(I realize I write posts with length that would suffice for a dissertation. Oh well.)
First legitimate rehearsal with the whole cast!!1!*!1&11^1!!$#!!!!%
Today went extremely well. We rehearsed for a full hour and forty minutes, and one very reassuring thing was how quickly Nick and Calli clicked and bonded instantly. Before, both actors expressed concerns to me about being more comfortable with me as a scene partner after all the individual rehearsals (what can I say? I'm an acting genius). However, I'm thrilled that this didn't end up being an issue, and I think the rest of our rehearsals should be a lot of fun. One thing I need to work on as a director is being serious about not letting fun and jokes get out of hand and distract everyone from getting work done. While we had a longer rehearsal than usual today and did accomplish a great deal, it shouldn't lead to problems. We're on a tighter schedule than usual as it is, in any case.
Anyways, let me map out the entirety of the rehearsal. We all met in Joel's room and set up a mock-up one act stage, complete with chairs, a stolen piano bench, and a giant X to mark the two diagonals that I want my actors to maximize use of. We began with a moving in the space exercise. First, I asked them to simply walk around, but I specified the directions as time went on. I then asked Nick and Calli to walk in the space with a purpose to their movement (from point A to point B), to walk as if they were tethered to the other person in the space by a thread, to increase their pace, and to drop on the floor or stop completely at a clap. This was helpful in not only building up the actors' energy, but also heightening the stakes of the situation and adding a sense of tension, both of which are important to the staging of my one act. Finally, I asked them to keep the heightened pace and the "point A to point B" mindset, but to stay solely on the lines of the X. Not only did Calli and Nick walk along the full length of diagonals, but they also made 90ยบ turns. This is the exact type of movement that I'm looking for in part of my one act - particularly the sections where they talk about their "psychotic idiosyncrasies."
After this, I gave them two improv prompts: to show me Evan and Quinn's first date, and to show a more recent date of Evan and Quinn's at the movie theatre watching a romantic comedy that Quinn picked out. I was genuinely quite happy with how Calli and Nick naturally seemed to melt into their characters. They've definitely thought about who their characters are and how they would speak to each other. Calli, for instance, did a great job of speaking in a very tangential way. She would often let one sentence lead to another thought that was barely connected to the first, which is right in line with Quinn's character. In addition, it was also interesting to see how Nick and Calli played the different stages in Evan and Quinn's relationship. Nick did a good job of portraying Evan in a more nervous, timid light in the first date (Evan, being who he is, makes a mountain out of small events like these, so he would appear visibly nervous). During the second date, Nick portrayed his character with greater ease and made some truly hilarious sarcastic quips at Quinn. I think both of these scenes were important for the nature of the script. The section in which Evan proposes and Quinn freaks out has a more uncomfortable tone to their relationship, where the first date exercise plays in. Other portions of the script would tap into the fact that the couple has been dating for two years and Evan and Quinn are quite comfortable with each other, just not in a conventional way.
We ran through the script a total of three times. The first time, I didn't go over specific blocking and simply watched how the actors played with the text and with each other. There were some notes I had to give, such as telling Nick to find reasons to look at Quinn (Calli) during his proposal. After this, we discussed blocking more and I told the actors what exactly I am looking for in terms of movement. I described the giant back-and-forth conversation about who is weirder as a point of escalating energy and enthusiasm, which should reflect in the movement and the actions of the section. Once I gave this direction, both actors took it seriously, and talked to each other about how to move so they could get in the right places at the right time. Calli and Nick both came up with an idea to actually cross each other on the diagonals, which I never thought of and fully supported. We ran through the script twice more, and there were strong improvements to the playing of the initial sections of dialogue, especially the proposal and the conversation afterwards. A lot of their interactions seems very natural and not like acting at all, which is amazing. It shows that they're really in character and their chemistry playing out beautifully. Calli is doing a superb job of playing the sections where she rattles off her quirks, and Nick could not be doing better with the proposal scene and playing Evan's extremely nervous phase. He had some confusion about his character's "turning point" and where he snaps from being very nervous into being more comfortable and joking with Quinn, but I think after talking about it, we're both on the same page. I have very strong faith in Nick (and Calli, too) to convey the knowledge of his character and the stakes of the script through his performance. I timed the performance in the third run-through: nine minutes and fifty-one seconds.
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