Day Thirty FiveBeginning of the End

CLASSES:
Rehearsal: The first couple hours involved reading the cut version play for George. Then we talked about the rehearsal process, philosophy, and a few logistics for a bit. We need to have costumes by Friday. John went into a short tirade about having our lines memorized. It was a little off-base. He was upset nobody was off-book during the read through. Most of us are just off-book, at the point where it is still challenging. For the read through which George was timing everyone had scripts out, but in looking around I could tell most of us were using it as a back up. I suspect it was one of the rants which he apparently feels is mandatory to get people motivated. More below.

Next we worked with our complementary actors. That is, I worked with David who is the other Pancrazio. We want to have very similar and distinct physicalities and voice postures. We worked it by ourselves for a bit, then had our turn with George and John to refine it. Let's see... Feet take short flat bouncy steps, are parallel, and not more than three inches apart. Knees bouncy too. Spine curved over with elbows tucked in to sides, forearms up, with hands down and fingers straight and spread -- lending the upper arms and hands a bit of a velociraptor feel. Lead with the chin, so there is also the appearance of having one's nose in the air. A wide (creepy) grin which keeps the eyes squinty is the final bit.

The voice is moved up to the falsetto breaking range, so it is cracking back and forth. Another add-on to help me get away from my tendency to slide into a North Country accent is to make it nasal, thinking of a Peter Lorre overtone. I don't know which is more challenging, the voice or the physical. I do know it's going to take some homework to not only get them so I can do it consistently, but to let them be filled with the character, and in turn fill the character. Has a bit of an ouroboros feel. I would bet a couple years ago I couldn't have really understood this concept on a practical level. Now I'm hoping it will help me out. I feel like I need lots of help right now.

The rest of the class period was spent in rehearsal. George is directing the second half of the show, and I am in the group for the first half with John directing. I was apprehensive, yet our bit went quite smoothly. John is a generous and kind director, which I'd already learned, so I'm not quite sure why I was feeling apprehensive. It wasn't because I still had to occasionally call for a line. Looking back I think it was because this is where the rubber meets the road. It is still part of our training, but it is a bit of 'for real' practice. We are preparing for an audience not consisting of our fellow ensemble members, and working with the entire ensemble. All the roles are critical to the success of the show, and guess whose work is causing me to fret.


OBSERVATIONS/CLICKS:
I was easily able to stay attentive through John's rant. That was one of my worries going into ETI. I learned from my father, then from my bosses and troops in jobs like the Navy and high-tech, that screaming and raging people should almost always be tuned out. It helps you keep your cool thus avoiding ugly escalations, and when they finally cool down, then you can find out what is really important. I was worried an effective lifetime skill would block me when I wanted to listen when John played anger. Not the case. From the intro class I got the impression it is a deliberate instruction tool. As it turns out it was redundant. Most people were off-book or very close. Having worked production and crew enough times I can understand the frustration over people not getting off book, it is a valid concern. It holds back the whole show. I've seen it in every environment, from community to professional theatre. I'd guess it won't be much of an issue for us.

It is pretty hard to finesse and craft a scene when you're simply trying to help some ass learn their lines. The majority of us have dropped lines on occasion -- I'm thinking of Rumors in particular a year ago when I didn't realize I was running a fever and had significant line problems two nights in a row. Once forgetting where we were, the other skipping ahead several minutes. I kept working on the text, but the real savior was aspirin. It reduced the fever, which helped me stay focused. That experience haunts me still, and not just because I couldn't focus or maintain rote memory as well while sick. It makes me do more work on the text, and making connections. I need to make the character and text more of an old friend than before that experience. I expect to work again when I feel under the weather, and I need tools which will make the text so ingrained that the flu won't block me. Can't hurt when I'm feeling fine either. Admittedly sometimes walls crumble when you're feeling off, but I'm finding that is not the case as often lately. Meaning, I hope, that I'm better able to get around or over walls without an outside intervention of sorts.