I rehearsed today in the afternoon, as opposed to the evening as I have been the last few times. The venue was available as was I, and the weather forecast called for some nasty winter weather in the evening.
So, guess what happened? Yes, the bad weather moved earlier into the day, unannounced after I already got to the theater.
Truth be told the weather was fine when I went in, and got started. I heard rain on the roof for a while, but that's common in that place. I continued with act one as normal, determined to jump right into act two without a faux intermission, just so I could get home earlier. It was after I used the restroom upon completion of act one that I checked outside...and found snow mixed with sleet on on salted roads.
I packed up, shut down the theater, and came home.
Turns out it wasn't as bad on some of the roads later on in my trip, and I suppose I could have stayed and finished act two. But commuter traffic was already picking up, and there's no way of knowing if the weather would have gotten any worse in town. So though I regret not getting to act two, I don't regret leaving earlier. It was probably the wiser and safer choice.
Act one was solid, though. I'm feeling quite good about it. The length remains just over an hour, which is pretty much right where it ought to be, I think. Fewer stumbles than last time. Remembered some of the new blocking ideas I came up with on Tuesday. So it was a productive rehearsal, just not for the whole play.
I think on Thursday, when I next have access to the venue, I might go ahead and start with act two, just to catch up. That has been the part of the play that has needed the most polish. Then again, I do want to run the whole show at once as much as I can between now and opening. If the weather offers no potential of having to bail out early, I may go ahead and run the show from the top after all.
Wish there was more to report, but there should be on Tuesday.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Rehearsal Hiatus and Return
Rehearsal last night, after not having any on Thursday. Turns out I had some other things I had to take care of then, so I opted not to rehearse. I was however back on stage last night. (Tuesday.)
The biggest change in rehearsal last night was my costume; I wore it for the first time for a rehearsal. Not that I expected any problems with it, but there none. I'll most likely wear it from here on out. I might get a different pair of pants, but otherwise the costume is set. As are all the props. Everything I need for the various scenes is now on set, so I'm ready to go.
I stumbled over a few lines here and there last night, but on the whole I got through the whole show mostly unscathed. Perhaps some of the best news from last night is that I shaved more minutes off of the second act. It is now under and hour, and if I can keep it like that, I'll be more than satisfied.
Act one ran the same length give or take two minutes, that it has run for months now, even before I had access to the stage. I love that consistency.
No overlap between my rehearsal and the other show's rehearsal last night.
Another good blocking idea came to me. During one of the speeches, wherein the character is more vulnerable, I thought to move up stage, so as to give him a more diminutive feel to the audience. I think I'll keep it. It's actually gratifying to realize how many tricks and concepts come to me in the natural course of rehearsing a play by myself. Concepts that I have studied over the years, but have not had much of a chance to put into use for a while. They seem to not be there in my mind anymore, until all at once, they present themselves for use during a rehearsal. Many of my colleagues are stronger with blocking magic than I am, but I have to say I am better at it than I sometimes give myself credit for.
My character has a bottle of water on him during the show. If nothing else I need to make sure I have that. It's a lot of talking, and I'll need to hydrate numerous times throughout the course of the evening, I'm sure.
The managing director of the arts center I'm performing this in has been in contact with some people about making posters for my show, though none have called back. I myself may check on possibilities myself, for I have no graphic design knowledge. I have said that all the posters really needs by way of graphics is a crown surrounded by some of the common objects I use throughout the show. Or some such configuration. Truth be told, if they get my name and the dates correct, that's what is most important to me for this, though I understand how important a nice looking poster can be.
As for lights, I don't think I'll be making use of any light cues. If someone can man the lights, to bring them up and down at the start and finish of each act, that should be enough. Whether or not I will be using the work lights or the actual stage lights is yet unknown. Even if it is the stage lights, it will be a general coverage plot without any fades or cross lighting. Simplicity. Always simplicity for this show.
My next scheduled rehearsal day is tomorrow (Thursday.) I may have the option to rehearse late morning or afternoon, depending on what else may be going on there that day. I may prefer that to my usual late night slot for tomorrow. The weather, if no other reason. It may snow a bit in the evening, but is supposed to be clear in the day time. Parking is free at night, though. Decisions.
Progress, though, is being made. I would not want to perform the show for an audience tonight, but if I absolutely had no choice, I feel I could give them a solid performance. Hopefully four weeks from now, (from this very night in fact) the presentation will be even more solid, and entertaining. If I'm honest with myself, I have to say I feel there is something good happening with this show, that audiences will enjoy.
Just have to make sure plenty of people come.
The biggest change in rehearsal last night was my costume; I wore it for the first time for a rehearsal. Not that I expected any problems with it, but there none. I'll most likely wear it from here on out. I might get a different pair of pants, but otherwise the costume is set. As are all the props. Everything I need for the various scenes is now on set, so I'm ready to go.
I stumbled over a few lines here and there last night, but on the whole I got through the whole show mostly unscathed. Perhaps some of the best news from last night is that I shaved more minutes off of the second act. It is now under and hour, and if I can keep it like that, I'll be more than satisfied.
Act one ran the same length give or take two minutes, that it has run for months now, even before I had access to the stage. I love that consistency.
No overlap between my rehearsal and the other show's rehearsal last night.
Another good blocking idea came to me. During one of the speeches, wherein the character is more vulnerable, I thought to move up stage, so as to give him a more diminutive feel to the audience. I think I'll keep it. It's actually gratifying to realize how many tricks and concepts come to me in the natural course of rehearsing a play by myself. Concepts that I have studied over the years, but have not had much of a chance to put into use for a while. They seem to not be there in my mind anymore, until all at once, they present themselves for use during a rehearsal. Many of my colleagues are stronger with blocking magic than I am, but I have to say I am better at it than I sometimes give myself credit for.
My character has a bottle of water on him during the show. If nothing else I need to make sure I have that. It's a lot of talking, and I'll need to hydrate numerous times throughout the course of the evening, I'm sure.
The managing director of the arts center I'm performing this in has been in contact with some people about making posters for my show, though none have called back. I myself may check on possibilities myself, for I have no graphic design knowledge. I have said that all the posters really needs by way of graphics is a crown surrounded by some of the common objects I use throughout the show. Or some such configuration. Truth be told, if they get my name and the dates correct, that's what is most important to me for this, though I understand how important a nice looking poster can be.
As for lights, I don't think I'll be making use of any light cues. If someone can man the lights, to bring them up and down at the start and finish of each act, that should be enough. Whether or not I will be using the work lights or the actual stage lights is yet unknown. Even if it is the stage lights, it will be a general coverage plot without any fades or cross lighting. Simplicity. Always simplicity for this show.
My next scheduled rehearsal day is tomorrow (Thursday.) I may have the option to rehearse late morning or afternoon, depending on what else may be going on there that day. I may prefer that to my usual late night slot for tomorrow. The weather, if no other reason. It may snow a bit in the evening, but is supposed to be clear in the day time. Parking is free at night, though. Decisions.
Progress, though, is being made. I would not want to perform the show for an audience tonight, but if I absolutely had no choice, I feel I could give them a solid performance. Hopefully four weeks from now, (from this very night in fact) the presentation will be even more solid, and entertaining. If I'm honest with myself, I have to say I feel there is something good happening with this show, that audiences will enjoy.
Just have to make sure plenty of people come.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
The Late Show
Due to scheduling conflicts, last night, (and for several future nights) I rehearsed The King is But a Man at the venue late into the night. I started around 9:00 PM and left the theater around midnight. (The show is not that long, I had some set up work to do first.) It'snot an ideal situation, but given my freelance employment situation, and my tendency to be a night owl, I'm able to adjust in this fashion for now.
There is a certain mystique to a theater late at night anyway. Reminds me of my time in college, where we would sometimes paint sets or even rehearse late into the night.
Yet the play remains the thing, and rehearsing my play was the point of being there in the first place.
I ran the entire show, after running just the less-rehearsed act two last week. From here on out I want to run the whole show each night I'm over there.
There are still some bumps to be ironed out, but the polish is starting to appear, as it were. Certain effective blocking ideas have come about as I go through each section which lend more power and interest at any given time. (That is the hope, anyway.) The choices as to where to move and where to stand are feeling more motivated.
I also added a prop. I've been meaning to find myself a dagger to use briefly, but I hadn't located one that felt right. Last night before I started I was exploring some of the prop boxes and found one that will work. One less thing to mime once I get to the point of needing it.
I have one more prop to secure that I keep forgetting to set out. A simple book. I never think of it until I need it as i rehearse. So simple an object it's probably why I forget it.
Managed to shave a few minutes off of the running time as well. One reason is that I picked up the energy and in some scenes, the speed of my delivery. Also, a few sections I wrote myself that were a bit fluid are starting to solidify; I'm more efficient in those stretches of the performance than I had been a week ago. I hope to shave even a few more minutes off.
Perhaps one of the more significant developments from last night is that for a time there were people working in an adjacent room when I started. I would have preferred to not have them there, but it cannot be helped it would seem. All by way of saying that though there business was elsewhere in the small building, I was for the first time while rehearsing cognizant of the possibility of being heard by someone. As it turned out, nobody from the other group came through the front section of the building on their way out as I thought they might, but at the time I had to swallow my concerns and just accept someone might have observed me for a few moments.
Knowing that injected the first "audience" dynamic to at least the first half of the rehearsal. (By act two the other folks were long gone.) Though none of them likely heard what i was doing, there was a certain nervousness, followed by a certain relief of having done this. I can say that despite the situation not being completely ideal, I performed to my own "in front of people" standards. In some cases better than i would have expected for a rehearsal this early in the process. Here's hoping that holds.
I haven't worn my full costume yet, though I have worn pieces. It's probably time to start, however. I want to get used to the actual clothing as soon as possible, and it's possible any time I choose. (Since I am also in charge of costuming of course.) That probably means I need to suck it up and perform in the chilly air from here on out. (The heating system is finicky right now.) But at least that will encourage me to keep moving.
Tomorrow I am slated to have a rehearsal, but a few things have come up in the evening which may not allow me to go. I have the option of going in in the afternoon instead of the evening, which I may do. But given some unrelated stresses in my week so far, I may opt to just wait until next Tuesday for my next official rehearsal. I will sleep on it.
There is a certain mystique to a theater late at night anyway. Reminds me of my time in college, where we would sometimes paint sets or even rehearse late into the night.
Yet the play remains the thing, and rehearsing my play was the point of being there in the first place.
I ran the entire show, after running just the less-rehearsed act two last week. From here on out I want to run the whole show each night I'm over there.
There are still some bumps to be ironed out, but the polish is starting to appear, as it were. Certain effective blocking ideas have come about as I go through each section which lend more power and interest at any given time. (That is the hope, anyway.) The choices as to where to move and where to stand are feeling more motivated.
I also added a prop. I've been meaning to find myself a dagger to use briefly, but I hadn't located one that felt right. Last night before I started I was exploring some of the prop boxes and found one that will work. One less thing to mime once I get to the point of needing it.
I have one more prop to secure that I keep forgetting to set out. A simple book. I never think of it until I need it as i rehearse. So simple an object it's probably why I forget it.
Managed to shave a few minutes off of the running time as well. One reason is that I picked up the energy and in some scenes, the speed of my delivery. Also, a few sections I wrote myself that were a bit fluid are starting to solidify; I'm more efficient in those stretches of the performance than I had been a week ago. I hope to shave even a few more minutes off.
Perhaps one of the more significant developments from last night is that for a time there were people working in an adjacent room when I started. I would have preferred to not have them there, but it cannot be helped it would seem. All by way of saying that though there business was elsewhere in the small building, I was for the first time while rehearsing cognizant of the possibility of being heard by someone. As it turned out, nobody from the other group came through the front section of the building on their way out as I thought they might, but at the time I had to swallow my concerns and just accept someone might have observed me for a few moments.
Knowing that injected the first "audience" dynamic to at least the first half of the rehearsal. (By act two the other folks were long gone.) Though none of them likely heard what i was doing, there was a certain nervousness, followed by a certain relief of having done this. I can say that despite the situation not being completely ideal, I performed to my own "in front of people" standards. In some cases better than i would have expected for a rehearsal this early in the process. Here's hoping that holds.
I haven't worn my full costume yet, though I have worn pieces. It's probably time to start, however. I want to get used to the actual clothing as soon as possible, and it's possible any time I choose. (Since I am also in charge of costuming of course.) That probably means I need to suck it up and perform in the chilly air from here on out. (The heating system is finicky right now.) But at least that will encourage me to keep moving.
Tomorrow I am slated to have a rehearsal, but a few things have come up in the evening which may not allow me to go. I have the option of going in in the afternoon instead of the evening, which I may do. But given some unrelated stresses in my week so far, I may opt to just wait until next Tuesday for my next official rehearsal. I will sleep on it.
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