collisionwork (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
collisionwork) wrote2006-10-27 11:53 pm
collisionwork) wrote2006-10-27 11:53 pm
Final Stretch
Resting at home, waiting for Berit to get home from The Ohio where she's supervising the techs going on there for The Havel Festival.
The festival opened last night at The Brick with the double bill of Mistake/The Garden Party from Oracle Theatre, Inc. A nice start to the whole thing. Edward Einhorn (festival conceiver-artistic director), Henry Akona (assistant artistic director), Karen Lee Ott (dramaturg), and I (member of the UTC#61 artistic board) were all there to see the festival in. Edward got there late, missing Mistake, as he'd been at a reception for Mr. Havel up at Columbia University. Got to shake his hand and exchange a few words with him, and wasn't sure if Havel quite knew who he was (his English isn't good). As Edward was meeting him, Havel was also being introduced to Oliver Sacks, and Edward got to talk to him briefly as well, so he was there with the two men who either directly or indirectly were responsible for -- between the Havel Festival and the NeuroFest -- most of his work for the past year.
I was at The Brick again this afternoon to work the tango sequence from Temptation with Tim Cusack and Alyssa Simon. Went well - still needs work but it will all be there before opening on Thursday. Stuck around to see the evening's companies come in and to clean up the space a bit before they did, and fix the sound system (a speaker had gotten unplugged), check if any help was needed, and so forth. Didn't stay for the show, as I wanted to come home and veg a while.
I spent a lot more of yesterday and today not working more than I intended, though. I needed a bit of a rest after the overworked beginning of the week, and to prepare myself for the killer period of the next 5-6 days. Most of what we need is in place, but the few things we need that we don't have seem to be well-nigh impossible to get with our resources.
Berit just walked in, which was my self-imposed cutoff point for this post. Think I'll just save it and come back with a few words on this week's rehearsals.
Okay, so this week in rehearsals. Over the weekend, we worked through the show as we could with an incomplete cast. Monday and Tuesday I spent all day at the space building set pieces with cast member/old friend Aaron Baker. We got the bed/bower and the bookcases made. I wanted to finish the screen frames, but my conduit cutter and two corner pieces had vanished from my space backstage (some things had been moved around by another company), so I lost $18 of stuff there and couldn't have the screens fully ready for Tuesday night, when I had to assign set change moves to the cast. I wound up with a half-built 10' long (but rolling) rehearsal prop.
Tuesday night we had the full 12 members of the cast, and we ran NEARLY the whole show -- with the set change work we went over the time I'd allotted. We did the run with only the practical lights on -- I'll be able to control them from the board (so I was told and am still assuming), and I am going to have to pump in a tiny bit of front light from the actual instruments to make the faces visible enough in some places, but I wanted the cast to get used to the stage with the actual lamps on. It looked great, if, of course, too dim in some places, but as can happen when you move from rehearsal room/lighting to the actual space/dimmer lighting, the show lost energy, got quiet, meditative, logi. The character work was good and clear and there, but the show was not an attention-holder.
Wednesday, rehearsal space at CSV, had the whole cast except Roger and Timothy, and started with the last scene, then the whole show. Great pace and energy. Funniest run we've done of the show yet (at times, maybe even TOO funny -- there are times when you shouldn't always go for the laughs you can easily get). Peppy.
So here's the note I emailed to the cast:
The difference in energy and pace between the two nights was huge. Tuesday seemed poky (and frankly, at points, quite dull), last night moved and felt full of crackling energy all the time. We took anywhere from one to four minutes off the run time of each scene, but more important than the speed was the ENERGY.
Now, some of this was changed from notes I gave last night, but I think a good deal of this comes from the use of only the practical lights in the space on Tuesday. There WILL be more light onstage in the performances - some more from other practicals, and a bit of fill light from the instruments to make sure faces are visible when they should be. But more than making the feel overly dark and moody in the house, one of the effects of using practicals this way (as I know from a LOT of experience in this) is to make the actors get quieter, less energetic, and more "meditative" in their performances. Sometimes this is wanted for the show. With TEMPTATION, it is very definitely not.
It sometimes takes a couple of run-thrus to bring the performances back up to "rehearsal space and light" energy, and I wanted you to be aware of that now. We will probably be working in the same, dimmer light on Saturday in the space, but I need to see the energy of last night in that moody lighting.
It's a very deliberate thing to light this show this way, to put the often extremely funny things Havel has given us to say and do in a non-"comedic" landscape and light. Keep filling the moments, and you'll fill the dark shadows around you - let the energy lag, and the shadows will eat you up.
Okay, small bowl of cereal and then bedtime. At The Brick at 10 am to set up for 11 am - 2 pm rehearsal.
Today's other important document:
THINGS WE NEED FOR TEMPTATION:
(sets/props)
typewriter (older and funkier the better)
chalk
globe
desk lamp for Foustka
“foliage” pieces (around bar/bower)
fake rose for The Dancer/Vilma
bandage for Neuwirth
incense burner and incense
smoke machine fluid
endtable lamps (Vilma's)
vanity/mirror piece for top of desk (or just a standing mirror)
bouquet of violets (fake)
(costumes)
FOUSTKA
needs tux shirt, jacket, and faust costume (red hat and cloak)
DIRECTOR
needs two different jackets and one tie and “devil” costume (black jacket, tie, pants, shoes, red shoes, tail, horns, shirt)
PETRUSHKA
needs uniform and “cat” costume pieces
KOTRLY
needs “wizard” costume pieces (maybe including white beard)
NEUWIRTH
needs black turtleneck for “skeleton” costume
THE SECRET MESSENGER
needs costume pieces pulled out from our collection
MARKETA
needs “PSYCHIATRY” nightgown
FISTULA
could use suspenders if we can find them
THE DANCER
needs “satyr” items for “witches’ sabbath"
The festival opened last night at The Brick with the double bill of Mistake/The Garden Party from Oracle Theatre, Inc. A nice start to the whole thing. Edward Einhorn (festival conceiver-artistic director), Henry Akona (assistant artistic director), Karen Lee Ott (dramaturg), and I (member of the UTC#61 artistic board) were all there to see the festival in. Edward got there late, missing Mistake, as he'd been at a reception for Mr. Havel up at Columbia University. Got to shake his hand and exchange a few words with him, and wasn't sure if Havel quite knew who he was (his English isn't good). As Edward was meeting him, Havel was also being introduced to Oliver Sacks, and Edward got to talk to him briefly as well, so he was there with the two men who either directly or indirectly were responsible for -- between the Havel Festival and the NeuroFest -- most of his work for the past year.
I was at The Brick again this afternoon to work the tango sequence from Temptation with Tim Cusack and Alyssa Simon. Went well - still needs work but it will all be there before opening on Thursday. Stuck around to see the evening's companies come in and to clean up the space a bit before they did, and fix the sound system (a speaker had gotten unplugged), check if any help was needed, and so forth. Didn't stay for the show, as I wanted to come home and veg a while.
I spent a lot more of yesterday and today not working more than I intended, though. I needed a bit of a rest after the overworked beginning of the week, and to prepare myself for the killer period of the next 5-6 days. Most of what we need is in place, but the few things we need that we don't have seem to be well-nigh impossible to get with our resources.
Berit just walked in, which was my self-imposed cutoff point for this post. Think I'll just save it and come back with a few words on this week's rehearsals.
Okay, so this week in rehearsals. Over the weekend, we worked through the show as we could with an incomplete cast. Monday and Tuesday I spent all day at the space building set pieces with cast member/old friend Aaron Baker. We got the bed/bower and the bookcases made. I wanted to finish the screen frames, but my conduit cutter and two corner pieces had vanished from my space backstage (some things had been moved around by another company), so I lost $18 of stuff there and couldn't have the screens fully ready for Tuesday night, when I had to assign set change moves to the cast. I wound up with a half-built 10' long (but rolling) rehearsal prop.
Tuesday night we had the full 12 members of the cast, and we ran NEARLY the whole show -- with the set change work we went over the time I'd allotted. We did the run with only the practical lights on -- I'll be able to control them from the board (so I was told and am still assuming), and I am going to have to pump in a tiny bit of front light from the actual instruments to make the faces visible enough in some places, but I wanted the cast to get used to the stage with the actual lamps on. It looked great, if, of course, too dim in some places, but as can happen when you move from rehearsal room/lighting to the actual space/dimmer lighting, the show lost energy, got quiet, meditative, logi. The character work was good and clear and there, but the show was not an attention-holder.
Wednesday, rehearsal space at CSV, had the whole cast except Roger and Timothy, and started with the last scene, then the whole show. Great pace and energy. Funniest run we've done of the show yet (at times, maybe even TOO funny -- there are times when you shouldn't always go for the laughs you can easily get). Peppy.
So here's the note I emailed to the cast:
The difference in energy and pace between the two nights was huge. Tuesday seemed poky (and frankly, at points, quite dull), last night moved and felt full of crackling energy all the time. We took anywhere from one to four minutes off the run time of each scene, but more important than the speed was the ENERGY.
Now, some of this was changed from notes I gave last night, but I think a good deal of this comes from the use of only the practical lights in the space on Tuesday. There WILL be more light onstage in the performances - some more from other practicals, and a bit of fill light from the instruments to make sure faces are visible when they should be. But more than making the feel overly dark and moody in the house, one of the effects of using practicals this way (as I know from a LOT of experience in this) is to make the actors get quieter, less energetic, and more "meditative" in their performances. Sometimes this is wanted for the show. With TEMPTATION, it is very definitely not.
It sometimes takes a couple of run-thrus to bring the performances back up to "rehearsal space and light" energy, and I wanted you to be aware of that now. We will probably be working in the same, dimmer light on Saturday in the space, but I need to see the energy of last night in that moody lighting.
It's a very deliberate thing to light this show this way, to put the often extremely funny things Havel has given us to say and do in a non-"comedic" landscape and light. Keep filling the moments, and you'll fill the dark shadows around you - let the energy lag, and the shadows will eat you up.
Okay, small bowl of cereal and then bedtime. At The Brick at 10 am to set up for 11 am - 2 pm rehearsal.
Today's other important document:
THINGS WE NEED FOR TEMPTATION:
(sets/props)
typewriter (older and funkier the better)
chalk
globe
desk lamp for Foustka
“foliage” pieces (around bar/bower)
fake rose for The Dancer/Vilma
bandage for Neuwirth
incense burner and incense
smoke machine fluid
endtable lamps (Vilma's)
vanity/mirror piece for top of desk (or just a standing mirror)
bouquet of violets (fake)
(costumes)
FOUSTKA
needs tux shirt, jacket, and faust costume (red hat and cloak)
DIRECTOR
needs two different jackets and one tie and “devil” costume (black jacket, tie, pants, shoes, red shoes, tail, horns, shirt)
PETRUSHKA
needs uniform and “cat” costume pieces
KOTRLY
needs “wizard” costume pieces (maybe including white beard)
NEUWIRTH
needs black turtleneck for “skeleton” costume
THE SECRET MESSENGER
needs costume pieces pulled out from our collection
MARKETA
needs “PSYCHIATRY” nightgown
FISTULA
could use suspenders if we can find them
THE DANCER
needs “satyr” items for “witches’ sabbath"