show to you.
Twenty-Two professionals = one-person musical!
Now if you’ve read this far… if you’ve gotten here… why not go a bit farther and make a donation to our matching fund campaign.
Every artist, technician, designer, artisan, manager will benefit from your generosity.
Thanks for reading,
-Peter & Katey
