Tonight was the first night we concentrated on what might be called traditional theater. But we didn’t do it in any kind of a traditional way.  

We had three scenes to stage tonight – the first bear scene, where an aunt and her niece go walking by some bear cages, end up tempting them with an all-day sucker, and then magic happens and the bears get all-day suckers of their very own.  They wish for garbage.

Then we staged the second bear scene, where a boyfriend and girlfriend have a spat at their campsite, and the bears come and get their trash.  The bears wish for a picnic.

The last piece of work in the evening was the first of the fishing scenes, where we’re introduced to the different types of fishermen – catch and release, catch and eat, lake, deep sea, and pond.  Them pond boys are something explosive, let me tell you.

For the first two scenes, we used a technique called "instant acting" that was developed by Jeremy Whelan.  I was introduced to it by Rachel May.  Basically, you tape record (or use Garage Band, in our case) the scene, and then folks perform it without having to have their scripts in hand.  You do this several times over, and quick learners memorize the text while they’re doing it. As Tommy Deadwyler (who was standing in for Jeff Kelly) pointed out, by the third time through you’ve pretty much got it.

For the final scene, we worked in a more traditional way, with me coaching and directing performers as we went, with scripts in hand.  We worked on comic timing, which is what the fishing sequences are all about.  We’re aiming for guffaws, not chuckles.

Tomorrow night we begin work on the "Joey’s Dance" sequences, which are delicate work around the topic of disability.  It makes many people uncomfortable.  So we’ll see how far we get in staging three complicated scenes.  I’m learning how ambitious my rehearsal planning was – things always take longer than my estimates, but ain’t that life.  We’ve got 7 1/2 weeks to get it all together, and wonderfully willing people. 

Good news – I get to look at the scenic designs John Kollock has created for us tomorrow (Wednesday), and Tommy convinced Andy Slack (the artist who made our poster image) to head up the scenic painting team. It’s going to take a lot of folks to realize John’s designs, because we have a lot of space to fill up.  But oh will it be a blast to work on.  And, like everything associated with this show, once it’s done, we own it.  As a community, and as a Community Association.

Ever onward.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Headwaters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.