Post-show

In good news, the second show went much, much better. All the lines were remembered and heard, there was genuine emotion on stage, and I didn't burn down Waller hall. Wouldn't that be a great act to be remembered for? When I went into this production, my first goal was to not have the "Elijah" play of the semester. For a bit I was quite worried that I would fall into that category; I wrote and directed the play myself and at some points so much did not go according to plan half of the set and blocking was made up on the spot. Rehearsals were called off because a dire cast member didn't show, the acting wasn't consistent in spots, and i maintained skepticism in reference to my script.
Oh, and I almost burnt down Waller. Not sure if too many caught that, but I had a working toaster oven on the set and during Saturday's show, Natalie got a little overzealous in turning it off and set it to "bake"... Then the rest of the cast let it go until I finally found one back stage and asked Nikki to turn it off. "Listen, your motivation for turning it off is 'Ariel wouldn't want to set fire to a room full of people'"
Now, I'm starting on another show with the working title of "godless" wherein an atheistic astronomer peers into his telescope and accidentally finds God. With any luck I'll get to put my directing chops to the test again next semester/year.

Post-open

What a let down. Really. Thursday night my cast was amazing. Near flawless... Now though, they lost it all. Lines were lost, jumbled, and all around shat on. The timing was off on the jokes, and i'm all around disappointed. This is what it feels like to work on something for months and have it all for naught. I have this feeling that the audience didn't take much, if anything, from the show. That's probably the worst bit. The good bits include: Nikki B in the second scene, Hank and the opening, Nat standing up at the end and Nick's monologue was alright. Of course, I'm probably being far too harsh, I still love my cast.
I can only pray tomorrow will be better. Too bad I'm an atheist.

For a while now, I've felt that my show was ahead of the curve. Now though, we're sorely behind. In worse news, the migraines are coming back. That's personal crap though, and I've been trying to compartmentalize the personal and the professional. For the most part, my show's going well but unfortunately, a bit of backtracking was done and I'm not sure it was all my fault for doing more tech work yesterday than actually rehearsing. Tonight blocking was wrong, lines were changed, and all the emotional work we've done was off. I think my one cast member is having issues keeping their outside life separate from the show. Namely, a fucking game. Now, I'm playing it too, and it's good fun, but when rehearsal time rolls around, my head is in the studio and studio only. I made note of it earlier tonight, but only in passing. He has one run to get his focus back, or I make no promises on the kindness of the words that will leave my mouth.
I mean, I've taken lengths to keep nice with my cast and it's served me well for most of them. In good news though, choosing Nate Moser as my stage manager was probably the smartest thing I've ever done since I've been doing things ever. He's on top of things, he catches technical stuff that slips under my radar, and keeps me sane. He's also just as enthusiastic to be involved with this as my cast.
Well, I've just taken actions to hopefully ensure my full casts' attention at rehearsals.
Fingers crossed it works.
ciao

A copy of my script

it's viewable at:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddr5krrv_0twf79zck

A few production stills

Today was a pretty productive day; so much so that I was able to snap a few shots of my cast. These are being posted in no particular order, really. In good news, the refrigerator will be available Tuesday and the couch Wednesday. Tyler and I seem to be meshing our shows together well, though it looks like we're proposing a notable set change in 15 minutes.
In bad news, a cast member seems to be dropping the ball. I won't name names, but they've missed two rehearsals, and were in no way prepared with a costume idea as was requested. Meh, as long as he is off-book by tomorrow, most will be forgiven. I've let my cast know that starting tomorrow, a call of line will not only get them their line, but also a nerf dart fired at them. They seem to be okay with it. Well, after I let them know that I won't aim for face they were okay with it. I'm shooting to have the show ready for open Wednesday so that we have two - three full runs available to us.

3.13.09

Tonight was another amazing rehearsal. I'll admit, I feel a bit guilty. I think because I've seen so many great things come out of my cast, I'm pushing them harder... Mayhap too hard. We spent a half our working solely on Hank's character, Adam. I don't think I've ever seen Hank so deep in thought. It made me proud, and at the same time worrisome. I don't want to burn out my cast, or worse, make them not enjoy rehearsal. We've all worked on shows which became work at some point and I do believe that it makes the show suffer more than anything. Beyond that, I'm friends with all of my cast... I don't want to strain that. I think Hank was proud of himself... Nat seemed a bit bored by the end of the half hour, but took it all in stride. I'm also pushing Nikki fairly hard. My stage manager thinks that it may be because the rest of my cast is farther along than she is.
Still, things are going swimingly.
Other news:
I have a 2-3 hour rehearsal scheduled for tomorrow.
My cast is doing pretty well getting off-book.
I have a new netbook to help with my organizing.

Wow.

I know that I'm speaking far too soon, probably, but I adore my cast. Tonight was our first full rehearsal and I was wowed. They were all justified, convincing, funny and quick. I also found out that my metaphor carried between scenes well. My stage manager is doing a fine job despite his never doing it before.
This isn't to say that "Hey, let's open now!" but more along the lines of us being further than I thought we'd be. They all surprised me in areas I thought I'd have to work more on. I'm now rather glad that I took those two full days to sit down and talk about what I wanted from each character/actor and addressed concerns early on.
If only I could get the MPR a bit more... oh well... shit in one and, wish in the other... see which fills up first. (The shit-hand will probably overflow well before the wishing hand.)

The Battle Rages On

I'm not just listening to the Deep Purple song.
So last night I was driving through the blizzard that chose spring break to ravage Allentown. Long story short, I finally know exactly what I want to say with this show. I mean, I should know it and whatnot since I wrote it, but I was wrong. Not afraid to admit it. I was reading an article on the 4+ hour movie "Che" and Soderbergh was saying how he didn't realize what it was really about until it was released. I guess I should be glad this hit me early on.
The Battle Rages On. Jason and I discussed the plot development last week and the inverted triangle came up. You have the hero that falls then rises again to audience approval. Well this play will have an inverted inverted triangle... So yeah, right-side up. Anyway, here's a breakdown.
In scene one we establish Reese and his philandering ways. At the change, Reese recognizes his flaws and is reunited with "the only girl to make him squirt" which is my stiff upper-lip British way of saying "One true love" (There's such thing in the universe I made up) As the lights rise on scene 2, Reese has grown slightly. The hero has risen at this point. Shit happens and he returns right back to where he was, a manwhoring-douchenozzle.
Nick Barber is playing a manwhore. It just seemed fitting. With Adam (the brain in the bottle) I wanted to try something new. We've all seen Hank in his goofy physical humor and how he can play innocence. He's a damn funny guy. He's very physical and large (not a shot, just saying, he's very theatrical in movement) and I would like to challenge him by limiting his physical action. By my logic, he will be putting more thought into what he does and be much more selective about his choices in action. That all makes sense in my brain-meats.... my squishy, squishy brain-meats.
Going back to Nick, during his audition I he made me question what my own reasonings were for the characters actions. He brought something I didn't see and I'd like to see what else he has. He also took direction well. All of my auditioners did, actually.
Natalie brought an down to earth honesty to D'Arcy that I liked. A bluntness, too. I think it will also be a challenge for me to direct her. I remember watching her in Henry IV and how she had that forwardness but at the same time was reserved on stage. I'd like to break her of that. Really open her up to the audience. I wonder if she can cry on command.
Another risk I'm throwing into my show is casting a high schooler. Will's friend Nikki B auditioned. She was good, but I'll need to break her of the high school acting I noticed. Crossed arms, choosing to yell right away, covering her mouth... Most of what I noticed was technical, but she was genuine in the emotion and should be fun to work with. I also need rehearsals to finish by 10pm... Fucking Cinderella laws.

At our pre-break meeting, the cast seemed to mesh really well. Natalie seemed a little nervous, but she also had another meeting after. Beyond that, I noticed a good chemistry, especially betwixt Hank and Nick which is probably best because well, their characters are best friends and I want that honesty conveyed.

The Battle Rages On... I can't get it out of my head. That's probably a good thing. Battles rage on... she show must go on... they both carry connotations of going forward... never being finished. I need to look into this. It's like a recycling symbol. Yup, that's the path my show takes... a giant recylce sigul. I need to look into that... reduce reuse recycle... It's about restraint. How long can a person be restrained? How many turns of the wheel? The story never ends. It's a never ending story. That goes on and on and on and on and on. Like Journey.
Capitulation, bitches.