When the answer was 30 to 35, Mr. Burnham and drama department chair Richard Hess huddled. The set design was started before the last academic year ended. The stage deck was completed by the end of summer. Grapes has been in rehearsal since mid-September, a week before the academic year began. Mr. Burnham, in his uniform of blue jeans and denim shirt, prowls the room, crouches in concentration, finds those many little plays.
Grapes is about myriad human dramas.
There were 350,000 people out there. For the first weeks of rehearsal, the company worked on a tight timetable. Long before the students returned to campus, Mr. Burnham had worked out a schedule for blocking out scenes. It's not enough to find the overall sweep. We have to find the moments.