1 Day in the Life: The Full Monty
On this wintry Pittsburgh afternoon, it’s gray, it’s cold and Philip Rheinheimer (A 2017) is dangling from a lift 35 feet above the Philip Chosky Theater.
Just another day at Carnegie Mellon University.
The junior lighting design major is in a focus chair, a piece of equipment that allows him access to the stage lights when scenery is in the way. He’s one of nearly 100 students involved in some capacity in the production of this year’s School of Drama musical, “The Full Monty.”
It’s taken more than eight months to get to this point. For approximately 160 hours, the 17-member cast has been immersed in rehearsals. Over 60 students have spent 400-plus hours working on sets, costumes, lighting, sound, painting and props. When all is said and done, nearly a third of the School of Drama student body will have been involved in this production in some way. And they’re not alone.
Add in 12 professional musicians, collaborators from across the College of Fine Arts, one celebrity alumnus (who happened to earn a Tony nomination for this very show) and you’ve got a production that extends well beyond the walls of the Purnell Center for the Arts. It takes a village. And a custom fat suit too. Welcome to 1 Day in the Life: The Full Monty.
7:12 a.m. - The calm before the storm
8:23 a.m. - A theater for big, complicated productions
Founded in 1914, CMU’s School of Drama is the first degree-granting drama institution in the United States. The school’s conservatory program, uniquely situated within a major research university, prepares students to be leaders in their chosen professions. By combining established practice with innovation, pedagogical and technological advancement across all disciplines, Drama students are taught how to bring their creative skills to theater, film and television as well as how to work with visual artists, musicians, engineers, robot developers, business school students and arts managers.
The School of Drama’s Purnell Center for the Arts is home to the Philip Chosky Theater, a 430-seat proscenium theater that acts as the central hub for the school’s four annual Broadway caliber performances. It is named for Philip Chosky (1925–2011), a Pittsburgh native who grew up in the Hill District and graduated from Carnegie Tech in 1948 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. Though he made his fortune as the founder of Rosedale Technical Institute in Pittsburgh and the Electronic Institutes in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, it was in the arts — not tech — that Chosky found his passion.
10:37 a.m. - Classes first. Rehearsals tonight.
Joshua Grosso is a senior majoring in music theater. He plays the role of Malcolm, a steel mill security guard in Buffalo, N.Y. who joins up with the crew of unemployed mill workers to create a male strip act. Between rehearsals, auditions, classes and extracurriculars, the life of a music theater major is stressful.
Something that helps alleviate a little of that stress is the financial aid provided to Joshua and his fellow students. Of the 57 graduating seniors in the School of Drama Class of 2016, 51 receive financial aid, which totals $4.4 million in financial aid dollars during their four years at CMU. It is the gracious support of to donors of undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships for School of Drama students, that helps us prepare young artists for future impact on theater and film. Hear from Joshua in his own words about his experience and the impact of this support.
12:54 p.m. - Meet the cast
3:08 p.m. - This is the size of a Broadway show
Once a scenic designer imagines the set, technical direction students create the technical design for all units, figuring out what materials to use and how everything will fit together. When the drawings are approved, materials are ordered and a job lead oversees the construction of that unit while supervising a crew of undeclared first-year design & production students, and technical direction majors ranging from sophomores to graduate students. Sixteen hundred feet of lumber, 850 feet of steel, and 30 gallons of paint were used in the construction of “The Full Monty” sets.
6:30 p.m. - Let’s talk about the soda machine
Members of the production get together with the director to discuss logistics. This includes everything from reviewing the location of props and costumes to updating the team on the status of unfinished projects.
7:15 p.m. - If we don’t have it, they won’t learn it
School of Drama students work with cutting-edge technology and they do it on a grand scale. As one of the best educational theaters in the country, the Chosky Theater houses the very same equipment used by the pros. Working on large-scale productions like “The Full Monty” allows the students to gain hands-on experience to make the leap from student to professional seamlessly. Just one example from this production is the creation of a custom fat suit that transforms Michael Leadbetter (A 2016) from a college student into Dave, the unemployed millworker turned stripper.
Demonstrating this professionalism is crucial for everyone involved: every spring graduating School of Drama seniors — actors, singers, designers, technicians — travel to New York and Los Angeles for Showcase, where they have a chance to meet and perform for entertainment industry professionals. Students must raise their own travel funds to attend, so after “The Full Monty” performances, they will appeal to audience members for support. Support the students appearing in 2016 Showcases.
9:21 p.m. - A unique environment where everybody interacts
On the heels of his Golden Globe-nominated performance in “Fargo, ”Patrick Wilson (A 1995) returned to Carnegie Mellon to direct “The Full Monty” as a director-in-residence in the John Wells Directing Program. It’s a show he knows well, having earned a Tony Award nomination for best leading actor for his performance as Jerry in the original Broadway production. This return to “The Full Monty” marks Patrick’s directorial debut.
Collaboration is a key element of the production under Patrick’s leadership. A production team that comprises School of Drama design and management students has worked with him to execute his vision for the better part of a year. The return also offers a chance for Patrick to collaborate with faculty, like Choreographer Tomé Cousin and Music Director Thomas Douglas, who arrived at CMU as a professor while Patrick was a student. They are working together to create a world familiar to many Pittsburghers — a ’90s Rustbelt city, in this case Buffalo, N.Y., befallen by layoffs.
11:15pm - 6.13 miles
Tech rehearsal marks the first time that all the components of the show come together on stage. Though “The Full Monty” is a musical with raucous dance numbers, there’s plenty of action happening behind the scenes as well. On the first day of tech rehearsal, Assistant Stage Manager Brennan Felbinger (A 2018) is on his feet constantly. By the end of this 14-hour day, he will have traveled nearly the equivalent of a 10k, burned over 2,000 calories and achieved a maximum heart rate of 124 beats per minute.
Donors enhance what we do in every possible way
Producing “The Full Monty” and the three other Chosky Theater shows mounted each year is an expensive undertaking: students do all the work, but there are costs for production rights, sets, and costumes. Such productions are capstone experiences for drama students, incorporating and solidifying all they have learned and practiced.
Having experience with state of the art productions like this, students leave CMU fully prepared to take part in their dynamic profession anywhere in the world. And School of Drama shows enrich campus life for all students as an extraordinary cultural resource for the entire university.
Want to help? Make a gift now to ensure that the School of Drama remains top of class for years to come. Every dollar of financial support for the School of Drama Production Fund goes directly to staging shows like “The Full Monty.”
