The Rocky Horror Show is dedicated to Craig Orsinger (1956-2020). You may not have seen Craig around the theater, but he was a big part of what you did see and hear. Craig worked backstage…
Getting the details done on the Handle with Care set. At an early design meeting, we decided it would be fun to have running water in the sink in the hotel room. No real reason,…
BAT opens its 2018-19 season with Dr. Frankenstein a gothic tale written by Selma 
Dimitrijevic. This is not your father’s Frankenstein. In this startlingly fresh, lyrical and haunting contemporary adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Dr. Frankenstein is reimagined as a woman. Victoria Frankenstein and her articulate Creature tell a thought-provoking story that follows Mary Shelley’s book more closely than other productions, but with wonderful new twists.
This is only the second time this script will be produced in America. That has created its own unique challenges. Here is a small, but telling example:
For rehearsals, BAT provides the actors the crew with “acting editions” of the script. Each person gets their own script. Selling scripts, of course, is how the publishing houses make their money.
BAT’s old credit card machine died. At that point, the saga began.
BAT’s old machine used what is called in the business “store and forward.” That is, BAT 
would run all of the charges and at the end of the day, we would plug the machine into a phone and line and process all of the credit transactions at one time. To use the machine to take credit cards, no phone lines were needed and no waiting for the card to be processed. No worry, really. Quick and easy.
There was some risk with that. If someone gave us a bogus credit card or were over their limit or if there was not enough money in their account for a debit transaction, BAT would never be paid for that purchase. Kind of like a bad check.
BAT has boxes and boxes of shoes: boots, shoes, heels, flats, tennis shoes, sandals, slippers, small, medium, and large. BAT may not always have the right shoe, but it is amazing the number of times…
Cyndi is BAT’s props goddess on Ben Butler. Here is just one example of the detail Cyndi puts into her work. On stage, there is a fireplace and “gas” lamps on either side of the…
BAT is volunteer driven. So when we are here we are typically doing something. It is rare that I get to sit in our empty theater. BAT has just 94 seats, and those seats move.…
I just survived day one of tech week. So, what is tech week, and why is it sometimes called hell week?
First, when is tech week? For BAT it is the last week before a show opens. Ben Butler
opens on Friday, September 29, 2017. So, tech week started Saturday, September 23.
About 5 weeks before tech week the actors start rehearsing. They do what it takes to find their character, learn lines, and blocking. (That is a whole other blog post. In fact, BAT’s BALL has a number of books written just on the actors’ process.)
The creative team has also been working for a number of weeks: set design and building, light design and hang, prop design, building and securing, costume design, building and gathering, and sound, building, finding, writing, recording and editing have all been taking place. Hopefully, all of that is done, or nearly so, by the beginning of tech week. But there are many things that cannot be completed until the actors take the stage. Some things have to do with timing, distance, and personality quirks of the director and actors. Nevertheless, as much is done as possible before tech week.
So what do four hours of hard work look like at BAT? The photos of this wall tells it all. Well, maybe not all. If you were not paying attention, this wall had a number…
If, over the years, you visited BAT a the Burien Wild Strawberry Festival (every year on 
Father’s Day Weekend), you must have seen BAT’s dancing strawberries. The Strawberry Festival is also where BAT announces its new season. BAT passes out flyers with the season and a chance to order your season tickets before the mad rush occurs.
One year, Burien Parks had a contest to see who’s booth best fit the theme of “strawberries.” It was a question of “strawberriness.” BAT was the winner by a wide margin. BAT’s dancing strawberries played no small part in the crushing victory. It is a testament to the size of BAT’s win that Burien Parks never brought back that contest.
BAT has been told many times that families have years of their children growing up documented through pictures of the kids in BAT’s dancing strawberries. It has become a happy tradition.