The prop and technical requirements for THE LONESOME WEST are a bit daunting – an exploding stove, the nightly breakage of multiple plaster saints and food fights. But it was TAYTOS that kept me awake at night.
The script refers specifically to this Irish “crisp” throughout the play, so there’s some artistic obligation to use the real thing – which I found could be ordered online at foodireland.com! But they’re pricey. And we’re cheap – and have already spent $150 renting the plaster saint molds from Milwaukee Rep. So I lie awake nights doing Tatos calculations: how many bags does Tim Budd [playing Valene] need to bring in from the store? How many need to be destroyed each night? Can we reuse the bags, refilling them with non-Tato chips? Can John Watkins [playing Connor] crumble the bags instead of opening them and pouring out the chips?
During rehearsals we played with other brands (nope – too visible in our intimate space), altered stage business to preserve the bags (nope – it really is important to see the chips scatter), calculated and recalculated (usually when I should have been sleeping).
Arghghghghghg. Let’s just order the darned chips!!!!! So online I went, and soon 72 bags of chips were arriving by UPS (20 rehearsals and performances with the real thing, allowing 3 bags to be sacrificed every night, with some left over for backup). Pretty spendy @ $1 a bag – but seeing those goofy TATOS bags onstage just makes me happy every time. And finally I can get some sleep.
The script refers specifically to this Irish “crisp” throughout the play, so there’s some artistic obligation to use the real thing – which I found could be ordered online at foodireland.com! But they’re pricey. And we’re cheap – and have already spent $150 renting the plaster saint molds from Milwaukee Rep. So I lie awake nights doing Tatos calculations: how many bags does Tim Budd [playing Valene] need to bring in from the store? How many need to be destroyed each night? Can we reuse the bags, refilling them with non-Tato chips? Can John Watkins [playing Connor] crumble the bags instead of opening them and pouring out the chips?
During rehearsals we played with other brands (nope – too visible in our intimate space), altered stage business to preserve the bags (nope – it really is important to see the chips scatter), calculated and recalculated (usually when I should have been sleeping).
Arghghghghghg. Let’s just order the darned chips!!!!! So online I went, and soon 72 bags of chips were arriving by UPS (20 rehearsals and performances with the real thing, allowing 3 bags to be sacrificed every night, with some left over for backup). Pretty spendy @ $1 a bag – but seeing those goofy TATOS bags onstage just makes me happy every time. And finally I can get some sleep.
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