A Helping Hand: Week 4, Practice and Repetition.

     Hello once again! This week has been a fun twist on how theater and having a busy life gets "fun". In a number of ways. The first way was getting Off-Book. It's rough. It's always rough. Especially when we had such a phenomenal performance last week from Josh and Lane. They were just insane with being able to connect to the emotion and character. This week it was hard and frustrating for them, as I saw they were having a hard time with lines which interrupted their connection to what they were saying. In all regards they were doing really well, all things considered, at the end of the night they were barely calling line and they were getting that connection back. It was knowing what had been and wanting that exemplary performance again. I think it's a game of expectation management at that. I know they will continue to get back to that point. From what I read of acting from somewhere (I've been reading up on the subject to try and get better for my crew) that people shouldn't try to exactly replicate an emotion - which has benefits and drawbacks - but they should try to attain that feeling everytime through connection with character and their scene partner. I think that's such an important distinction: that you are creating, not copying. I think we will work towards that.

    Now the other thing that's harder. I went out of town for work this last week and wasn't able to make it to a rehearsal - something that seems, or at least feels, like a cardinal sin of theater - luckily my Ast. Stage Manager, Taylor, is freaking amazing and ran the rehearsal. Honestly she's a life saver, and from what she told me it went well. I think that this underlines something else that should be set from the beginning - trust. I trust Josh, Lane, and Taylor. They are hard working and passionate and they know what to do. They want this and I trust in them to be able to do it. Honestly they do most of the heavy lifting anyways. I feel reassured that I can go away for a day or so and come back knowing that they've been at it still - though I really want to be there.

    Looking at the weeks ahead, I think that it will be just more practice and repetition until the blocking and lines sink in to the point where the actors are feeling emotion more than remembering the aspects of mapped theater. I want to define the blocking more and develop the playfulness we have into a routine and solidify that so that we can dive into their performance. I'm excited for what is to come - as always!

Nich