John and Emily staging

After having a rehearsal cancellation this practice had a lot to catch up on. IT was an exciting practice because for the first time we were in the theater. We spent the first part of rehearsal getting to know the space. I would give them a task to do and shapes to make in the space in order to find the how the stage feels. After a few games I began having them set the stage by placing each "set piece" in a place where everyone in the audience can see. What started out as a game ended up setting how our stage would work and created the rehearsal space.
After we ran through the show and worked with playing with ceasing shapes in the scenes. We worked to the end of the show and for the first time we did a run through. Unfortunately my actors were not 100% memorized like I had wanted but as we worked the scene they became more comfortable without looking at their scripts. We re-staged the last part of the scene and I found that I need to work with them on chemistry more.
After this rehearsal I now know what I need to do next rehearsal. I gave them the first assignment outside of rehearsal. The should be working on finding how their character walks and talks and finding their mannerisms. Also I told them to be memorized for thursday. At this point I am ready to do run throughs with stops on areas where chemistry and character need fixing. I think we are in a good place rehearsal wise and I am happy my actors are trying so hard in rehearsal and are taking direction so well.