Next Up?

Unexpectedly, I already have an update on my theatre activities.

Last week I auditioned for, and was cast in the Jeffrey Hatcher adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the Black Box Arts Center. I'll be playing Jekyll.

It is interesting, and a bit of a whirlwind how this all came about.

In truth, the story has never been one of my favorites. But once Glengarry Glen Ross was over, I looked into this script, as much out of curiosity as anything else. It is in many ways a unique adaptation. The nature of the staging, as much as if not more than the story itself drew my interest.

It is a cast of only six people, four of whom each play Hyde at some point, along with several other characters. It was, ironically, this aspect of multiple Hydes the encouraged me to give it a shot. How interesting, then, that I should end up as one of the only two characters that doesn't play Hyde at all, or indeed any of the other roles.

I mentioned my preference to play one of the Hydes on my audition sheet. But I was asked if I would be willing to play Jekyll, and I agreed. It is very rare for me to refuse a role that is offered, if I have auditioned. I think it happened just once, in fact. So of course, I accepted Jekyll.

It's written to be a minimalist, fast moving production, and those things also appeal to me, as did the story being told mostly in vignettes. (Last year's A Christmas Carol that I appeared in had a similar structure.

It also doesn't hurt that the director is a friend of mine, with whom i have worked many times before.

So Jekyll it is. I think the first reading will probably be this coming Sunday evening, (today is Friday.) I look forward to it, as I do most readings at the start of a show. But because I have little attachment to or preconceived notions of this tale, this show offers me the rare clean slate. I can in  many ways build my experience totally from the ground up this time, in ways that aren't quite possible when one is more familiar with the story or script. I have a lot of work to do in this show, of course, but the approach to the work will in many ways be more organic or collaborative than most of my other shows have been for a while.

Other than one person, I know all of the other people involved in this show, which is almost always a plus as well.

We'll be performing the show in Halloween season, which works out quite well with the material.

So check back often, as we will have to hit the ground running on this one, given the time frame.

Belated Send off to Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story

So it's Friday evening, and the show ended on Sunday afternoon. It's been a sort of distracted week for me, and I am just now sitting down to post the summary.

It was a sold out crowd, just as the previous Sunday was. Yet the crowd was not as enthusiastic as the first full house we had. They were not a dead audience by any means, but they didn't laugh as much or respond with as much to the show, or after the show.

To be fair, I don't think we did quite as well for them as we did the previous sell out either. There were a few trip ups, (I myself made a very minor one) and I think the energy was down.

That being said, it was still a decent, even if not amazing conclusion to a show that in many ways was different.

It began just a few days after Macbeth ended, so in some ways it felt like an odd extension of that show for the first few rehearsals. This is especially true given that everyone but one person was also in Macbeth. The total rehearsal time was only a month, (and coming after a show that had three months to rehearse, that was an adjustment for certain.)

I wore my base costume to the theatre and home every night, since I owned the whole thing.Because of this I was actually rarely in the dressing room. Being in the dressing room is a touchstone of the community theatre experience, and things feel off for me when it is missing. I kept my coat and personal items in there during the show, but that's about it. Never dressed or undressed in there during the show. And while I had my usual picture of Olivier there at what would have been my seat in the dressing room, I never taped it to the mirror as is my custom.

Due to the nature of the show, the only time I was in the green room was before the show, and intermission; nobody was off the stage long enough in this production to relax in the green room during the performance. That too made the whole show seem faster, and less official as well, (though it was the same for Night of One-ders.

Also, I have to say that in some ways, despite the changes in venue, script and cast, it sort of feels like a production of A Christmas Carol is never quite over for me. This was my sixth production of this story in some form, and no doubt there will be more. Many of the lines, and certainly the characters are the same for each one, and so though I still have to get off book each time I help tell this story, it sort of feels like a mere hiatus between such tellings. I've not been in this version of the story before, but once we got started on it, it didn't feel like it had been that long ago since I had been in a version. (Though it has been about three years, I think. Maybe more.)

Which is why I am almost always willing to be a part of this story on stage. The time may come when, for whatever reason I have to decline to be a part of a production of A Christmas Carol, but it hasn't yet. So timeless is the story, so loved by actors and audiences, and so tied in with a holiday that so many people revere that when in A Christmas Carol on stage, I feel part of Christmas as well as part of a show. (And I get to start celebrating the holiday a little earlier than most people when I am in a show like this.)

So, I do bid goodbye to this version, but it is only a matter of time, perhaps only a matter of less than a year before I help tell the story again.

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, everyone.

Home Stretch

For the life of me, I thought I had posted about last week's matinee, but I hadn't. And now here I am only a few hours from this week's matinee closer.

Like last week's, today is sold out. It proved a plus, as usual for a full house last week. They crowd was really quite into singing at the opening of the show, and they gave us a nice ovation at the end. Though to be honest, neither they nor any of the audiences so far have laughed at some of the things I thought they might laugh at. True, it is not a comedy per se, but there are still moments of humor that haven't translated in this production like I thought they might.

Still, the full house on last Sunday was our largest crowd in the small intimate space so far for this production. Just having that many people present is helpful for a show like this.

I also knew several people in the audience that day. The sad truth is that most people I know locally do not see my shows, so I usually know people when they are there for others in the play as well. Always adds a little something when you know someone out there in the audience is a friend of yours. (Even though often you cannot see them.

As for this weekend so far, Friday was tough. Not terrible,but it was our smallest crowd. I think 15 total, which even in a house that small looks, well, small. And they were quiet.

Last night was I think our second largest crowd,and I had family in that one. They enjoyed it. I fumbled a bit in one part of my performance, but I covered well and I don't think anybody noticed.

I'd say that last night's audience, though not a full house might have laughed more than any of the others have. Still not as much as I might have thought, and I don't mean gut busting here. But from my own angle, I think someone laughed at something more often last night than the previous nights.

A friend of mind was in the front row, and I knew I had to mess with him at least once. (Our director said we could sometimes interact with the audience if we wanted.) I had only one real chance. As Topper, announcing he is a bachelor, I sort of play that to the audience. I addressed it last night to my friend in particular, partly because he is married, so I emphasized "bachelor" and pointed at home laughing. (Little did I know, Scrooge later patted him on the head at the end of the show.)

A fun evening overall, I suppose.

Now, one more full house, and we close this production, which in  many ways seems to have hardly started. I'll update that, and  give overall thoughts on the show, later tonight when I get home from the cast party.

Second Night of A Ghost Story

Tonight was a bit of an oddity. I don't remember the last time a first Saturday crowd was smaller, and less energetic than an opening night crowd. But that's what happened tonight.

While opening night was about 30 people in a 50 seat house, I think we had just over half of that tonight. They did laugh at times, and seemed to have enjoyed themselves, judging by their clapping at the end, but overall it felt like an average matinee, but at night.

Some of that is on us; though there were again no major mistakes that I noticed, I think near the end all of us ran out of steam a bit. We weren't by any means dead, but I think we were slower than we normally are for the end of the show.

I do think some aspects did run even more smoothly, though. Once again, not to assume we are perfect by any means, but we have worked out some of the kinks over the last two nights, even if in front of fewer people tonight.

We are in a good place for tomorrow, if we can keep the energy up; it is already a sold out house. Will having a sold out house make for even more energy to improve our performances? Or will the matinee doldrums hit us?

An Opening Night Carol.

Opening night last night, and I have to say it was solid. Not error free, mind you, but it was disaster free. Free of gaping holes. Unless something happened that I missed while off stage somewhere.

The house holds 50 people for this show. We had about thirty last night. As is often the case for Friday opening nights, (for whatever mysterious reasons) it was a quiet crowd. There was some laughing here and there, but they were quiet during some funny moments. And though I thought we were losing them for a bit near the end of the opening, (lots of narration to open the show) overall I believe they were engaged.

There were some young children in the front row. I feared they might be restless, but for the most part, the seemed to be paying attention. If not, they were quiet about it. When Marley screamed, some of them covered their ears, but none of them cried or ran out of the building. Even an infant in the lobby was quiet the whole time.

We hit some rough spots last week and this week in rehearsing, and it's very important not to assume there will be no mistakes from here on out just because opening night was solid. But solid it was, and it always comes as a significant relief when that first show in front of people is out of the way. There's a reason why a second night is almost always better than opening night.

Truth be told, I wasn't quite as nervous as I feared I might be going into yesterday. Not sure why. Confidence in my contributions, though with humility is probably part of it. We also had a good final rehearsal the night before. (The old superstition of a good final rehearsal portending a bad opening night did not come true in this case.) But everything just seemed more casual on opening night than it is for some shows. In some ways id didn't quite feel like it was opening night. Probably having just over a month to rehearse is part of that.

I must say I felt a bit awkward at the beginning, though. I lead the audience in singing. I'm not that worried about singing, but I'm out there all alone for quite a while, opening the show. I wanted to just get on with the rest of the show about halfway through the song.

The narration with everyone else that opens the show after the song makes me a bit nervous, though it went fine last night. Hopefully I will feel less nervous tonight. (But not complacent either!)

It's hard to judge reactions in a venue and in a play like this, but I think the audience liked Topper, my smallest role, the best of everything I did. I also think they liked my narration, but of course, an audience is always going to pay more direct attention to a narrator type character, I would dare say.

So the opening is behind us, and I am glad of it. Saturdays are almost always the best crowds. Will it be so this time? Perhaps the Ghost of Christmas Present will bless our humble playhouse with a sprinkling of his torch tonight.

A Tech Week Carol

You wouldn't know it by my general radio silence over the last few days, but we have in fact been in the midst of tech week for Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story. Normally I have a bit more to say here on the blog for tech weeks, but I got to thinking that without major developments, most of tech week is the same sort of insider type of night that in general all experienced actors know about, and those outside of theatre would likely find a bit boring to read about. Plus I have been tired coming home at night as you might guess, for this has been one of the latest (at night) tech weeks I've had in a while.

A general overview:

We get out of rehearsal around 11 so far this week. I don't much mind this, since we need the time to get everything set up. Lights and sounds are still being worked out, and I'd rather take the time, than not get them right in the actual show. That's what the week is for, and it's part of the package when you volunteer.

Thus far, I've done pretty good as far as doing my job, I dare say. I've dropped a line here and there throughout the week, but as far as I recall, nothing that derailed the moment. Plus I correct the issue the next day in rehearsal.

I'm not what I call "secondary" off book as much as I would like to be in an ideal world. That is to say, how much information can I pull up to correct a mistake or omission made by someone else in the scene. I've been able to dive in and give a missing line or otherwise put tape over the situation here and there, I'm relieved to say, but in a perfect world I would always knows exactly how to fix something, and I confess, I've not had an instant fix for each mistake outside of my control which has occurred this week. Perhaps I put too much pressure on myself for this. I don't like to see fellow actors swinging out in the breeze though. I like to help if I can. And I have tried to do so. But I suppose there is a limit to amount of things one actor can juggle at a time. I have to remind myself of that from time to time.

Being so familiar with the story, however, does help at times to ascertain the general direction of things should they go awry for a moment.

On the whole, the week has been a bit rough for all of us, to be honest. But last night did show a marked improvement over the previous night.

Things started off with a cue-to-cue, wherein the light booth folks get their timing down for light and sound cues. That took a while. I think it took longer than than director expected. After that we moved into a full fledged rehearsal. Despite some bumps and a bit of fatigue on my part, combined with having a few new costume pieces and props to handle, some of my moments were the best I've delivered so far, I have to say. Probably because despite all of the technical issues, there is this awareness that we open tomorrow (!) and that it's time to home in on some more of the performance nuance.

Tonight is "full dress," though I wore all my costumes last night as well. Plus a few other nights last week. Some of the changes will be a little close, but if last night was any indication, all of them should be doable.

The first three staves of this tech week carol have perhaps not gone as smoothly as one would like. However, the show has gotten better each night this week, and there is no reason to believe it won't be even more improved tonight.

Topping Things Off

Our final non-tech week rehearsal was tonight. Difficult to believe we are there already, but I have to remind myself that we only had four weeks total for this show in the first place.

There's some work to do next week. It's a bit rough in places, though not as rough as it was on Wednesday night, during our previous rehearsal. (Though we had someone missing for each of the last two rehearsals.)

I myself made two or three errors. One or two others times I choked a bit on lines, but improved my way through to the right cues. But the rough spots for me personally are specific enough that focused review between now and Monday should be enough to fix things up.

My character with the fewest lines is Topper, who is a guest at Fred's (Scrooge's nephew) party during the shadows of Christmas Present. He is mentioned in the original book, and often, but not always shows up for a throw away line or two in most stage versions of the tale. I have played him in more than one version, myself, including this one. There's always a word game of some kind involved in the scene. I actually have less to say in this show than I have in previous incarnations of Topper, but I enjoy the scene nonetheless.

In fact, the scene for me was a highlight of tonight's rehearsal in some ways. I work hard of course on Cratchit, and I like bringing something a bit new to the Ghost of Christmas Past, (the director is pleased with my take), but that tiny scene with Topper and his few lines just felt so natural tonight, (other than one actress being absent today.)

I get to play around with Topper, and, as I have before in other shows, make him a bit rogue-like , though mostly harmless. I described him tonight as a "watered down Lord Byron." Probably a bit drunk in the scene. Probably a bit drunk all the time...but not useless. I feel I play off of the actor playing Fred quite well in my brief few lines, which I play up for all they are worth (and perhaps more). I don't think I'm scene chewing. I hope I'm not. But the whole short scene feels alive with character and relationship, even though everyone but Fred is a minor, one-off presence in the show.

That's the stage for you. Sometimes it is the smaller roles that allow a bit more freedom. With more freedom comes more creativity, and more creativity brings life to a role, and makes it one the audience will remember. That is of course the goal of all of my parts, and I don't for a minute mean to suggest that I lack freedom in my other roles. I have plenty. But there is more weight to Cratchit. People come to see any version of this show with a keen sense of watching Cratchit. That's partially true with Christmas Past as well. But someone like Topper, who in many ways is just there, for whom the audience generally lacks expectations, the process can feel much more natural in much less time.

If Topper were a main character would I feel the same way? I might, if I could play him like this. But because of the brevity of his presence, I can try things, (which the director allows) that I might not otherwise be able to try, if he were a main character. Things that may or may not wear thin in a greater quantity than are present now. I have some more work to do with Cratchit in the final week, and to a lesser extent Christmas Past. But I could perform Topper as is tomorrow if I had to.

Remember, that's acting too. It's all acting. If we ignore the smaller moments, we might as well ignore the larger, because you can never be sure what moment might speak to you as an actor, or to the audience. Not every line of every role you have will be a gem, but always go for it.

WHOLE Lot of Catching Up!

I'm back, loyal blog readers, and you may wish to shame me with how little I have updated, vs. how much has been going on. But let me get the facts out of the way first.

Since last blogging here, I have had half a dozen rehearsals for Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story. This concise but somewhat meta interpretation of the classic tale will go on at the Black Box Arts Center (where I have done everything lately) during the first and second weeks of December. In fact we will have had just over four weeks total on this show, when Macbeth had over three months. So, it's a bit more of a tight squeeze. It will be close, but a lot of it is right from the Dickens text, so a general familiarity with the tale is helping memorization go faster for more than one person. Certainly for me, though I am not off book yet. I expect I will be in a few days, though. I am about halfway there as it stands, rough estimate.

During the same period since my last post I also had the first read through of David Mamet's Glengarry Glenn Ross. (Also at BBAC.) I'll be appearing in that play as Williamson, come February. Yes, that's a lot going on, but it won't really be simultaneous rehearsing; that initial read through I mention is the only time during Christmas Carol that I'll be doing anything with Glengarry. The rest of the rehearsing will take place after this show is over, so I don't feel overwhelmed just now.

As for the Christmas Carol rehearsals, there wouldn't have been much to report of interest yet anyway. Mostly it has been blocking. This has been tricky, as we are working on a stage that is not the shape of our final performance area. (Since the remodel of the space, stage area's are not more flexible.) But we will get our house layout set up by the time Monday evening roles around, as this is the final weekend of the current kid's show now on stage.

I have been in some version of a Christmas Carol, including staged readings, about six times I believe, all but one of them in this same building. (Though previously when it was under different management and going by a different name.) It's always hard to resist being in a production of this. And performances always bring big crowds at Christmastime. (Though this year several local theaters are doing some version of the story, though nobody else is doing this one, I don't think.) I don't doubt our  numbers will still be strong, though.

In this version, each actor plays  multiple roles, including that of narrator at any given moment. Bob Cratchit is my biggest role in the story, followed by Ghost of Christmas Past. I also play Topper, the party guest at Fred's and one of the businessman in the future talking about Scrooge's death, and having lunch at the funeral and so on.

I've even been each of these characters in previous productions over the years. I'll admit that while each show is different, I am calling on some of the nuances I have used in previous performances. Mostly in voices I use.

With the exception of Scrooge, everyone in this show was also involved in Macbeth.

So, that is where I am now. I will post more regularly as the show goes on now, but I don't promise to post something for every rehearsal, as there probably won't be as many insights to share on such short notice. But do stay tuned anyway, I may just find something new I have to say!

"The End Of It"

The title of this entry comes not from the play, but from the last section of the original novel, A Christmas Carol. But I used it for the final entry for this play two years ago, and I am doing so again.

First and foremost, I need to say that it is quite an infrequent experience for me to have my final performance be either the best, or in front of the biggest crowd. Today's matinee, however was both. Five seats short of a full house, and a very response, cheerful crowd at that. They laughed at a few things that the other crowds did not find so amusing.

As well as things that all of the other crowds found amusing. Such as my often mentioned "Happy New Year!" bit. It was always well received, and tonight was it's best reception. And though I didn't reach 100% internalization, (another hot topic here on the blog the last two weeks) I do feel my performances in this final day were of high quality, and full of energy. And the same can be said for basically everyone else in the show.

It was especially true for the break-up scene. It went better than last night, as Belle and I managed to more successfully recreate the graceful hand motion at the end of the waltz that we first did on Friday, but didn't quite achieve the following night. It may have been our best presentation of that scene. If not, it was certainly the second best. I am happy with my move in later rehearsals to present Scrooge's frustration, as opposed to presenting anger or total coldness. I shall miss performing that scene just as much as I shall miss Fred's first scene, wherein he greets Uncle Scrooge.

I had fun with Old Joe, and will miss him a bit as well. I won't miss being Peter Cratchit in either scene, frankly, despite the drama in the second. My brief moments as Christmas Future were always fun, though not my biggest challenge ever. I won't particularly miss any of the scenes in Dickens' attic, even though they are sort of the raison detre of this particular version. I always found myself chomping at the bit to get on with the actual story. (And according to my mother, who was in today's audience, some people in the house agreed with this notion, being confused by the attic moments, and unsure of what was happening.)

And then there is the Fred party scene in the Christmas Present section. The one scene that always made me a bit nervous beforehand, despite it usually being just fine. A scene I did not hate, but probably won't miss too much. And it was just fine today, and the audience was very appreciative of it. But it was not without it's problems.

To begin with, a moment wherein I was supposed to walk slowly off of a 5 step turret we built for the play did not exactly go off as planned. It is round in shape, and as I turned to deliver a line, something happened. I lost my balance for a moment, or caught my show on something, and felt myself falling forward a bit toward the ground, and away from the steps. So in the only thing I could think of to correct it error, as well as to prevent possible injury, I simply leaped off of the turret and landed in the middle of the stage while delivering said line. A bit much, but I don't think the audience noticed, and in fact seemed to be laughing rather heartily at that moment. But whether at my mini-stunt, or at something else going on on stage, I can't say. I can say the jump was a bit higher than I initially thought it would be. But better by far than falling off the thing.

The second snafu for that scene will take some explaining, but was so amusing to me I'd like to take the time to do so.

Fred blindfolds his friend Topper during the scene for a game of "Blindman's Buff". There is a gag here, wherein I look for a handkerchief, and the supposedly unseen Ghost of Christmas Present throws it, and I catch it. It always got a chuckle or two. However, at the top of the act, one of my fellow actors came off stage, and delivered a message to me on behalf of the actor who was playing Christmas Present; He had forgotten to grab the handkerchief.

That actor didn't come off stage for close to half an hour straight. He had no way to get it, and I was about to go on as Peter Cratchit. I pondered ways to cover the problem while performing Peter. (A role which had few lines.) During my brief exit, I discussed it with a fellow actress who suggested something I had already considered...taking off my ascot during the scene and using that. (Ironically, this is exactly what happened two years ago, when another actor was playing Fred, and the blindfold was somehow misplaced.) The problem was, I wasn't sure I'd have time to put it back on for my remaining scenes. I never could get it on without several tries.

Bob Cratchit enters the scene now. Played by the same actor who will later play Topper. During a section we all hated, wherein the Cracthit family had to mime its way through what seemed like a 10 minute speech by the Ghost of Christmas Present, I leaned over toward "Bob" and explained the problem to him. "Bob" then explained to me that he had retrieved the blindfold from backstage and sneaked it on with him. He mentioned it was laying behind us. I couldn't look without being conspicuous, but sure enough when I exited the Cratchit scene, to prepare for the Fred scene, I saw the wayward prop, and pocketed it quietly. It was then available to me during the party scene. And though a joke was lost, the audience was none the wiser of this. (At least until some of them read this entry!) It was a nearly perfect fix involving nearly half the cast, and not a bead of sweat was shed because of it. That is what focus and team work will bring you during a show!

None of that would have been possible if this production wasn't one of the most prepared, well rehearsed, and overall smooth flowing shows I have been in for a while. I have discussed the reasons why this may have been so for in previous entries. I won't go into them again, but suffice to say today was a prime example of the importance of being so.

As well as a prime example of why two weekend simply are not enough in most community theatre shows. Loyal blog readers will know already I have long advocated for a three weekend schedule for at least some community shows, given how almost all of them hit their true stride during the second weekend, right before they close. (If the stride is ever hit at all...) If once in a while that sense of finally hitting that rhythm could carry into one more weekend, I think a show could have more life than most community players would imagine.

A subject worthy of further consideration and discussion, but not here. Here is the time I look back on yet another show that has concluded. A show that I didn't even think I would be in, given I did not audition for it. But one I am glad I agreed to appear in. It was not revolutionary, nor life changing. nor was it perfect. But as I was telling one of the other actors during strike today, I feel it was one of those shows where we basically achieved anything we could have expected to achieve. I don't think we left anything on the stage, as it were. I think we did everything we set out to do, despite the inevitable obstacles. And hopefully we opened up the holiday season on a positive note for at least some of the people who came to see us these last two weekends. Perhaps even converted a real Scrooge or two into a happier frame of mind? One never knows.

So though once again almost none of my friends came to see me, (a sadly regular occurrence) I count this production of A Christmas Carol as a positive one. I give us a B+ or A- for the entire run. Quite the improvement over my previous show.

And an improvement over the last time we performed this show, two years ago, in some ways. Even the strike was smooth and without incident.

Now my focus turns both towards the holidays themselves, and toward my next theatre project; being an assistant-director for Full Circle's next production. I will decide in the coming days whether or not to chronicle that here on the blog, but until then, I bring my blogging about the Full Circle Theater Company's 2010 production of A Christmas Carol to a close. With my thanks to cast and crew of same.

And no, I will not end this entry with the most obvious Tiny Tim reference of all time.

Winding Down

Very often, I don't end up writing an entry about a second Saturday performance. It's true. Look back over previous shows I have chronicled here, and you will see that often I was too tired on Saturday night, and I end up blogging about both the second Saturday, and the final performance/strike in the same entry. Not this time, though there isn't much to say.

I was at the theatre for hours before call today, helping to run auditions for the show I am the assistant-director of. So I felt more than usually prepared and well balanced with my surroundings tonight. And once everyone else started to arrive, it felt like it was the most relaxed, and in some ways crazy atmosphere in the green room thus far in the run. Everyone just seemed to be more energetic tonight.

Plus we knew we were going to have a very large crowd, based on reservations. By the time it was all over, we were just 14 seats shy of filling the 100 seat house. Not bad. Our largest so far.

And our most responsive. Friday night was good, but most of the folks in tonight's crowd seemed to come ready to laugh and get into the proceedings. I even heard a few people laughing before I did my "Happy New Year" thing as Fred. I think they all knew something was coming from him, they just didn't know what exactly, nor the precise moment it would come. But it got the big laugh again once it did come.

I agreed with "Belle" that our dance and break-up scene felt better on Friday than tonight. Better than most others, and still certainly good, but it didn't flow quite as gracefully as last night. We have one more shot at it. One more shot at everything, of course.

Such as the party scene, which was fine, but sluggish in a place or two for a moment. I am not sure the exact cause, (other than me getting tongue tied once.) But the audience was laughing quite a bit at certain sections of it, so I would call it a success overall.

I almost tripped again on the damn cloak for Christmas Future. I got to wear i needed to go, but felt I had stepped on the cloth, so I stopped. I was still in my light, but could not extend my arm as far as normal when I pointed at Scrooge. Correcting it on stage would have been too awkward for that character, so I just left things alone. But people are a fan of the way I nod my head in that scene. One of the tech crew complimented that again tonight during intermission.

I screwed up in the Old Joe scene. There is always a line or two, even in a good show, that for whatever reason you worry about or struggle with. I had gotten through mine without hitches until tonight, when for a moment I blanked on the next thing I was to say. A few seconds at most, but of course it felt longer as it always does. Then I recovered and delivered the line. I hate that it happened. But am grateful it was as brief as it was, and that it was not some of my other lines at other moments.

Otherwise, another good, solid performance for everyone involved. Now comes the realization that each time I do something in the show tomorrow, it will be that last time. Or in the very least, the last time I will do it this year. There is talk of making this play an annual event, in which case I very well may end up playing the exact same role again in the future. But as for this moment in time, the sand is falling through the hour glass.

But it has not stopped yet. One more show, and despite it being a matinee, promises to be a crowd as big, if not bigger than tonight's crowd, based on reservations. I don't know if I have ever closed with the biggest crowd of the run. But whatever the size I hope it's the best crowd of the run. For even more rarely does one close with one's best crowd. Yet my mother will be in tomorrow's crowd, and I'd like her to see some of our best stuff.

Crossing the Median

The second Friday's performance of A Christmas Carol seemed to have a few tiny sticky points at the start. Yet in spite of that fact I'd say we had one of our best nights so far.

The crowd was small, but more responsive than the previous three. They laughed a several things that just had not been getting laughs. And though I was not out in the audience itself of course, and could not judge it's overall mood, our choreographer was out there, and she revealed to us during intermission that the peopel were very much into every scene. (A little theatre secret for you: sometimes your backstage people will watch the audience as much or even more than they watch what is going on on stage.) Given that I trust her view on things, I must conclude that indeed we were holding the attention of the small house quite well.

I think the waltz with "Belle" was the best it has been, leading into one of the best break-up scenes we have done.

The timing of the waltz was great tonight, and something happened that doesn't usually happen, which I think led to those enhancements. From the start, near the end of my waltz with "Belle", I step away and into the part of the set wherein Scrooge's desk sits, thus symbolizing the character's transformation from "good Scrooge" to "not so good Scrooge" if you will. While I am doing so, the actor playing the current, older Scrooge finishing the waltz with Belle that I started. Probably the most allegorical moment of the play, now that I think of it.

When I walk away from Belle, I have always done a bit of a flourish with my hand, my arm extended as though releasing a balloon in a matter of fact manner. Tonight, Belle held that hand longer than usual, and as a result her hand gracefully glided out of my own, as opposed to my simply stepping out of it. It made the whole scene feel more graceful. Possibly even more poignant. And from what I am told, (though I cannot see it happening from my vantage point) it led to an excellent timing for the other actor to step into the dance. Really nice effect, so we were told later.

The break-up scene itself went well as usual, but with the added momentum from the previously described new moment. Couple this with me changing up a line delivery here and there, (leaning more towards frustration with Belle, than anger), and we had perhaps the most complete presentation of that whole sequence we have yet achieved. I hope we can replicate the effect in the final two performances.

Beyond this, I am happy to report that my "Happy New Year!" jab and Uncle Scrooge got a luagh again. It always does.

All the rest of my scenes, save one, went by without hitches. I did trip ever so slightly on the long black cloth I wear during the entrance of Christmas Future. It is a very meshy, long and unruly piece of cloth that is probably best suited for a much taller person. It has always been a bit tricky for me, especially during the quick costume change I must make right after that first exit. But today I stepped on it just off stage, and for the first milli-second I was on stage. I don't think the audience noticed, as it was very brief. But finding my balance did prevent me from pointing at Scrooge as early as I usually do. Annoying, but by no means devastating.

This remains one of the fastest runs I have ever been in, and it is a little stunning to think we have but two more performances remaining.

Though it will not mark the end of my time at Full Circle, even for what little remains of 2010. Tomorrow, before the call for the evening show, I will be present there to help conduct auditions for the next play. I am the assistant director of that show. I have not yet decided how, or if I will report on that adventure here on this blog, because this has always been about acting, not directing. I must give it some thought.

But not yet as much though as delivering strong performances tomorrow night and Sunday evening. Until such time as the set is literally struck, that remains, as it must, my primary focus.

Pick Me Up, Before You Go-Go

Last night we had the final rehearsal for A Christmas Carol ever. A pick-up rehearsal to keep us fresh between our two weekends. Not all community shows have one, but all of them should. I am glad that this show did. Props, but no costumes. Despite that, there was actually some new stuff going on.

I think there is a certain unique freedom to a pick-up rehearsal.  It if the very last chance for a cast to feel totally free enough to expand, without the worries of an audience. (Which is why I wish more community theatres would go for 3 weekends.)The show has run one weekend already, and some of the kinks are out. It has been proven that the show can work in front of an audience. So once a pick-up rolls around, actors tend to let loose a bit more, whether consciously or unconsciously. (I am not referring to prank-laden pick up rehearsals, which are common, but I frown upon them.)

I am happy to report that this occurred last night in several places. No specific new choices were made on my part, but as I said, I felt more free and energetic to just go all out with some of the scenes, and the result was some new things happening. More of that treasured nuance about which I write so often here on Always Off Book. For me I think this was especially true during the break-up scene. The director offered particular kudos for that scene. (I didn't think to ask "Belle" how she thought it went.)

I also got kudos for the way I enter in my one scene as the Ghost of Christmas Future, though I have not changed that much for several weeks.

This show is probably one of the most well oiled machines I have been in for a while. The final two weeks of rehearsal, you will note from my blogging, were very productive, and the first weekend proved this. If there were any doubt in anyone's head, the pick-up last night should have removed them; we are running on as close to automatic as any show I have been in at this point. And I do not mean a lifeless automatic, but an automatic indicative of the entire cast and crew being so well prepared for what comes next, that little thought must be placed on it. Flow is the word, in fact. The show flows well from almost beginning to end. I knew for certain he much we had it nailed when both the Fezziwig dancing, and the Fred party word game went by with virtually zero problems.

Not that the entire rehearsal was problem free. An actor who is supposed to hand me a handkerchief at some point did not have it on his person. "Dammit" I ad-libbed, which is something I would not have done had it been anything but a pick-up.

But other than that I am aware of no major mistakes from last night.

So, it is my hope that the new things that were discovered during the freedom and relaxation of Wednesday can be applied to the three remaining shows. It seems that reservations for the second weekend are already at higher numbers than the first, so there will be a lot more people to present the improved show to in the coming days.

A Better Than Average Sunday

If you have read this blog with any regularity, you will know that I am no fan of matinees. Theatre just seems to belong to the evening. Like football belongs in the cold weather.

Energy is often low for matinees, both for audiences and for the cast. Fewer people tend to come to a matinee, and those that do tend to skew towards the elderly in age. The size, and age of the crowd for today fit that description. But thankfully, the energy factor did not. It was a warmer crowd. The even laughed at a few more things than the evening crowds did. (Despite being half of their size, or about 25 people.)

In turn, I think that gave the actors more energy, which seemed to carry throughout most of the show. In some ways it was the best performance of the show so far. So prepared have we been for the last two weeks that I think for a change the play will peak before the final performance. If we hold on to what we had today in fact, the entire second weekend has the potential to be optimal.

It is more than a little ironic than that the very first moments of the show were almost quite problematic. The sound monitor we use in the green room to listen for our cues was sort of fading in and out there for a while, and the moment of my entrance was upon me much quicker than I am used to. I was in place in time, and I entered on time. But I literally went from the rest of the green room, through backstage, and right into my place off right, and thence to my first entrance, in one long, brisk and unbroken motion. So that made the first few moments exciting, given that I didn't get my usual time to collect myself.

Maybe it was that unexpected excitement that led to some of the energy of the show as a whole? I doubt it. At last I doubt it had much of an impact passed the first few moments. (As important as they can be.) And it wouldn't account for the energy of the others.

Whatever the reason, both the crowd and the cast were unusually into it for a matinee performance, and as a result, I was able to "feel it" more than I otherwise might. Still not the height of internalization that I reached in that one rehearsal, at to which I was close on Friday night, but a fair amount of it was there.

Our choreographer was on hand again today, and she mentioned that not only was she saddened by the break up scene, but also got chills from the moment before it. She couldn't offer details, but she felt them when I stepped out of the waltz with Belle. It is a point that is surreal, because it is not an actual moment in time. It is symbolic of Scrooge going from being the warm Scrooge, to the beginnings of the cold one. At that moment, the present day Scrooge dances with Belle's shadow, as I make my way to the other end of the set, in preparation for the break-up scene.

And the scene itself felt good. "Belle" still feels that opening night was our best for that scene, but I continue to think it goes just as well every night.

The party scene at Fred's gets better each night, though. The choreographer also mentioned how well that scene was going, and applauded the chemistry. I am willing to agree with her assessment, now that the lines are coming easier for everyone. Plus I didn't have as many nerves going into it as usual. They were there, but I think they decrease a little more each night. It is one of those scenes that community players notoriously tend to lethargic in. To our credit, i think we keep the very high energy level going throughout the entirety of that eight minute scene. And that is not always easy to do. I am proud of how much it has evolved.

I am also proud that I have now gone three nights in a row without dropping something at the end of the Old Joe scene. (Another scene that continues to go very well, though there were some tiny hitches in it tonight.)

So at the end of the first weekend, I give the cast of A Christmas Carol at Full Circle a very solid B+, with moments of Grade A material. Here is hoping that we can achieve the overall A for the second half of the run.

But first we must hold on to what we have learned for the next three days until our pick-up rehearsal on Wednesday. If we show no signs of rust for that, I predict a a very strong total run.

Oil On the Machine

Well, we moved the choreographer to tears tonight. And not because the dance was bad. (It was the break-up scene.) So I would say that the night had quite its share of fine acting moments.

Indeed the whole night was even better than last night. The crowd, though slightly smaller was a bit warmer. More responsive. Which is good, because I think we gave them some of our best stuff in more than one place tonight.

The top of Act One, which tends to suffer from dragging, had more energy tonight. It just felt like there was more pop in some of the speeches and exchanges. It was the most vibrant that my Frederick Dickens had felt in a while. Part of that may have to do with the fact that I was able to get a half an hour or so to myself before getting dressed; an option I did not have in the rushed madness of being late for opening night. But an equal or greater part had to do with the conspiracy of a warm crowd and a group of actors that are obviously very much at ease now with virtually the entire show.

There were some minor flubs here and there. I got tongue tired for a moment once or twice. A line here and there was dropped but quickly covered. What I call "invisible" flubs, because they get covered well and fast enough that there is no way an audience would know any better without a script in front of them. If there were any "visible flubs", I was and remain unaware of what they were.

So, going through things in order. The opening I have already talked about. The first scene with Fred, which has never really suffered from any major problems continued to feel near perfect. My exit got laughs again, and I imagine it often will.

The dance, both the fast one and my waltz went well. I feel we have the group dance nailed down, though it is probably still a bit low on energy.

Then the break up scene. (Which as I said, moved our choreographer.) It continues to go very well. I get the feeling my opposite was more happy with her performance last night, but I have no complaints about it whatsoever. Never have, actually. For my part it continues to feel more and more natural. I have had to walk a line with the scene. Scrooge must be the changed, shallow and greedy Scrooge. That is why Belle is leaving him. However there should still be a palpable sense of loss, and a bit of surprise on the part of Scrooge. Confusion and some disbelief over the fact that this engagement, this life plan which has been in place for so long, borne out of what was once love, is coming to an end. He perhaps feels sustained by the memory of a feeling, more than any actual feeling at this point. At least that is how I have been trying to play him.

Which means he can neither be totally cold and mechanical as he is when an old man. But he can not be a blubbering heart broken fellow either. Perhaps he wishes she would have changed in the same way he had, and is lamenting that as well. Either way he must still show some humanity in the scene, in the way we have been playing it. I think in the last two nights I have taken a step or two towards the man with some remains of emotion, as opposed to the man who has none left. And I think the choice had added the depth to the scene that perhaps had been lacking in some of the later rehearsals. (To my end of the scene, that is.)

The first Cratchit scene is still just...there. Not much to tell about it, really.

The second Fred scene is the one scene that I admit still causes me a slight case of nerves right before I go on. My longest scene with the most moving parts if you will, there had been a few potholes in that scene in the last few rehearsals. It has my longest sustained speeches of the entire play, and some of the quickest dialogue between several characters. There was a minor flub in it today which was covered, but for a moment I admit to being afraid we might spin out. Thankfully we did not. But there would have been little I could do. All of my lines are the result of questions in that scene. The other must course correct when needed.

Otherwise that scene continues to improve, despite my slight nervousness before hand.

At long last the Old Joe scene, which for whatever reason was one of the last scenes to become totally processed in my mind, feel totally natural for me. I now even have a system for taking all of the stuff off stage at the end of it that works. Everything about the scene, (which I think most of my scene partners don't care for) is smooth sailing for me now. Plus there is a slight ham-factor involved. I have to say I enjoy the scene a lot.

I made an effort to put more emotion into the second Cratchit scene. (In the future, when Tim is dead.) Tried to make him more weary, and lost in his grief than I have previously, when I was playing the "brave-face" Peter. I think I like the dazed and mourning one better. I think I will keep it.

Such are the main moments for me. (Though a minor moment wherein I use a hand gesture at the end of the play did get a few laughs.)

As one of my fellow actors so rightly told one of the children in the show today, there is no such thing as a perfect show, and there isn't. But most everything went right today and yesterday, and I am starting to really get inside the show, to coin a phrase. It doesn't always happen on the first night, as much as we wish it would. But on the other side, sometimes it doesn't happen at all. I am glad it happened earlier for this show. I will not be complacent for the final 4 shows by any means. But I am going to try to enjoy the high comfort levels we are all experiencing.

Matinee tomorrow, then a few days off before pick-up rehearsal.

A Christmas Carol: Opening Night

Tonight was it. After two days off, we opened the show. But you wouldn't know we had two days off, as smoothly as it went. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, there were no major mistakes at any point. A few minor things, mostly involving props falling off of tables. But any previous problems spots to which I have been a party went well tonight. And I heard no mention of major speed bumps anywhere else.

And what of my much talked about "internalization"? Was it present tonight? Some. Not as much as the final dress rehearsal. It may be due to the natural ebb and flow of such things. It may be because, due to traffic I was later in getting there than I wanted to be. (I am always early, but not tonight...) Whatever the reason there was a bit more distance between myself and the characters in most places than is ideal to me.

That isn't to say, however, that there were no such moments. Despite an annoying costume issue on my part, the break up scene was probably the best it has ever been. I think we delivered it a bit different tonight, as the crowd looked on. It has more energy, and I think both I and my opposite were more emphatic in our delivery. Less casual in some places, and as a result more poignant. She even said she almost felt herself tearing up a bit. I rarely do that myself, but as I said, it was better. My natural is the best way to put it. It felt less like a presentation than it sometimes feels like. Maybe because I played Ebenezer as a bit less brooding, and a bit more confused about the turns of events. Not crushed exactly, because then he would not have been dumped in the first place. But tonight it just felt right to play him a bit less cool. And I think it paid off.

The Fred party scene, complete with word game, also felt more natural than ever before. That had suffered both from my tendency to be too fast as well as feeling a bit mechanical during rehearsal. Tonight however it was warmer. More fluid. Engaging. And it got a few laughs here and there. Not as many as it might have, but I can't complain too much.

And I believe I have at last mastered a system of organizing all of the crap from the Old Joe scene that allows me to easily carry everything off stage. I didn't drop anything. And that's twice in a row counting the final rehearsal. So, (knock on wood), it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

The crowd itself I think was more into it in Act Two than in Act One. But the second half is much more dynamic and moves a lot faster, as I have mentioned here several times. And though they did enjoy Act One, (I got some laughs as Fred in that first scene, whilst needling Scrooge with a "Happy New Year!"), I think ti took them a while to warm to this unique version of the story. So not a bad crowd, Just a bit cold at times.

Hopefully my half/vest with the dry rotted elastic belt will not give me as much trouble from here on out. I safety pinned that sucker during intermission. Hopefully it will not unbuckle again as it did during the dance scene. (Which also went well, incidentally.)

So we have proven that we can perform this show as smoothly as we have rehearsed it. We just need to keep doing that, and make it a little better each time. I generally enjoy Saturday performances the most. Will this weekend be the same? Check back tomorrow to find out, loyal blog readers.

Countdown to Black Friday

And I don't mean for the shopping deals. I mean because it is our opening night, and there are no more rehearsals between now and then!

It is strange. I have on occasion gotten the night before opening night off for rehearsal, but never before have I ever had two days off leading into the first performance. I don't anticipate any major problems, so long as everyone goes over their lines and blocking at some point during the break. Still, I think that come Friday night, the nerves might be at slightly higher levels as we approach curtain than they otherwise would be for me in a show like this. It may feel like we are ever so slightly cold going into the first night. Or at least, lukewarm.

But what of tonight and the final rehearsal? I have to say, not as good as last night. I almost expected that to be the case. We really hit a stride on Monday night, with costumes, make up, lights and sound. The novelty of having everything together probably drove the energy up. The realization that we were getting close contributed as well, I believe. But tonight there were no costumes. The result I think was a decrease in energy and expectation. As well as a few more mistakes.

Last night, one of the kids totally missed their entrance due to playing around too much in the green room. That also happened tonight, though it was a different child actor this time. And I dropped a line in the Old Joe scene myself, though thankfully it wasn't a direct cue line per se. The other person just needed to hand me a prop with their own motivation, as the moment is a tone change of sorts. Still I felt bad for forgetting to say it. I didn't drop any of my stuff when I exited that scene this time, though.

The game at Fred's house scene went well, though. As did most other scenes I was in, as far as I could tell.

Even the dance feels on track. Mostly.

The break-up scene didn't feel as good overall as it did last night. But the ending felt good.

I wasn't without my moments of internalization tonight, don't get me wrong. But the were more sporadic than last night, when they were almost universal and uniform. But perhaps it is good that this happened. Having had a taste of what I know is there, having two days off my provide just enough distance, and hence incentive to focus  on each aspect of the performance.Perhaps this will help me internalize as it did when sickness forced me to be ultra-focused a few days ago.

Speaking of sick, I have felt better the last two nights than I have felt in about a week and a half. I still have some head cold issues, but they have become far more manageable, and I certainly hope they stay that way for the remainder of the run.

We also rehearsed the opening moment, wherein we all sing for a moment backstage. We did this after we had rehearsed to full show. And then even later, we rehearsed the curtain call, which is a very simple affair.

So, a short entry about the final rehearsal. But there really wasn't much to report about this nondescript evening beyond what I have already provided here. Though the more I think about it, the more I think having this average final rehearsal two days before opening is a good thing. Not because of the common belief that the worse the last rehearsal goes, the better the opening night goes. I have never totally bought into that one. But because the absence should set off just enough of a spark upon our return on Friday to motivate us into getting it down. Had tonight's rehearsal been out best yet, the two days may have acted as a downhill slope for us to coast into Friday, and lose energy. Or, if this mediocre rehearsal had been the very night before we opened we may have found that inertia would have kept us from hitting the ground running from the start. It may have taken us a night or two. So, according to my theory, the combination of a lackluster rehearsal being two days away from opening could work to our advantage.

This seemed like one of the faster rehearsal periods for any show I have been in for a while.I think it is due both to it coming immediately after Thurber in the same building, and my familiarity with the script from two years ago. Either way, it has been one of the quickest and (mostly) smoothest rehearsal periods in the last two years or so for me. Now all we need are the crowds to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

If you are in the area and would like to come see what I have been referring to the last few months, visit the Full Circle website, and get yourself some tickets today.

Suddenly, Penultimate

Tonight it was made official; there will be no Wednesday rehearsal. Ergo, we have but one rehearsal left before we open.

Tonight was a dress rehearsal, and all hands were on deck again. Though not fully recovered, I myself was feeling better than I have the last few evenings. In more ways than one.

I think this was my best rehearsal so far. Things were clicking. Connections were being made. Nuances, by nearly everyone were more frequent in all of the performances. I have waded into the Rubicon of internalizing my characters now. I have not crossed it totally yet, and sometimes you don't totally cross it until the audience is there. But this is as close as I have felt the entire time thus far.

I have to give at least half of the credit for this development to my cast mates. Nearly everyone else also seemed to be more intensely involved in there performances tonight. Seeing as how I cannot read their minds I don't know if they too felt things were more internalized today, or if indeed that is a goal of anyone else but me. But I can say that many people had what appeared to be a keener focus tonight.

I have been acting for over ten years, and blogging about it for over five. Yet I still have not found the best way, or even a practical way to describe in words these moments. The best I have ever come up with, as my loyal blog readers will know, is the highly cliched and only partially accurate, "click". And I don't mean the usual use of the word in that everything went smoothly and without mistakes. (We were not without mistakes tonight, which I will address later.) But click into place, so to speak. When what I am trying to personally accomplish as an actor "clicks into place" with what is going on around me. You never quite know when it will happen. Sometimes, it just doesn't. But tonight it did. Not my most definitive clicking ever, but it was there. Even my costume felt natural on me.

Is this a moment within me, or within a show? Or a combination of the two? Most phenomena are combinations of several things, and I would venture to guess, (without being able to prove) that the "click" is no exception.

From here on out, the ideal is that it will feel even better, and equally good throughout each scene I am in. Practically though, oftentimes one scene feel better than others. They all felt good tonight, but I felt Old Joe was the best example. I really like all that I did with that one. Especially the effect of slinging my coat around my shoulders, to get more mileage out of the same costume.

I dropped something on the way out again. But that didn't ruin the whole scene.

And the break up was almost as good. In some ways better. Even my scene partner admitted that it finally felt better to her tonight. (She has never quite done what she wants to do in the scene. Not that one can tell from watching her excellent performance. But each person has their own metric, naturally.) The whole scene has felt better to me ever since the suggestion was made for me to take a small step towards the departed Belle, before turning to leave. As though I almost go after her, but do not do so.

The party scene at Fred's went better than it has the last few nights. No mistakes in the word game, which had given us some trouble the last few evenings. One thing about it, which I remember from the last time I was in the play, but as a different character, is that Fred doesn't really have much leeway in regards to feeding lines to the others in the event of a mistake. 99% of what he says is either "yes" or "no" during the game, because he can only respond to questions. It is the other three that have to be most on guard, I dare say, for chances to cover a mistake. Yet tonight we proved that we have it down, we just need to relax when we do it.

I have to main performance things to work on. "Frederick Dickens" still needs to be a bit less generic than I feel I am making him. I'd like to develop a distinct look and sound to him that is not yet there to the degree I want. I have some things I have been working with, but he still needs a bit more. The character isn't lost, and perhaps I am doing a better job at setting him apart than I thought. But as I said earlier each actor has his own metric, and according to mine, I could do a bit more. Yet after the good feelings I had tonight with so much of the play, I feel confident something will emerge.

One final rehearsal. No costumes this time. Some directors have costumes all tech week, some do not. I'd almost rather wear mine, but I do not think I will do so. I would feel out of place with everyone else not in costume, and feeling out of place doesn't help a performance.

One (and a Half) Men Down

What does my cryptic title mean exactly? It means that last night we were missing one actress. (Which makes the "men" thing inappropriate I realize), and I myself was continuing, as I am tonight, to fight this cold/fever thing I have had for a month or so.

It's not as bad as it may have sounded, though. I was in some noticeable discomfort Earlier in the evening, which flared up a bit as time went on. But during the constant motion of Act Two, I think I became too busy to be worried about some of my ailments. That, or the small amount of medicine I took had some effect.

Despite these setbacks though, I have to say that in places, I actually felt more in the zone mentally last night than I have in most of the previous rehearsals. Before anyone jumps to conclusions about it being an effect of any cold medicine, I will point out I took nothing so strong as that. Really, just a regimen of cough drops. Yet perhaps my being sick did contribute in a way to those at long last more internalized moments. In order to get passed the illness and fatigue, I had to really be mindful of everything that was happening onstage to a degree higher than it otherwise might have been. Of course I am always paying attention, but last night I had a physical need to just absorb the actions of the scenes, or else feel too run down by the work to get through it. As a result, the much awaited internalization of a few moments.

Oddly, one of those moments was the break up scene, though my opposite in that scene was not present. It just felt like at least I was owning some of the lines when previously I was just saying them. At least some of them.

I also felt more in tune with some of my Fred moments later in the play. That too as more difficult because of the missing actress, but nonetheless my condition forced me to slow down a bit and process what I was saying. I have blogged earlier this month about how for some reason that scene has sometimes gotten away from me. But not last night. It was aligned well, if I do say so myself.

I am hoping to take what I felt last night, and apply it to tonight, while not having to feel so lousy in so doing. And to apply it with the missing actress, who plays an important role in almost every scene in which I appear.

Not wanting to jynx anything, I will say that last night felt like a possible turning point inside my head. I still have some work to do, but I can suddenly see some of my goals on the horizon now, whereas before, I was still waiting.

I also has a few more little costume pieces, and was given permission to take off my coat in one scene if I wanted to. This gave me just enough of a feeling of being a different character in each scene that it too may have contributed to the internalization that was happening here and there for me. I will know more tonight when I run those costume mini-changes again.

The director told us that if we did well enough tonight (Monday) and tomorrow, we may get Wednesday off. The play as a whole truly is progressing nicely, and we shall see soon enough if it has earned us the night off on Wednesday.

But Monday and Tuesday first, and there is still much to do.

Cue to Cue

Not much can really be said about a lighting/sound cue to cue rehearsal. They are very important for the technical crew, but for the actor they tend to be tests patience/endurance or both. Some theatres do not even have actors present for them. But the theatre being so small in this case, we were there to go over, (and in fact to learn ourselves) when and how the light changes and sound effects would take place. So it wasn't a pointless night for the actors by any means. It just didn't lend itself to be the source of a particularly interesting post here.

Though I have to say, ironically, that we were in and out of that rehearsal slightly faster than some of our performance rehearsals. The director begged our patience the night before, and warned that it could be a very long evening, but in the end it was at most the average length of time for a rehearsal.

Most notable about the whole evening was that I think i set a record for most cough drops consumed at one time. I basically kept them in a constant feed. Despite having shaken most of my cold symptoms two weeks ago, a different set of them, in some ways worse than the first, have returned to plague me for tech week. I really hope they are mostly gone (again) by the time we open the show.

Tonight is full dress.

Warm and Crisp and Even Keel.

When a rehearsal process goes by without any major hitches this late in the game, I am starting to realize there may be less to write about each night. No doubt this is a good problem to have, at least from the standpoint of the show. Perhaps not for this blog.

Yet it is true. No major mishaps, problems or concerns have been present in our last few rehearsals. Today was no exception. A stride has very nearly been hit by us all.

We did have some light cues tonight, as well as sound. No costumes required tonight.

One different thing about tonight was that the director mentioned she would only be paying attention to and pointing out the negatives, or the things that needed work during notes. Yet even with that plan, she didn't have to say much, and truth be told she still threw in compliments anyway.

My only error was very nearly tripping over a trunk on stage while trying to back out of the room as the Ghost of Christmas Future. I never quite go totally backwards, so I have never had any problems exiting before. But I wasn't injured, so no harm done.

I mentioned previously that I didn't think I was internalizing all of my scenes as much as I wanted to. Tonight I think I noticed that some moments are more internalized than others. The first scene with Fred certainly is very nearly. Tonight, the Old Joe scene felt as though it was very much the closest to being as internal as I like to be. ( I even threw in an extra moment of wiping my dirty hands on one of the other actors in the scene at one point.)

I still need to work on getting the sometimes chaotic party scene to feel more real to me. There is a lot going on in that one, and the word game has gone a bit rough the last two evenings. We covered well, but it still has some road blocks. I may be sacrificing internal energy of character in order to be ready for possible mistakes, and I shouldn't do so. Not in that fashion at least. I think I am not alone. The other three in that scene also proceed with a bit more caution than is ideal for now. We have six more time to get it right, however, so I am not worried much.

The break up scene with Belle is getting closer to being internalized for me, though not quite there. "Belle" herself has thus far not felt totally satisfied with her part in the scene. Though I have no complaints as her opposite, the scene will go better if both parties feel that they are nailing it. Again, there is plenty of time to get it where we both want it to be. (Which for me means, again, feeling it internally as well as externally.)

It really is time for me to be artistic as opposed to technical with some of these moments. I sometimes have a tendency to spend more energy on making sure my performance is technically flawless than I do on making it feel real to me. That ratio almost always becomes a bit more balanced the minute I step in front of an audience, but it should be closer to equal long before that. I suppose sometimes it is the fear of lines being lost or something. I don;t have it for every show. But I have some of it for this show. Who knows why? But no more excuses for me. It is time to fine tune, and give those extras I know are within me for these roles. It is time to polish, even if a few technical aspects are closer to 90% as opposed to 100%. I am promising you, loyal blog reader, here and now, that I will be doing exactly that in the coming days.