Rehearsals for The Skriker are going well .... we have an excellent, enthusiastic, smart cast. Our movement guru, Joseph Ravens, is a pleasure to work with. The members of the Underworld ensemble have a handful of lines, if any, but they get to work closely with Joseph, so ... they're very lucky. Robert is down in Hotlanta working on the music ... he's going to send me a few MP3s one of these days so I can hear what he's come up with. I'm pretty sure I'll like it. I'm going to be speaking with Jeff Semmerling on Thursday about original masks for the cast. Heath is working on the set design and I'm very excited to see what he comes up with. I'll also be meeting with Erin Lapham, our lighting designer, soon as well.
I'm sitting here wondering what else I'd like to share ... this directing process has proven to be a little bit different than normal ... and I like it. How is it different? Small ways ... when rehearsal's done, I speak with Chris about it, but after a half hour or so, I put it away and don't bring it out again until about a half hour before we start the next day. Because I've directed the show before, I'm allowing room for the actors to play, but I'm able to reign the composition in a little more quickly. Shaping the scene up is coming easily and I don't think that we need to have tons of discussion on the given circumstances because Caryl Churchill has written everything in very clearly. The actors I'm working with are interested in the production and motivated to do their own research, so they're coming in to rehearsal with a lot and I don't have to pull any teeth to get a performance out of anyone. Everyone gets here on time, lines are already being learned and questions are being asked, so .... the show has been stress free so far and I'm going to continue to keep it that way. You would think that the descriptions stated above would be in every show because most of those things are the "actor's job", but .... every production and cast are different. I'm thankful to work with this group of people on the show because it might be a while before we put another show up.
I'll write more later .... I haven't too much to say right now. I've been reading the bloggy blogs about About Face and dicks or lack of dicks and non-equity awards vs. citations and the eternal outcry of how hard theatre is and why, whaa whaa whaa ... but I'm focusing on the work of the thing right now. Chris gets to hear my rants on these subjects, but I haven't shared them here. Again, it might be the instinct to keep a calm environment these days.
Hope you're all well. Catch you later.
RZ
5 comments:
Simply put, you are listening to the text and creating the blocking organically.
Last night, it was fun to test different movements, character and pacing throughout the scene knowing that you could be finding something good or unique in what we do 'wrong/different' per say. This opens up a freedom to explore as performers and not feel like doing something different might be wrong - that not every thing is set in stone. We could show up tonight with more ideas, feeling differently physically and mentally that might add to the scene even more. It basically just feels good that you trust and have faith in us to keep up the exploration and discoveries on our own. Keep up the Zen Master vibe. "Be like water." :)
Also, we have a mask maker!!! How exciting is that???
It is EXCITING!
Don't fret about doing a little work here and there between your blog posts. ;-) We're all ranting, and most people I know are better than me at practicing restraint.
LZ - Rock.
NK - Believe you me ... I've had to really cultivate the art of restraint for most of my life and think it'll be one of my ongoing struggles. ;)
It is exciting. Anyway you look at it.
Personally, I am pretty excited about this show - one of my favorites and I LOVE Churchill.
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