Grinder's Grumblings

Always begin with a read-through. Some directors don’t do this, especially if they’re doing a classic – everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet, don’t they? While your budding star-crossed lovers may know the gist of the story they likely don’t know many of the details – bringing those to light is why ... (click here for the full article)

Falling behind is one of the most common pitfalls of rehearsing a play – it’s too easy to quickly become bogged down in pointless nit-picking or become so engrossed in the play at the outset of rehearsals that the last few days are spent rushing through the material at the end. There are many ways to divide up a play for rehearsal purposes, but simply having a rehearsal schedule on paper before you begin is... (click here to read the full article)

Running through the entire play over and over at each rehearsal is a crude and inefficient way to prepare a play for production. It can have merit when you’re working with a very inexperienced cast, and you will need a few run-throughs at the end of the rehearsal process before tech week to help everyone get a sense of the flow of the piece, but you can bring out a lot more truth and comprehension in the play if you can explore small sections of it in depth. But there are many different ways to divide up a play. A common way is to divide the play into “French” scene – each time a character enters or exits it marks a new scene, and you simply schedule rehearsals to work on the one or more scenes that feature the same group of actors. This can get a bit confusing, especially... (clicker here for the beats of The Constant Lover)

The technical analysis of The Constant Lover is available here.

All theatre, be it community, professional, educational or anywhere in between, has a bureaucracy, an imperfect organizational structure that everyone involved in a production must participate in to some degree in order to do their jobs. Unfortunately job titles and the duties assigned to them vary wildly from company to company, and of all the jobs listed...(click here to read the rest of the article)

Production Schedules are vital to the success of any production. They provide everyone with an “at a glance” view of the entire production. Despite the temptation to do so in smaller companies, Production Schedules and Rehearsal Schedules should not be economized into the same document, as this tends to be confusing for actors who... (click here to read the rest of the article)

How you analyse a script has a lot to do with what job you’re doing on the production. This analysis is meant for stage managers and technicians, and should form the starting point for their work on the production. The break-down below shows a common method of organizing the information gleaned from the script. These lists can be added to or modified...(click here to read the rest of the article)

Few theatre companies, amateur or professional, have one person for each and every job that needs to be done on a production – most people wear two or more hats. In the professional theatre there are some union jurisdictional lines that can’t be crossed, but in amateur productions it’s not uncommon to see the actors helping to put up the set, the person doing the lighting design also running the sound board, and the director handing out programs. The list that follows of positions on the production team is extensive, but it is by no means exhaustive... (click here to read the rest of the article)

This is where the study of the play begins to differentiate based on what role you are playing in the production. Since most people begin their theatrical journeys as actors, I’ve decided that an actor’s primer for highlighting lines would be as good a place to start as any. Why highlight your lines? You’re not going to have the script in your hands when you step on stage... (click here to read the entire article)

Okay, I’ve read the play. I know what happens. I have experienced the play as much like an audience member as I can without actually seeing a production. Now what? Read the play again. Why? Because now I need to understand the play, and everything it contains. This time... (click here to read the full article)

Every piece of theatrical advice and instruction that I have ever come across always begins with the same three words – read the play. It seems so obvious – how can you possibly act, direct, produce or stage manage a play that you haven’t read? Yet there are a great many people who call themselves theatre professionals who don’t bother to read a play before they begin rehearsals or start working on some technical element. These are often the people who... (click here to read the entire article)

Thank you for joining me on my journey. You can learn more about me and about how this project came into being by checking out my expository little epistle, How it all started . This website is devoted to the pursuit of knowledge about theatre. It’s for everyone who makes theatre, from writers to actors to directors to the person running the follow spot, and everyone in between. It’s for amateurs and professionals, students and teachers, and even audiences. It is for anyone who has to courage to honestly admit that they still have something to learn when it comes to theatre and stagecraft. The site is broken down into the broad topics of theatre... (click here to read the complete article)

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Hello everyone, It is with the deepest sadness that I must announce today that Grinder Productions has suspended operations, effective immediately. The reason for this is simple: I cannot find and keep enough male actors to do any shows this season. This is not a temporary problem, but one that has plagued me for years. It is not fair to ask the few men and many women who have agreed to do shows this year to rehearse without full casts. I am deeply sorry for doing this to all of you. If you are receiving this email it is because you have some stake in our company, as an actor, community partner, or friend, and I would like to apologize to anyone who is hurt, upset, disappointed or otherwise inconvenienced by this decision. I would like to extend a special apology to Tim and Sade, the two extremely talented, enthusiastic young people who were to run our summer camps who are now unemployed. If you know of anyone looking for two great camp counsellors this summer I highly recommend them. ...

Good, bad and ugly, it's been nice to get some comments this past week here on the blog. When you blog and blog and blog and blog and you're not sure whether or not anyone's actually reading it can get a bit disconcerting once in a while if you don't get the odd bit of feedback. (Luckily for me blogging fulfills the natural need within me to write, with a minimum of structural constraints and little or no censorship) Please don't hesitate to keep the comments coming, even if you're a hater - I do appreciate people's ideas and feedback, but I especially like to hear about constructive, pragmatic things that make things better here at Grinder. And if have any ideas about topics you think I should include in future posts feel free to let me know about that too!

I was going to simply make a comment in response to the recent comment Grinder received but I have been allowed to do a guest post instead. When I read the comment I was disgusted that someone would say such terrible things and not express their feelings directly. If someone has a problem with someone or something the only decent and adult thing to do is discuss them openly so the problems may be resolved. I have worked with Grinder for many years now and am thrilled to say that it got me back into theatre after many years away from it and I love it again. The fact that I love it means that I would rehearse almost anywhere, just so that I can do it. Grinder is not a big company with lots of money to throw around, yet it works hard to allow local people to get on stage and show off what they can do. It’s a company that has been in the community for years and struggles to keep going in these hard economic times. Eric runs Grinder out of a love for theatre and his love for allowing o...

Here's an article on Helium on a subject that's near and dear to me and the world's greatest wife. Understanding in vitro fertilziation (IVF) FYI, there's no news right now, nothing to report whatsoever. I won't say "stay tuned" because I can't promise that there would be anything to report much before the first day of kindergarten - that's the nature of these things. We've decided that being open about the process is an important step though, because too many people aren't aware of the extent of couples who deal with fertility issues, and it isn't talked about enough, even amongst fellow patients.

Day four of rehearsals dawned bright and sunny, as had been the norm all week long. By 9am the Main Street in Sheridan’s Falls was already filling up with tourists and teenagers, all of the scantily dressed for the hot day to come. Dressed in her “show blacks” because Trudy was taking her picture today for the front-of-house photos, Mackenzie attracted more than a few quizzical stares as she walked down the main street towards the theatre, coffee in one hand, her stage management toolkit in the other. “You’re a smoke short of finally looking like a real techie,” joked Steven, who was sitting on the front steps of the theatre having a smoke. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, both covered with dirt and paint from the shop. “So how’s the stage managing workin’ out for you?” “It’s okay, I guess. I never know what the next thing will be that I’m supposed to already know, but I think I’m staying ahead of things. “That’s good. That’s very good. And you’re sure you’ll ...

This was going to be our 1st main stage show at the Ennotville Library. Now it's the our first show at the Belwood Hall. This is Chaucer Uncensored! Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were completed in the final few years of the 14th century. They are a collection of stories being told by a group of pilgrims on their way to the Thomas Becket shrine in Canterbury, England. What makes the stories unique is that they are told largely by and about the common people of the time, not just the usual kings and queens. We've taken three of the most-loved and funniest tales and rewritten them for the stage, in thoroughly modern English - this play is just as easy to understand as a typical bedroom farce. The play is directed by Alan Quinn, who has also co-written the show, adding the British colloquialism that give it an even more farcical flavour. Chaucer Uncensored runs July 8th, 9th and 10th at the Belwood Hall. Call 519-780-7593 or visit www.grinderproductions.org for tickets a...

It was a dark and stormy night in late October 2004. The old Grand stood much as she does now, except with far worse lighting. A vast set covered the stage, dwarfed only by the endless vista suggested by the scrim beyond the large bay window upstage centre. Someone said it was one of the biggest, most elaborate sets they'd ever seen on the Fergus stage. Two young actors huddled in the cramped backstage, waiting for the lights to go down. A young man and a young woman, both playing roles well above their age, but filled with the plucky determination of youth. Alan Jackson's "Remember When" filled the theatre as the lights went to black. That night Grinder Productions was born. That night it wasn't a staged reading, pieces of paper stuck to a wall, or some pathetic techie's asinine ramblings over his fourth pint of Guinness. That night we performed a play. It was called Home Farm. I don't think Home Farm is the best play I've ever written (though a few ...

I write this as I'm sitting on the dock in Rosseau, whiling away the hours until I can pick up the world's greatest wife (who looks simply ravishing in a poodle skirt, by the way) from her company's annual meeting. Cottages dot the shoreline. A young family fishes on the next dock over, and then a loon's call echos over the water. You don't get much more Northern Ontario than this. Even though I'm far from home, noticeably exhausted and have narrowly avoided not one, but two wet and runny bombs from the seagulls periodically swirling overhead I'm oddly enough in a largely peaceful state of mind. Large bodies of open, calm water seem to have that effect on me, as does the quiet majesty of the boreal forest that seems to rise effortlessly out of the granite. A par of mallards land just behind me, and begin foraging along the shore. A pair of loons surface just a few feet from where I sit. A blue heron glides over the water, disappearing in the instant she lan...

I usually get excited when someone leaves a comment - it means that someone out there is actually reading this thing. But this morning I finally had someone who dared offer more than a platitude. Apparently I'm a horrible theatre company. I'm disorganized, I don't care about my casts and everyone in the theatre community hates to work with me. I'm supposed to stop complaining and get my act together before I lose what few actors I have left. The comment was left anonymously, but it was by someone who had done one show with me, and had such a horrible experience that he or she would never be back. The timing couldn't be worse, as this morning I was planning on telling everyone exactly what we are doing to fix what's wrong with Grinder, which is exactly what the commenter says needs to be done - I've been upstaged on my own blog. The words hurt - give me sticks and stones any day over this. The only thing that hurts more is that the commenter does have a valid...

Charles Dickens said it best - "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." We're now well into rehearsals for our summer season, with several shows on the go right now, and many more just on the verge of getting started. As the world's greatest wife has been reminding me, we're doing much better at this point this year than we were last year, and she's right - I'm very pleased to see how well a show like Chaucer Uncensored is coming along, and how we're already mostly cast for shows later in the season like Wild Angels and The 18 Carat Boob. But of course it can't all be roses - we have our challenges, just like every other year. It seems the Grinder "casting curse" is still alive and well - getting and retaining actors remains our largest stumbling block this season, and it's been the cause of more hair-pulling and sleepless nights on my part than anything else. Particularly frustrating to me is losing someone for a role o...

We still have some roles available for this summer for interested actors. Now that shows are getting into rehearsals the opportunities are diminishing, but there are still some spots left. In the Belwood season there are still some very juicy roles up for grabs in William Shakespeare's Cymbeline, some of the best roles of the season in George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession, and even a couple of roles left in The 18 Carat Boob. In Ennotville things are moving too fast to give you an accurate break-down, but there are both main stage, lunch and after-hours roles still open. Our greatest need is for people to appear in the After Hours series. I hope this whets a few appetites. If you've been thinking of joining us this summer I encourage you to come on out. All it takes is a few hours of your time every week, and you get to be a part of something incredible. And feel free to spread the word - Grinder is not an exclusive club, and anyone who has the desire to perfo...

Last night was our first rehearsal for Godiva's Children, the second Main Stage Show at the Ennotville Library. While I'm always happy to get a show into rehearsals, I'm also always a bit nervous about hearing a new script read aloud for the first time. Godiva is an original - it has never been done before, and it's never been given a workshop or reading. As for the story of Godiva's Children, well, that might just be this production's little secret. After all, everyone knows the story of the original Lady Godiva, right? Godiva's Children opens Thursday, July 8th at the Ennotville Library and runs to July 17th. For tickets and information please call 519-780-7593 or visit the website at www.grinderproductions.org.

... and I'll talk to you all again on Tuesday. Please raise a glass with me this weekend for our summer 2010 season!

We've got a lot of new faces this season at Grinder, so I thought today I'd point some of our newbies (as well as some of our veterans) to the resources we've assembled for you in The Actor's Toolbox. Just head on over to www.grinderproductions.org and click on the "Toolboxes" link. There you'll find a number of pages devoted to actors, directors and production personnel. Many of these pages are still under development, but the actors pages are largely complete. There's info on learning lines, creating characters, proper theatre etiquette for rehearsals and performances and so much more. You can also suggest favourite resources of your own for inclusion in a future update. Knowledge is power! And this information isn't just specific to Grinder. Theatre is theatre no matter where you go and this collection of tips will help you prepare for almost any play. Enjoy!

Our 1st main stage show at the Ennotville Library is now into rehearsals. It's called Chaucer Uncensored. Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were completed in the final few years of the 14th century. They are a collection of stories being told by a group of pilgrims on their way to the Thomas Becket shrine in Canterbury, England. What makes the stories unique is that they are told largely by and about the common people of the time, not just the usual kings and queens. We've taken three of the most-loved and funniest tales and rewritten them for the stage, in thoroughly modern English - this play is just as easy to understand as a typical bedroom farce (and we even have beds). The play is directed by Alan Quinn, who has also co-written the show, adding the British colloquialism that give it an even more farcical flavour. Chaucer Uncensored open June 24th and runs to July 3rd at the Ennotville Library. Call 519-780-7593 or visit www.grinderproductions.org for tickets and inf...

This show is the first in our "Mostly Music" lunchtime series at the Ennotville Library. You may remember it from a couple of stage readings we gave last summer - this is the first full-blown production (and I hope it won't be the last). It's a feel-good romantic comedy about two young strangers who meet by accident in the park one sunny day. It's also a musical, filled with funny, feel-good tunes. The Heart of Eden stars Andrew Simmons as Mike, a more hapless than hopeless romantic and Danielle Cranston as Eden, a girl who's irrepressible spirit is the sole driving force in her life. The show runs for one performance only, Saturday, June 24th at noon at the Library. Bring your lunch and stick around for our 2pm matinee of the hilarious farce, Chaucer Uncensored. Call 519-780-7593 or visit www.grinderproductions.org to book your seats or for more information!

The Grinder 2010 season is officially underway. Last night I attended the first rehearsal at the farm of Chaucer Uncensored, and today I'll be holding the first rehearsal of Heart of Eden. With these two shows now into rehearsals the pre-production period of our season has come to an end. Now it's a race to opening night, June 24th at the Library. I can't help but feel excited, be it very professional of my to say so or not. Theatre is what I do, it's what I love, it's who I am, and having the chance to make theatre once again is a wonderful feeling. After not having rehearsed a show all winter I've sorely missed the give and take of a good rehearsal, and while I was just an observer last night it still got me revved up for what's to come. And there's a lot of shows coming down the pipe. By this time next week no fewer than five shows will be into rehearsals, so expect the reports to come fast and furious about our progress. The box office should be up a...

If you're interested. The title is "Lots of Theatre." Lots of theatre Enjoy your weekend.

Our motto is Theatre that Dares to be Different - much maligned, much over-interpreted, for better or worse that is our calling. Today, I'm asking you to be different, and instead of just reading this, I would like you to leave a comment, or at the very least get connected as a follower of the blog. Some days it feels like I'm working in a vaccuum, that there's no one out there who's actually hearing me. On the blog it's not really so bad, as I don't require a response, but to all the people out there to whom I have sent casting offers and you have not responded back to me, yes, that is a bit hard to take. So, purely in the interests of my own sanity, I'm soliciting your feedback, on anything and everything Grinder. Maybe it's a show you saw, an event we participated in, or something you've seen here on the blog. I want to know what, if anything, has struck you about what we do. Some ideas: What do you think of Grinder? What do you like, what do you ...

Day two of rehearsals was much like the afternoon of day 1 – long and boring. The monotony of running the same parts of the play over and over and over again made it hard to stay awake, and Mackenzie found herself caught asleep on her feet a couple of times, forgetting to reset the props, having the scene start, and then the actors having to mime their actions, with Frank glaring her down. Bret had been right about the costumes. At lunch Mackenzie raided the costume shop for a cloth tape measure and a couple of old measurement sheets that some costumer had left long ago, and she was managed to fake her way through some of the rudimentary measurements required. Bret’s props were bang on as well, and Mackenzie wasn’t sure how she felt about taking credit for something that she’d only partially done, but Frank and the actors barely seemed to give the props a second look. Instead they just picked them up and started working with them like they’d always been there. Now sound? How was Macken...

We are all like icebergs, aren't we? The part of us that rises above the surface, the part of us that everyone else can easily see is but a small tip of what lies beneath. Some of us think of the hidden part of ourselves as the private, others as the keeper of our true selves. For some it is a refuge of secrets, delusions and lies, while for others its a well of inspiration, strength and, when necessary, refuge. Few people try to understand the hidden parts of others, and most of us don't really and completely understand our own hidden parts, if we're really honest with ourselves. So what the heck does this have to do with the never-ending roller-coaster of Grinder? Well, for the sake of extending hackney-ed metaphors consider the hidden parts of me, you and everyone who has a stake in this company or has ever been invited to have a stake in this company as the rails of the roller-coaster, constantly being laid a split second before they are rushed over in a constantly chan...

E-mail me or call 519-780-7593 if you're interested! Have a great weekend!

Summer Job Posting: Director of Children’s Programming Grinder Productions is Centre Wellington’s most diverse live theatre company. We are seeking an energetic, positive, out-going person to assist us with our Children and Youth programs this summer. Most of the work involved in this position will be conducted at our signature summer venue, the Ennotville Historical Library, a 19th century community hall located in the tiny Hamlet of Ennotville, Ontario, between the town of Fergus and the city of Guelph. This position will have two areas of responsibility. 1. Cast, direct, design, produce and assist with the promotion of our Children’s Series, 10 one-act Children’s plays, one each Saturday from June 26th – August 28th. 2. Conduct two drama camps for kids ages 8-12, one in July and one in August. Each camp will be four weeks long, and cover the basics of theatre/performance. May conclude with a small show. The Ideal candidate for this position will have: • An exceptionally positiv...

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Where Corn Don’t Grow A drama in 1 act By Eric Goudie 2nd Draft © April 2010 Time: The present. An afternoon in winter. Place: The kitchen of a farmhouse in rural Ontario. The Smyth family’s kitchen is old, poorly cleaned and heavily used. A door at right leads out to the barn, and an opening left leads to the rest of the house. There is a table and chairs pushed up against a wall, with seating for three. The floor is peeling linoleum, and a large window offers a view of the barnyard beyond. At rise, Samuel is sitting at the kitchen table drinking a beer and reading the newspaper, while in the background the Travis Tritt song “Where Corn Don’t Grow” is playing. Samuel is about 50, unshaven, and wears dirty, faded overalls, a ball cap, and work boots. After a moment we hear the sound of a car pulling up, and then a moment later Cedric and Michaela enter. Both are high school students, with Cedric in Grade 12 and Michaela in Grade 11. They drop their school bags and remove their coats a...

It's going to be a busy week here at Grinder. I've compiled a to-do list of everything that I'd like to get done before Friday: write a bunch of stuff, work on Helium for several hours, finalize a couple of scripts, get a whole whack of people committed to being in shows this summer and oh yeah, start working on actually selling the season with the marketing kick-off. That, a children's series and don't forget the baby goats (actually that made me stop and add a whole bunch more things to the list). You would think that with a list this long I'd be depressed about my prospects of getting it all done this week. I'm oddly confident, though. Perhaps it's my foolishness to even attempt to get so much done (I've been called foolish by a good many people a good many times), and of course no one can say what unforeseen events might crop up and throw a wrench into this week's plans (see the aforementioned goats, for example). But I can't help but hav...

The Playwright’s Circle at Grinder Productions Grinder Productions is a live theatre company committed to producing theatre that dares to be different. What could be more different than a new piece of live theatre! As part of our commitment to advance both stagecraft and the Canadian canon of dramatic literature Grinder Productions is pleased to announce the creation of our playwright’s circle. Our Goals To give ordinary people a chance to tell their stories through theatre To workshop, review and discuss new plays, providing substantial, constructive, honest feedback to the writer To reward playwrights with the production of their plays Our Process There are three tiers of the playwright’s circle, each reflecting the increased levels of commitment to the writing process: Short Drama: Members will create short scenes, two-person dialogues, comedic sketches, monologues, songs, movement pieces and other dramatic materials generally...

Here's a bit of Lost and Found I was able to adapt for use on Helium - all the course language had to be edited out, hence some of the odd word choices. Once again, feedback welcomed. Drama: Resolve

Godiva’s Children A Comedy in Two Acts By Eric Goudie 1st Draft © March 2010 Time: The Present. Place: A holding cell in the local jail. The scene is simple. A prisoner’s cell takes up an 8’x8’ square of the stage, with bars across the front of a windowless room. There’s a bed in the corner and that’s about it. The stage extends in front of the cell a few feet, with a door on SR and a bench on SL Act 1 At lights up Jerome is discovered sitting on the bed in the cell. He wears normal clothes and looks like a typical teenage kid. He looks sad, and a little bit frightened. Offstage, we hear Leslie’s voice. LESLIE: (off) In there? He’s in there? Through this door? JEROME: Mom? The door opens and Leslie Godiva comes in. She’s a 40-something working single mom. She’s followed by her daughter, Lola, who closes the door behind her and stands there, stunned. JEROME: Mom! LESLIE: Jerome! Leslie goes over to the bars. Jerome reaches through to hug her, but instead she slaps him. LESLIE: You idiot...

Summer Job Posting: Director of Children’s Programming Grinder Productions is Centre Wellington’s most diverse live theatre company. We are seeking an energetic, positive, out-going person to assist us with our Children and Youth programs this summer. Most of the work involved in this position will be conducted at our signature summer venue, the Ennotville Historical Library, a 19 th century community hall located in the tiny Hamlet of Ennotville, Ontario, between the town of Fergus and the city of Guelph. This position will have two areas of responsibility. Cast, direct, design, produce and assist with the promotion of our Children’s Series, 10 one-act Children’s plays, one each Saturday from June 26 th – August 28 th . Conduct two drama camps for kids ages 8-12, one in July and one in August. Each camp will be four weeks long, and cover the basics of theatre/performance. May conclude with a small show. The Ideal candidate for thi...

It's beginning to look a lot like summer around the homestead. The flowers are in bloom, the goats are clamouring for the pasture, the skunks and raccoons have gone mysteriously inconspicuous while they have their litters. I do enjoy this time of year, and not simply because the weather is getting warmer. After what always seems like a long and difficult winter I can't help finding optimism in the sunny days and spring chores. Apparently we're getting our own lawn mower this summer, which means we'll have to cut our own grass, which is will take up a lot of time, but at least it will be time spent outdoors making the most the good weather (I think after ten years of summer stock tech work my seratonin levels are still desperately low - bring on the Vitamin D). Of course, spring also means that the summer theatre season is just around the corner, and despite my best efforts to make Grinder a year-round operation I still find that the biggest uptick in activity are the su...

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Summer Job Posting: Director of Children’s Programming Grinder Productions is Centre Wellington’s most diverse live theatre company. We are seeking an energetic, positive, out-going person to assist us with our Children and Youth programs this summer. Most of the work involved in this position will be conducted at our signature summer venue, the Ennotville Historical Library, a 19th century community hall located in the tiny Hamlet of Ennotville, Ontario, between the town of Fergus and the city of Guelph. This position will have two areas of responsibility. 1. Cast, direct, design, produce and assist with the promotion of our Children’s Series, 10 one-act Children’s plays, one each Saturday from June 26th – August 28th. 2. Conduct two drama camps for kids ages 8-12, one in July and one in August. Each camp will be four weeks long, and cover the basics of theatre/performance. May conclude with a small show. The Ideal candidate for this position will have: • An exceptionally positive ...

Muzzle Blast – The Redux A Play in One Act By Eric Goudie 4 th Draft © May 2009 Time: The present. Place: Montreal . A working-class Anglophone neighbourhood. The set represents two working-class apartments, crammed together in a dilapidated building. Julie and Katherine share the SR apartment. A kitchen runs along the rear wall, with a small table and two chairs just downstage. Down from that, the door to the apartment hallway. That’s about it, though the entire place should be strewn with overflowing ashtrays, trashy magazines and the most pathetic of feminine accoutrements. Harold’s apartment is SL. His is much the same as Julie and Katherine’s, but the kitchen fades off SL and the couch doubles as a bed when needed. Again, the place is strewn with beer cans, cigarette butts and porn, perhaps even dirtier than the other apartment. A very narrow hallway runs between the two apartments and another narrow hallway runs across the front of them...