One Week Down

So the first week of rehearsals has concluded.

We basically spent this first week with the text. We've been talking a lot about who these characters are and what drives them...yes, what are their motivations, what are their actions? How do they relate to each other and why? Why do they say what they say? Why do they behave the way they behave? All of that really meaty textual analysis that's where we've been this first week. We've staged a couple of moments and scenes but really right now, it's all about the ditalking. Some of the work we're doing to find these characters has focused on improvs and theater games and some of the discoveries we're making have been downright surprising to me...and I honestly thought I knew these shows inside and out! Man, I love my job...

We've also been fine tuning the scripts themselves. The nightly phone calls between me and Camilla have been really fun as I update her on how the rehearsals are going and what's working and what's not and she scrambles, in the midst of writing her dissertation prospectus, to also rewrite whole scenes from the plays. She's a superwoman, folks...and that ain't no exaggeration!

Next week our focus, as the actors get off book, will be in staging the scenes - really moving them through the events of the play and starting to find not just who these characters are, but how they exist in the worlds we are creating for them on stage. Can. Not. WAIT!