Cyrano - 4th Rehearsal

Today was our 4th rehearsal. We finished blocking the whole show today and did a quick photo call.

We started off our first long day with some acting exercises....the first was hysterical! The three of us did a mirror exercise--one of us would be the leader and the other two would follow...the leader would then somehow pass on "leadership" to someone else. We all moved a little too fast for each other--this was so much harder than it was in college! At one point, Paul stuck his hands under his legs and made strange antenna finger movements for us to follow. Another time he was off doing his own movements, unaware of Bob and I following each other:) Bob enjoyed putting his leg up in the air quickly and then leaving it there! I couldn't stop giggling. When we were instructed to find an ending that would make sense for our characters, we formed some sort of circle and I hid behind a chair to hide my laughter....I swear I wasn't the only one laughing.

Of course, we all found significance to these exercises--not only did we bond during the process, but we gained more awareness of one another. We did another exercise after this which was much more serious and brought about new ideas for our characters.

A discussion followed. An hour lunch came after. And then we blocked.

At the end of the day, we ran through all our new blocking for the second half of the show. Although it was chaotic at times, we did not stop and the rhythm of the show added a great sense of reality to what we were doing. So much of this show is props and imagination. While we were blocking, my situations on stage were harder to believe with all the starts and stops. But when you have to go through things non-stop, it's almost like you're following the clock of the characters, not the actors...and your character's life becomes real.

It was a tiring but worth it day.