Cues from the inside
By Armand Thomas, KÀ Stage Manager
After nearly eight years in the company, having worked on five shows (including three creations in the past three years), it was a privilege to be named the General Stage Manager (GSM) of Cirque's upcoming opus: KÀ. Many of us have been on this project for many months, if not years, so you can appreciate what a boost it is to finally have our show name revealed to the public. We now have an identity and a clear sense that this baby will be born imminently.
But don't be fooled by the short, catchy title. Everything about KÀ is BIG. The technical applications, the acrobatic elements, the scale of the theatre, the visual expectations: all of it colossal, even by Cirque standards. And to up the ante further, this one will be story-driven; not interchangeable performances, but a cinematic epic that needs to run integrally show after show.
That promises to be the principle challenge for stage management-ensuring we have the (healthy) personnel and understudies we need in order to retell the story. There's no room for changing acts or shuffling the show pacing. Given the physical demands on these artists, we sure hope to have "depth on the bench."
Fortunately, the KÀ stage management team includes Cirque veterans with a heightened awareness of how the company runs and what the show requires: Julie Aucoin spent the last five years at La Nouba after three years at Mystère; Sylvain Collette was three years at Mystère before spending the last two as GSM at the Montreal Studio; Stacey Myers is the former GSM of Alegría; Mikhail Petrov spent 10 years as a high-bar flyer on Alegría before taking on a new vocation as an Assistant Stage Manager (ASM). And Grace O'Brien is new to Cirque, but has revealed herself as a perfect fit for the ASM position. "Auditions" for SM positions were nearly as intricate as for casting the artists: I wanted not only experience and savvy, but complementary personalities, demeanours and aptitudes. In short, I looked for chemistry. Stage managers are the hub of the organizational wheel, the metronomes of the daily buzz, the traffic cops at Piccadilly Circus, the barkers of the carnival. They feel the pulse of the machine, they set the mood in the room; they stoke the fire and keep things cool and generally make sure things happen as best they can.
I myself have stage managed Quidam, Alegría and Varekai, all ambitious shows with high merit. Earlier this year, I concluded my stay as Artistic Director of Zumanity, the newest Cirque show just across the Strip, known as Another Side of Cirque du Soleil. And without doubt or exaggeration, nothing compares to the monster we are currently working to tame. The complexity of the scenic pieces, the industrial technology applied in our theatrical settings, and the safety factors considered at every step make this project both laborious and thrilling.
During the creation phase, Stage Management's first priority is to keep the train running on time and everybody on board safe and sound. It's a pressure-filled, gruelling schedule with multiple training sites, drawn-out staging periods, continuous wardrobe fittings, makeup sessions, physiotherapy appointments, specific conditioning sessions… even late-day English language classes. The flow of information is crucial in preventing the organized bedlam from turning into sheer chaos.
It'll be my pleasure to provide updates and anecdotes in this space on a recurrent basis over the coming weeks. I'll approach it as I would an informal, chatty e-mail to some distant friends-maybe call it Postcards from the Ledge… you'll get the pun as the true physical nature of this show becomes evident.