Honing In

Tonight we rehearsed the second half of the show. Despite a few blocking snafus and a few lingering line problems, thinks started to click in more ways than one. We are not at the "everything coming together" moment yet, but for the first time such a moment is visible on the horizon. And we are moving towards it quickly.

In fact, the director said the the day is soon coming where most of her attention will be focused on technical issues, as lights and sound, (some of which we had today), start to be utilized in full.

That moment in a show represents a sort of weening for the actors. When the director begins to let it go and fly on it's own a bit more. Again, that moment, by the director's own declaration, is nigh, and it feels like it. Which means I need to get down to smoothing out the few rough spots I have in blocking, and begin to create more nuance for my moments. I began experimenting with some things tonight. I will do so even more tomorrow, and from now on. But I don't want to get ahead of myself here. First, tonight.

During one scene, the characters gather around a radio and listen to the broadcast of a boxing match. We had the actual radio program available for us to use today for the first time. Two of the cast members work/have worked in radio and television, and spent some time a few days ago recording and editing the short radio segment. It sounds very good. It was a little too soft, but I imagine that will be corrected in future rehearsals.

Off stage I had more of a chance than usual to simply converse with some of my cast mates. Given that we ran more than one scene before getting notes, as opposed to stopping for notes after each scene, those of us not in the final scene had to stick around until the end for the first time. So there was much conversation in the green room.

This is also historically the beginning of that "bonding" experience in a play. Though I have been friendly with several cast mates already, and have a problem with none of them, a show to me always just feels a little different, a little more relaxed, once those moments of personal familiarity between the actors start to become more commonplace. I would not be surprised if after tonight even more of those moments show up as we begin to enter the trenches of the final two weeks of rehearsal. The prospect of becoming even more at ease with one another off stage can only help us onstage. I look forward to that.

I also look forward to getting props sorted out. The green room had been cleaned up, and props from former previous shows finally put away. Some props for this show have been pulled, but more needs to be done. Namely, I need a pistol. I handle one in two scenes, and the sooner I can stop using the lousy little bright yellow water pistol, the more comfortable I will be. (Unless that is the one I will really be using, in which case, I need to paint it at some point.) That is actually something I want to practice using because someone else will be firing the gun that makes the noise. The gun in my hand will be silent.

Tomorrow night we will rehearse the entire play in one night for the first time. It will also be the first time that we are not stopping between scenes in each half. All of Act One before notes, and the same for Act Two. This should give us our first real idea of the length of the show, as the director has also as much as said that we can no longer play, "What's my line," after tonight, which I took to mean we cannot call for lines anymore. It may be a bit rough in places, but this moment had to come eventually, and the sooner it comes, the sooner we can smooth out said rough spots somehow.