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March 10, 1998
It's a dark, dank afternoon and the thunder rolls in the distance. The
streets are cold and wet but glisten with the reflected light from streetlamps,
passing cars and office windows. On Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
the marquee of the Bama Theatre shines brightly, almost like an oasis
within the darkness of the sky- calling those faithful to the theatre.
Even with the bad weather, the laughter from a large crowd permeates onto
the street, adding an air of cheer where the darkness abounds.
Sister Mary Leo, played by Tuscaloosa native Drew Penick Baker,
contemplates why she became a nun. In the play, Sister Mary Leo loves
to dance and aspires to be the first "Nun Ballerina". When
Baker isn't on stage she is the mother of three, an aerobics instructor
and a retired attorney. |
It struck me as odd today that there could be such
drastic differences in environment simply by walking through a pair
of double doors. Yet, that is the essence of good theatre- to transport
you to places that you may not have otherwise visited. To change your
environment- even if it's only for an hour or so... Because of this,
I've grown to love the theatre and feel especially lucky that the
local theatre group, Theatre Tuscaloosa, asks me to shoot their
promotional photos. Yes, I get paid for the work that I do there,
but it really isn't enough to get rich from. It keeps me in film until
the next show. But, I appreciate the work. Not only because it's an
excellent way to keep my photography skills sharp, but because I have
a genuine admiration for those people who are both on stage and behind
the scenes. |
Working as a newspaper photographer gives you an insight into theatre
that most people never get to see. The rehearsals, the effort and the
technical skills that it takes to make a show special. Here in Tuscaloosa,
we have the local community theatre, the University of Alabama Drama Department
and also an exceptional drama program at Shelton State Community College.
So, it's not too difficult to find a good show here. I think that one
of the reasons that I've chosen to live here is that for a small town,
Tuscaloosa has an unusually good support base for the arts, and the local
theatre is an excellent example of that.
One of the reasons that I appreciate the community theatre is because
after talking and watching people involved in the production, you realize
that they too have a life and a family, but give some of that up to help
entertain, educate and enlighten the community around them. I appreciate
that because I live this too. The daily grind- trying to fit one more
thing into the day. It's hard to do working and living a normal schedule
much less those that have the additional rigors of nightly rehearsals,
set design, choreography, lighting and directing. It's intense to say
the least to pull all of the strings together to make them mesh into a
full-blown production and I for one am in awe of those who do this regularly.
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To give you an idea of what I mean, One of the main characters
is an attorney at a thriving law firm here in town, one teaches
exceptional children who are either deaf or hard of hearing, One
is the director of "Miracle Riders" of West Alabama, Inc.
which is a therapeutic equestrian program, one is an aerobics instructor
and one- probably the busiest of all- is a stay-home mother of three.
Yet, all of these women and dozens of other volunteers like them
find time in their day to contribute to the community by enriching
the lives of those around them.
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The shoes of an absent-minded nun... |
So, this week, I'm going to introduce you to some of these people in
my hometown who do this. I'm concentrating on the actresses simply because
they are the ones that I normally photograph. But they are not the entire
story. Think for a moment about the sound, lighting, set design and construction,
music, direction and choreography. In theatre, what you don't see
is just as important as what you do see...
First, let me tell you a little bit about the production- A play called
"Nunsense", which is a musical comedy that boarders on
being a variety show. The main characters are five nuns from diverse backgrounds.
The nuns live in Hoboken, New Jersey (better them then me!) and are the
last of their order. Why? Because the nun who cooked the meals at the
convent served a tainted dish that killed most of the other nuns (the
surviving nuns had been out playing Bingo that night...). All but four
of the defunked nuns were buried when money ran out, so the remaining
four were placed in the convent freezer until they could collect enough
money to bury them. The remaining nuns have decided to have a variety
show to collect money for the burials. This is the jest of the play.
I think that expressions are everything in theatrical images.
Here, all five staring cast members sing during the opening scene.
They are (bottom L-R)Allison Snow Rhinehardt (as Sister
Mary Amnesia), a native of Charlotte, NC and a special needs teacher;
Carol DeVelice (as Reverend Mother Sister Mary Regina),
a native of New Mexico and the director of the Miracle Riders of West
Alabama; Kathy M. Wilson (as Sister Hubert), also a
Tuscaloosa native, aerobics instructor and full time mother of three
(top L-R) Lauren Wilson Carr (as Sister Robert Anne),
a native of Florence, Alabama and a founding partner in the law firm
of Smalley & Carr; and Drew Penick Baker (as Sister
Mary Leo), a native of Tuscaloosa who is a full time mother of
three, an aerobics instructor and a retired attorney. |
As a photographer, I realize that most of these people are very
satisfied with their lives and even if they are exceptionally good
and could attain a higher level of acting, most are content to perform
in community theatre. So, my objective is to give them the best
images that I am capable of making. Something that'll look great
in their scrapbook and that they can look at 20 years from now and
be proud of. So, this is what I shoot for in my theatre photos.
I also try to translate that expressiveness that the actor shows
on stage into a still photograph, which isn't always an easy thing
to do. I always tell actors to "ham it up" in front of
the camera- you can't overact the scene when it's a still photograph.
I also find that in my photographic work, I like to get the reaction
rather then the action. I think that it almost always tells the
story better and is visually far more interesting to look at. If
you'll look at the images that I have posted to these journal pages,
you'll see that most, if not all, are after the action of the event
are finished and are reactions to the outcome. Theatre is no exception
to this rule either. I love facial expressions and shoot them whenever
I can.
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There are pitfalls to shooting live theatre though. Being live, you can't
go back and ask that they act out a scene again. It's also less than ideal
lighting since you can't use a flash. I typically shoot 3-4 rolls of 1600
ISO film, which is "daylight" film and isn't normally conducive
to theatre lighting. But, since the images are color negatives, correcting
the color cast from tungsten lights (they typically give everything an
orange cast if shot on daylight film) is done in printing or Adobe PhotoShop
software. The other disadvantage is that the intensity of light in theatre
may not be enough to shoot a good image- even with "fast" lenses
and film. Today, one of the scenes metered at almost a full second exposure-
an incredible amount of time for a still "action" photo. So,
there are some lost opportunities by shooting this way.
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Still, the images can be telling ones- showing you things that
maybe you didn't pick up on while watching the actual production.
It's these images that I'm especially proud of. "Nunsense"
had several of these and I've decided to share some of them with
you. I have to say, quite honestly that this was the single best
production that I've seen from the local theatre and my hat is off
to all of those who make productions like this one work. Nice job
to all of you.
Hope you like the images and see you next week.
Mark Lent
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Reactions to a notice from
the health department after inspecting the kitchen and seeing the
bodies in the freezer... |
Lauren Carr, right, sings during the second act. I have known
Lauren for several years and she is still one of my favorites to photograph.
In Nunsense, she plays a street-wise nun from Brooklyn, New York.
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I'm not a comedian (my dear
wife will attest to this...) but found some of the one-liners in
"Nunsense" to be exceptional- My favorite two being:
Q: How do you
make holy water?
A: Boil the hell out of it...
The other one was from a recipe in the "Blessed Virgin Mary
Cookbook"- a must I suppose for all good nuns...One of the
recipe's was:
Boy Scout Treats "To start, get 13 brownies really hot..."
I also had a moment that I was laughing so much that I wasn't able
to hold my camera still enough to shoot a picture and am grinning
as I sit here thinking about it. The Mother Superior accidentally
gets "inebriated" and rolls around on stage in her traditional
habit shouting "Free Willie!...Free Willie!..." :-)
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