The NEC Theater Department’s fall semester show will be Boeing Boeing, a French comedy set in 1962 that is based in Paris. The play is about a character named Bernard, who has three fiancés who are all flight attendants. Bernard has it set up so the fiancé’s never meet each other, until the invention of a new, faster airplane. So now he must find a way to keep his fiancé’s from running into each other. His friend from Wisconsin happens to be in town and helps him make sure that his fiancés do not meet.
“Our last play was a drama, although it did have some funny parts, but it was a drama about grief, and so I wanted something a little bit lighter,” said Theater Director Colleen Harris.
When it comes to producing a student-based play, there is a short amount of time to put it together, unlike a Broadway production, Harris said.
“For us, it takes more like eight to 10 weeks from beginning to think about how to approach the play into auditions, into rehearsals, and on into performance,” she said.
When producing a play, many steps must be taken before the curtain goes up, Harris said. After choosing the play, the director must apply for playwright rights, which are decided by an estate. For example, if there is going to be another production nearby, the estate may not want to have two of the same play 25 miles away from each other. The next step is casting the show.
“So, you begin by working out exactly where people are going to be on stage, and then you start working on smaller and smaller moments, getting more and more specific,” Harris said.
For the production side, there are weekly meetings with the designers, technical directors, and the stage manager, Harris said. The stage manager runs those meetings. After having weekly meetings for the actors and backstage workers, they all work to get the show together before the performance days.
Boeing Boeing will be showing on Nov. 21, at 7:30 pm and Nov. 23, at 3:00 pm in the Putnam Theater. Students will be let in for free, Faculty and Staff will be charged $6, and general public tickets are $8.
