She pulls the strings at the ballet

  • By Mike Murray / Herald Writer
  • Thursday, May 27, 2004 9:00pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

When Jennifer Kimball says go, things happen at Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Dancers dance, sets fly, props move, curtains raise and lights snap on and into place.

Kimball is PNB’s production stage manager, a kind of air-traffic controller for dance performances, and she “calls” each performance.

“I tell everybody what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it,” she said. Starting Thursday she’ll be directing traffic at one of the company’s most elaborate productions: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The company is ending its season with its lavish production of Shakespeare’s comedy of mortals and fairies, passions and potions, giving nine performances in Seattle’s McCaw Hall.

Audiences love big story ballets in part because of the spectacle created by lavish sets and beautiful costumes. Making narrative sense of the story is the choreographer’s challenge, and in 1992 George Balanchine of New York City Ballet succeeded at making a dance out of Shakespeare’s play, setting his dance to a selection of music by Mendelssohn.

The work, which has been in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s repertory for nearly two decades, was redesigned in 1997 with new sets and costumes. “Midsummer” has become a showcase for PNB, which performed it at the Edinburg International Festival and at Sadler’s Wells Theater in London. It was there that the BBC filmed the production in high-definition TV.

Martin Pakledinaz’s sets include a 12-foot spider and a 22-foot magic arrow, which is used by Puck to cast his love spells. There are vistas of flower-filled gardens and towering forests, a glowing moon and twinkling stars. The 100-plus costumes took more than a year to make.

It’s Kimball’s job to keep everything in motion and on schedule from her behind-the-scenes perch at the stage manager’s control panel. Monitors let her see the full stage. A headset links her to the stage crew so she can cue the lights, scenery and prop movements and special effects as she follows the musical score.

Kimball doesn’t know the dance steps, but she doesn’t have to. “The dancers take care of themselves,” she said.

Big, narrative ballets such as “Nutcracker” and “Romeo and Juliet” are both challenging and fun because there’s so much going on, Kimball said

Kimball went to college to become a doctor, “but after six months I found I really missed the theater.”

She joined PNB in 1997 and been stage manager since 2000.

“Midsummer Night’s Dream” opens Thursday and performances continue through June 13.

Pacific Northwest Ballet photo

PNB principal dancer Paul Gibson with PNB School students as “bugs” in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

A Pacific Northwest Ballet production Thursday through June 13 at McCaw Hall, Seattle Center. Tickets, $16-$25, 206-441-2424, www.pnb.org, and at Ticketmaster, 206-292-ARTS.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

A Pacific Northwest Ballet production Thursday through June 13 at McCaw Hall, Seattle Center. Tickets, $16-$25, 206-441-2424, www.pnb.org, and at Ticketmaster, 206-292-ARTS.

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