Looking For Space

Okay, I'm not actually looking for it. I know right where it is. But I am getting used to the space, how's that?

Last night I was back at the Black Box Arts Center rehearsing for my one man show, The King is But a Man. Mostly I ran act two, because I've had less time with that half of the play over the last few months. I'm not so far behind as to be worried, as I'm off book with it. But nonetheless it has a few rougher edges than act one which need to be softened a bit over the next few rehearsals.

I'm very familiar with this performance space, having been on it in many different shows. Yet this is the first time I've been doing a one-man show on it, (or any where for that matter.) The special challenge, therefore, is to make sure I use all of the space so as not to remain stagnant the entire evening, but also avoid running around the stage just for the sake of saying I used every inch of it. I don't anticipate this being a difficult task, but it will require a few run throughs in order to attain said balance.

It's a small venue, as it's name would indicate, so I want it to also be an intimate engagement with the audience. It's not an audience participation show, by any means, but I still want to maintain that comfortable, conversational feel. That will probably be what I focus on more next week. It's already there to some degree given the nature of the material, but I want to play around with it a bit more.

I've not yet worn my full costume during these rehearsals. One reason is that the heat is out and I would be cold, but just as importantly, I'm trying to replicate a standard rehearsal process as much as I can with this one man show. Costumes don't come right away in most rehearsal processes, so they haven't for this one. I sense, nonetheless, that I will make use of them earlier in the process than would be the case in most standard performances. I just want to get used to the feel of things. Especially since a pocket plays a prominent role in more than one place, and the sooner I'm used to the actual pocket, the better.

Given some of the lumps for the second half, I'll probably spent at least one more day working on just that section of the play, before returning to running the show show again. Maybe even two more nights, depending on how I feel after the next time I use the stage. (Thursday.)

In any case, new ideas and perspectives are emerging each time I run the show now. I look forward to the coming rehearsals.