OMG! First let me say, Kelly, our choreographer, is a genius and I so wish that I could do her choreo justice. Let's just say that right now, I don't really remember any of it. I'm not alone though, I shant name names (the check is in the mail I'm sure) :).
If we, (read, I!) can get it, it will look spectacular. I'm not sore now, but I'm sure getting out of bed tomorrow will be painful in many ways. I'm not a dancer. "Then why did you audition for a dance show Li?" Good question, believe me I'm asking myself that-well, truthfully, I didn't really think that the part I'm playing was a dance role. But pretty much everyone is in every number so no Patti for me this time. But honestly, it is fun. And the cast is great and they make it easy. Everyone helps each other. And Kelly has a fantastic assistant, Sam. She's amazing, only a senior in high school. Such poise and grace and brains! Fresh, young brains, that can remember which foot to put where and what arm goes where. If only I could bring her home in my pocket to teach me the dance steps! I'm grateful that there are so many people in front of me!
It was alternatelly cold and hot at the rehearsal space. Poor Marla (our Queenie) was frozen, had on her coat and mittens most of the day. Tomorrow, Sunday, we'll review (thank god-never enuf of that) and learn something new. This will keep my brain young though. Atleast that's what they say, learning new things, keeps your brain from becoming oatmeal. No treadmill tonight though! Tomorrow, a more positive attitude....I will get this before it gets me! Thanks to the cast and Kelly and Sam for all the great help today... both in dance steps and encouragement! Sleep, advil, sleep, advil, sleep, ice, sleep..............xx, Li
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wild Party Day 1
So, I must confess that I am a "blog virgin". I have read blogs, been written about in blogs, been blogged on, but never been the blogger. So bare with me while I get the hang of this. I hope you all find this highly entertaining and stimulating or at the very least enough to get you to sleep without your Ambien.
The first rehearsal of a show is always an odd thing. Everyone's excited to see who's playing what, sizing up their fellow cast mates-getting to know who they may or may not be making out with in the next day or two. And in a Rick Lombardo show that could really be just about anyone! But i digress. We introduced ourselves and our characters, then we met the rest of the theatre staff and heard about the "dos and don'ts", and Todd told us all about the comp policy. Which is always good to hear again, cuz I never remember it. (not that I won't still need reminding-sorry Todd). Then we got to see the world we will be playing in over the next weeks/months. The designers introduced themselves and their ideas. (I just realized that I'm not sure to whom I'm blogging, so if you know all about how things go at a rehearsal or are a theatre person, my apologies, but for those who don't know....). The set looks great! Of course it's Jannie and the costumes are always spectacular-(not a suck up Frances). We don't get to see the lights of course, but they're Frank's so I know they'll be great (I look particularly good in bastard amber :). Then Rick told us his mission for the piece. Always enlightening, always well thought out. Most people are probably excited about seeing this show for the singing (which dare I say, even at the first read/sing thru, is incredible-there have never been so many "flip top" heads in one room), or perhaps for some, it's the possible nudity (not mine! I know, a disappointment to many-I'm afraid tickets can not be returned, sorry you're just going to have to deal). But for me it's the story and true to form, that's what it's about for Rick as well. It's the story that will be told here, by real people in real situations. Unpleasant people perhaps, in unpleasant, if horrifying conditions. But honestly, I believe that this is what Rick does best. Communicating what's behind all that singing. I'm really looking forward to that. (again, not a suck up)
So we sang/read thru the piece then the maestro Todd Gordon lead us thru the first few numbers. Most of us sight reading-oy-there's a lot of work ahead of us (poor ToddG). But no time! It's choreography tomorrow-Oh mama! I'm really hoping to just be able to "Patti Lupone" it and have people just dance around me-but I'm afraid theres no chance of that. So I'll strap on my capezios (i do own them) and dust off the sports bra-god help us all. Now it's running on the treadmill, while putting in a load of laundry, making lunch for tomorrow, learning my music, spending quality time with my sons, feeding them dinner and completely collapsing. More fun later....Li
The first rehearsal of a show is always an odd thing. Everyone's excited to see who's playing what, sizing up their fellow cast mates-getting to know who they may or may not be making out with in the next day or two. And in a Rick Lombardo show that could really be just about anyone! But i digress. We introduced ourselves and our characters, then we met the rest of the theatre staff and heard about the "dos and don'ts", and Todd told us all about the comp policy. Which is always good to hear again, cuz I never remember it. (not that I won't still need reminding-sorry Todd). Then we got to see the world we will be playing in over the next weeks/months. The designers introduced themselves and their ideas. (I just realized that I'm not sure to whom I'm blogging, so if you know all about how things go at a rehearsal or are a theatre person, my apologies, but for those who don't know....). The set looks great! Of course it's Jannie and the costumes are always spectacular-(not a suck up Frances). We don't get to see the lights of course, but they're Frank's so I know they'll be great (I look particularly good in bastard amber :). Then Rick told us his mission for the piece. Always enlightening, always well thought out. Most people are probably excited about seeing this show for the singing (which dare I say, even at the first read/sing thru, is incredible-there have never been so many "flip top" heads in one room), or perhaps for some, it's the possible nudity (not mine! I know, a disappointment to many-I'm afraid tickets can not be returned, sorry you're just going to have to deal). But for me it's the story and true to form, that's what it's about for Rick as well. It's the story that will be told here, by real people in real situations. Unpleasant people perhaps, in unpleasant, if horrifying conditions. But honestly, I believe that this is what Rick does best. Communicating what's behind all that singing. I'm really looking forward to that. (again, not a suck up)
So we sang/read thru the piece then the maestro Todd Gordon lead us thru the first few numbers. Most of us sight reading-oy-there's a lot of work ahead of us (poor ToddG). But no time! It's choreography tomorrow-Oh mama! I'm really hoping to just be able to "Patti Lupone" it and have people just dance around me-but I'm afraid theres no chance of that. So I'll strap on my capezios (i do own them) and dust off the sports bra-god help us all. Now it's running on the treadmill, while putting in a load of laundry, making lunch for tomorrow, learning my music, spending quality time with my sons, feeding them dinner and completely collapsing. More fun later....Li
Friday, March 02, 2007
Day Three: White People
Not much time to post today. A very quick turn-around between last night’s rehearsal, which ended at 10pm, and this morning’s which begins at 10am. This is the minimum turn-around time permitted by the union, and I understand why. We all have about enough time to get home, eat something, get a reasonable night’s sleep and start all over again. To make it easier for the actors I have staggered the call (the time they need to arrive), beginning where we left off last night with one character’s monologue, and letting the other two arrive a little bit later. They pleasantly surprised me last night. I had allotted the whole 4 hour rehearsal to stagger through the play and nail in the gross motor blocking. Chip Schoonmaker (Costume Designer), sat in on the stagger-through.
The presence of a new person in the room, always has an effect on actors. Immediately it became a performance, a chance to make a first impression. I always enjoy watching someone watch. I learned a lot by watching Chip watch the work. He was very excited when we took a break. This actually economized on time. It was Chip’s first time in the same room with the actors (he’s bouncing back and forth between Boston and New York because of other professional commitments – ah life in the theatre). He’d been holding off making some costume decisions until he could see them in person. The “Designer Run-Through” is slated for Friday at 2. Now, Chip has already seen what he needs, and can spend Friday afternoon shopping and pulling together clothing that will work for both the characters and the actors.
We’ve been talking about “color-keying” the characters and their world.
These characters exist in close proximity on stage, but are not actually in each other’s world. By “color-keying” the stuff in each character’s world, particularly clothing - dominant theme in the play, I can place actors very close to one another and keep clear who’s who and what belongs to whom. It allows for more flexibility in stage composition.
Anyway, we got through the show in half the time and began micro-blocking. I had time to discuss some philosophical points about performance which I’ll probably get into in a later posting: Character Judgment, Third-Party Perspectives, Serving the argument rather than playing what you think the audience ought to think, playing results rather than actions. Unless you are a theatre practitioner this is probably unintelligible. It might be unintelligible anyway. In any case we got to talk in a few abstractions. While we did this Jen Cleary, ably assisted by MeLena Hessel, our Assistant Stage Manager, placed some additional taped markings on the stage, and moved their work station from one side of the room to the other.
If you recall I mentioned that the set model had already been modified from the picture link I embedded in my first posting. Well, the modification was to change the stripes on the floor from “straight-on” to the audience to “diagonal”. (You can see the modification in my jpeg of my blocking schematic in the second posting) We did this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it creates the illusion of depth for a very shallow and wide stage. Traditionally the stage manager tapes the blueprint of the set on the floor of the stage with special color-coded tape. Normally a detail like striped lines in the floor detail wouldn’t be included. I noticed in the stagger-through that the actors were having trouble executing the blocking I had given them, because the movement was predicated upon the diagonal lines of the floor treatment, not the perpendicular lines of the very rectangular playing space.
The other thing I noticed was that the table Stage Management uses was on the right side of the audience where the front rows would be. The presence of this “tech table” was psychologically inhibiting the actors from using the area of the stage directly in front of that part of the audience – even if they had been successful in imagining the diagonal lines that weren’t there. (Quite a lot of burden to place on actors who are tying to remember their lines and execute blocking they just received one day ago.
In any case Stage Management made those alterations while we were talking in abstractions, and we spent the rest of the evening micro-blocking the beginning of the play. Nice and new elements began to emerge and, ironically, we had to stop not far from the place we had to stop after the first rehearsal. What this meant was that poor Stephen Russell, who got cut off right before his first entrance two days ago, barely got into his scene when we had to stop again. That’s where we’ll begin at the next rehearsal.
- Diego
The presence of a new person in the room, always has an effect on actors. Immediately it became a performance, a chance to make a first impression. I always enjoy watching someone watch. I learned a lot by watching Chip watch the work. He was very excited when we took a break. This actually economized on time. It was Chip’s first time in the same room with the actors (he’s bouncing back and forth between Boston and New York because of other professional commitments – ah life in the theatre). He’d been holding off making some costume decisions until he could see them in person. The “Designer Run-Through” is slated for Friday at 2. Now, Chip has already seen what he needs, and can spend Friday afternoon shopping and pulling together clothing that will work for both the characters and the actors.
We’ve been talking about “color-keying” the characters and their world.
These characters exist in close proximity on stage, but are not actually in each other’s world. By “color-keying” the stuff in each character’s world, particularly clothing - dominant theme in the play, I can place actors very close to one another and keep clear who’s who and what belongs to whom. It allows for more flexibility in stage composition.
Anyway, we got through the show in half the time and began micro-blocking. I had time to discuss some philosophical points about performance which I’ll probably get into in a later posting: Character Judgment, Third-Party Perspectives, Serving the argument rather than playing what you think the audience ought to think, playing results rather than actions. Unless you are a theatre practitioner this is probably unintelligible. It might be unintelligible anyway. In any case we got to talk in a few abstractions. While we did this Jen Cleary, ably assisted by MeLena Hessel, our Assistant Stage Manager, placed some additional taped markings on the stage, and moved their work station from one side of the room to the other.
If you recall I mentioned that the set model had already been modified from the picture link I embedded in my first posting. Well, the modification was to change the stripes on the floor from “straight-on” to the audience to “diagonal”. (You can see the modification in my jpeg of my blocking schematic in the second posting) We did this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it creates the illusion of depth for a very shallow and wide stage. Traditionally the stage manager tapes the blueprint of the set on the floor of the stage with special color-coded tape. Normally a detail like striped lines in the floor detail wouldn’t be included. I noticed in the stagger-through that the actors were having trouble executing the blocking I had given them, because the movement was predicated upon the diagonal lines of the floor treatment, not the perpendicular lines of the very rectangular playing space.
The other thing I noticed was that the table Stage Management uses was on the right side of the audience where the front rows would be. The presence of this “tech table” was psychologically inhibiting the actors from using the area of the stage directly in front of that part of the audience – even if they had been successful in imagining the diagonal lines that weren’t there. (Quite a lot of burden to place on actors who are tying to remember their lines and execute blocking they just received one day ago.
In any case Stage Management made those alterations while we were talking in abstractions, and we spent the rest of the evening micro-blocking the beginning of the play. Nice and new elements began to emerge and, ironically, we had to stop not far from the place we had to stop after the first rehearsal. What this meant was that poor Stephen Russell, who got cut off right before his first entrance two days ago, barely got into his scene when we had to stop again. That’s where we’ll begin at the next rehearsal.
- Diego
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Second Day: White People
Well here’s a first! We staged the entire play in one session. By the end of the day our brains were jello. Our conversational Freudian slips became increasingly frequent across the day, and hysterically funny; shocking the speaker more than anyone else. Not surprisingly, some of those slips revolved around the subject of race. I don’t want to give away any of the play’s secrets, but it is inevitable that a work of this nature would have us all looking inward, searching for evidence of racism in ourselves. The only thing that surprised me was how quickly it happened. I guess when you throw a play up on the stage in such a brutal rapid fashion it is inevitable that the impact will be magnified proportionally. Stage Manager Jen Cleary and I had discussed how a one-and-a-half week rehearsal process had its advantages, the greatest virtue being that you don’t have time to get in your own way. On the other hand, I doubt either of us anticipated what a roller coaster ride this might be.
Fortunately everybody seems to have enough confidence in this process
to permit the play to push us into uncharted territory. We owe it to
the material to go there.
As I mentioned in my last post, I blocked the play in advance to save time. The trouble is you never know if what you imagined is going to work in reality. (I once had a director envision blocking for me that, without exaggeration, defied Newton’s Law of Gravity.) I was pleasantly surprised to discover what had been mocked up on my little Macbook (base model – I couldn’t afford the Pro) sat rather elegantly in that downstage space, and went a reasonable way to addressing the spatial challenges posed by that quirky little theatre. My Assistant Director, Foster Johns, confessed to having experienced a small “Director-gasm” (his term). For your amusement there’s a page from this schematic pasted below. Set Designer Micheal Griggs teased me about the “beachballs” I had superimposed on his set.
Over the course of my directorial career I’ve invented a series of terms to describe staging. To modify a term a from physical therapy we worked on “Gross Motor Blocking” yesterday. This represents the basic traffic pattern and movement of bodies in space over the course of the play, This is the only aspect of the staging about which I feel comfortable making decisions without input from the actors. It is in this phase that I compose stage pictures, create and release physical and visual tension, and, more prosaically, make sure that everyone in the audience can see every moment in the play clearly. Somewhere in the midst of all that I also try to tell what I think is the playwright’s story. I identify “ranting room” for the actors for each
discrete section of the play. Ranting room is basically the perimeter of the designated playing area I’ve chosen for a particular scene. The next phase is what I call “micro-blocking”. We will go through the play chronologically and, working closely with the text and the actors, we will decide each twist and turn the characters make within that perimeter. “Do I pick up the briefcase here?”, “I think he would sit down after saying that”, etc. etc.
It’s a short rehearsal tonight (only 4 hours). We will probably only walk through the “gross motor blocking” for “muscle memory” (a term I borrowed from Choreography many years ago when I was a dancer). This should nail down the sequence of movements prior to turning our focus to micro-blocking, and the details of performance. This is the really exciting part, the most artistically rewarding aspect of the process, the moment-to-moment actions and choices. I want to carve as much time as I can for this in the next few days, prior to the technical rehearsals which swiftly approach five days from now (March 7th).
- Diego
Fortunately everybody seems to have enough confidence in this process
to permit the play to push us into uncharted territory. We owe it to
the material to go there.
As I mentioned in my last post, I blocked the play in advance to save time. The trouble is you never know if what you imagined is going to work in reality. (I once had a director envision blocking for me that, without exaggeration, defied Newton’s Law of Gravity.) I was pleasantly surprised to discover what had been mocked up on my little Macbook (base model – I couldn’t afford the Pro) sat rather elegantly in that downstage space, and went a reasonable way to addressing the spatial challenges posed by that quirky little theatre. My Assistant Director, Foster Johns, confessed to having experienced a small “Director-gasm” (his term). For your amusement there’s a page from this schematic pasted below. Set Designer Micheal Griggs teased me about the “beachballs” I had superimposed on his set.
Over the course of my directorial career I’ve invented a series of terms to describe staging. To modify a term a from physical therapy we worked on “Gross Motor Blocking” yesterday. This represents the basic traffic pattern and movement of bodies in space over the course of the play, This is the only aspect of the staging about which I feel comfortable making decisions without input from the actors. It is in this phase that I compose stage pictures, create and release physical and visual tension, and, more prosaically, make sure that everyone in the audience can see every moment in the play clearly. Somewhere in the midst of all that I also try to tell what I think is the playwright’s story. I identify “ranting room” for the actors for each
discrete section of the play. Ranting room is basically the perimeter of the designated playing area I’ve chosen for a particular scene. The next phase is what I call “micro-blocking”. We will go through the play chronologically and, working closely with the text and the actors, we will decide each twist and turn the characters make within that perimeter. “Do I pick up the briefcase here?”, “I think he would sit down after saying that”, etc. etc.
It’s a short rehearsal tonight (only 4 hours). We will probably only walk through the “gross motor blocking” for “muscle memory” (a term I borrowed from Choreography many years ago when I was a dancer). This should nail down the sequence of movements prior to turning our focus to micro-blocking, and the details of performance. This is the really exciting part, the most artistically rewarding aspect of the process, the moment-to-moment actions and choices. I want to carve as much time as I can for this in the next few days, prior to the technical rehearsals which swiftly approach five days from now (March 7th).
- Diego
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