Radium Girls Finale

Radium Girls is concluded. Has been for several days, and I've been slowly getting back to some of the things that being in the show delayed. Ironically, this blog was one of those things.

The second weekend, though  by no means problem free, was stronger than the first, from an acting perspective. Saturday was our biggest crowd at the Black Box, probably about 30 people. Good crowd. The crowd for the closing matinee was smaller by about ten people, but arguably more responsive. My mother came on Friday.

As is sadly often the case, very few of my personal friends came to the show. No need to elaborate on that disappointing fact.

I personally felt that I myself gave stronger performances this weekend than I did last weekend. For whatever reason, right up until the end I always felt more nervous during my single scene as "Dr. Flinn." I've never been sure why this was the case. It could be because the scene required a long, rambling speech. It could be that I wasn't cast in the role from the beginning. That may seem silly, but all throughout the process in the back of my mind I felt like it wasn't "really" my character, even though I had the role since about week two of the rehearsal process.

Maybe I just didn't like the character. Or the scene, which I felt was one of the few in the play that was not well-written. I understood why it was there in a way, but it was too long, not a good match for me, and always took me out of the play a bit. It got a few laughs from the crowds during the run, and my cast mates very much enjoyed watching me in the scene, but internally it never totally clicked with me. On the final day I went a little further with the character, making him even broader and sillier in some ways, and that made it a bit less imposing to do the scene, but I never felt totally at ease with it. (On Friday I even dropped one of the sentences from his speech, but jumped right to the next one, without further incident.)

It can't be denied that there were tech and crew issues in this show that were never totally solved. They made the show longer, and through off at times what could have been a far better presentation. Not to bad mouth any one individual, because one single person can't be blamed for it, but scene changes and other such things were an issue when they didn't always have to be an issue. Maybe an extra week of rehearsals would have done it. Maybe. It doesn't matter now.

Such problems did a few times irritate me quite a bit, but over all the experience of being in Radium Girls was a positive one. I am glad to have been in it, now that all is said and done. I enjoyed it more than my previous show, for any number of reasons.

I feel I presented four distinct characters throughout my performance. Even Flinn, the one I didn't like, was sufficiently different from the other three. That's the biggest challenge of ensemble work-making sure each of your characters, no matter how "minor" appear to be different from the others. I feel I achieved that.

Not that it was always easy. Several times I had to jump right into the next character, necessitating rapid costumes changes. The -longer-than-they-should-have-been scene changes probably helped me cheat a bit, but for a while there I wasn't sure if I could find a system that would allow me enough time to change costumes quickly enough. I did, in the end. In an ideal world, I would have had a crew member helping me do that, which was discussed early on. But as I mentioned there were already enough issues with the tech aspects as it was, without adding more responsibilities to the team.

For the record, if you know the show or care to look it up, I enjoyed playing Berry, the lawyer for the Radium Girls the most, especially during the scene of the hearing. The reporter was my second favorite character, and the one I played most often during the show. Berry and the reporter are the two characters I said on my audition sheet I liked the most, and I'll always be grateful to the director for letting me play both of them.

I'll miss some of the folks from this show, most of whom i had never met before. I'd work with any of them again.

I'll also miss my hat from the show, though. I almost offered to buy it, but I didn't.

So, that's about it for this show. If you get a chance to see or be in a production of Radium Girls, I encourage you to do so. It is a good script, with a lot of room for different styles of acting, and stageable on a low-budget.

What's next for me? It may be happening very soon, in fact. On Saturday before the show I auditioned in the same building for a production of Macbeth, that a friend and Radium Girls cast mate is directing in the fall. If I get into that, I'll probably be rehearsing, or at least doing table work for that in the next couple of weeks.

But plenty of time to talk of that, should it happen. For now, I'm officially closing the Radium Girls chapter of my time, and this blog.

Half-Life of Radium Girls.

The pun on being halfway done with this show was probably inevitable.

As was my slipping on my daily productions updates here on the blog during tech weeks and opening weekend. Sorry about that. But let's talk about what went on in the first weekend of the show, as tech week itself proceeded as most of them tend to do: a mixture of chaos and progress.

All three performances had small audiences; Saturday's I think was the biggest, with over 20, I think. My impression was that everyone who came to see the show enjoyed it, however. I wouldn't say "electric," but involved. There are a few funny moments throughout the show, and from what I noticed, someone in each audience laughed at most of them. Some such moments got big laughs, in fact.

My guess is that the show is lesser known around this area, and thus hasn't pulled a large audience. Also, though I am fond of the BBAC as it is my "main" venue right now, it has often had a problem drawing large crowds for most of it's shows. The reasons for this are an on going discussion among those of us connected with the place, but we're aware. Our director is very popular in another community theatre in the area, and I thought perhaps that popularity would bring more people from her circles to see the show. It may yet do so, but it didn't for the opening weekend, it would appear.

As for the performances themselves, I won't lie, they were rough at times. I've said all along we probably could have used an extra week of rehearsals, but since that was not an option, some bugs were being worked out in the actual performances. A few others appeared here and there as well.

The worse was on Saturday for me. One of my scene partners forgot to show up for the scene. I wasn't aware it had happened until I turned to ask  him the question my character was due to ask, and found nobody there.

I proceeded, as best I could, to incorporate his lines into my own lines for the scene. I was lucky to be playing a reporter at the time, which allowed room to used this trick more so than my other characters. A guy reading news flashes and quotations from his notebook. Others in the scene, who at first didn't realize what the problem was adapted in a few moments, and helped take some of the weight off. in the end, I could have done a better job at remembering the order of the missing actor's lines, but I'm not beating myself up over it. In fact in some ways I consider the whole thing one of my best, most professional moments as an actor. I didn't panic, didn't forget where I was, are stand around looking dumb. I let training take over, remained calm, and proceeded. I'm sure it must have for at least a few seconds appeared awkward to the audience, but giving myself some credit on this one, it could have been a lot worse if I had panicked.

Not that I want to experience that very often. It was only the second time I ever had to deal with that kind of blooper, and this one was probably worse than the other one. But there are times in an actor's life when invisible poise, calm and reliance on knowledge of the moment speak just as much to his talent and professionalism as those parts of his performance that other people see. Few people probably knew what happened, but if they were unaware of just how big a hole in the show they were witnessing, I did something right. I'm not perfect, but I'm pretty damn good most of the time.

I did lose my cool once during the weekend, and it wasn't because of the missing actor. It was due to another error of a different kind, not as huge but still annoying.

I have some fast costume changes in this show, and for opening night my costume pieces, which had always been placed by crew in the same place, were that not nowhere to be found. I had to perform that character for the rest of the show without his specific costume, and I did get blustery about it, to tell you the truth. Turns out the costume had been thrown by someone, (I never was sure who) off stage during a scene change, and fell behind two side curtains. I was extra annoyed because I had only just finally established some kind of system for maximum efficiency and minimum help from other people for all the costume changes. But, afterwards, discussions were had with the proper people by the stage manager, and it didn't happen again, so I won't dwell on it here.

The Sunday matinee had some issues as well, but strictly speaking, unless I missed something big, it was probably the smoothest of the performances for the first weekend. Scene changes, though still clunky were usually faster than they were during tech week and the first few nights.

Through all three shows, I was satisfied with my performances, and I hope to improve on what i do even more for the final three shows. No pick up rehearsal though, and I think we probably needed one, but schedules are schedules. So I'll keep reviewing my lines until then, and give it my best as I always due once the weekend gets here.

Tech Week Begins for Radium Girls

Tech week is often called "hell week," and each show I am in, I ask myself if it's going to be hell.

My answer for Radium Girls, based on the first day with all technical elements and costumes in place is, not yet. A bit hot under the collar, maybe, but not quite hell at this time.

I have never been a technical person. As an actor, I know when something technical has not gone correctly. Such as last night when a chair I was supposed to sit in wasn't set. Or when lights do/do not come on as they are supposed to. I can't say exactly what can be done to correct most technical problems. I only know they exist, most of the time, and the issues, particularly with the timing and cues for the lights continue to throw some road blocks at the show.

I don't want to speculate. There are issues with the lights and sound, and some with the running crew, and that's all I'm going to say about it. It has been frustrating at times. But when there are problems such as these, all one can do is work extra hard at one's own job, and hope for the best. Adapt to what happens as it happens, and continue with the scene. (I grabbed a chair from elsewhere on the set and sat in it for my scene, in response to the missing chair I mentioned above.)

My biggest issues are all my own, from a non-acting standpoint. Costumes, specifically. I have several quick-bordering-on-instant costume changes to make through the course of the show. (Mostly in Act II.) I've been experimenting with a few methods, and none of them have been perfect. I have to leave a jacket in the middle of the floor, or a prop on a set piece when I exit. Yet I have permission to change one or two things here and there, which I think will make it easier from now on. I will try them tonight.

I admit, I don't at all like having to try new technical things this late into a process. We open officially on Friday, with the possibility of a donation-only audience on Thursday. I like everything to be happening by rote almost by now. This is the second show I've been in this year with a lot of changes happening in order to catch up in the final week. I won't lie and say that it doesn't concern me at all.

Yet in the end, I know I am about telling the story. Playing the character. If in the end I forget a hat or put on a wrong jacket, but convey to the audience a living, memorable character, I will be for the most part satisfied with that. Not all of the delays are my fault, and I won't drain energy from my actual performance to feed some of the other issues that have arisen. If I find a smooth fix in the next day or two that doesn't tax me too much, fine. But if not, I am putting my focus on character, and letting that speak for itself. I consider that the actor's ultimate responsibility.

And believe it or not, that aspect felt solid to me last night. My character work, my presence in scenes went well. In some moments I felt better than I have thus far during the rehearsal process. I hope of course that stays, and continues to improve my performance in fact.

Trenches

Last night was by far our longest rehearsal. We got done at about 11PM. (After a few minors with restricted driver's licenses had to leave early.)

I haven't had a rehearsal that long and that late in years. But I have been involved in plenty of them, and judging by what was done and not done at this point in the production, I have been prepared for the possibility of a late one or two.

When things are getting accomplished, I don't really mind late rehearsals. And when a show is somewhat behind, as ours is, I welcome just about anything that will catch us up to where we need to be. All by way of saying, I wasn't too bothered by how late we were there last night, but I do think ti would have been better if we had been able to avoid it.

Yet there is so much technical stuff to do. We only had a set of any kind to work with two days ago. (Though we didn't rehearse that night...it was spent standing still on stage while light cues were programmed into the light board...something I believe the director didn't realize had yet to be done.) Plus our lead actress having missed so many rehearsals because of her schedule and such. Yesterday was the first time we had a running crew assembled, a partial set (they were still building it when we walked in), lights, music and sound. It's the sort of thing that has to be done correctly.

The tech crew, after all, was only just learning what their assignments were last night, as well. Important stuff, but time consuming.

I'd say most of the actors remained in good spirits about it though. Sometimes it required the aid of a little bit of goofing off, but that to me is okay. In fact, I think when kept in check such things can improve cast morale in difficult times, and make everyone more comfortable with one another, which in turn usually leads to better performances.

There is something to be said for being in the trenches, plodding through the same boredom and trying to work around so many other issues in a process like this. I don't want every night to be like that, but a few can loosen the gears a bit, and I think the last two nights have.

The key is that it can't be allowed to go too far for too long. We are in the final week of rehearsing, and it's time to have fun, yes, but also be aware of how close the hot seat is getting. (We open for a public preview one week from today!)

In theory tonight the set will be done. The light crew, and the running crew are at least familiar with their assignments. Nobody is allowed to call for lines anymore, as of tonight. Time to show what we are made of in this show. (Though tech issues I am sure will still slow us a bit.)

One fun thing to share about last night: I got a hat. Actually, I found a pile of hats the director had brought for us to look at. During a break I tried a few on, and came up with one I liked. (and one of the few that fit my melon of a head.) I'll be using it when I play the reporter character. (My "biggest" role, by stage time measures.)

I'll try to get a picture up for future updates.

For now, some dinner, and later we'll see how a lot of the elements I've talked about are coming together.

Best Week So Far

Radium Girls has a lot of work left to do, and not as much time to do it as any of us would like. That being said, the last three rehearsals were our best in many ways.

Our lead actress missed this entire week, and has only been present for about four official rehearsals. This has been problematic, to say the least. But over the last three days, by having someone read her lines off stage, (as well as those of other actors who are still absent any given day) we began to find a rhythm. That rhythm will of course change once everyone is attending all of the rehearsals, but not drastically so. Besides, I find that it's easier to move forward on some kind of rhythm, even a temporary one, than it is to have no regular pattern to what's being rehearsed. It's also often easier to make adjustments to a new rhythm when called upon.

Repetition and lack of interruption. When a rehearsal process has those two things going for it, the play gains momentum, even when holes remain to be filled, as they do with this one.

Sense of character and place are forming now. So is a rough estimate of how long I have between my scenes. (Though we have skipped certain scenes all week.) But now I at least have a ballpark notion as to how much time I will eventually have between one appearance and the next. I hope to start working on a few more nuances, and small aspects of the performance. I just like to add smaller, but impactful things to my characters when I can.

The manager of the venue pulled some props from the house collection for us to use. Most of the cast  hasn't used anything yet, but I've already adopted a small notebook for my scenes as the reporter. I've scribbled in it a lot during my scenes, to give it that well-used feel. Still feels a bit too new, but I'm sure it won't after tech week. When i have a hand prop, I like to keep it in my hands as often as I can, to give it that "extension of my character" feel.

Tried on some costumes this week as well. The director settled on a suit for me. The first I tried on, in fact, since it fit well enough. I have some rapid character changes in this show, so I won't be able to make full costume changes. Pants, shirt, and probably tie will stay. I'll flip through jackets and in one case a hat to distinguish characters. My usual stage shoes. (Which I may have to replace after many years of fine service in the near future. But not before this show.)

I still trip over a few lines here and there, but I am in fact off book. Part of it may be how often I have to play a scene to an empty chair, I don't know. But I continue to review everything, as usual. The director did mention me as one of the people who are most off book, so I suppose I am doing something right in that department.

My understanding is that the next time we all meet for rehearsal at the BBAC, our set will be mostly built. (The current show ending this weekend.) That will be one of our biggest adjustments, as there are many platforms involved, and we've been on a flat, unmarked stage for most of this process. I usually adjust to such things with minimal problems, however.

Despite the bumpy ride this rehearsal process has been, I feel in a good place with my characters. As I said, I hope to add a bit more dpeth to them, now that we're entering into the "true" performance rehearsals. (As opposed to the building rehearsals.) There's still some shoring up I could do with that. I may or may not make the connection on every level that I hope for, but I already feel I will be closer to the target than I was in my previous show. (A Night of One-Ders back in February.) Why? It's part of the mystery that is acting sometimes, I guess. Some shows you connect how you want to, others not quite.

For this one, I'm just "getting there" faster. (Especially for my role as Berry, the lawyer, despite it not being my largest role.)

I now look forward to seeing not only my own characters, but those of the rest of the cast evolve and become more polished as everyone's schedules at last start to improve in our final two weeks.

(Kind of) Top to (Kind of) Bottom

Despite our lead actress having to miss the entire upcoming week of rehearsals (!) we ran the show for the first time from the start to the finish last night.

Almost, anyway. We did skip some scenes, because not only was the lead actress gone, but so was one of the actors with whom she shares scenes. As you can imagine, this makes scene cues more difficult to commit to memory. But it is what it is.

There was still a benefit to rehearsing though. I gave all of my lines in one evening foe the first time, outside of home. I only had to call for line once or twice, and I recovered almost right away. I'm in good shape, there.

At one point in the play, I'm in three consecutive scenes, playing a different character each time. I made sure to know when that one was coming, though I did forget about one such transition. That will come with time also, as we have never run the transitions between scenes.

Still rough rehearsals at times, but I'm working on little nuances now, those little extra things that make a character alive. I hope to come up with a few more tonight, when we run the same sections, I believe.

Props have also arrived, from the collection of the venue. They are up on a table as of last night, but we didn't use them. (Though I grabbed one for a scene as part of a last minute idea.)

Off Book vs.Off Track

I am effectively off book for act one, and nearly there for act two. That is to say, I should be able to recall any line I have to call for quickly from now on. In theory.

The off track part? It may be an exaggeration, but I am sad to report that there are several more frustrating issues concerning the production of Radium Girls.

To begin with, someone quite the show at this late date, forcing other actresses to take on even more work at last minute. I don't know the reasons for quitting, but if it isn't an emergency of some kind, it was a lousy thing to do.

As to the others issues...I think it's best to be discreet about them at this point. I can be honest in this post about how the show is going, without getting into specifics. Specifics would only be something like gossip, anyway. Concerns would morph into complaints, and I don't want that.

Suffice to stay that there are various different kinds of difficulties going on at the same time. The impression I get is that I'm not the only person involved in the show that would concede this. Different things bother different people, and there may even be one or two things that bother only me. Still, I'm probably not taking a big leap when I say that it's bothersome to almost everyone on some level.

Any given person could have made different choices to have avoided any given difficulty, but it's impossible to declare one person responsible for 100% of the bumps in this road. Blame doesn't change anything anyway.

I'm glad I that I've gone over my lines more often, and in an more immersive way than usual, though. Being off book (which as I say, I almost am for the whole show) makes up for a lot of issues, insofar as the creation of performance is concerned. As I stated in a previous post, sometimes an actor has to reach inside further, not just when performing, but when building a performance. I'm there now.

I don't mean nobody else matters. I want to make things go well for my cast mates, if I can. I remain open to going over scenes in another room, or staying late to get something right. I'm still a team player. You have to be. But when things are a bit of a mess, you have to approach your team, and your joint project from an alternate angle, and that requires more reliance on instinct and adaptation to the situation, as opposed to diving head first into the environment.

We did have the whole stage last night, as we worked on scenes from act one. The set of the current show is portable, it would seem. I am relieved to have been on stage at least. And I didn't have to call for line too many times. A momentum shift always begins after I've performed a scene off book for the first time. Character work and other things begin to happen faster.

And the venue itself is mostly cleaned up not from the recent remodeling project, so it's less claustrophobic than it had been.

Plus I used one of my own business cards as prop for my character's business card, and one of the actresses was impressed by that. Has nothing to do with the quality of rehearsal, but it made someone smile. No small thing among cast mates.

How many smiles tonight, as we work our way through scenes in Act II? I'll find out in a few hours. At least some more satisfaction on my part, I would guess, because my favorites scenes for myself are all in Act II. Looking forward to getting to rehearse those in full, at last.

A Week In the Life

I didn't think that a post after each of the last few rehearsals would be an efficient use of time for either myself, or for you, loyal blog readers. The last three, were in many ways the same, in good ways and in bad, so I'm posting an all encompassing update on the show, sort of.

To begin with, because our show, and the current show at the venue are running almost concurrently, the tiny space is quite crowded for our rehearsals. We are for the first hour or so confined to the small lobby to eek out rehearsal, and practice some blocking. (Which at this point I believe is set.) During this time, the current show that has the stage, a kids show with a cast of 40 (that's forty) is preparing to leave. To be more accurate, parents are entering at about this time waiting to pick up said kids from the show's technical rehearsals. So we have a cast, and a half, plus a group of parents waiting in the lobby of a small building while our rehearsal is going on.

Needless to say this is not ideal. I'm unsure how the scheduling came about like this, but there is no point if getting too annoyed with it; the kids show is the current show, and as far as I am concerned, the space is there while they are present. I'd expect no less if my own show were the current show. The overall fairness to them doesn't, however, make our rehearsals any physically easier.

One night, once everyone from the current show was gone, we did make use of the stage, though it of course has their set on it. We had permission to move what we had to move, but our director opted most recently to continue our rehearsals in the lobby anyway, finding it easier for her to concentrate there than on a stage with someone's elses set on it. I of course would rather be on the stage than in the lobby, but that is far from my call. So, as far as Tuesday was concerned, (the most recent rehearsal) the lobby it was.

Than a five day hiatus for me, and a four day hiatus for most of the show. This is the second week we've been off for at least four days in a row. I won't lie; I'm a bit concerned about that. Those who followed my last show know that I had my concerns because of the large number of days without a rehearsal, and it looks like it's happening again. My previous show did make it to opening night, and I imagine this show will get it done somehow as well. Almost all shows do. But it certainly;y makes the rehearsal process more challenging and a bit less enjoyable for me.

I have sensed that at least a few others are unhappy about it, within the cast, but I am not a mind reader.

All this by way of saying that I have had to do a lot of creative work at home, on my own. (I've said this in earlier posts as well about this show.) That is for the most part coming along well. I've only gotten two corrective notes per se from the director, so I imagine most of my choices are working for right now. She says she likes what I'm doing in more than one scene.

Sometimes community theatre is like this. The chaos and the minimal rehearsal. It by no means has to be like this, as there are community theatres with more space or more open calendars. Those that have been established for longer periods of time and can count on certain support that newer ones perhaps cannot. It's not at all fun to rehearse under such conditions. Yet it is the essence of acting, in some ways, to own what one is doing, and to internalize it to such a point that most outside circumstances don't detract from a performance. Circumstances such as these that I have described require that sort of focus on individual effort to be sharper and come earlier than it otherwise might, but it is always part of the acting craft. It all starts with one's own character, the sort of show within the show of every play.

Don't get me wrong, it is worlds easier on certain levels to be on a quiet stage practicing for as long as possible. Muscle memory and such. Even one's acting work, and creative process runs much more smoothly under a conducive environment. But one thing remains true for the actor at a time likes this; we have basically 0% control over a building, or a scheduling snafu or noise. We have a great deal of control over how we play our character, and the professionalism we display. Yes, even those things are easier under the right circumstances, but we are never 100% powerless over how we as individual actors proceed. We can and will get annoyed at times, but we must always move forward, and seek to tell the story we are tasked to tell, through the characters we are assigned as best we can.

This cast has just under a month to be ready to do so. No reason to suspect it cannot be done.

The Long and Winding Road

That led to last night's rehearsal. Literally.

I mentioned previously that due to various difficulties, rehearsals for Radium Girls had been moved to a back-up location about 90 minutes drive from my home. I went there last night to get blocking notes. More on that in a moment, but one big item to mention is that from here on out, our rehearsals will be in the Black Box Arts Center, where the show will be performed in June.

The director told us this not long after I arrived. I won't lie about this; I'm quite relieved. Every show and every venue has its issues, but the prospect of that long of a commute twice a night three or so night a week for the duration was to me a daunting one. I found myself willing at first, but after making the trek two times in a few days, I confess my resolve was faltering.

Would I have quit? I doubt it. Would I have had to miss more rehearsals than I like? Possibly. But for now it is a moot point. My commute is back to less than half the length. I don't know what exactly changed to allow it, but I'm happy it did so.

As to the rehearsal itself, it was mostly a blocking session. Blocking sessions, as I mentioned last time, don't generally provide interesting fodder for commentary. I'll mention I need to be in a crowd scene now, that I didn't think I was in previously. It will require a quick shift, as the scene comes right after a scene in which I play one of the two characters on stage. I actually have several instant shifts like that throughout the play. I don't think it will be too bad, once we get into the flow of things, but of course, I'd rather have a longer break between characters. But I have more than one long break in this show, unlike my previous production, so I can't complain too much.

Besides, in the above example, I don't have to do anything but sit down, for two minutes, and clap at the end of a speech. I almost don't even count it as a transition. Because I like to be thorough, I'll probably give some form of identity to the guy I'm playing in that ultra-brief appearance, but he's not my focus for the time being.

It's makes for a good reference, though. An actor should attach something to whatever character he's playing, even background roles such as this one. Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a big proponent of everyone on stage any given time having a story to tell. It may be a story that only the actor knows, but a story should be present, to give even the tiniest of performances three dimensions. I've quoted my late stage-directing professor on this topic several times. "You can't put a cardboard maid on stage." Indeed you can't. I'll have more on this item later on, probably.

As for my larger roles, I've been doing character work on them. IN fact I've been using methods for character creation that I haven't utilized in my last few shows. Not that I was lazy in previous shows, but over the years you try different methods and tricks to make more of what you're doing. In this case, I'm writing down some personality traits, and a small bit of backstory for my characters. I use that depth on a regular basis, but it's been a few years since I wrote it down as a visual reference i can review in its own right. I rarely get complicated with this process, but it nonetheless has in the past provided an anchor to performances, especially for small(er) roles. I'm in the early stages of it, but already I feel some of the benefits.

One brief example. There is a famous photograph of a young Thomas Edison, taken after he'd worked 72 hours straight on the phonograph. His exhaustion, frustration and determination are clear. That is the sort of weary persistence I want to give one of my characters at times. (Berry, the court advocate for the sick girls.) The picture doesn't tell his exact story, of course, but it does convey a type of presence similar to the one I wish to project with Berry at certain times. So I can refer to that photo as a general lighthouse of the human experience, calling me to the port of the goals I have for my version of Berry. See it below.

The director told us we needed to start "doing our homework" on such things as building characters, as well as getting off book, because it looks like the entire cast will almost never be together in one sitting before tech week. That is to say, may not have as much time to work on nuance together as would be ideal. The director advised us that if she found any of us going in a totally misguided direction she would pull us back, but in general, she trusted us to come up with things, and that she'd liked what little she had seen of character so far in the blocking rehearsals. (Where character work isn't the main goal.)

So here's hoping I don't need to be pulled back or course corrected with any of my decisions.

It appears I am in goof shape for the character I was given only a few days ago, Flinn. (A scientist of dubious qualifications to make medical statements.) I'm only just now beginning to explore what to do with him in his only scene, but I knew a certain arrogance should probably come through. It must have, as the stage manager moaned several times while I ran the scene and just how much she disliked the character. I pointed out I didn't like him either. But I'm happy that kind of reaction took place, as was the director. So I'd say I'm in the ballpark with that one.

So, some time has been lost, and there have been some obstacles. There will probably be a few more before all is said and done with this show. But it's my opinion that despite some of the difficulties, being able to rehearse in the same venue as the performance will start to smooth things out here and there. We'll see.

Next rehearsal is tomorrow night.

Radium Girls: Additions and Subtractions

There have been three blocking rehearsals to date for the show. I generally don't post much about such evenings, as there is very little to report. Everyone gets told where to stand and when to sit and such. Not intriguing stuff.

However, in that same short amount of time, quite a bit has happened with the show.

To begin with, due to some remodeling at the Black Box, as well as some other reasons, most of our rehearsals will now be at a school that is an hour and fifteen minutes from where I live. (Black Box is about 40 minutes.) So a great deal of time has been added to my commute, and I won't likely ever get there at the start of rehearsal. That is what it is.

The bigger news though, is that someone has already quit the show. They came only once as far as I know. The initial table read. After that they didn't show up and didn't call...until I suppose yesterday, confirming they were out. Never met them before. Always a jackass thing to due, absent an emergency. (And there doesn't seem to have been one in this case, from what i have gathered.)

So, his roles have been divided up among others, while certain roles have been shifted. I was asked if i wanted to take on two of them myself. I agreed to take one more, as I thought five characters in this production was too much for me to give my full attention to. So I'll now be playing Flinn, for those familiar with this show. He's got one scene, so my work load hasn't increased too much. I just glad it happened this early, and not, say two weeks before we open.

I don't rehearse Fridays, but today's planned rehearsal for others was cancelled, so the director can take some time and rewrite the schedule. Hopefully once that's done, we'll find we don't need to be rehearsing at the school as often as initially believed, and will then be set for a while.

It's been a bit of a chaotic process so far, sadly. But again, better it happen up front, then in the middle of even worse near the end of the process. Here's hoping this latest hurdle is the last of the big ones for us.

Radium Girls

Well, the theatre process begins anew for me. I've been cast in a production of Radium Girls.

Actually, I was cast officially about a week ago, and auditioned about a week before that. But the director had to search for people to fill some of the roles after auditions were complete. Not enough people tried out initially.

I didn't post about the auditions. I tend not to do that here on the blog anymore, preferring to post about shows once I know I'm in them.

For those who don't feel like clicking on the link above, Radium Girls is an ensemble piece. Set in the 1920's, it tells the story of young girls who worked in a factory painting watches with radium based paint. Such painted glowed in the dark, and make the faces easier to see in the dark. The dangers of radium were not widely understood at the time, but when the girls all begin to suffer from severe radiation illnesses, they seek compensation from the factory, and to spread the word on the dangers. The factory of course resists, and there is the basic conflict in the play.

Generally, each actor in a production of this show plays multiple roles. (With a few exceptions.) I'll be playing three characters, two of which I stated I liked in my audition sheet. The third has only one paragraph in the whole play. If you are familiar with the show, I'll be playing Reporter, Berry and Lovesick Cowboy. Smaller, but interesting roles that I look forward to exploring.

The story is told in a series of minimalist vignettes. Sort of like Our Town or The Laramie Project, but more politically significant than the former and less intense than the latter. The fourth wall isn't broken as often, either.

I've met the director before, in passing, in my travels in local theatre circles over the years, but have never worked with her. I have one friend of mine who is also in the show, and one cast mate I was in a show with once, years ago. The others I saw for the first time either at the audition, or on Sunday night during the initial table read at the director's house.

The reading went well. It can of course be difficult to determine who well certain scenes will go based just on a reading, before most people are in full gear. But for what it's worth, I didn't notice anything to cause concern about who we've got for the show.

Schedules are bad. So bad, the whole cast never meets on the same day. I have offered to alter my schedule at home if it will be helpful. I haven't heard back on that yet, but I don't want to stand in the way of progress if I can help it. After my previous show, I believe getting as much rehearsing done with everyone as soon as possible is best.

Though we have lost about two weeks of the process already, because the director had to fill the missing roles. We're set now, though. My first rehearsal will be tonight (Tuesday.) As with my last several shows, this one will take place at the Black Box Arts Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

I will start studying lines right away, as I think I fell a tad behind for a while in my last show, and I won't have much time. I have far  fewer lines than I did in my last show, but they won't get into my memory by themselves.

I am in fact happy to have a smaller presence this time. In the last show back in February, I had a large role in one of the short plays, and, arguably I was the lead role in the second short play. And I had almost no down time. This time I will have long stretches where I will get a chance to relax and gather myself between scenes. I really could have used that in the last show, and I relieved I will have it in this one.

So, this marks the first time I've been in two shows in one year in quite a few years. Let's see how it goes.