A story - about seeing and not seeing.
What if you worked for somebody who asked you to go and find something that surely was in the theatre? We are doing a production of Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. The main set piece is a proscenium arch/mini-theatre built unit. It had been used before in this theatre for a production of Playhouse Creatures. It was carefully taken apart and saved when that show closed because it was SURELY to be used again. The wonderfully carved and painted marble column capitals, the intricately carved head of a lady that was at the center of the arch and the beautiful red velour main curtain drapes and tassels were all removed and saved separately.
The designer even gave the three and a half shop assistants a color photograph of the set - to use in assisting them in identifying the parts and reassembling the proscenium arch. They set out - enthusiastically - on their assigned task. On the first work day, the bulk of the items were identified and brought to the shop from storage. They reported to the designer that the head and drapes were NOWHERE to be found. He insisted that they were kept and that more careful searches would have to be carried out on the following work day.
So, on a second work day, searches were made of the various storage areas in yet another attempt by 3 1/2 shop assistants to locate the elusive, but necessary, scenic pieces. At the end of the day it was reported that the items were DEFINITELY missing. The designer maintained that the items HAD to be around somewhere and that we were not to give up.
Part of a THIRD work day was devoted to looking further for the missing head and drapes. Just as they had on previous work days, the 3 1/2 assistants (what the heck - they SHOULD be named: Charles Shanlever (HEAD shop assistant), Brian Hendrix, Jason Paradine and Will Lowry (the 1/2)) INSISTED that no amount of further looking was going to turn up the missing items. The designer was disconsolate.
The next day, the designer started to put into place the steps necessary to replace the drapes (the head was likely unreplacable). Mickie looked up the original invoice of the purchase of the drapes. They were going to cost us ANOTHER $190.00. The designer carried the P.O. back to his office so that he could call Stage Decoration and Supply and make the order.
Just before dialing the phone - he had a notion that just MAYBE he should take a QUICK look around the prop storage area before he made the call. He unlocked the cage - entered.... made a fairly quick trip up and down the length - shining a flashlight in and about the furniture and stored items. He saw nothing looking like head and drapes. He made one additional trip through the storage area. This time he went in the small "aisles" and shone the light above and under the items.
Down one of these particular aisles - actually in the very center of the storage room - COMPLETELY out in the open - sitting on top of a cart was A BOX. He approached the box .... and..... written on the top was:
He reached in - and the first thing he pulled out - sitting right there on top was:
He stuck his hand back in the box and, guess what,
also in the box were:
The DRAPES
the drapes that had been looked for for three
days!
All of them - neatly folded and wrapped in
plastic.
There was a box - COMPLETELY out in the open. Nothing obscuring it, nothing covering over the writing on the top. Here was a box labeled to identify the contents as being EXACTLY what was being looked for - DRAPES and HEAD! What had not been found in THREE DAYS of looking by 3 1/2 shop assistants had taken a designer/tech director less than 3 minutes to locate. He had no previous idea of where Jason Long had placed these items. He simply LOOKED around and SAW the box, used deductive reasoning when confronted with the label and LOCATED THE ITEMS.
Art is about seeing. Artists have to develop the ability to see in careful and complete ways. Artists need to see through the masking and confusing contexts of objects. Artists need to see with fresh eyes. Artists need to see with no preconceptions as to what it is they are looking for. Were the assistants looking for a head and drapes - and when they "saw" the box (which they surely must have on one of their MANY trips through the storage area) did they dismiss it because it was not literally a head or a drape - because it was not the size or color of the items in question? Were they mentally distracted by other thoughts while they were "seeing" so that they were not in a proper position to evaluate what light was bringing into their eyes and brain?
In any case, the "lost forever" items were recovered. $190 was saved. The designer had a frantically good time telling and retelling this story - getting successively louder and more animated each time he told the story - to ANYONE who would listen.... often with the visual aid of the box, head and drapes! This surely will become yet another of the wonderful and rich stories of The Furman Theatre.