A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

I shot The Odd Couple at Summerset Theatre in late July. It was the finale production for this summer season.

Neil Simon comedies are always interesting, and I tend to think of them as a day-in-the-life style. We have a single set – Oscar’s apartment – in which all the happenings happen.

The general story is familiar to anyone of my generation since it formed the basis for a TV show of the same name. The TV show brought with it some of the characters from the play.

Many scenes feature the whole gang of friends as they try to deal with Felix and his angst. This made for some cool photographic compositions with everyone leaning in and reacting together.

Sometimes it’s difficult to find an angle that shows all the faces, but that’s often a problem shooting live. Still, it’s not usually something to get hung up about.

Other times, everyone just comes together and make the photo for you.

Lighting was not particularly challenging here, as most such plays are more dialog driven and don’t really need – or want – a fancy lighting design. As the photographer, I can pretty well set my exposure and go. There are some hot and cold spots on the set to be aware of, though.

Being dialog driven, you have to look for the interesting photos. You find a lot of time folks are sitting and talking. But the moments are there. Some happen quickly and you might or might not catch them. Others, like the guys surrounding Felix, holding a wet towel to his head, all looking, offering their support and concern, just build in front of you. You see it, frame it up, and you have a favorite shot from the evening.

I mentioned the leaning in. That can make such a difference in a still photo. Our brains interpret this for the interaction it represents. We sort of feel it. Lean them back and the energy totally washes away from the image. It’s really remarkable.

I can’t believe summer is nearly gone. Another season of Summerset shows is done, the Fridays on the patio at RCT are done, and Labor Day is two days away. But, that means RCT’s season is about to begin (the first show is RENT, and it opens soon), and Riverland will be working on their fall semester shows soon. I have all that to look forward to!

There are so many plays that take place in a single set – often a room. Occasionally, there will be side areas representing one or two other locations, but it isn’t uncommon for there to be one location.

God of Carnage takes this even further, as it takes place not just in one location but in one uninterrupted time. I don’t know how it’s represented in the script, but it is basically one long scene. Within that scene, we see the entire story laid out with four actors playing characters who develop interesting relationships to one another during that span of time.

I shot the show this past Monday during the final dress rehearsal. The description of the play sounded familiar, and it wasn’t long before I realized I had indeed seen this show once before.

As was the case for a couple other recent shows I’ve shot, this play had pretty consistent and reasonably good lighting. And the box set provides one basic layout and palette from which to work. Two couples interact – one couple’s son hit the other couple’s son in the face with a stick. As it begins, everyone is trying to get along, you might say, acting like adults. They sit fairly quietly discussing the events.

Meanwhile, there isn’t a lot to photograph! Four people sitting quietly does not make for impactful photos! But that soon changes with bursts of action and lots of movement with some face-to-face confrontations.

The gloves metaphorically come off as the show progresses. The attempts to be diplomatic give way to expressions of the characters’ true feelings and thoughts, somewhat spurred on by the rum that is eventually consumed.

I had plenty to photograph as you might expect. It’s fun to manage to capture certain key moments like a cell phone, having been dunked in the tulip water, being retrieved and sending water drops all over. Other physical interplay provided similar moments to be grabbed.

I spend my time moving from one side to the other, looking for the best angle for grabbing a particular shot. Often, all four are there and spread out, each talking to all of the other three. There’s a possible wide shot of the group, but those photos tend to be less compelling and serve more to just document that moment. I work to isolate to one or two when I can, or to encompass three or four in a way that provides a good composition. But not every shot ends up as a keeper.

The cast of four did great. I love watching and shooting expressions that are honest and give the characters life.

Summerset Theatre in Austin does a great job providing a diverse set of three shows during the summer. This was a huge departure from Fiddler last month, and the next show will be The Odd Couple at the end of July. A big musical, a drama, and a Neil Simon comedy. And each of them gives me different challenges to photograph!

This week, Riverland Community College opened their final production for the season, Picnic. I photographed the show during their final dress rehearsal.

One of the things I enjoy about shooting these shows at the college is the variety of the productions. Here’s a play by William Inge from the early 1950s. It was the show in which the unknown Paul Newman made his Broadway debut. Compare this to the show that opened their season, The Rocky Horror Show.

The action takes place in a single set, the yard outside a house. The stage at Riverland is configurable, and for this show it’s set thrust out with some seating one either side of the stage. This gives the players lots of room in which to work. At times, it allowed me to be nearly on top of the actors. Other times, they were fully upstage and quite a ways from my position.

That provides some challenges but also some opportunities to get up close and personal with the characters on occasion. The lighting from a photography point of view was fairly harsh – the norm for stage lighting. Musicals tend to have spotlights which punch up this contrast even more, so a non-musical is usually a bit easier to shoot. But you end up paying more attention to the hot spots and fall-off areas: where lights are particularly bright or particularly less bright than the surroundings.

We can level that out somewhat in post. I may spend more or less time on a particular image depending on how much it moves me. I have multiple goals with these theatre shoots. I’m trying to document the show – the actors, the sets, the production in general. And that drives many of the photographs I make. But I’m also looking for those images that show some of the emotion of the show, shots that tell a story. They may bring the viewer back to the show, to the story as it was unfolding, if he or she knows that story. But it may tell its own story, too, for someone who knows nothing of the show. We have people, gesture, emotion. So all the makings for an interesting photograph. I always hope to find one or two of those among the set.

The show runs again tonight and tomorrow, May 4.

The other show I shot last week was Riverland Community College’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone. It’s a quirky play-within-a-play, or really, a musical-within-a-play as narrated by Man in Chair. The musical basically takes place in his living room as he discusses his love for musicals.

It was a cool show to photograph – plenty of color and a cool set and many fun moments to capture. As I mentioned in my last post, the February weather was not great for the shows in rehearsal. It also wasn’t a lot of fun driving between Rochester and Austin. I90 wasn’t horrible, but it sure wasn’t all clear either. The shady spots under overpasses had a lot of ice, and there was the “ground blizzard,” as some called it – blizzard-like winds but without falling snow.

But it turned out to be better than I expected, and it was helpful that sunset is much later now than in December, so the drive to Austin was in daylight. It was worth the drive, too – I was happy with the photos. It’s all about the art, right?

The cast is terrific. I was happy to see our friend James on stage again as the Man in Chair. And the orchestra is top notch with several musicians I know who frequently perform at the Rochester Civic Theatre. Of course, I always miss much of the dialog as I’m focused on shooting. I look forward to seeing it as an ordinary audience member, so I can take it all in.

The show has no intermission, but ironically, the imbedded musical does! During that intermission, Man in Chair continues his discussion. And has a snack.

What follows is pretty hilarious, but I won’t spoil it too much – other than posting one photo from that scene!

Like Loving Lorna Doone, there was plenty of action to photograph. There were also several moments when the actors struck a pose and held it for a time. It was convenient for grabbing a shot I would have missed, but I don’t think they did it for me!

No, this shot wasn’t one of those. This was shot on the run, you might say. Or on the roll.

The production continues this weekend. We’ll be attending tomorrow (Friday) night. And the weather has warmed considerably this week, so I’m expecting a less stressful drive to Austin! It was encouraging being out in the sunny-almost-up-to-freezing weather yesterday. Lots of people smiling and enjoying the (relative) warmth. And talk of shorts and sandals.