Send Me Material

Just a quick break a leg to the folks who are starting rehearsal for Kit Marlowe tonight.

I remind everyone that as with any well oiled machine The Rorschach Blog runs on the blood and sweat of the workers. Due to a previous entanglement I will not be able to give the crack coverage you have all come to love and expect on these pages every day regarding the production. But if you are involved in some way with the workings of Kit Marlowe I want to hear from you.

I will take anything:

Photos

Funny Stories

Character Work

Gripes

Compliments

Email them to me here scott@rorschachtheatre.com.

I am really excited by this show and this cast! Not in a sexual way, although it is perfectly natural to have those feelings as well, so please tap into those feelings if they will bring you to see the show.

Speak the Speeches

There are always speeches before First Reads. Producers give you a packet of documents that you will probably never look at again and explain how the place runs. These speeches are standard operating procedure for nearly any professional theater company in the world.

You get a speech from the marketing director, who you probably won't see again until he comes with the photographer to take press pics. You hear from the designers and the director about their concepts of what this show is about and how they are going to be bringing it to 3 dimensional life. If the playwright has come you might get to hear what made her write the piece in the first place (Thanks for joining us last night Jennifer).

I will be honest, last night I slipped out the door before most of the speeches happened. Don't judge me! I don't like to ruin the surprise I get when I watch a designer run. I know there are many people who enjoy the discovery of a first read and Rorschach has had some doozies over the years. It is one of the few pleasures I get when I am not working as an actor on a show, the wonder of a designer run.

This is a great cast of people who are familiar to DC audiences even if they are not Rorschach regulars. Artitic Partner and Company Member Tim Getman joins us for his 4th Rorschach show (one more and you get the smoking jacket Tim). We are lucky to be joined by two great actors who I was very nearly in a show with a couple of months back, Brian Hemmingsen and Nanna Ingvarsson. Marissa Molnar and Jjana Valentiner round out the cast with all of their youth and energy, I envy them that.

Welcome to you all and I will give everyone a run down of the designers in the coming days.

birds starts previews on June 27th so start making your plans to see it today!

First Read Tonight

birds is having its first read tonight. I will be there at the beginning of the whole shooting match and will have a report as soon as I can.

R2SDMMH 1st RD

And so References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot begins, not with a whimper but a bang.

Since the blog started we have had 6 first reads. I just missed the one for Beard of Avon, but I think all of you are all starting to get the hang of it now. I show you some pictures of people around a table and there is always some kind of food in the pictures (in this case it is a bacon, egg and cheese bagel that Yasmin brought). What more is there really to say on the subject? We sit at a table Randy and Jenny make a pitch, the director tells us what her idea of what the play is about, the designers make their pitches and then we read the play.

What I think I have tried to convey on these pages is the feeling of expectation that fills the room. The unknowable of whether this whole thing is going to work or not. I will be honest I have been in first reads that have scared the hell out of me. My confidence is knocked out of me before we even get on our feet. Knock wood that has never been the case in a Rorschach read, but even the most talented and intelligent performers and directors, sometimes find themselves stranded on a sinking ship before they have even left Pier One.

What was the mood this weekend? I have to say it was pretty damn good. In the interest of full diclosure I had some worries about the play. I think I have mentioned some of the fantastical elements of the play, the talking cat, moon and coyote. Those parts of the play struck me with their poetic beauty and vibrance the first time I read the play. It was the sticky middle that had me worried. This center and heart of the play is straight-up two people talking to one another drama, and that is not always the easiest thing in the world to do.

When you have two people alone on stage talking to one another, you need chemistry. Even more so if the play is about two people who have been married to one another for a long time and have to make that comfort with one another seem effortless.

Now I am not making the bold assertion that Gabriella and Andrew were like a married couple from the first time they read together, but I will say that even at the table read you could feel the heat that will make this show a success. Nearly all my worries about seeing two people talking to one another melted away by the end of the read. These two have chemistry, biology and physics through the roof. And even hearing the stage directions about the steamy bits (edited by Shirley because her parents were there) made me realize how this play will live up to its title.

I'll have more to say about rehearsals as we go through this thing. I will have a lot of material to convey so check back here regularly, because when the blogger is in the show, you get more.

Rough Magic First Read

The blog has always welcomed the contributions of all the members of the Rorschach Family. Company members, designers and even long time patrons have contributed to this page from time to time, but let's be honest most of this stuff comes from the head of your's truly.

Well in order to avoid you getting sick of me and vice versa, I put out a call for contributions to the blog this morning to the men and women who will all be bringing life to Rough Magic. The out pouring of support was staggering to say the least. What does this mean to you the reader? Well for starters it means no more animals in Santa hats. But the real thing you can all look forward to is the opportunity to see how other people in the Rorschach world view the process and how they all work to bring our Wonderful Monsters to life.

What you are about to read comes from my friend Gwen Grastorf. Gwen will be acting in this show following her memorable turn as both lady in waiting and deadly weilder of sharp death in Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards. The photos are by set designer Eric Grims. Enjoy Gwen and her take on First Read, Table Work and Early Rehearsal. I especially like the last paragraph.

The First Read-through:

The cast and crew of Rough Magic met en masse for the first time on Sunday night. The Sanctuary at Casa Del Pueblo was a little chilly when we first arrived, but the bounteous display of cookies, crackers, and fruit on the edge of the stage kept everyone in a good mood. We gathered around two long tables with our snacks and got started.

Jenny had everyone introduce themselves, and then we all settled in as she shared her ideas about the play with us. She told us why Rorschach picked this particular show, and how the play would fit into the Shakespeare in Washington Festival. Jenny talked about meeting Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and discussing with him his other works, as well as the previous production of Rough Magic.

Megan (our stage manager) and Randy (the producer) passed around a lot of the necessary paperwork; contracts, schedules, practical information, emergency contact forms, and all other manner of Word documents. We were told about the policies and safety rules of the building, and briefly discussed some scheduling and ticketing specifics.

Then, the fun stuff started. Design presentations are the first chance for everyone to see what the designers have been working on. It's exciting to finally get a clear visual idea for the show, instead of just the words on the page. Eric (the set designer) passed around a sketch of the set, lots of research images, and several color prints from comic books to show us the style and palette that he'd be working with. Deb (our props mistress) talked about finding objects with a stylized, outlined comic look to them. Matt (the sound designer) discussed the types of music he was thinking about using, and how sound effects would heighten the magical moments in the play. Jenny read a statement from our lighting designer, who was absent. Frank (the costume designer) gave us all a lovely presentation. The colorful costume sketches elicited the most riotous response from the cast, mostly due to the exciting pictures of the drag-queen Furies.

Our dramaturg, Rachel, also handed out a very helpful packet of research. The information in a dramaturg packet can include anything from background on the characters and their locations to definitions of words, notes on historical context, or pop-culture references. This play contains characters from Shakespeare, Shaw, Greek tragedy, and Little Shop of Horrors - so it's important that we all understand where they come from.

We finally read through the play with Megan reading the stage directions and Ryan (our assistant director) filling in for a missing cast member. It was great to hear everything out loud, and there was plenty of laughter and helpful commentary from around the table. At the end of rehearsal, we talked schedules some more, and a few lucky participants went home with the leftover Oreos and soft-baked Chips Ahoy!


Table Work:

Jenny, Ryan, Cecilia (our assistant stage-manager) and most of the cast all got together for a little table work on Monday night. Table work is a good opportunity for people to ask questions about the text of the play; plot twists, character relationships, or anything that doesn't seem to make sense. We discussed the style of the play. The question was raised as to whether or not having a comic book aesthetic means that you have to lose the real human interaction between characters. Aguirre-Sacasa's writing is very cinematic and fun, and the characters often veer towards archetypes: the villain, the damsel in distress, the young innocent, the sassy drag queen. It is important to all the actors that we work on two levels, both maintaining the play's adventurous tone and doing justice to the real emotions and motivations of the characters. We tossed around some ideas about how to make things more clear onstage, and Jenny and Ryan wrote down a few questions to ask the playwright.

Early Rehearsals:

Last night, we had a first rehearsal for a couple of scenes at the Casa. We started at the end of the play, with one of the last scenes. Jason, Vas and I read through the scene a few times, and Jenny and Ryan asked us some questions to make it more specific. We got the scene on its feet and tried out a few things. At this stage in rehearsals, it's more important to experiment than to set anything in stone. Vas did a valiant job of silent acting (he has no lines in this particular scene) while Jason and I juggled our scripts and some loose blocking. We ran the scene a few times to cement it in everyone's minds, then switched to working on the opening monologue.

Jenny noted that one of the most delightful/crazy things about working in the Casa del Pueblo is that it's filled with evidence of all the previous shows. From the smeared chalk on the back wall (Zillah's apartment in Bright Room), to the electric fans suspended on the right wall (to cool the audience during Arabian Night), to the scrap of black fabric Jenny was using as an improvised bookmark (from The Scarlet Letter ), the theater is like a living scrapbook. If Rorschach eventually has their own performance venue, I have no doubt the lobby will be upholstered in old curtains and costumes, with the audience waiting on old setpieces hither and thither.

Here We Go Again

Sunday at 5pm was the first read for Monster and I for one could not have been happier with what I was hearing.

I have to do a comparison of all of the pictures I have taken of first reads at some point. Every first read seems to look alike only the faces have changed. I know these photos very rarely capture the excitement of a first read, but I think these pictures serve as a reminder that while sitting around a table on the first day may look the same every time we do it, the final results are always different.

If you look closely you will see that part of the set is already under construction. Look to the upper right hand corner above Lily's shoulder and you will see the beginnings of Deb Sivingy's set. Designer presentations give the actors and company a taste of what the show will be when it is fully realized. Once again to show you what we are doing I will try and get as much out there to you as possible. I for one think that this show will definetly take advantage once again of the space in Casa, to create a unique and beautiful stage for this haunting and scary show.

Aerial Photography and First Reads

Here is a satellite picture of our home at the Casa del Pueblo Methodist Church, located at 1459 Columbia Road, NW. As you can see it is a rather old photo because it does not include any of the massive construction projects that are currently being carried out in the Columbia Heights Neighborhood. See that parking lot in the upper right hand corner of the photo, well right now it is a giant pit. Soon it will be another block of condos on 14th Street.

It used to be easy to show up on Columbia Road aroudn 6:30 and find a parking space, but these days it is becoming a "God I hope I get a spot" situation. Things in Columbia Heights are on the move and Rorschach is right in the center of it all. So as we embark on our 7th Season and they start to build the Target up the block from us, remember us when coming to Columbia Heights used to be an adventure.

Speaking of adventures, First Read for Monster is Sunday night. We are all very excited by this cast and this show and we will be making some special announcements very soon, as well as featuring photos of our cast and crew on Monday, so get ready to be afraid. Be very, very afraid!