All in the Timing - August 2000

As Moonlark and FSPA's production of Pericles was wrapping up in March 2000, Artistic Director Ray Sibley began to ask that inevitable question which arises in any theatrical organization - "What next?" Pericles had been such a success that we really wanted to keep the momentum going. The decision was made, therefore, to stage a summer production.

To develop and direct the production, Sibley chose Barton Pitchford, who had played the title role in Pericles. In a series of late night bull sessions after rehearsals at Hemmingbough, and at Ray's house. Ray and Barton decided to stage David Ives' dry, intelligent comedy, All in the Timing.

Auditions were held in June, and the result was a mixture of Pericles veterans such as the Barnes duo, Katie Allgood, the two Mikes; newcomers to FSPA such as Vince, Mark Mahaffey, and Rachel Morton; and Colette Schweizer, who is a fixture in the Baton Rouge theatre scene.

Rehearsals ran through July and early August. Due to the modular nature of the script, Barton was able to rehearse the individual pieces of All in the Timing separately, using a creative variety of rehearsal spaces and techniques. When all of the pieces were put together, the production had two runs - one at the Old State Capitol, and one at the Baton Rouge Gallery.

By all accounts, the production was a great success. The audience was small in the early runs, but as word got out, the audience size got bigger, culminating in a Standing Room Only crowd on the final night, in spite of the fact that there was an LSU football game that very same night!

Most encouraging of all, was the fact that many of the audience members had never been to a Moonlark/FSPA production before, and were eager to see more of what Moonlark had to offer.

- mike.melancon@moonlark.org - Oct 2000

Click on the thumbnails for full sized images.

Director of All in the Timing, Barton Pitchford.

Rehearsals at the Sibley compound in Ethel.

(L to R) Colette Schweizer, Barton Pitchford, and Mike Melancon rehearse a scene from Variations on the Death of Trotsky.

Costume designer Sandra Allgood, keeping a close eye on rehearsals.

This is how Phillip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread looked during rehearsals...

...and this is how it looked on stage at the Old State Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge.

(l to r) Mark Mahaffey, Katie Allgood, and Mike Ferry in The Philladelphia.

Mike and Mark in another scene from The Philladelphia. This table actually broke during a performance, and Mike and Mark had to perform most of the scene while holding the table up. They did it perfectly, and the audience never knew! Oh, the fun you have in live theater!

(l to r) Johnette and Joy Ponder rehearsing the carefully coreographed Phillip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread.

(l to r) Dave and Valerie Barnes performing Sure Thing.

Colette Schweizer and Mike Melancon rehearse Variations on the Death of Trotsky.