TWO GUNS 4/16

Since this block was an M/X, it was much shorter, so I skipped warm-ups for the most part. I think it’s really important for the cast and director to be close and to understand each other and listen, so I made a point of talking to Steve and Mariah before we got going. I think for next time I want to make that longer and with more purpose. We need to be comfortable around each other and we really need to build trust. If I’m going to be honest, I have never really talked to either of them before- we simply never hung out with the same crowd. This is my chance to get to know them. It seemed like they weren’t investing themselves fully in the work, so I had them play the ‘Don’t Make Me Laugh’ game, where they literally stare into each others’ eyes and cannot laugh or smile. They grew better at that over a while, and it proved useful, so I think I may repeat that one. 

            We ran the first two pages again and then moved on to the next two pages-ish. They seemed to have lost a bit of the energy from the last time (which even at that time wasn’t quite enough). Also, the lines seemed as if they were just read off the paper- I did not believe them. So, I gave them the direction to put down the ‘guns’ and just talk. Just have the conversation as if they were having a chat on the quad. That REALLY seemed to work. It worked so well, in fact, that I will not even have them mime the guns until tech week or maybe a bit before. They really need to relax. Mariah in particular has a tendency to sound really serious even when she doesn’t mean to be- that’s just naturally something she does, which is absolutely fine We just need to learn to work with that. I gave her the simple direction of “You are very happy today. Be happy as you say your lines.” That seemed to work REALLY well for her, and I instantly understood what ‘Megan’s’ intentions were. She did not even appear happy per se- it just dug Mariah/Megan out of the seriousness and into believability.

That’s the main stuff for now. Next rehearsal I’ve decided that we need to take a break from the script and work on various other things as a cast. We need a more solid foundation, because I feel like Steve and Mariah, however willing they are to learn and work hard (and they are), need some practice in character development, and believably conveying intention.

I think it may be a good idea to start recording some stuff for them to watch, so they’ll be able to see exactly what critiques I am giving them and why.

Bubbles and celery pancakes,

Sarah