First Tech Rehearsal By Day, First Show by Night
A look behind the scenes by Mélanne Ghahraman, Assistant Producer and Administrator of The French Theater Project.
La magie du théâtre est vraiment quelque chose d’unique.
The magic of theatre truly is something else. Imagine being one day out from a show you’ve never seen performed live and have yet to meet the cast and crew that will bring the production to life. For the Haffmann crew, there was no need to imagine … We were about to live just that, and the thrill was building everyday in anticipation.
My first encounter with The French Theater Project (FTP) was a flyer I saw about an upcoming production, Contre Temps, in April 2025. I decided to go see the play. Little did I know that six months later, instead of being in the audience, I’d be in the booth backstage, stage managing the next production.
That summer, I heard FTP was looking for a Stage Manager (SM) for their play in October. At the time, I was in France but remained motivated about a potential opportunity to work with the organization. After exchanging with the team in Boston and interviewing for the position, I was hired as the SM for FTP’s production of Adieu Monsieur Haffmann.
October finally rolled around and my first day (out of four) had begun. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by our Production Manager, Dominique Burford, and the touring Technical Director, Arnaud Bilheude – who had flown in, like the rest of the cast, from France.
I immediately got to work: l’interprétation! This was not your typical SM role. I still had some regular duties such as overseeing the backstage crew, calling places, troubleshooting any problems during the show, and communicating with the theatre staff and box office to open and close the house. But in order to get that done, we all had to understand each other. One of my primary roles was to act as an interpreter between our English-speaking staff and the team from France.
First order of business was “focus,” which is working on setting lighting with specific colors in particular spots around the stage for different scenes, depending on the context and need for the light. Arnaud, having worked with the actors before for this show, knew what to use and when. But he had to communicate to the lighting crew what exactly he was looking for and the placements for each. Enter: L’Interprète.
Speaking in English while being spoken to in French (and vice versa) allowed me to practice both languages in a manner that I don’t often get to. I improved my quick-thinking skills live, by adapting to the conversation at hand and relaying the information d’une langue à une autre. Once “focus” was done, the production staff met with the actors to discuss any logistical issues and obstacles we were expecting to have.
Day two was more hands-on … maybe that’s because it was also show day! We had our tech rehearsal in the morning where we ran through the entire show once, starting and stopping where it was important for the backstage crew to know their cues for setting and striking. Since Arnaud and the cast had performed this show mille fois déjà, they didn’t necessarily need to run it, but it was the first time that these actors were all playing together. With this new dynamic, it was useful for them as well to be able to find a rhythm within each other.
Before I know it, 7:00pm hits and I’m calling “Places.” The fabulous cast and backstage crew were already prepared in anticipation of the call and ready to go. I’m seated in the booth facing the stage behind the audience, headset on, script in front of me, prête. Beside me was our Subtitles Operator, who was handling the live translation of the text which would be displayed as the show went on. One booth over was Arnaud, who I had gotten to know well by this point, between focus on day one and the million questions I had asked since to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The thumbs up we shared before the lights went up reassured me that all would go well. I was nervous having only rehearsed the cues once before, just a few hours earlier. But I knew that everyone was in this together and that we were about to make some of that magie du théâtre I mentioned earlier. I followed the script closely, word for word, throughout the entire show, and before each cue, would give the backstage crew a heads up that it was almost time to set or strike.
By show three, we had all mastered our roles, to the point where the backstage crew barely needed my cues anymore! I often think back to our first day where no one knew each other, to the curtain call of the last show – a group of “strangers” who didn’t all speak the same language were able to come together in such a short amount of time and create an exceptional work of art. Tout est vraiment possible.
In just four days, it felt like we had all been working on this production for months. To be able to bring the show together and create something we were all equally as passionate about assured me all week that I was in the right place. Between the friendly staff at the Calderwood Pavilion, FTP’s production team, and the actors/crew from France, it all culminated in the creation of an environment full of warmth, inclusivity, and togetherness.
Looking ahead to our next production, Soie, I envision the process to be similar yet different, if that makes sense. Since Haffmann, I joined FTP as the Assistant Administrator and Producer. I’ve been working with the team to secure the logistics for Soie, which ranges from anything having to do with housing, visas, box office and theater space management at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, all the way to communicating directly with the team in France – something I wasn’t doing during my four-day SM role. When showtime comes again in May, I’ll be putting on my SM hat on top of the Administrator hat, which is a dynamic I’m eagerly awaiting to experience.
Throughout the process with Haffmann, not only did I learn technical theatre phrases in French (and English) but I also witnessed the true power of working with a team. No matter the language barrier or limited amount of days to train, if you have the motivation, passion, and will, you’ll reach your goals, ensemble.
