Director's cut: Tom Ulbrich, Naperville Central
Director Tom Ulbrich reflects on Naperville Central's production of "The Hobbit."
Deciding to produce a show like "The Hobbit" presents a number of obstacles and roadblocks. First and foremost is that fact that we are not Hollywood. We do not have a Hollywood budget. We do not have Hollywood special effects. Nevertheless, the students and I chose to take up the gauntlet and proceed.
One of the first problems we encountered was that many people had seen or were at least familiar with the "Lord of the Rings" films. Now, this may not seem like a huge problem until actors, technicians and the general public started to voice opinions about characters, weapons, clothes, attitudes, etc. It didn't take very long to decide that we would appoint a Dramaturge.
A Dramaturge is someone whose job it is to know the historical background of the play and its characters, and have a knowledge of the social aspects of the play. In short, we needed someone who was a bit of a Tolkien nerd. This decision to use a Dramaturge resulted in many discussions and arguments being directed to them for resolution. Problem one was all but solved. Whenever a question arose - enter the Dramaturge.
When I decided on this show I knew it would generate a great deal of enthusiasm. More than 100 kids auditioned for 20-some roles. I decided early in the process to understudy the show, thus giving underclassmen and those with less experience some valuable stage time. As the auditions proceeded, it became clear that this was no ordinary show to cast. There was no clear distinction between first cast and understudy, so I decided to try something I have never done before. I did, in fact, understudy the show, however, every understudy also had a role in the first cast and every first cast member had a role in the understudy show. Now every student would be in every production of the show in some capacity. From an acting point of view this turned out great. Every actor wants to be on stage. From a directing/production point of view more problems were created.
To explain this next series of problems I need to explain how I run the theater program at Naperville Central. We are a student-centered educational theater program. What that means is that any student who wants to learn any aspect of the theater has the opportunity. I have students designing costumes, lighting, sound and makeup. I have students creating set pieces and props. I have student producers designing and producing the program, designing tickets, organizing ticket and T-shirt sales. I have a student assistant director learning what it takes to bring a piece of literature from page to stage. In short, my technical director, Nick France, and I teach them whatever they want to learn.
The problem is simply with a double cast we need twice as many costumes, props, makeup designs, T-shirts, lunches, etc. Every student has put in long hours to make sure that this production is as good as we can make it.
As if that were not enough, I have also submitted this show for possible inclusion in the Illinois High School Theater Festival in January at the University of Illinois. If chosen, we will pack up all the costumes, makeup, props, set pieces, actors and crew and hit the road. This decision to submit the show has created headaches for France in that he must design a show that looks good on our stage but also will fit in the back of a truck, travel to Champaign, and look good on whatever stage we might be lucky enough to get. In addition, we have had to consider the various restrictions placed upon the chosen shows. We would have three hours to assemble the entire set and only one hour to take it down.
Even with all these problems, "The Hobbit" has been a joy to produce. I marvel at the creative energy of all of the kids in the show, be they on stage or backstage. Our only hope is that the audience will come along with us as we travel to Middle-earth, battle trolls and goblins, escape the dungeons of the elves and finally confront the mighty dragon Smaug.