I came into rehearsal last night to find our stage manager, Ellen, wearing a cape. I have nothing more to add to that I just thought you should all know.
Last night was the Designer Run. This is the director and actors chance to show the hard working designers the monster they have agreed to dress, light, set and prop (not really sure if you can use prop as a verb but I just did). Notes are taken as the actors try and bring the blocking and direction that has come about over the last couple of weeks to life. For the cast it is the first real chance to explore their characters through-line (fancy actors call this a Character's Journey). More importantly they get to see if the jokes are funny in front of people who haven't seen it yet.
Despite some dropped lines and missed blocking, I think things went swimmingly. The funny moments were funny and more importantly the poetry and dramatic scenes were quite marvelous. And now we work the thing until it can stand high on its own two legs and kick the ass of every show in town.
2 comments:
I'd rather Ellen in a cape than a beard, as it were. Although I should like to see other members of the company bearded, I prefer Ellen in her cape and cat ears!
Regarding the run last night, Fair Reader, I should like to say that officially we termed this past evening the "stumble-through": this terminology lowers the stakes of the run by giving everyone permission to "stumble" (forget a line, wander outrageously outside the parameters of the established blocking, miss a scene or a transition, etc). In my opinion, last night's run could have been called--without apology--a design run! Kudos to the team for their hard work as evidenced by keeping the stumbles to a minimum. I was pleased to see: that we're around 80% off-book (an average); that the blocking works in many places, and the places where it doesn't work it's "fixable"; that the actors are doing a fine job with their multiple characterizations and the variety of styles within the scenes. Also, it's funny. I laughed loudly and obnoxiously, many times, even though I was trying hard to be serious and evaluative.
After the actors went home, we had a productive design meeting. Big decisions were made based on what we saw working/not working last night. The biggest changes occurred in evaulating the set's functionality: we essentially morphed the set from being in the round to a thrust last night after a heated debate regarding the experience of the group in that seating arrangement (producer & Artistic Director Randy Baker and set & lighting designer David Ghatan sat on this bench in Act 2, prompting this debate). The discussion was terrific fun and an interesting solution was reached; we'll have to see which of the solutions sticks through to the opening night. Dear Reader, you will just have to come and see the end product to see how the debate of the bench was solved!
Congrats, again, all! As Heminge says in Act one:
"I am heartened by this, our run-through!"
I was wearing cat ears as well. Most days I wear the cat ears.
-E
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