Even a casual perusal through the Red Barn Summer Theatre’s season pamphlet exudes busyness. Four shows — which run anywhere from nine to 13 days apiece — chase one another from June 17 through August 15, a mere two or three days between the end of one and the beginning of the next.
But the white spaces between the lines of schedule contain a story that rivals on-stage performances in interest.
Next in the cycle is “Death by Golf,” which opens today at the professional theater’s location outside Frankfort. Members of the summer company, along with its directors and everyone else on hand, tore down the set from “The Boys Next Door” on Sunday to make room for scenery they had been preparing over the past few weeks. Carting with them freshly memorized lines, the actors locked into place the new background and launched a tech run Monday before the dress rehearsal Tuesday evening.
This process, which repeats itself every two weeks during the summer season, relies on a multilayered, challenging schedule that encompasses efficient planning, preparation and execution.
On a recent Thursday morning, company members bustled in a pre-deadline buzz. Two actors circled a table full of makeup mirrors as they rehearsed lines in the dressing room. Other voices — changing volumes, pitches and emotions — filled the outdoor rehearsal stage and spaces in between buildings. The Black Keys accompanied a group working together on painting and sawing projects to build the next show’s set.
“I’ve always felt that theater and journalism have much in common in that everyone expects to pick up their paper tomorrow morning, and they don’t really care how long or how late you worked,” said Martin Henderson, who founded Red Barn with his wife, Carol Ann, in 1968.
“With theater, you can’t say, ‘Well, we’re not ready. Come back two days from now.’ We all are confronted by a deadline.”