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21 Days to Go
Oct. 11th, 2006 05:16 pmSo, Temptation. We open three weeks from tonight.
The show goes well, and best of all, I have all the speaking roles (and the most important non-speaking role) cast, and cast well. We've been joined by Eric C. Bailey, who was in World Gone Wrong, as Neuwirth, Tim Cusack (of Theatre Askew and many, many past collaborations, and friendship) as The Dancer, and my friend of 23 years, Aaron Baker (who I Iast directed in The Skin of Our Teeth at Northfield Mount Hermon School when we were both 17) as The Secret Messenger.
Aaron and Eric joined us last night, and fit right in and immediately got all the nuances and comedy out of their "small" parts that I thought would be there, even if no one I tried to cast previously could see it.
I'm still short the roles of The Lovers -- I got an email from Edward Einhorn's assistant director today offering to pass on people who had been interested in the non-speaking roles in The Memo, so I said, yeah, great.
But people have been vanishing upon learning that the roles basically consist of making out for ten minutes at center stage in one scene, and dancing behind a scrim in another. I'll find the people, I'm sure. Just wish I had them NOW.
Today, catching up on paper business for the show. Really, I've done most of what I can that way (form and documents to Equity for showcase; form to Samuel French for rights; form to my insurance company to reup the GCW volunteer policy; press release out), and I'm playing the waiting game on docs I need back from them, so really it's just catching up on what needs to go where next, and when, once everything is indeed back to me. I was hoping to get started on the set build for the show this week, but rehearsal in the space last night kinda made it clear I'm going to have to hold off on that.
Between the three shows in the space now (or coming up next week) and the pieces Michael Gardner's been bringing in for his HavelFest production of The Mountain Hotel, there's no damned room for me to store anything I would build in there just yet. So I guess I wait a week or so . . . damn, for once I had the money, the time, the energy, and the equipment to get things done well in advance of schedule, and now I just don't have the space to get these things done.
However, Michael has a couple of terrific lamps he's found for his show that would also work great for mine, so I have to ask him about sharing those.
Since the last time I wrote anything on the show, I've had a couple of rehearsals for the Foustka/Fistula scenes with Walter and Timothy, which have shaped up very nicely. Not as immediately together as the Foustka/Vilma scenes -- a lot more tweaking and discussion of emotional beats had to go on -- but by the time we left them, they were mostly on their way.
Last Tuesday, the 3rd, we rehearsed in cramped conditions at Jessi's apartment, as she's still recovering from foot surgery. Cramped, but enough productive work happened to make it worthwhile, and we had some good cast "bonding" (and a tasty and incredibly rich birthday cake for Jessi). Wine flowed as we worked, and while I don't think anyone was acting (or directing) drunk, it felt somehow civilized and relaxed.
The following night, I was supposed to meet with Alyssa and Walter for their scenes at The Brick, but two problems came up -- first, Alyssa was sick and couldn't show up, so Walter and I decided to meet and go over all of his monologues in depth; unfortunately (second problem), Michael had made a mistake in the schedule at The Brick, and had a rehearsal of his own in there at the same time.
But it worked out for the best, Walter and Berit and I worked in the space for an hour before Michael's group came in, then the three of us went down to the Kellogg Diner for dinner and coffee, and to do detailed table work on the script, and Walter's speeches and character arc as Foustka (and Michael and I checked and there will be no more double-bookings in the space).
I used to always do private table work one-on-one with every actor in every show I directed, but I've found it less and less necessary the last few years. I may have been very wrong in this. The time Berit and I spent with Walter was incredibly productive in terms of clarifying things for Walter regarding the character. I think I used to do it more because I was more often directing shows that had "characters" in situations but not much in the way of "plot," and cast members really needed to know who the hell they were, as the text didn't give them many clues. So we would clarify what the character was going through for the actor, and even if it wasn't literally "understandable" for the audience what was going on, it made emotional sense and was satisfying in the right ways.
Directing a mostly straight narrative play such as Temptation makes me take for granted the need for that kind of character work, when the characters seem to be so clearly defined by the text. But with a character like Foustka, who can be played in a million ways, with a million intentions, it was indeed valuable to sit and make sure Walter and I were on the same page.
And now we are. So, the show is moving along -- I also worked this week with Maggie and Walter on the Mrs. Houbova/Foustka scenes, which took a little thought and tweaks to make work, and oddly had more potential options that would work than a lot more "substantial" scenes in the show. Maggie made a strong and good choice for Mrs. Houbova, and that immediately made the scene focused a certain way that works (and gave Walter some good opportunities to show off aspects of his character that feed into the rest of the show). Last night was the first time we basically had the whole group for the large group scenes, and they really began to take off; unfortunately we don't have more time with the group until next Monday. I need to work fast on those scenes. Faster than I did last night.
I lose Berit on the 23rd, too, which will be a pain, as she goes over to house manage the shows at The Ohio. The credit I've settled on for the two of us now on our shows is "designed and directed by Ian W. Hill, assisted by Berit Johnson," which is both completely accurate and not quite right as regards our working relationship. It's a bit more . . . connected than that. But this is long enough for now; I'll try to explain Berit's and my partnership in work some other time.
The show goes well, and best of all, I have all the speaking roles (and the most important non-speaking role) cast, and cast well. We've been joined by Eric C. Bailey, who was in World Gone Wrong, as Neuwirth, Tim Cusack (of Theatre Askew and many, many past collaborations, and friendship) as The Dancer, and my friend of 23 years, Aaron Baker (who I Iast directed in The Skin of Our Teeth at Northfield Mount Hermon School when we were both 17) as The Secret Messenger.
Aaron and Eric joined us last night, and fit right in and immediately got all the nuances and comedy out of their "small" parts that I thought would be there, even if no one I tried to cast previously could see it.
I'm still short the roles of The Lovers -- I got an email from Edward Einhorn's assistant director today offering to pass on people who had been interested in the non-speaking roles in The Memo, so I said, yeah, great.
But people have been vanishing upon learning that the roles basically consist of making out for ten minutes at center stage in one scene, and dancing behind a scrim in another. I'll find the people, I'm sure. Just wish I had them NOW.
Today, catching up on paper business for the show. Really, I've done most of what I can that way (form and documents to Equity for showcase; form to Samuel French for rights; form to my insurance company to reup the GCW volunteer policy; press release out), and I'm playing the waiting game on docs I need back from them, so really it's just catching up on what needs to go where next, and when, once everything is indeed back to me. I was hoping to get started on the set build for the show this week, but rehearsal in the space last night kinda made it clear I'm going to have to hold off on that.
Between the three shows in the space now (or coming up next week) and the pieces Michael Gardner's been bringing in for his HavelFest production of The Mountain Hotel, there's no damned room for me to store anything I would build in there just yet. So I guess I wait a week or so . . . damn, for once I had the money, the time, the energy, and the equipment to get things done well in advance of schedule, and now I just don't have the space to get these things done.
However, Michael has a couple of terrific lamps he's found for his show that would also work great for mine, so I have to ask him about sharing those.
Since the last time I wrote anything on the show, I've had a couple of rehearsals for the Foustka/Fistula scenes with Walter and Timothy, which have shaped up very nicely. Not as immediately together as the Foustka/Vilma scenes -- a lot more tweaking and discussion of emotional beats had to go on -- but by the time we left them, they were mostly on their way.
Last Tuesday, the 3rd, we rehearsed in cramped conditions at Jessi's apartment, as she's still recovering from foot surgery. Cramped, but enough productive work happened to make it worthwhile, and we had some good cast "bonding" (and a tasty and incredibly rich birthday cake for Jessi). Wine flowed as we worked, and while I don't think anyone was acting (or directing) drunk, it felt somehow civilized and relaxed.
The following night, I was supposed to meet with Alyssa and Walter for their scenes at The Brick, but two problems came up -- first, Alyssa was sick and couldn't show up, so Walter and I decided to meet and go over all of his monologues in depth; unfortunately (second problem), Michael had made a mistake in the schedule at The Brick, and had a rehearsal of his own in there at the same time.
But it worked out for the best, Walter and Berit and I worked in the space for an hour before Michael's group came in, then the three of us went down to the Kellogg Diner for dinner and coffee, and to do detailed table work on the script, and Walter's speeches and character arc as Foustka (and Michael and I checked and there will be no more double-bookings in the space).
I used to always do private table work one-on-one with every actor in every show I directed, but I've found it less and less necessary the last few years. I may have been very wrong in this. The time Berit and I spent with Walter was incredibly productive in terms of clarifying things for Walter regarding the character. I think I used to do it more because I was more often directing shows that had "characters" in situations but not much in the way of "plot," and cast members really needed to know who the hell they were, as the text didn't give them many clues. So we would clarify what the character was going through for the actor, and even if it wasn't literally "understandable" for the audience what was going on, it made emotional sense and was satisfying in the right ways.
Directing a mostly straight narrative play such as Temptation makes me take for granted the need for that kind of character work, when the characters seem to be so clearly defined by the text. But with a character like Foustka, who can be played in a million ways, with a million intentions, it was indeed valuable to sit and make sure Walter and I were on the same page.
And now we are. So, the show is moving along -- I also worked this week with Maggie and Walter on the Mrs. Houbova/Foustka scenes, which took a little thought and tweaks to make work, and oddly had more potential options that would work than a lot more "substantial" scenes in the show. Maggie made a strong and good choice for Mrs. Houbova, and that immediately made the scene focused a certain way that works (and gave Walter some good opportunities to show off aspects of his character that feed into the rest of the show). Last night was the first time we basically had the whole group for the large group scenes, and they really began to take off; unfortunately we don't have more time with the group until next Monday. I need to work fast on those scenes. Faster than I did last night.
I lose Berit on the 23rd, too, which will be a pain, as she goes over to house manage the shows at The Ohio. The credit I've settled on for the two of us now on our shows is "designed and directed by Ian W. Hill, assisted by Berit Johnson," which is both completely accurate and not quite right as regards our working relationship. It's a bit more . . . connected than that. But this is long enough for now; I'll try to explain Berit's and my partnership in work some other time.
