"Ferris Wheel" - Rehearsals #4 & #5

Rehearsal #4 4/23

            Today, we had a joint warm-up with both Jillian and James’ casts. We played enemy-protector in order to energize the casts. However, it eventually devolved into chaos, so we stopped the game and moved on into playing “Bop,” which is the game where someone in the middle will point at people around them in a circle and the people in the circle have to make an animal or another situation. This game tested their readiness and required them to pay very close attention to one another.

            We then split up, and I began rehearsal with interviewing each character about themselves, which I videoed so I could watch it after the rehearsal. First was Gib, who plays Harper. She did well, but sometimes had trouble connecting her improvisation to the plot of the play itself and what the audience learns about Harper throughout the piece. Then was Maddie, playing Cameron. This was somewhat difficult for Maddie. It appeared that she had trouble committing to one idea and rolling with it; she thought too much about what she was going to say instead of just doing it.

            After the interviews, Joel brought us a bar and told us to try using the bar as a prop to hold in order to recreate a Ferris wheel. The bar worked very well. We then spent the rest of the time discussing intention and finding justifications to leaning out of the sides of the car in order for the sides of the audience to be much more engaged.

Rehearsal #5 4/24

            Today, we had a shorter rehearsal than usual. We warmed up playing the floating disc game in order to work more on their physical awareness. We then played “Speaking of…”, “Yes, and…”, and “No, but…” in order to work on our playfulness and the ability to work together. The two found that “Yes, and…” was a much easier game to play than “No, but…” because they could build off of what the other person said rather than come up with their own ideas completely; it was easier and smoother to accept.

            We then worked on justification and engagement of the sides. We spent a lot of the time finding ways to make the bar work for the entire piece, which it did, except we need to find something to do with the bar at both the beginning and the end of the entire piece. The end.