~ Fifth Rehearsal : NAOMI IN THE LIVING ROOM ~

Fifth Rehearsal.

Stage & Theater Lobby.

April 23 @ 6:00pm.

Our rehearsals have a tendency to start rather dully, which is not good and is something I need to fix. Maybe it's my generally relaxed demeanor or maybe it's just that everyone is tired at the end of the day, but in either case, I need to redesign my rehearsal plan so something changes.

We started today with another Philip's and Jillian's casts. Boppity Boppity Bop or whatever it's called.

THE GAME:

One individual stands in the middle (director) while everyone else stands in a relatively large circle around this individual. The individual will point to someone and will either say Boppity Boppity Bop (to which you must say Bop before the individual finishes saying Boppity Boppity Bop), Bop (to which you must stay silent), Elephant (to which you put your arms in an elephant trunk formation and the people on either side of the pointee must make the ears), and many other actions of this nature. This game is high energy, fast, and forces everyone to be alert and ready. (A great help in fixing my issue).

We proceeded to work on a particularly high energy scene in the latter portion of the performance. The intensity is good, but I think next time we'll work even harder on building up a lot more and really developing a greater feel for the kind of fire within that I'd like them to magnify.

~ Fourth Rehearsal : NAOMI IN THE LIVING ROOM ~

Fourth Rehearsal.

Theatre Classroom.

April 18 @ 6:00pm.

This meeting was for Mike and Franchesca only. Phoebe was absent. When we started, I wanted to work on their behavior during scenes in which Phoebe would have her monologues. I also wanted to work on a specific scene between Mike and Franchesca in which Mike repeatedly copies Franchesca.

We also worked on a scene from the piece. In the scene John copies Johnna... that's all I'll say, otherwise it would spoil it. We ran through the scene a few times, making little adjustments as we went. Trying and retrying. It'll be great, don't worry.

We also did an exercise in which John and Johnna navigate the living room together in silence. This was beautiful. It was useful. It was interesting. They worked extremely well together; they were pointing to non-existent objects that were in the living room and giving them life, they were responding to each other, and they were utilizing the space. The best part was that it was real. It was true. It was interesting. It was even funny at times. Just in the beauty of the realism, John and Johnna worked to make the scene alive and genuinely entertaining regardless of the activity's simplicity. I think the key was not trying to act, but rather to just be and live in the moment. It was also fun as they finished the activity with smiles: always a good way to end a rehearsal.

Corporate America: Off Book

I never thought this day would come, but it finally has. Today marks the first off book rehearsal for my cast. I could see the difference in the way the actors spoke their lines, the way they moved in the space, and they way they focused on the audience. Getting the scripts out of their faces freed them up to do so much more than before. No longer focused on their scripts, the actors were able to move more freely through the space. The only downside to taking their scripts away was they were much less confident when speaking the words. I had told them not to worry if they did not know the lines exactly and just to power through the dialogue. However they dropped whatever they were doing whenever they missed a line. I eventually told them that on the nights of the show, they won't know 100% of their lines and they can't stop the show when they mess up. It's up to them to keep the show going, even if they don't know exactly what they're doing. It's important for them to continue the scene, when they need to say line. That way the ball is never dropped, I can feed them their line, and they can continue the scene as if nothing had happened.

To further cater to the thrust staging of the one acts, I made some small changes that made a huge impact. First, the focal point of the show is a wooden box that Conrad uses as his "cubicle/work station". Before, this box would face the front part of the audience, leaving Conrad fully exposed to them, while only giving the side audience his profile. To add in some sorely needed diagonals, I turned the box a little bit to create a diamond. Now, Conrad can still use the sides of the box, but this way he's always at a diagonal, which exposes him to more of the audience. Conrad will still need to practice using the box this way, because I noticed in rehearsal that he still liked to face the front audience. I'm thinking wooden spikes on the corners of the boxes.

I also gave the direction to always move with a point A and a point B. For example, when Sheighla enters as Cecil, she should move in one straight direction across the stage. That way, movement is less random and the actors can give themselves a reason why they're moving a certain way. Along with this, I told the actors to always think in diagonals. Their point A & B should always be a diagonal across the stage. After focussing on diagonals, I'm noticing that the actors are really starting to think 3 dimensional, which is going to be extremely beneficial leading up to tech.

Next rehearsal I would like to start taking these staging ideas and codify them in a way that the actors can repeat. Hopefully by the end of this week, we'll be able to run through with out stopping and starting.

FLSB 4/28

Tonight I only had my whole cast for a half hour.  We had a quick warm up with Bada Bada, then performing an improv scene in character.  This game helps the actors get into their characters and go over the top with their charcters.  I enjoyed watching them really get into the scene, Calli talking nonstop, Isaiah trying to calm everyone down and take a logical approach the the problem, Summer finding the dark side behind everything, and Danielle doing whatever it takes to brong the attention back to her.  Garrick couldnt come until later.  I also had them walk in the space, and one at a time say a line of theirs.  When someone speaks, everyone has to stop and look at them.  I wanted them to play this so that they could get more used to saying their lines clearly without holding a script.  For the rest of the rehearsal we ran through the script and rre blocked with the new set.  Everyone was discovering new movements and blocking, and that made the rehearsal feel very productive even though it was very short.

Two Guns Rehearsal 4/23

Today I first had Steve and Mariah show me the monologues that I had them write for the other character. They were supposed to learnt hem twice- once as their character and once as the other. There seemed to be some confusion as to the purpose of this, so we discussed that- how, as an actor, you are supposed to know who your character is as a person and, therefore, would know and how he/she would react to certain situations (even if they are not in the script).

            We went through the entire script and blocked it all. I worried less about the acting itself as I did about what they were doing and where they were going. The table will be the focal point of the entire piece- it’s almost as if they are playing the flying disc game while they are acting. They balance each other out on opposite sides of the table. So, we played a sort of game while they did the play. I would be walking around, and their job was to make sure that I could see as much of both of them as possible while still looking natural. Since we have ¾ staging, they need to play around to everyone. Also, whenever I told them ‘turn’, they would have to walk around 90 degrees then say their line on that next diagonal. Whenever I said ‘turn while walking’ they’d have to make that 90 degree transition while saying their next line, but still stopping at that diagonal.

            I told them to work on memorization, and they reluctantly agreed (it’s not fun, I know). We also chatted a bit about costumes, but not anything major.

"Ferris Wheel" - Rehearsal #6

           Today, we started with some activities to work on our articulation and annunciation. We played “I am a mother pheasant plucker,” and “I slit a sheet.” Gib had much more experience doing these activities than Maddie, but Maddie’s articulation was still superb. We then played “…to die today at a minute or two to two…” which required Maddie and Gib to speak in sync, since they had to work together, and they also had to be very articulate. They both did lovely.

            The next game we played was an improv game, which I had them play for ten minutes. They had to use the bar that we use as safety bar on the Ferris wheel as a different object every time I told them to. I told them to change what it was whenever I was getting bored with the scene that was going on. One of my favorites included when they were trying to capture a snake in the Australian Outback. I also especially liked when they were playing limbo with the bar, with Gib being an incredibly energetic and bubbly fun character, while Maddie was a more stoic, more straight to the point type of character. I liked it because these characters were extremely similar to the characters they should play as Harper and Cameron. I also liked when they were playing croquet when Gib said the line when giving Maddie advice, “I’m your sister, I would know,” since this small yet typical line gives the audience a great sense of relationship. I also liked when Maddie used the stick as a walking stick and liked the straight to the point character she portrayed because it resembled Cameron. Harper is essentially a mix of Gib’s limbo character and her nature walk character while Cameron is basically a blend of Maddie’s limbo character and her old woman with the walking stick character.

            We then went through the script, which I divided into specific moments that we could work more individually and perfect individually and then put them together. There are ten moments in all, with the longest one being just over two pages and the shortest being just a couple lines. I also made sure to remind Maddie and Gib to be more physical with what they’re doing, but since they’re obviously still hindered by their scripts, I decided I’m going to wait until next week, when they’re off book to work more on that. One problem I have is that I’m still having trouble having the characters find truthful intention behind some of the lines, and I also feel like I’m having trouble keeping them energized throughout the performance, since most of it is fast-paced. Overall, it was probably the best rehearsal that we’ve had yet.

FLSB 4/25

Tonight we started rehearsal playing BADA BADA, which is a word association game in which the participants make four word phrases. I would then have them act out a scene, using the four wrod phrase as the first line.  Then I had them act out the scenes in their characters.  This really helped the actors become their character, and not be too influenced by their lines.  They had to adapt to a situation that was not a part of the one act and then be their characters and find out for themselves how they react and what they say.  We ran through the second half of the show.  I designed a new set for the show and had them run their lines in it.  It was much esier than I thought it would be to adapt them to the new set.  Most of the show has them all standing up, so I changed a few sitting positions and changed some scenes so that they are not always facing "forward" to the center audience.  Much of the show was directed for persenium, and I am very happy with how it changed.  I had them run this part of the show three times, aftetr my notes.  Summer consistantly discovers new ways to show her emotions and character and little movements and inlections to interact with the other characters.  Danielle keeps coming up with funny additions to scenes which I am excited about, but I want everyone to be memorized before we add more to the script.  Isaiah consistantly suprises me in how real he can perform.  He sometimes does not go BIG enough, he could be more dramatic.  Although, he takes directions very well, whenever I ask him to do anything he does it without question.  They are learning that no matter my question, I have a clear picture in my head of what I want, but I am letting them get their on their own.