Rehearsal One 4/8
My initial goal for this rehearsal was for it to be a meeting mainly focused on feeling the waters out. My cast consisted of people who don't really contact each other much, so, I wanted to get them started on getting acquainted and comfortable with each other. I started with some simple games that I hoped to be on the fun side, that would also be good for getting them into the swing of making choices/being physically articulate/getting into the energy of Words Words Words. Also as a new rule, for every rehearsal, every cast member and myself must be barefoot for the entirety for the rehearsal.
Games- Moving in the Space
-Moving in the Space while letting a body part define you (chest, nose, forehead)
-Drop and Freeze
- 1, 2, 3 animal (boppidy boppidy bop)
-Yes and....(you're formulating a plan to kill your boss)
After playing we name just had a read through, going over the text and the many puns inside it. As expected people still seemed a bit reserved by the end of rehearsal, but I didn't really expect anyone to jump in right away. Before everyone left I had each cast member take a bite of a banana, and then rehearsal ended.
Rehearsal Two 4/9
My cast and I met during MX today and it was a bit short. As opposed to rehearsing in the theater, I decided to rehearse in Conant; I figured that a larger space would work better for my initial rehearsals (it would develop good habits in terms of projection, volume and enunciation).
Games- Moving in the space with a body part defining your character
- Moving in the space at very slow, slow, normal, fast, very fast
Jonny showed up slightly late to rehearsal, right about in the middle of of moving in the space with varying speeds. I reminded him that punctuality is necessary for rehearsal, considering we have very limited time and can't all meet so easily. I had them continue moving in the space for a while longer, practice freezing and then moving again, and then we moved onto our first real read through. Energy wasn't quite as high as I would've liked. After the read through I emphasized the importance of energy and emphasis in the play. "This play is really dependent on your ability to be in it. If we let that lax, it's going to suck." To kind of move some focus away from the script, and hopefully increase comfort levels and make people less nervous, I asked them some spur of the moment questions. "Who is going to look, unexpectedly, the worst on graduation." It got a laugh, everyone chimed in with spirit. One remarked that Jane would "holding in internal sadness, but stoic". So, considering everyone felt this was accurate, I had each actor give their own version of "holding in internal sadness, but stoic". During this exercise I called for them to vary their speeds, as we did before in the movement exercise. I reminded them that its a matter of maintaining high and constant energy in every state, but never to let it get manic when fast or lazy when slow. "It's not you walking fast, it's the whole story getting told fast." It turned out well, and then I dismissed my cast on that good note.
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