From the Heart of APT's 2016 Design Conference

Around Mazomanie, on the way toward APT from the Madison airport, the director beside me in the passenger seat looked out the window and took a long exhale. 'I can already feel my shoulders relaxing,' he said. 'Something about coming to APT just allows me breathe.'

It was a chilly and gray Saturday in March, the first day of the annual design conference. Over 50 designers, directors, and artisans were set to arrive in Spring Green from all parts of the country to review the designs for the plays of the upcoming 2016 season. I had awoken to snow on the ground and was disappointed in the weather. I had hoped rural Wisconsin would look and feel more welcoming on this important day. But it didn't seem to matter. (Everyone was thrilled to be here, even the costumer who had flown in from Hawaii walked in with a smile on her face.) And as we drove up Golf Course Drive and spotted the Bravo Center, chimney puffing away in the cold, it did seem a warm beacon. Inside, staff and artists embraced over a table brimming with food and coffee, well appointed by our company management team.

The annual Design Conference is an APT trademark. It is an important opportunity, before rehearsals begin and the shops start hopping, to take time to examine the scenery and costume designs, to spend time in a room with the director, the vocal coach, key staff members of the shops to discuss each play and make some concerted and thoughtful decisions, without the pressure of an opening night staring us down.

Scott Rott, the Costume Shop Supervisor, is known for keeping a poker face in costume design meetings, not letting anyone see his adoration for some gowns, nor his anxiety over a particular daunting project.

Sara Stellick, Assistant Production Manager, keeps track of everyone's travel, assigning transportation to and from the airport, and picking up and dropping off artists in the wee hours of the morning and late into the night.

Evelyn Matten, Production Stage Manager, masterminds rehearsal schedules, finding as much time as she can for each of the five plays that begins rehearsal on May 3.

The scene shop is known for creating prototypes of specifically challenging set pieces in time for this conference. This allows the director and designers to take a look at the piece or test the effect and give some feedback before the shop spends the time and money to build the real thing.

As big flakes of snow floated down through the trees, I accompanied the director, the design team of KING LEAR, and seven other APT staff members up the Hill to take a look at some prototypes. Despite the cold, spirits were high. The novelty of walking up the hill in the winter time, without bugs, with the snow, was special.

Bill Duwell and Nate Stuber, from APT's scene shop, put a square of artificial grass on the stage. Tyler Rich, the fight director for KING LEAR, jumped and slid on it to determine whether actors could fight on that surface. Would it be too slippery? What about if an actor was wearing shoes with heels? What if the grass was wet? Bill and Nate wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to test it, ask questions, and weigh in before moving forward with this part of the design.

With the model of Kevin Depinet's set perched on the stage, we discussed a few other moments in the play before heading back down the Hill together. The KING LEAR team was about to gather for a full design meeting. Bill and Nate and their staff had seven more sets to go over with seven other teams before the weekend was over.

The Design Conference is part reunion and part pep rally, part warm up and part season test run, and part hard conversation and difficult decision making. It is this weekend when the costume shop decides which costumes it has the time and money to build and which costumes need to be pulled and modified from stock. It is this weekend when we discover which projects will pose the biggest challenges. It is the weekend that whets our collective appetite for diving into these plays. It is the weekend for building momentum in anticipation of an exciting summer ahead. And while we are thrilled to be reunited with many of our APT company for a weekend, we miss you, the audience.

Back to my conversation with the director coming from the airport, who had probably gotten up at 4:00 am in order to make his plane and his connection to Madison. 'APT fits none of my priorities for a directing job,' he admitted. He is interested in brand new plays (APT doesn't do them), he tries not to go too far from home (APT is thousands of miles from his family.) 'But I cannot turn down an opportunity to come back to APT, this place is too special.'

It's almost time for all of us to come back to APT. Summer is coming. We will see you soon.