Monday, Monday...

Written about on a Tuesday evening.

Last night's rehearsal started at hour earlier than normal, at 6PM. This was to accomodate running both Act one and Act Two. (Remember there is a short Act Three in this play, so we weren't running the whole show.)

Nonetheless, Act 2, Scene 1 in the longest in the entire play. I am guess when all is said and done it might last 25 minutes.

But because it had already been blocked last week, it went more smoothly tonight.

I am happy to say that was "essentially" off book for two snippets; my entire appearance for Act One, and my first appearance for Act 2. Or just under half of all my lines. But I am what I call familiar with the rest of Act 2, and with some heavy reviewing I should be okay in about a week, (which is when lines are due.) I am a little concerned, but not yet worried.

I got several compliments during notes last night. One was that I was a flexible man, based on a weird stance I took during one scene. It was my poorly executed attempt to stand in the way I had been directed a few days before, but it would seem I took the directions too literally. And can and will stand in a fashion that is somewhat loser next time.

The A.D. also told me that though she normally stops laughing at lines deliveries this late into rehearsing, some of my lines still get her. She again compared my delivery to William Shatner. I suppose that can be a good thing or a bad thing, but by her tone I can tell it was a good thing. It all comes about from my efforts to speak a bit more slowly, to display this sort of relaxed approach to the horrific events that my sleazy character has put into motion. I think people will, on a subconscious level, will feel more of his nefarious qualities because of that type of delivery.

I deliver things slightly faster when the character is not alone with the co-conspirators...when he must at least give the impression that all is well. A subtle thing I do that hopefully pays off.

This reminds me that I must sit down and outline my characters backstory. I do this sometimes, and other times I do not. In fact it was been a while since I thought of doing so in such a detailed way as I have been planning. But I think in a play like this, which is a bit bigger than life, nailing down those concrete qualities can help my performance. I keep them to myself unless asked, and indeed already have some ideas in my head about it. But I want to sit down and think more about it in the near future.

One problem is that the director feels there is a bit of awkwardness between myself and the actress that plays my "love interest" when we perform. I can't really judge that yet, other than to say it does not feel awkward. But performers do not have to feel awkward in order to look it. One issue may be that the lines are those of two people that are in fact in love, or at least in lust, but that the way we have been asked to play it is less sincere than that. When it comes down to it, I think playing up the superficial lust may be helpful. But I won't be sure until we run the scene again, probably late next week. We'll get there.

Actually, she that is playing my love interest is a good deal of the way there already after last night. It seems she had a breakthrough on her way to giving the character the right amount of attitude that the director wanted. I personally can't comment much on that, because it's between her and the director, but judging by the clapping and laughing coming from the production staff, one has to conclude that something good has been struck upon.

Some other things that helped last night; I had a desk, papers, and a toy gun with which to play during the rehearsal as well. Other than the desk, none of the items will be the actual ones used in the performance, but it is easier when something is in my hand. (Other than a script.)

I am going to try to run some lines tonight, and run them a lot more tomorrow. Probably a little bit of all of my lines, but I wonder which sets of lines I should run more; the lines for the scenes that have already been blocked, or the lines for the scene we will be blocking for the first time on Thursday? I am tempted to pound the lines for the earlier scenes into my head more, since being off book for a blocking rehearsal really isn't that productive. (You have to have your book with you at all times to write down the blocking anyway.)

Our next rehearsal is this coming Thursday. In the mean time I am going to see if I can post some of the pictures I took with my cell phone of the theatre space. Check back.

Rough But Profitable

Tonight was one of those night's that was just difficult for any number of reasons.

To begin with, there was personal tension. I of course am not going to get into any details about it, because that would not be proper. I will say that it did not involve me, and I am not 100% certain what the situation was. It was an argument between two people who already knew each other, and I just did my best to not be in the way of it. I mention it here in broad terms only because I have agreed from the very start of this blog to be honest about the experiences I have, and that was honestly what happened. It honestly made me a little nervous. But that being established, there is no reason to talk about it any further.

And actually there is not much of a need to talk about the actual rehearsing either. As with last night, tonight was devoted to blocking a rather large swath of the script. This section, in addition to being long also includes some more complicated blocking than in other parts of the script. (Including a moment or two during which I admit I feel a bit awkward about the blocking I have. The only time that has happened thus far in this play. Not a bad record at all.) Not a lot of creative work going on from an acting perspective tonight.

Plus I think everyone was a bit off in regards to picking up the flow of what they were doing. Myself included. I had an entrance, (with no lines) at one point in the play that I have never even noticed as I read the script until tonight when I missed the entrance. (I walk in, there are about 5 lines of dialogue from other people, and then the intermission curtain. In self defense it was easy to miss in the script.)

I did get to sit at the desk I will be using in the play for the first time today, so I have that in my mind. I'm told the desk seems to have been one of those set pieces that has made an appearance many times on the stage of the Potomac Playmakers.

Aside from this though, tonight's rehearsal is probably best left at that.

Outside of rehearsal itself, however I have a few things on which to comment.

First of all, the speed with which I have become comfortable with this cast. I can't claim I have shared any intimate secrets with any of them, but I have arrived at a level of social comfort with them after two weeks of rehearsal that has often taken twice that long to achieve. This is especially surprising to me, because as I have mentioned here on the blog before, I had never met a single one of these people before.

And perhaps that is it. It's been such a long time since I stepped into a brand new group of people, perhaps I have actually mellowed since the last time it happened. I may never be a social butterfly, but perhaps I have actually become more at ease with strangers. What a wild possibility that presents.

It could also be that the people themselves are just easier to get along with than some others with whom I have worked. Or it may be that comedy scripts tend to open people up to one another faster than dramas. In reality, it's probably a combination of reasons.

After rehearsal I was talking to the actress who will play my love interest in the play. She kindly mentioned to me how much she enjoyed working with me so far, and the feeling is mutual. We then discussed methods for memorizing lines. (At least we tried to as we collected our things...we got booted out of the building mid-sentence because it was being locked up at that exact instant.) I shared with her my method of recording my lines into a recorder, and listening back to them. This she had tried, but she told me she cannot stand her own voice played back to her. This is common, actually. But I am used to it, so it doesn't bother me. After our chat, she decided she would give the method another try.

One more highlight of the evening for me; I was told I looked young for my age. Very good to know, indeed. There was thing about the compliment I couldn't agree with though, (though I didn't mention it at the time); I was told that I couldn't actually be as young as I looked, because people that young have not lived long enough to summon up the cynicism and bitterness I am showing on stage. I wanted to mention to them that when one experiences the life I did by the time I was 25, one learns plenty by that age. But I didn't. Too tacky. Here on the blog though, I have no shame.

So, that was this evening's events. Much went on to feel good about outside of the actual rehearsing. Which is all part of the process as well.

Our next rehearsal is Monday evening. It has been made one hour earlier because we hope to cover both Acts One and Two on that day. (There are three acts to the play.)

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it. Otherwise, Happy Passover, and other such holidays about which I know little.

Long Night

It was a long night's rehearsal last night, (which I am just now blogging about) because we were working on the longest scene of the play. About 25 pages or so. That's a lot of blocking in what session. And we didn't quite finish the task. We have to continue it tonight.

It was a blocking rehearsal, so there wasn't a whole lot of creative excitement going on just yet. So despite the length of the evening, this post about same won't be especially long or detailed.

But much practical work did get accomplished. Several times in this scene, "Joe" has to get into my characters face and threaten him. I just let the reactions come forth on the moment without thinking too much about them. It seems I made good "choices", because the director commented that it was just the sort of thing she was looking for in those sections.

I am not off book for the scene, yet, given that it is also my own longest scene. But I like the way these rehearsals are unfolding. The idea of blocking, and then running one scene at a time per night for a while is helping me get both the lines and blocking into my head faster then say blocking out many scenes, or a whole act one night, and then running that over the course of the next couple of days. (Some directors do this.) So when the director says we look like we are farther along than we should be for such early rehearsals, much of the credit goes, in my opinion, to this method. (Which is similar though not identical to how I run early rehearsals when I direct.)

We also were given some posters last night to disperse around local businesses. I haven't done that yet, but I plan to soon. The ad in the local paper for the show is already running.

Last night also made me realize how much I hate to pantomime things. In this context I mean having to pretend to hold props that are not yet there. It can't be helped all the time of course, but tonight I think I will look for any little stand in props that may serve for early rehearsals. Just to get the feel of holding something. I like to do that as early as possible. (Especially for something like a gun, which I do have to handle in this scene.)

Tonight I believe we finish the scene blocking, and then go back to the top to run the whole thing with the blocking we have.