[This is a guest post by technical director David Feheley, who is travelling with the cast and crew of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC, where the work will receive its U.S. premiere on March 1. This post was written Feb. 23] 

Another good day in Brooklyn!

Today was all about getting water into the pool. “Vinnie the pool guy” spent his birthday with us installing the liner in the pool. He and his crew spent the whole day working with us. The liner is custom-made out of vinyl for this pool by a company in Canada and arrives to us folded up inside a cardboard box. We first put a layer of felt into the pool to protect the liner from any imperfections on the plywood. We stretched out the liner and attached it to the pool, started filling it with hot water so the liner would soften, and then Vince started getting all the wrinkles out. He used a vacuum to pull the air out from behind the liner as we filled it with water. The installation looks great and Vince and his team were fantastic.

We started pumping water in the afternoon and by 11 p.m. last night we had 21 in. of water at 18 C. Our goal is to get 37 in. of water at 21 C. Once we have the pool full we will be able to start the circulation pump which will also filter and heat the water. Just like a backyard pool, we'll be testing the water every day from here on to make sure we have enough chlorine and the correct Ph balance.  

[This is a guest post by technical director David Feheley, who is travelling with the cast and crew of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC, where the work will receive its U.S. premiere on March 1. This post was written Feb. 22] 

Well, OK it is kinda day two but . . .

Yesterday was President’s Day here in the U.S. As a result we were only scheduled for one four-hour call to load the scenery into the theatre. The load-in here is off the street and down a ramp, and the ramp ends right onstage. The scenery for Nightingale is really heavy so we were concerned about how much time it would take to get everything off the truck. The local crew was great, the trucks were unloaded in a couple of hours, and we got a chance to sort everything. BAM got our lighting hung and the supports under the orchestra pit lift done last week so we were ready to go first thing this morning.

We started with the pool at 9 a.m. and by coffee the main structure and plywood was done. We spent the rest of the morning getting the ashtray (the raised platform with railing where some performers will stand; see photos) on stage right built. The stage left ashtray went much faster and we then started getting the curtains, lighting, and electrics in under the ashtrays. By the time dinner was called we had the railings on the ashtrays and most of the trim on the pool.  Tonight we got the felt lining into the pool, the tumbling platform built, the dance floor down and the sidelight kit built. We cleaned up the stage and we will be ready to hang the shadow screen and then begin focus.