Yesterday, I had my second individual rehearsal with Nick. We began with a quick game of zip with Kelly and Nick G.'s casts, and then I had Nick do another improv prompt, where I asked him to "tell me about how Quinn dropped her lunch on you last week." Although I do believe that these particular prompts have their flaws, especially in casting, I think they're really forcing Nick to think of answers to these questions as Evan on the spot, which is good for helping him feel comfortable in the role. However, I would like to find some other kinds of warm up exercises and improv-type games that would reinforce this character development, but in different ways. I think I'm just limited because of the absence of my entire cast.
We then ran through the script three times, working primarily with blocking that I had envisioned. The run-throughs went well, but we kind of broke focus a few times to talk about Evan as a character. We talked a lot about his vulnerability and how he spends a good deal of the script trying to gain his sense of security back. In addition, we discussed the relationship between Evan and Quinn. This "table-work" I think is helpful, especially because Nick really likes to talk. I know Calli likes to talk, too, and this the "table-work" would be beneficial, too. As for me, I love analyzing text and going into the subliminal meanings behind the text, so I freaking love "table-work." At the end of the day, though, there's only so much talking you can do, and there's a point where the talking becomes much less important than actually doing. During these individual rehearsals, table work is just fine and I think it helps my actors understand their characters and the plot more. However, something I need to improve on once I rehearse with all my cast is getting out of the tendency to talk about the script and actually work through action.
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