Morning Hits in a Clear Blue Sky

This will be the last post about Orphans. Strike is done, the last ripples have subsided. Life is back to normal...normal plus the show, now. I can go forward from here.

It's still a little too soon to reflect accurately on what I learned from this experience. I have to say it all turned out beautifully; the difficulties made the end product stronger. And they, the rough spots, were ultimately small. A lot of small essentials...some were essential and some just seemed so.

The performances were never in doubt. I got so lucky there, as did the audiences! Ryan's natural ability, Andrew's enthusiasm, Barry's determination, these qualities plus serious and professional work ethics produced a stunning interplay of characters. And we had fun.

I loved the rehearsal process, finding the problems and working them out. Most were problems I'd already adressed, in my preparation for the show. That's one of the director's jobs. But new problems always come up, either from the text and blocking, or a technical problem, or sheer logistics. New pictures come to mind. We found them together and worked them out together. I felt a responsibility to have answers, but I remembered Judy saying once, "C'mon guys, I can't work out all this stuff on my own," or something similar, during Reckless. She wanted collaboration. She wanted us, perhaps, to feel ownership over our performances and the show.

We had luck, too. Like ex-pro wrestler JT Hawk deciding to take my actors under his wing and teach them all of their stage combat moves. And Matt finding a Philadelphia map in the theatre. Having the right couch upstairs in the hallway, filthy as it was...for us, the filthier the better!

In the end, we found everything we needed. Costumes, props, set. Comedy. Absurdity. A good story. True feeling.

Thank you, everyone.

ICTL and the Tech Week Blues

For all of you sitting on the edge of your seat: Orphans was selected as an alternate show at ICTL. Also, one of my actors won Best Actor in a Performance. Unbelievable when you consider we had had no dress rehearsals and no tech! I'm proud of us.

But I have no time to rest on any shaky laurels...I have a show to open this Friday! And this week is going to go by so fast. We are missing a thousand small things, another thousand need done...maybe I exaggerate a tad! but not much.

I need something to tamp down the anxiety beast trying to grow in my stomach!

A Little Encouragement

Well, we got ICTL off to a good strong start. The audience laughed and sat forward in their seats. The adjudicators were very complimentary to the actors and had some good suggestions for me. A good time, in general, despite snafus and a couple of minor injuries!

And we're not finished...we have to reacquaint ourselves with the staging we began with, the original studio blocking. We have tech and dress and finishing up all the details we've put off because of the festival. Good thing we have lists! And my SM is doing all she can even tho she's involved in another production.

I hope my actors aren't too burnt out...I'm going to be even more nervous on opening night than I was for this damn festival. They seem eager to get back on task in the studio, though. I'm so lucky; I have three of the best actors in Indiana in my show.

I don't want this revel to end!

Act Two and the Requiem Pics

Things fell together last night. Act Two was the best it's been yet, and I couldn't be more happy with the way my actors are doing. I'm not sure, but I think it might have had something to do with the photography student hanging around taking pictures of the rehearsal. The attractive, young, dark, Turkish photography student.

Boys. I don't want to embarrass anyone, especially not myself, but I think I'm in love with all of my characters...they are becoming so alive that I see them as real. This is something I wasn't quite prepared for, and am not sure how to deal with.

Now, tonight's task is getting through the WHOLE SHOW. In fact, because one of our actors has to be "home" by 9 pm every night, we've had a difficult time getting through it. If we buckle down, start on time, and really push it tonight, we might make it. Buckling down might include cutting out a smoke break, but if it must be, it must.... Wishing it was Wednesday again.

Ho Hum Week

I'm not going to go on again about how I'm missing people this week. In fact, I feel lucky to have this week to get organized and get back to work on Sunday. Yesterday we did the Goodwill trip and found several usable items. My set designer came to rehearsal and we actually started pacing out the set and getting out platforms to use.

So this vague vision, this dream I have been picturing, is actually going to happen. My actors will be set off by things other than their own practice and dedication. I feel I owe it to them for all their work, and have felt alone in that endeavor until this week. So it'a a relief to enjoy the collaboration of other artists who also dedicate themselves to their projects.

I'm relieved because I can't afford to leave the actors at this point; no matter what needs to be done, they still need me to watch them and work with them. They are the show.

I miss rehearsing already and we've still got almost a week to go 'til everyone gets back! I'm ready to put this baby together, and run, run, run!

The To Do List

This week I am missing an actor and my Stage Manager because of spring break...this was bad news at first but I am coming to understand that it may be a good thing.

I have a dozen lists, items for lists, potential lists whirling around right now and they must be nailed down. Each aspect of the show has a to do list. Lists are like invasive species that must be controlled so they don't spread and inbreed.

To do: make a to do list! Make all the designers make to do lists so that my to do list is shorter.

I am costuming the show as well so I have to shift modes from director to costume designer. Things like remembering to bring safety pins to a fitting, or scheduling a fitting, period and being prepared. Sigh...it's like using a different part of my brain. That's why, I suppose, having all this week to get focused on costumes is a more of a blessing than I realized.

Turn of the Screw-Ups

Now that we about to the middle of the process, the pressure is starting to build. The play is blocked and I'd love nothing more than to just spend the rest of the time fine-tuning blocking and acting, but I have to worry about other aspects of the show that many directors don't have to.

I am doing the costumes, my SM is in a practicum at the university and so has scheduling conflicts, and we have to get the set built for the ICTL festival. Which, as I think I mentioned, happens before we open. Oh yeah, the university's spring break is week after next, which means I lose my SM and one actor. For a week. That will be costume, props, and set week.

As my friend Angi just told me, "BREATHE." I can control certain things; others I can't. Of course, that's another trick. Figuring out what's in my control. Taking control and working my ass off.

Throw In Kismet

So, I turn around at rehearsal to find one of the Our Town cast members instructing my actors in their stage combat. He just happens to be an ex-pro wrestler...he auditioned for Orphans and I came close to considering him. He has a great stage presence and know-how; I was feeling like we needed help and then there he was, showing them how to make it look easy.

This is the kind of good luck I've been having since the production started. My SM is there for everything, I have back-up help, a set and lighting designer, we found the right shoe...I'm starting to feel rather blessed. Not to mention the cast; I cant' say enough about them right now. And I have a sound designer; something rare and precious in this venue.

There are some bumps ahead, I'm sure, but I can't shake the feeling that "...when I see the light, then I know I'll be alright...Philadelphia."

Style? Direct!

I've had a couple of days to reflect on the direction I want to go, and I've come up with something: I have no directing style. How can I? This is my first show. I've never related much to some styles I've read about...spines, verbs, etc. I don't think of Treat as a cat or a dog, or Phillip as a horse or even as the ego.

What I have tried to do is follow the script. I like the blocking written in there. What I have to modify I will, but almost every piece of direction I've given has been motivated by a desire to embody what I've read. Up to a point, this is very appropriate. With good actors, what more do you need?

I think you need bit more...what we would call style? This is what the director visualizes and is responsible for; also, the way in which he or she brings it out?

So, besides adhering to the script itself, I feel at times the need to physically be present in the action to demonstrate my meaning. It's so much quicker that way! And I don't think it freaks the actors out too much. That's my style, I guess.

I feel a bit lame; shouldn't I have worked these things out already? But I need to know how I'm going to take the production to the next level. How to make it alive...this is an intricately organic script; at times the language flows effortlessly in a way that makes even the stychomythic passages seem like ripples in a pond, rather than stair steps to be climbed. Sometimes things have to roughened up, made choppy to contrast the moments that flow so beautifully. Small details are easy to forget about if you don't think about them early on.

Blocking & Beyond

Telling actors where to go and when to move is not easy. One must motivate the movement when action is needed but not necessarily called for in the script. This is where many community projects fall flat; they are unable to create an interesting picture or motivate movement that's not in the script. This takes energy and a constant review in the director's mind, a world of the director's own conception which must then be made reality.

Once the blocking is finished, or roughed out at least, the director must still be constantly looking for opportunities to add more to the story, to deepen character, and show more to the audience. Detail upon detail must be added to show the audience something that will startle them, entertain them, or make them wonder about the world they are glimpsing. To involve them, make them care, no matter how ludicrous the actors may behave.

For me, this is going to be the scariest part, perhaps. So they know their lines and where to go, so what? What is going to draw the audience in so completely that they will invest their hopes and feelings in what the actors do and say? It's a process I both crave and fear.

Orphans & ICTL

Getting your play blocked in the second week of rehearsal seems a good accomplishment, yes? Now we run the sucker, and run it til it bleeds. Now is when the real work begins. After this weekend, we get to rehearse in our space!!

We've been entered into the ICTL festival. The Indiana Civic Theatre League holds a fest every year; fortunately Muncie is hosting this year. There will be about 11 shows coming, some from theatres with vastly superior resources to ours.

To be honest, we almost always get our asses handed to us at this festival, for a variety of reasons. We struggle with time, commitment, and money. Most of the time we get deductions for lack of set, or lack of "dazzle" as Marty G., our producer, put it. This time I have dedicated personel who, I think, are committed to helping me get this thing working. I hope and pray they are, for minutae tends to drive me batty after awhile. But more about the festival later.

OrphanTalk II

Beginning blocking is a little scary, especially if you don't have any pre-blocking done. Which I don't, really. But the interesting thing is that it becomes a process that involves everyone, and if I don't have an idea how to fix something, someone else on the team does.

My actors are pretty experienced, at least two of them are, and I feel lucky to have them...the audiences that get to see them will be lucky too. I can't claim any credit for them. They have what it takes to tell the story. Mostly my job is to stay out of their way and figure out the best ways to show them off. And to get people to come see them!

In this town, that's a neat trick. How to get people to come see a drama with which they are unfamiliar and which isn't really a family show? There are avenues of publicity, but even then that's no guarantee that people will come.

A few years ago I was in a show that had 17 audience members. Total. For the entire run. That was humiliating, and I'm determined that it won't happen again. My team has already put too much effort into what we've accomplished, after three rehearsals.

This blog is meant to be one form of publicity; hopefully reading about my process will entice people to see the end result. Here's to hoping!