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'Fire' goes to the capital Photo by Jim Craven Oregon Shakespeare Festival crew members move a piece of scenery from "Magic Fire" into a van that will take it to Washington, D.C. for a performance at the Kennedy Center. Homegrown OSF play heads east BY ALBERTO ENRIQUEZ The time had come for butterflies and jellyrolls Friday morning for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival workers taking "Magic Fire" to the nation's capital. There were butterflies because the homegrown production -- the Festival's first ever to go out of state -- will open 3000 miles away Nov. 12 at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. There were jellyrolls because it takes some serious huffing, puffing and sugar to cram all the costumes, props, sets and lights for a major production into a 53-foot trailer in a tight alley without a loading dock. Construction supervisor Bruce Jennings, with the Festival since '79, has had plenty of experience packing shows to Portland. But those jobs were easy by comparison. Hands familiar with the production were there to assemble the sets when they arrived, and with just 300 miles to travel, the Festival could splurge on three trucks. Munching a maple bar Friday morning, Jennings pondered the difference. This time, there's the challenge of directing the assembly of platforms and sets he can't so much as touch -- thanks to union rules on the other coast -- with folks he's never met. "It's an all-new crew," Jennings said, as workers wrestled a large set into place just inches from where the trailer's doors would slam shut. "I hope I've done my homework and know how to put it all together. But they're professionals. They're used to that kind of stuff there. They work with out-of-town companies all the time. It's what they do." "It's exciting," prop master Paul James Martin said, taking a break from the loading. "I'm a little nervous about it because it's such a new thing. The staff there is union, and we can't even touch the equipment once we put it on the truck here. They have people who do scenery who can't touch props. They have people who do props who can't touch scenery. I've had to label more so that we can get it all sorted out and unpacked at the other end." The Kennedy crew will have just 15 hours to put it together. That job will be made easier because all Festival sets are designed as modules to be struck and reassembled easily. That's by luck, not design, because no one knew the play would be going to Kennedy until after it had opened last season at the Festival's own Bowmer Theater, Jennings said. "Magic Fire" is the story of the daughter of Viennese refugees who flee to Argentina in search of peace and culture, only to find no haven in ignoring the evils of dictatorship. "The show can't go on without this!" Martin called out, handing a decorated broom to others of the loading crew. "It's a birthday present for the little witch. It really is. The aunt who's an actress gives it to her because she's 16 and supposed to be old enough to drive." Butterflies aside, there was plenty of electricity about taking a play to Washington, D.C., and one of the nation's premiere theaters. "Not everybody I know knows, but everybody that I know who is in the theater does," Jennings said. "I can't vouch for how many people my mother may have told! You're certainly honored to have gotten the tap on the shoulder." Jenning's wife, Jay, who painted the sets, will accompany him in a purely tourist capacity, joined by their 2-year-old son, Dylan. In the brief stay between assembly and previews, they hope to get in as many museums as they can, especially the monster Van Gogh show now at the National Gallery. Whatever the challenges, trucker Joe Lofton, of New Hampshire, says a familiar dilemma will await James and Jennings at the Kennedy Center: there's no loading dock there. "You load it through the front doors," he said. "Right on the corner of 28th and F streets." Mail Tribune Copyright � interRogue & The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA