Short and Sweet

Cliche', but no other way to describe tonight's rehearsal for "Heaven Can Wait". We were running the blocking of Act 3, which is split into two scenes. I am only in the first scene of same, which is the shorter of the short halves. So, after about a 40 minutes of running the scene and getting notes my presence was no longer required. So I went home, obviously.

That being said, the director continues to be very pleased with our progress. No major log jams while running the scene. The dog was not present this evening though, and in all fairness, I have almost no blocking in that scene; I am sitting on a couch for 90% of it, so it's easy to remember. I am almost off book for the few lines I have in it as well.

There is a bit of coordinating that must be done pertaining to the last few seconds of the scene, but I hesitate to go into detail about that, because it gives away a major plot point. Let's just say I must decide which of the incredible circumstances to be more shocked by at a given moment before the end.

Speaking of offbook, my overall progress in that regard is as follows:

Act One: Off book. I have only one scene in that Act and I have been off book for that for about a week. Smooth sailing should ensue for Thursday, which is the off book deadline for Act One anyway.

Act Two: 2/3 Off book. This is a huge act, an in particular there is this big 30 minute scene in the middle of it. The vast majority of my character's stage time is in Act 2 during said long scene. I have about three scenelettes within the scene. (I am not on stage the entire time.) I am pretty close to totally off book for the first two, and 80% off book for the third. The fourth section is the one I know the least as of now. Plus I have a large block of text to memorize that I am supposed to be reading. That will probably be the biggest challenge between now and then.

The second biggest challenge is finding a way to sound natural while rapidly delivering dialogue that basically consists of stock market terms. I know zero about such matters, so I looked up the terms, in order to sound more genuine when mentioning them during the scene. A personal practice of mine, since I don't like to be unaware of at least the rudimentary meaning of what I am saying. It didn't exactly help much this time though, as I still have no idea what most of that stuff is. But I will get there. (And I wish to blog about this topic later in the week, as a separate post.)

So I do have some work to do between now and Friday's marathon Act 2 off book rehearsal. We haven't run some of those scenes more than once or twice, so that makes getting off book a bit more difficult. But I feel confident that I can be most of the way there by deadline. At least to the point where calling for line will be helpful. (I hope we are allowed to do that for at least a few days, though I am not privy to the official policy of this director on that subject.)

So I will have to put the pedal slightly to the medal, but I will be there. And then comes the really rewarding part of rehearsing. We can set the scripts down and work on the nuance of speeches and scenes. Where the real magic of theatre happens.

Check back often, loyal blog readers. It is about to get real.