Catbird Seat Number Three!

Today was very encouraging. First, we warmed up with Connor's cast. We did the freeze frame exercise, where each actor poses one by one and creates a kind of picture together. As people join in, the pictures could turn into anything from statues, to a murder scene (what we got today) to complete absurdity (or was it?). It happens within a few seconds. They balanced sticks after that, but thats too hard to explain. They had to work off of each others movements and be aware of each other. Then we played I know you will, which works like this: actor 1: "I know you will" actor 2: "I know I won't"  (and repeat that). There are a million reasons why one would say "I know you will." Are they threatening? Are they hiding something? Are they pleading? I asked them all to make a choice. Figure out what you want from your partner and get it. What reaction do you want? Say "stop" through "I know I won't." 

So that was fun. Lots of work with motivation. Then we worked through the opening scenes of The Catbird Seat. Everyone was experimenting and comfortable in the space. They took my criticism well and put up with my experimenting when it came to blocking. I asked questions like "what do you want from her? " I also asked them about who holds the status over the others in specific scenes. Who has the upper hand? Their answers tell me that so far, we are all on the same page. Aaron and Emma are making clear choices and working off each others cues, and Jess and Lisa are giving their lines believable, physical reactions and movements. Along with notes on tempo and blocking, a couple mistakes and many suggestions are now written in my script to keep. We're moving!