This is the fourth in a series of interviews with some of our staff members who have called the Lyric Theatre theatre home for a number of years by Allison May:
Backstage at the Lyric Theatre, Debbie Morgan has been working to finish the props for The Marriage of Figaro. Taking a break from upholstering a chair, Morgan talked about the fond memories she has acquired from 12 years of working at the Lyric Theatre.
Morgan said she enjoys working behind-the-scenes for the Lyric Opera productions. “All of my hard work is worth it when I get to see how much the props I create enhance the show.”
But many of Morgan’s best memories come from the people she has worked with at the Lyric Theatre. “I’ve worked with Keith Brumley since I began here. I love working with him because we usually see eye-to-eye on things. Except for the one time we didn’t,” Morgan said. “We were doing the production Madama Butterfly, so we needed to make a bunch of mats. I had already covered one in a tan fabric and had it leaning up against the wall. Keith came in and said it was too light. I was surprised, but I took it apart, took it home and dyed it a shade darker. When I brought it back the next day and put it on stage Keith said, ‘Oh that’s too dark. It looks brown on stage!’ At this point I was very confused. So it took the fabric home again and tried to use a dye remover but the fabric turned out orange and green! I obviously couldn’t use that, so I bought more of the original tan fabric. When I brought it in, Keith looked at it and said ‘That’s the perfect color.’ I couldn’t believe it. Finally, we figured out that at first, Keith was looking a mat that was covered in a white sheet for rehearsals and was against a wall across the room while I was looking at the tan one. Once we realized our miscommunication we just started laughing uproariously.”
While Morgan is excited to have updated facilities at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, she feels it is bittersweet to leave the Lyric Theatre. “There has been an air of excitement here about moving to the Kauffman Center for the past two years,” Morgan said. “And I am excited for all of the new productions next year. I have never done Turandot, Così Fan Tutte or Nixon in China. But just the other day I was sitting here thinking about all of the good memories I have from all of the shows and rehearsals at the Lyric Theatre. We will all miss it here.”
