In theater, her job’s
based on stages

By Ruth Rovner
For the Times

At the Arden Theatre in Old City, the current production is the Pulitzer prize-winning play by August Wilson, The Piano Lesson, which opened on March 12.
Each evening, audience attention is riveted to the stage, where eight actors bring to life a drama in which a brother and sister battle over the future of a treasured heirloom: a piano carved with portraits made by their great-grandfather.
Katharine Hanley is not one of the eight actors, but she too has a key role in each show. Her starring performance occurs off the stage. As stage manager, she’s in charge of everything that happens onstage. She takes care of light cues, supervises the sound effects, and is ready to handle any unexpected glitches.
"I’m sort of the ‘great communicator’ of the production," she says. "All the information needed for the whole production is filtered through the stage manager."
During all performances — and they continue until April 6 — Hanley is seated in a booth at the back of the stage. Wearing earphones, she gives the sound cues and operates the light board, always staying in constant communication with her assistant stage manager, Alexis Simpson, who is backstage.
All the while, Hanley holds a thick three-ring binder known as the prompt book — an invaluable resource. In it is the entire script and all the stage directions: every set change, every light and sound cue, all the entrances and exits, plus the extensive notes Hanley made during rehearsals.
"If it happens on the stage," she says, "it’s in the prompt book."
Hanley literally directs the production from start to finish. The play doesn’t begin until she hears from the house manager that everything is ready. Then she checks with her assistant to be sure all the actors are in their places and ready. If so, she gives the signal — and only then do the house lights dim.
"It doesn’t start without me," says Hanley.
It’s also Hanley who decides when the intermission begins and the set is changed. She usually goes backstage during intermission to make sure none of the actors has a problem or question.
Once the performances begin, the director and all the designers are no longer involved, so Hanley is the one in charge.
Her role began long before the first performance. One week before rehearsals, she was in the rehearsal hall where the actors would refine their parts while the set was being built. Here she mapped out a plan of the stage and the set, so that actors would be prepared when they did get onstage.
She also checked to see that all the props were on hand.
For The Piano Lesson, keeping track of all the props was quite a challenge. The play takes place in a house in Pittsburgh in the 1930s, and it involves many different domestic details. For instance, in the opening scene, one actor starts to cook a breakfast right on the stage, using a preheated cast-iron pot.
"We have a working stove, and one burner is a hot plate," Hanley explained.
The actor makes french toast and eggs — and the food is real, because he also eats it on the stage.
Besides the props for the kitchen scene, there were other concrete details to work out in advance. One actor needs to have money in his pocket. Another needs to reach into his coat to retrieve a letter. Another prepares tea and drinks it (there’s a sink onstage), so the tea bag has to be in the right place before each performance. And the liquor bottle has to be filled with liquid (it’s colored water, not the real stuff).
"These details have to be taken care of in advance, so that the actors can focus on their acting," Hanley said.
One of the largest props on the stage is the player piano. "It’s beautiful," she said, noting that it was built especially for this play by the Center Stage Theater in Baltimore, Md., which produced the play for its 2000-01 season.
The piano plays by itself, and at various times, several actors also play it. Hanley worked with the sound designer, who taught the actors what to play. And in turn, she needed to know all the sound cues. These details were worked out during rehearsals, and Hanley made notes in her prompt book every day.
During those first days, she was present when the actors simply sat around a table with director Walter Dallas. They talked about the characters they’d play, and Dallas pointed out particular challenges.
This preliminary phase was the only time the busy stage manager could simply enjoy the play. "I really enjoyed just sitting back and listening to them reading their lines." she said. "Even without the lights or the stage, they made the play come alive. And it was amazing how the actors made their characters grow each time they read a scene."
There was a time when Katharine Hanley, now a resident of Glenside, considered an acting career. A Vermont native, she was a theater major at the University of Vermont, planning for a career on the stage. But then she had the opportunity to be assistant stage manager for a college production.
"I loved it right away," she recalled. "I thought, ‘This is it!’"
She dropped her acting plans and began stage managing the college plays. After graduation, she did an internship at the Center Stage Theater in Baltimore. Later, when she married and started to raise a family, she became a freelance stage manager. Living in Schenectady, N.Y., she worked with the Saratoga Shakespeare Festival and the Capital Repertory Theater in Albany.
When the family moved to Narberth for a year, the versatile theater professional worked in the education department of People’s Light & Theatre in Malvern.
"But I was getting the itch to stage-manage again," she said.
She got her chance after she and her husband bought a house and settled down in Glenside last August. Soon after, Hanley was invited to be stage manager for The Piano Lesson, and she accepted eagerly.
Of course, a life in the theater is a difficult balancing act for a mother of two children, Clara, 9, and Jorge, 6. During the run of The Piano Lesson, Hanley works six days a week, including evenings. In the afternoons, she has careful baby-sitting plans in place, and then husband, Brian Labrake, takes over. When the play ends each evening, the drive back to Glenside takes 45 minutes.
But Hanley is a trouper who accepts the commute without complaint. She’s delighted to be working on her first production for the Arden.
"I love it!" Hanley said. "I’m excited to be working with a company with such an excellent reputation. They’ve been fabulous to work with."
And she thrives on her behind-the-scenes role. In her booth for each performance, she’s attuned to every detail of the production. It’s hardly relaxing, but it’s a role she finds very satisfying.
"It’s a great feeling when everything goes smoothly," she said. "I see it roll along smoothly, and I know I’ve helped to facilitate that." ••
The Arden Theatre Company, at 40 N. Second St., presents "The Piano Lesson" through April 6. Tickets are available by phone, 215-922-1122, or online at www.ardentheatre.org