Summer Festival – DIRECTOR PROJECT CAPSULE
Watch a video about the Summer Festival HERE.
Director fee: approximately $4,100
Rehearsals: middle of June – July (four weeks, dates depend on OperaDelaware’s season)
Rehearsal info: 10a-4p Wednesday – Sunday (schedule TBD)
Run: July/August (three weeks)
Cast: 7 non-Equity professional actors, 2 college apprentices
Summer Festival Aesthetic: Delaware Shakespeare’s productions are entertaining, accessible, actor-focused, and supported by efficient designs. The emphasis is on making the language and the story clear. The plays are edited to run in the realm of 2 hours plus a 15-minute intermission.
Del Shakes has not traditionally presented high-concept or modern dress productions (but, we’re always open to exciting ideas!). Simple. Clean. Bold. Fun. Those are words that describe the Del Shakes aesthetic. (In case of a tragedy, substitute “evocative” for “fun”!)
Design World: Our summer performance location at Rockwood Park has no built-in theatre infrastructure. We construct the performance environment each summer on the lovely south lawn at Rockwood, surrounded by tall trees on three sides and Rockwood Mansion on the fourth. We call this our “green box theatre” and invite the director and design team to create a stage setting/audience set-up that matches the vision of the production.
- SET – We have a selection of stock platforms that we ask set designers to work with to create the stage area.
- COSTUME – What’s the coolest way (temperature-wise) to costume a cast? It’s hot out there in the summer, and we like to take care of our actors! Each character normally has one look (unless the needs of the story specifically call for multiple costumes).
- LIGHTS – Stage lights don’t have a real impact until the second half of the action. Tech time is also very short (approximately 9 hours with actors before a preview performance), so there is not time to create an intricately cued performance. We normally fall back on 3-4 core light looks, and decide on 3-4 important moments where we can get a little fancy with lights.
- SOUND – Live music with 1-2 musicians has become a key part of the Summer Festival. Actors are individually mic’d via wireless lavalier mics.
