Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 6 The Three Queens

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 80 Backstage Life: Jordan Lee Braun WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT LYRIC, AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU HELD THE POSITION? I’m in my third season as one of Lyric’s assistant stage directors. But my first show here was Romeo and Juliet in 2016, when I was an assistant stage manager. WHAT’S A TYPICAL DAY LIKE FOR YOU? I’ll get to work an hour or two before each rehearsal to study the score and prepare for whatever we’re covering that day. I review the translations of the text, sort through any logistics that might make the staging go more efficiently, and check in with the stage manager to see what he or she needs. During rehearsals, I keep track of all the staging and also handle the schedule. It’s my job to make sure we accomplish everything during a very tight timeframe. Sometimes we may have literally a hundred artists in the room at once, so in those situations, often the director will paint the scene with pretty broad strokes, covering motivation, intention, and big moments of the scene. I will then run around and rearrange people, answer individual questions, and solve issues that the director might not have time to address. During lunch, I meet with the director and the rehearsal scheduler regarding the plan for the next day. Then more rehearsals in the afternoon, followed by a meeting with the stage manager to go over any technical elements that may have changed as a result of that day’s rehearsal. Then either a performance of another show in the evening, or paperwork time. My responsibilities shift after the show opens. At this point, the director leaves, and the assistant stage director is responsible for ensuring continued show quality. A large part of “show call” is making sure that any absences are addressed. I handle any principal understudies, conducting separate rehearsals to teach them their roles, as well as coaching them on the day of the performance if they need to go on. Choristers and supers get sick and miss shows, too, and it’s my job to have a contingency plan for each person on the stage. And I watch every performance of each show that I work on, and continue to give feedback to performers as needed. WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB? The time pressure. Putting together as many shows as Lyric does, with as many people, means there isn’t time to make mistakes. Time costs money, so we have to be extremely organized, plan every detail, and then be prepared to quickly create a new plan because circumstances are always changing. WHAT KEEPS YOU COMMITTED TO THE WORK YOU DO? The music and drama are awesome. I get serenaded by 60+ professional singers every year on my birthday. The building is always full of coffee, and cake, and coffee cake, and ridiculously talented people who are passionate about what they do. We sing, we dance, we play dress up, we create beautiful performances. WHAT’S SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR JOB THAT PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW? It’s sounds sort of crazy to say “Okay, we are a whole bunch of strangers who are gonna show up two weeks before opening night and put together a production of Madama Butterfly from the ground up,” but we do it. And we do it over and over again. We call day one “first day of school,” and we get about six of those a year. You put on a spiffy outfit (but not too spiffy, because you never know when you’ll be rolling around on the floor during rehearsal), you show up and meet a whole bunch of new people, and then you get right to work. And just like in elementary school, suddenly it feels like you’ve known all these people for ages. Three to five weeks later, we have another first day, with a new class, and a new performance goal. A FAVORITE LYRIC MOMENT? I loved filling in as Leïla during Pearl Fishers rehearsal and being carried around on a litter. I loved every moment of Cendrillon (I didn’t work on it, but I snuck into the show while rehearsing another project and was totally enraptured). I love watching singers celebrate and feel great after a crazy adrenaline-fueled evening, like Diana Newman stepping in as Leïla at intermission with 15 minutes’ notice. One of my favorite things to do is helping the Ryan Opera Center understudies feel confident enough to succeed when they go on. Of course, I never want anyone to get sick or be unable to perform, but getting to see the next generation of the genre fill big shoes is so much fun. BEYOND OPERA, WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER PASSIONS? I’m a semi-avid hiker and an avid picnicker. I’m low-key obsessed with my toothless cat, Cthulhu, and his fat partner- in-crime Khan. Also, I’m a nerd with a penchant for podcasts/ books/news stories that pass the Bechdel test, or that are related to disease ecology/epidemiology, weird medical conditions, true crime, quirky history (history of pockets!), and etymology (did you know Velcro is a portmanteau of “velour” and “crochet”?).