Because everyone was rehearsing at the same time last night, I ended up holding my rehearsal in the Black Box. At first, I was hesitant about working in such a vastly open space, but it ended up being great for us. Both of my actors, more-so Eli than Shae, have a tendency to start a line strong and then let the end fizzle off into space. The Black Box, in all it's enormously empty glory, was great for working through that. I stood up at the top of the bleachers and had them working all the way in the back by curtains, which made them more aware of when they aren't projecting or articulating enough. Eli still has a tendency to slur his words together so that a whole sentence sounds like one very long word, but he catches himself doing that now, and he's getting much better at it.
We started with "speaking of", which I know they both hate, but I think it's useful, so I love watching them play. Then we moved onto "I want you to have this/ I don't want it" and "I love you/ I don't care". I had trouble explaining that with that game, as with the script, I don't want them to show me how they're feeling, I want them to think about what they're trying to accomplish and whether or not they're getting their points across. After that, we improved a family dinner, which was so much fun because I stepped in and played Mom. Eli and Shae both expressed to me how much they love improving things like that.
Then we moved on to the script. I adore the fact that both my actors are memorized, even though Eli doesn't think he's completely memorized. They're really starting to take off with the script and find moments that they can have fun with. We worked on the stage for a little while today, and they both seemed to fit into the space very well; they seemed comfortable there.
I can't wait for tomorrow.
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