Runthrough Again

We're back on the run through track.

Thank Todd. (This is a running joke in the production: "Long live Todd...", "Todd save the people..." etc.)

Last week was gruelling for me. I got home every night with a RAW throat from talking for three and a half hours each night. Last night was great because I got to sit and watch for a change, taking notes and marking cues in the lighting script (easily 200+ cues).

Amberlee was sick/exhausted and was not able to attend. I got a voicemail from her parents later in the evening letting me know what was going on. I'll call them back today and assure them that I agree that their daughter's health comes first. I already know she's dedicated to the production. Heroics are not necessary, and I applaud them in making the call to take her home.

We got started later than I'd have liked. With notes we didn't get out of there until 11:00 PM. Sorry about that. I think we've addressed the issue, and we'll be more in a position to finish on time for the remainder of the week.

The percussion wasn't that bad, really. I brought in the remaining few instruments and we ran through it nicely. MUCH work needs to be done at home by the cast, though. I saw several of the instruments still sitting on the menhirs and in boxes last night after rehearsal, so either folks are REALLY confident in their parts (they shouldn't be), or they have instruments at home to practice with (ok, but why couldn't we have borrowed them for the show?). For those reading: TAKE YOUR INSTRUMENTS HOME AND PRACTICE YOUR PERCUSSION PART. WE ARE DOING THE WHOLE THING FOR THE SHOW AS IT IS ON THE CD.

Did that sound loud? I didn't mean for it to be loud. Only stern. Yes. Stern. And maybe a little loud. Maybe.

Tom was there last night and promised some feedback today via email. I respect his feedback, and if he has a question or concern, it's likely that audiences will as well. I look forward to it. The main feedback was due to some poor direction I gave Noah/Arryck regarding their character. The "disinterested" approach came off purely as lazy, and I KNOW Noah has a hundred times more energy on stage than what came off in the first act. Again, bad direction on my part, and I corrected it with him. Much better in the second act.

Another run through tonight, probably with some lights. I still need to get the upper tier of prop rails inserted into the upper pipes of the menhirs. There are too many props down underneath in the menhirs, so I need to hang or place them higher. I'll work on that.


- Sean

Good Work, Part II

Saturday was another detailed work session, followed by reworking the lights. Spanky was great, Arryck was great, Erin & Sara were great, Lori Lee was great, and Rudy was a no-show. I'd give details, but it's more of the same as last time: character suggestions, run important scenes, yadda yadda yadda.

Lights are all set, I just have to add a red lamp to one of the PARs in the back and mask the SL special a bit. I spent Sunday and Monday at home finishing up the menhirs.

Tonight starts off with choreography and then a run-through, followed most probably by me setting the PRESETs and maybe a few CHASEs in preparation for setting up SCENEs. Those are capitalized because they are each the atomic elements used within the Show Designer controller, and I had to re-learn how I think about control boards. This show is less about sliders and X/Y crossfades and more about scene setting and cueing from a scenic standpoint.

Tom called this morning and left me a message, concerned that I'm taking on too much. I'm way beyond too much, honestly, but I'm nowhere near flame-out mode. The props are done. The masks are mostly done. The cast is handling their costumes. The set items are mostly done, and I will finish them before the weekend. So, I'm actually pretty set.


- Sean

Pounding Headache

So we gave it a go at percussion last night.

Leading up to rehearsal, I'd already mapped out the 100 bars of music, added the music for each part based on what I knew my cast would each be able to handle. I'd already burned CDs with a master track and an individual track for each person and their instrument. I acknowledged that it was flat and juvenile, but it was at least doable.

I'd asked Brian to come in last night to assist and perhaps spice it up a bit, and he jumped in with both feet and did that. One of the problems we discovered was that having two people missing made it VERY difficult. Brian started layering rhythms into the second and third movements, and while it sounded much better and more interesting, we couldn't achieve it in the two weeks that remain. I looked around and saw half the cast exhausted from drumming non-stop, and the other half bored out of their minds because they had done essentially no drumming, and I called a break.

I took a sanity check from each of the cast members along with Brian, and determined that we're going to go with the percussion as written. Had we addressed this weeks ago, we might have had more "improv" time, giving the folks the ability to grow into their part of the percussive harmonies I've established. After the break, I had Brian show us some of the basics of drumming, and that seemed to bring things back to earth.

We finished up by going through the intro to the piece about ten times. I think it will work. We'll try it again every night next week and see if it stands and breathes on it's own, and if all else fails, we can simply transition to the "hard eights" leading into Beautiful City right after Rudy pauses us with the four measures of "heartbeat". That alone will achieve what I wanted, and it's a sane fallback position.

Thanks to the cast for enduring that last night and giving both Brian and I some time to work through it. Neither of us has done anything like it before.

But I'd like to see what we can do with this in the mean time. They have three days to play with their CDs over the Memorial Day weekend. I hope they blow me away when we get back on Tuesday.

And, as usual, I have a ton of work to do. I have to finish the masks. I have to "skin" the menhirs, patch, and paint them. I have to add the upper piping to the menhir frames so that props can be stored on top as well as inside. I have to make several pieces for the Pharisee head (eye brows, ears, nose). I need to buy the missing instruments for the percussion piece. I need to get a few more props. I need to set the lights and enter some presets and some basic scenes.

Time to make my usual "Sean's Big List".

- Sean

Good Work, Part I

First of all, thanks to Lorraine, Amberlee, Todd, Noah, & Jessica for their hard work last night. The five 45 minute sessions gave each actor a chance to do some detail work on their characters and to have some one-on-one time with me so that I could clarify direction as needed.

Lorraine and I talked quite a bit, discussing motivations for her character. We worked through Turn Back, O Man and discussed why the focus of the song is what it is. In the annotated script, Stephen Schwartz suggests that there can be no serious sexual content or it misses the mark. He even suggests that the bits should be playfully silly rather than sensual in any way. While I agree with that in basis, and while I know WHY he suggests against it, I feel that there is an important sensual/sexual edge that HAS to be there. For instance the "...tragic empires rise..." plays pretty well as an overt phallic reference, one that is done more specifically in Schwartz' Pippin a few years later. We also talked through the already great timings on the "Pharisee & the Tax Gatherer" scene and the "Good Samaritan" scene.

Amberlee worked next, and we did some very detailed character work. I told her that I thought the "tomboy" approach for her character works well. We used her "Rich Man's Storehouse" scene to give her some different options. I had her to play the scene seated, as though she's having a conversation with someone sitting in the first row. After a couple of times, she got it and was able to carry that energy through standing up. She's got such incredible potential to be a REALLY funny actress if she gives herself permission to be uncontrollably silly. We also talked a bit about how we'll balance out the O Bless the Lord quandary where she has problems with the singing and dancing in tandem. I'll work with Arryck to figure out a good mix.

Next up was Todd, and we focused on the "Trial of the Pharisees" scene, leading up to Alas For You. My primary notes to Todd involved trusting his own vocal power and relying less on physicalities, like hand gestures. It worked remarkably well. I also encouraged him to explore the quieter end of the spectrum of his vocal range (and, no, that didn't mean that I told him to shut up). Right after the "Last Supper" scene, as he leads up to the Finale and the crucifixion, I had him forgo the traditional palms and eyes towards heaven approach to speaking to God, and had him deliver it straight forward, as though God were standing directly in front of him in the aisle. It was quiet, personal, and mind-blowingly great.

Noah was next, and we talked quite a bit about how he can work to keep more consistent control over his singing voice. His preferred focal point for his voice is about six inches in front of his lips, and he even physically stretches his neck forward to try to over-compensate and extend that volume. What I asked him to do, however, was to pull the focus back to the front of his mouth. The lips, nose, cheeks, and teeth can be used to tune the voice up and down. Most singers do it naturally, but you can't do it if your voice is focused outside of your mouth. That makes those natural filters less effective. I also encouraged him to embrace the rhythm of the song in his body, even if it means that he looks incredibly geeky and uncoordinated doing so.

Jessica was the last actor I worked with. I first insisted that she never apologize on stage (either physically or vocally) for a decision she makes for her character. What's great is when she does something really spontaneous and funny. What kills it is when she then excuses herself for it, either turning away, or straightening up. The goofy stuff she does is working really well, and my goal was to give her permission over the next two weeks to explore that.

Great sessions, one in all. Five more this coming Saturday.

Tonight is percussion. Brian Harwell will be coming to help with this piece. I gave out CDs last night to the five folks who showed up, and I'll give out the rest tonight.


- Sean

Devil in the Details

So tonight we go super detailed, with five individually scheduled one-on-one sessions to give each actor some personal direction on how they can continue to develop their characters. It's my best chance to drastically align these folks and give them the payload they need to carry with them as we roll into the final, frantic two weeks of run throughs. We have five other detailed sessions on Saturday as well. We're off Monday.

Thursday night we FINALLY learn and rehearse the percussion piece. I'm still not 100% satisfied with it. I still feel it's juvenile, but what I hope is that it's simple enough to learn but interesting enough to warrant doing. There's plenty of room for embellishment and improvisation, should the mood strike them, but it's kind of basic otherwise.


- Sean

Buzz Buzz, Hack Hack, Thump Thump

The base menhirs are done. There are six of them. They are trapezoidal in shape with seven sides. They are about two feet wide and two feet deep. The base unit is about 18" tall, and the back part stands about 5-1/2' tall with large, 2" PVC pipe framing them. They are framed out of wood. They have no "side panels" yet, although they will. They roll around on four 1.5" casters. The top of the base unit flips up to put stuff into it. There are holes drilled in the back where long props, like the canes and other things can be stowed.

Well, they aren't finished yet. As mentioned, they have no "modesty panels" on them to mask the contents (or hold them in, for that matter). I still need to cut and install them. I'd like to put them on the INSIDE of the box rather than the OUTSIDE, as I like the depth created by the various levels of wood used to frame the box. However, I will have to do a lot of masking of the screw holes and cracks. That's fairly easy, just time consuming, and masking tape doesn't always hold up well over long runs. Also, cutting the panels to fit the INSIDE is harder than cutting panels for the OUTSIDE. Alternately, the OUTSIDE panels would be more plain to look at, but would be easy to complete and get off of my plate.

When I loaded them into the space last night, the first impression I got was that they looked like a combination of a wooden toilet and a bumper car: neither of which is the look I want. But they will serve the purpose either way. At least I'll be the first to admit they look like that. I'll try to paint them to look more interesting than that, I hope. I guess the key is to stay away from the white porcelain look, huh?

Tonight, we'll keep plugging away at the detail work. I want everyone to bring their costume components on Thursday so we can assess what needs to be gotten still.


- Sean

State of the Production Address

Good Morning.

Put quite simply, ETC's summer production of Godspell is in astoundingly great shape. I've seen other productions that would have done well to open at this stage of development: the cast is solid with their lines, their choreography, and their music. They could quite easily start performing this evening, three weeks early, if they had to. I've been there. It's exciting and terrifying and with the right mix of people, it still works, even without the tacit audience forgiveness that it is "community theatre".

But this isn't a high-volume pizza delivery business where they bake the pizzas for about half the time they should, leaving them to finish cooking in their delivery boxes on the way to your home, only to mask the doughy, undercooked crust with so much sauce and cheese that you don't care, because you're too damn hungry to.

Nope. We're going to work on this, just like we did last night. It was tedious, frustrating, mind-numbing, and indulgent, but it is what needs to happen to make this an extraordinary show.

We started off with publicity photos. I'd show you some here, but I promised to let the cast pick the headshot they wanted so I can clean them up. Once that's done, I'll post a montage here.

After that, we started at the top of the show and started filling in the gaps and tightening the bits. We worked through about a third of the show, coincidentally the most challenging parts. We got through the point where Kamahni blurts out "Oh, Jesus Chr..." and then Todd slaps him. Amberlee has a TON of work in this part of the script, and I have to give her credit for staying on task and keeping very focused. Of the half-dozen bits in the first third of the show, she's in over half of them: the unjust judge, the debt-ridden servant, the two brothers, and other incidental pieces. She has developed some great stuff on her own, and she is getting the additional stuff I'm layering on top of it without countering or arguing. And when we have to take a section again, she's right on top of it.

Sara also has a lot of work in this section, and she will have even more coming up in the middle third. She too takes direction well, and although I think she's hesitant when I ask her to do something that doesn't seem natural to her, she trusts my judgment. For instance, like many actors, she has learned that punctuating lines with movement helps drive home the goal of the character. But in the case of Godspell, you're not dealing with a smooth character arc: there's a ton of stylization in it that falls flat if you play it naturally. Sara is a very natural actress. So when I have her take lines out to the audience, it feels weird, and I understand that. But the look and clarity of the message is punctuated by the simplicity (lack) of movement. It's almost vaudvillian or melodramatic, but not perfectly. Anyway, she's trusting me on it, and I thank her for that.

Todd is also finding some nice breathing room within his abundance of lines. He and I spoke briefly afterwards at how satisfying detailed working sessions like these can be. Now, he was speaking from an actor's point of view, and I know that. When Lori Lee had asked for these sessions about a week ago, I knew that she was feeling the same anxiety that I had felt in the past as an actor, when not enough rehearsal time was given for such clarity and exploration. That is what this region of the rehearsal process is set aside for.

But, understand that it's also VERY satisfying to me as well. It gives me a chance to diddle with the "fine tune" knob on the radio to dial everything in very tightly. And, yeah, it's frustrating at times as well. There was one bit last night that was challenging for the whole cast to get. It involved Amberlee, Jessica, and Sara bowing before Lori Lee. Noah/Arryck deliver the narrative stating how the man had thrown himself at the master's feet, saying "Unnh!" The timing on this was crucial. First, Amberlee had already thrown herself down, followed shortly thereafter by Jessica and Sara, so we'd already had two bows, and I didn't want to loose the rhythm of that. Great bits always come in threes, so when I found out that Noah/Arryck state it again, I had my third bow, but it had to be punctuated precisely, with the remainder of the cast saying "Unnh!" right after the three ladies bowed yet again. We went through it at least ten times, with it finally hitting the mark exactly.

So why did I push so hard on that one little bit? Because audiences love comic symmetry. Three is the magic number, and comedy is no exception. Audiences also love precisely executed bits. It makes them feel like the production was very specifically crafted rather than just thrown together hap-hazardly. It's that whole stylization thing again, and it's why you can't just stroll through Godspell and hope it will work.

What else was great? Spanky. I love Spanky. He deviates from the script, ad libs, goofs off, but he gets away with it, because when he's ON he's TOTALLY ON. Case in point: in the opening sequence, with the eight philosophers, he was among the first to really take hold of his character. He just got it. He knows that the on-stage Spanky in Godspell is not the Paddy's Spanky, or the 3:00 AM at IHOP Spanky, or even the riding home after rehearsal in the back of Noah's car trying to keep the peace because I said something unflattering here or at rehearsal Spanky. He's a bit of each of those people, but something more: more interesting; more alive; more musical... something that people will want to come to a 52-seat theatre in the basement of a 100 year-old house in Oxnard and pay $20 a ticket to see.

That's what I'm working to accomplish.

And, to reiterate, it's working nicely. Yeah, I wish we had Bill and the guys here every day from here on out, but we can't. Sorry. Honestly, the cast doesn't need them yet, but they will be absolutely ready for them on Monday, June 5. I do commit to having the menhirs and masks done by this coming Monday's rehearsal. With Agnes of God onstage, it was simply impractical. The props are mostly done. There are a few lacking, but we'll get those next week. The percussion has taken a bit of a backseat to the menhirs and masks (and rehearsals and family and day job and pretty much everything else), but at the company meeting on Wednesday, Brian Harwell said that he's squared away now and can actually help us again. What's good is that I've had time to more clearly articulate what I need, so even if it's just for one evening where he helps us to get the rhythms and some feedback for me so I can make it sound more interesting, then so much the better.

I'm also going to schedule some time with Meghan Quilop to have her help me find the missing costume bits. I haven't had a chance to call her yet, but I'm hoping to have her come in next Tuesday or Wednesday to see what we're lacking.

I also have to now edit the photos and work on the posters. That's not a huge deal, as I have all the elements ready in my brain. I want to get a vinyl marquee poster that fits the size of the marquee and is impervious to rain and sun. That will happen in a week or so as well.

That's it, and thanks for your attention.


- Sean

Accentuate the Positives

Music rehearsal last night was pretty good, but having been away from Bill for so long, most folks started to peter out vocally in the second full run-through. The vocals were still very strong. Erin has consumed her music nicely, and it's nice to have a different take on the vocals from Sara. They're both great, don't get me wrong, but their phrasings and delivery of the notes are pleasantly diverse.

Arryck is also coming along quickly. I feel bad because he has one of the harder songs in the show to sing, We Beseech Thee, and there is a LOT of blue-noting and "American Idol" stuff that is needed to execute the song satisfactorily. And his ideal range is about a third an octave lower than Noah's. Regardless, he's getting it down nicely, and it's a pleasure to have him with us.

The masks are all wrapped in muslin/glue, and two of them are primed with white latex paint. I noticed a couple of spots of bare foam on two of them, so I'll have to touch them up before painting. I have an obsessive tendency to want to pull the strings off of them, but I have to resist, as that leads to peeling up the muslin strips. If I cut them, it works better. The insides are still a little ragged, and I don't want to poke anyone's face, so I'll need to figure out how to them out. I'll patch and prime the rest on Friday, paint them on Saturday, and then hopefully lacquer them on Sunday. Then I can add hair and the velcro straps. One unfortunate side effect of the process so far is that I had to cut the elastic strings off. Between the foam, the carving/sanding, and the glue, they just got in the way. I hope they turn out as well as I've envisioned them.

I have one menhir platform completed, but I need to get another sheet of plywood to make the tops. I've already pre-cut the framing pieces. They are a variety of 30 and 60 degree angles, so the compound miter saw came in handy. I beefed it on the 30 degree angles, though, as the default notch in the miter saw is for -31.5 degrees, not -30, so the boards I have are a bit more acute than they need to be, making the finished angle more like 57 degrees, which isn't quite right. This is important for the tops, as I won't be able to use the plywood on top to screw it to for stability. The frame will have to be aligned on it's own. I'll also need to pick up another countersink bit and some spare 3/32 pilot bits to go with. I've gone through two so far, and I anticipate more, as the countersink on all of these is at an angle.

The intelligent lights are in and working. Once Agnes of God strikes this weekend, I can move the existing lights around the way I want them. I have brought in my own DMX dimmer packs to replace the MMX ones they are currently using. I'll wait until Godspell has been running for a few weeks and ticket revenue is flowing before I order the replacement ones for the Petit.

I also need to have the electrician come back and wire in the front floods to the work light circuit. The goal was to replace the need to use stage lights for rehearsal lighting, and we've not accomplished that yet.

Choreography tonight (7:30 PM call). Photos Thursday night along with some individual scenework. No rehearsal on Saturday. And Monday, we'll start to fine tune this thing, hopefully with menhirs and masks.

- Sean

Switch Up

Okay, so I decided to cut the cast loose on Saturday, due to the Oxnard Strawberry Festival madness that will inevitably ensue. What that did, however, was rob Arryck of another choreography rehearsal, one that is heartily needed.

So, tonight will still be the heavy-duty music rehearsal, the last with Bill before we see him on tech week. We'll do all the songs twice, switching off between Arryck and Noah, and Erin and Sara as needed to cement the music in their minds.

Wednesday will be the new choreography rehearsal. It was going to be percussion, but choreography is more important to the overall show right now. I will be working on percussion to make it better. I've solicited feedback from several musician friends and asked them to give me some much-needed suggestions. I know it's juvenile and simplistic, so hopefully they'll offer some valuable input.

Wednesday is also the ETC Company Meeting, so rehersal won't start until 7:30 PM.

Thursday is publicity photos for the first hour or so, and then some detailed scenework.

Next week will be specific scenework to tighten up the problem areas. The show doesn't FLOW well right now. Part of that is because they are just now off book and are still stumbling. The other part is that I haven't had a chance to tune it yet, other than in notes.

Bill should have at least one music CD for me tonight to give to the cast. It's not the whole thing, as I would have liked, but it contains the songs they requested.


- Sean

Four Weeks to Go

It's crazy to consider that SOME productions actually start read throughs at this point. I acknowledge that I MAY over-rehearse, but I can't imagine only having four weeks to do a show, or even a more generous six weeks. Crazy.

Rehearsals are going great, except the lack of focus and energy issue that has been pervading some of the cast. Every other note on Saturday was "____, I need more energy!" or "____, please focus!" And the tardiness is driving me (and others) nuts. Fortunately, it's only the Saturday rehearsals that are bad: the weekday rehearsals are mostly fine.

But understand my position: I'm directing a community theatre production of a challenging and much-beloved musical which calls for ten great cast members, a band, a slew of props, and a smart and attentive production crew. I've already had issues with all of those items, and I'm cautious to start tipping the apple cart, but I also have to indulge the frustrations of those who are upset by it. Why? Because they too are very valuable to the production.

On those lines, I got another fun re-shuffle over the weekend. Noah gave me an update on his upcoming oral surgery, and let me know that he'd be having a molar extracted from his lower jaw, bone taken from his leg, and all of this would be happening on a Wednesday, so he should be fine by Friday's performance, right? After I stopped giggling (out of both pity and wonder), I told Noah that he probably WOULDN'T be good to go by Friday, and that I would need to have someone understudy him. Arryck, our choreographer, was the logical choice: he knew the music from listening to it over and over during choreography; the choreography was his, so he already knew it, and he's a great performer anyway. Oh, yeah, and he was available and said he could do it. Whew.

More runthroughs this week. Final music rehearsal tomorrow. Percussion (finally) on Wednesday, and we get our menhirs (ideally) next Monday.

- Sean

Runthrough 02

The run through last night was REALLY REALLY great. Here are some of the better points:

• Lori Lee is right on and very focused in her character. She takes direction well and is a delight to watch, even at this stage of rehearsing. Her choreography is already integral to her character, and she takes some nice risks in presenting her character. She's exploring possibilities in the text and movement, and it's fun to watch.
• Todd has ingested his character whole and is working diligently to wrap his own body and brain around it. He has more than three times the number of lines of everyone else COMBINED, and he has tackled it head-on. I am in awe of his hard work and dedication in bringing this difficult character to life. The lines aren't easy. The music isn't easy. The choreography isn't easy. But he's honing it down to make it look like they are. Nice.
• Kamahni is exactly the type of young actor I enjoy directing: no preconceptions, no boundaries, no hesitation. I have to be careful to make sure I give him the direction he needs, not because he's a poor performer, but rather that he's such a great performer that you have to give him the appropriate framework in which to build his role. As a director, you want someone who DOESN'T self-direct, but rather explores the possibilities to the fullest.
• Noah is just damned funny, and he doesn't give himself enough credit to that end. The reason I know this is that he is truly surprised when people laugh at him on stage. It's a sort of modest embarrassment that then melts away to him giving himself permission to laugh at himself along with everyone else. Where I need to continue to press him is in keeping him from being lazy on stage. For someone with so big a personality, he is often quick to try to fade back into the scenery. Then, when he DOES do some little antic, it SEEMS funnier. I'd rather continue to work with him to develop his natural comic timing and make him be ON all the time. It's hard work, but it should be worth it.
• Amberlee zones out and loses focus a lot of the time, but when she's ON, she's TOTALLY ON. Her Socrates oratorio during Towel of Babel and Oh Bless the Lord are GREAT when she's focused on them, but they totally blow when she loses focus. And when she plays the debt-ridden servant, scrambling for coins and morphing into Gollum, hissing "...my precssssssssiosssssss..." it's hilarious. My task here is to give her enough sense memory and familiarity with the progression of the show to make it second nature.
  
• Sara is fun to watch, has a great voice, and is a pleasure to work with, but she's not been here this week, and it's frustrating because she IS so good. I give her a lot of crap, but only because I think she can handle it, and I enjoy working with her. She's SASSY, and I can't wait to have her back.
• Erin has a GREAT voice, works well with Arryck's choreography, and brings a different dimension to the character from Sara. It's a sort of manic, self-conscious, neurotic take on the role that I've not seen before, but I love. We will have her with us again on Thursday night, so we will (for only the fourth time in a month of rehearsals) have a full cast onstage.
• Rudy should be given credit as the dance captain for the show. His experience and indelible memory for dance steps has benefited the whole cast, in that he serves as the surrogate Arryck. Everyone looks to him when there is a question of execution of the choreography. His Garry Summers talk show host is REALLY great, but he needs to slow down the lines themselves and speed up the cues between.
• Lorraine is one of the funniest ladies I've worked with, hands down. Someone (I don't even remember who, exactly) had suggested during the audition process that I should be careful, as she was a diva, but nothing could be further from the truth. She is the hardest working person in the cast, and she carries not an ounce of pretention on her. I love her dearly and look forward every day to working with her.
• Jessica is wonderfully goofy and uninhibited. Her dance experience combined with her warm demeanor make her the PERFECT castmember for Godspell, and I can't imagine having anyone else in that role (Peggy/Yellow).
• Spanky is the most inspired casting of the show. I had heard early on from Arryck and Shawn (and Sarah and Kelly and Liz...) that he was THE person to cast in the role of Lamar/Green, as his voice is perfectly tailored to All Good Gifts. But what I've gotten as a bonus is an actor with unmatched warmth and depth that brings a simple sweetness to the cast. And Spanky is NOT a simple person. He is one of the most complex and intelligent people I've met in the past several years.

So that's my cast, and I love working with them. They're taking on more than any other cast I've worked with has, and they indulge my idiosyncrasies. My constant goal is to give them a steady stream of interesting stuff to layer upon their characters, until they raise their hands and tell me "Enough!" The choreography is one aspect that they've chewed up and are digesting nicely. The percussion will be next. And they've already consumed and personalized the music.

More on Thursday.


- Sean

Runthrough

Last night's run through was great. I had originally hoped that we'd do the percussion this evening, but two factors contributed to that NOT happening.

First, Noah was not feeling well last night, so I sent him home early to recoup. That left Spanky and Kamahni without a ride, so I agreed to shuttle them home. That worked fine until I got back on the 101 South to find that traffic had been detoured off the freeway for bridge construction on Victoria. I missed the first turn and wound up going the wrong way for the detour. Thirty minutes later, we were finally back on the 101 South to Kamahni's house. All things said, I was home an hour later than normal.

Second, I do have a day job, and we happen to be in a bit of a crunch right now to present some of our work to the executive steering committee in about two weeks. My morning was tight and my afternoon is even tighter, so where I would have normally used lunch to work on the percussion, I couldn't.

Fortunately, I had Leanna call the cast and let them know we'll be doing another run through tonight. Practise makes perfect, and, since we're opening in a month (to the day), we need a good run through more than we need a weak percussion learning session. Perhaps later this week or this weekend.

For that very reason, I believe we're still going to have Wednesday's rehearsal rather than give the day off as we have done for the past two weeks. Maybe when we're a bit further along, I'll go back to that, but not this week. Sorry.

- Sean

Tub Thumping

Saturday ended an arduous week of rehearsals. Even with the day off on Wednesday, I could tell that fatigue was high.

Well, let me rewind a bit, as I often do in these entries. Being out for most of the week of April 24 combined with NOT having a stage manager seems to have allowed an unfortunate under-current to begin churning. In a nutshell, the cast has polarized a bit, and there seem to be two factions: the "younger" group and the "older" group. Some of the more seasoned performers, who are working very, VERY diligently on everything I've thrown at them, are frustrated by the apparent LACK of focus, and in some cases, outright DISTRACTION presented by some of the less experienced performers. I've witnessed it in their silence, rolled eyes, seclusion, and in some cases, direct verbal confrontation.

But it's not just the "older" cast members, and it's not ALL of the "older" cast members. Arryck and Tami also expressed frustration with the "chattiness" of this cast as well as their habitual tardiness. As an example, we only had Arryck and Tami for two hours on Saturday, and we lost 30 minutes of it to tardiness.

And on the other side of the fence, I acknowledge that I do this for fun, and I hope that others enjoy working on this production as much as I do. Talking and joking with other theatre people is one of my favorite pass-times, and we have a GREAT group of people in this cast. There are more similarities among the cast than there are differences, and I hope that I can remind them of that this evening when I address (and hopefully dispel) the issue.

Now, onto the good stuff. Dance rehearsal was tough, but VERY productive. Arryck managed in the 90 short minutes we had to teach them the two remaining dances. There is a TON of choreography for this show, but we still have over a month left. No worries. The percussion was tedious but productive. Having the cast work interactively with me on what was needed allowed me to go back to the computer and rework the percussion piece to better suit the needs of the show. My goal is to have something interesting to watch and listen, but that can be played without a huge amount of distraction from the other components of the show.

So, it's a BIG show, creatively. I know that. We're going to shift into third gear this week so that we're in fourth by mid-month. Then, we can enjoy all the benefits of an early accomplishment and focus on fine-tuning the show the closer we get to opening.


- Sean

Hard Workin' Stiffs

We plowed through the rest of the script on Tuesday night, stitching the choreography into the blocking. We bogged down a bit in the "Prodigal Son" section at the end of Act One. It's still swampy and boggy, and the only person who can keep it on track is Rudy. His "Garry Summer" talkshow host character will HAVE to keep it on track with his persistent questioning, or it falls apart quickly. We'll work it a lot in the next several weeks.

But we tromped through everything else pretty acceptably, enough to give them tonight off. Thursday is a MUST show for everyone, as it is a VOCAL rehearsal. Saturday is the choreography for the final two numbers (and probably a review), and then the percussion work.

I'm still edgy about that whole thing. I am NOT a percussionist. I know what I want, but I am NOT a musician and don't profess to be. The music I have done so far seems juvenile, and I am only about a quarter done. I'll spend some time on it tonight and on Friday, but I also have to work on masks and menhirs. And then I have to teach it to other non-musicians. This will be a challenge...

We'll see.

Oh, yeah, I'll finally be judging the submissions for the original t-shirt decoration contest from a few weeks back. I'll get that done this week too.

- Sean

Back on Track

Rehearsal was pretty great last night. A bit of a slow start, but we got halfway through the script, which was my goal. The focus was to try to stitch-in the choreography from last week into what had been blocked the week prior, and for the most part, all went well. It helped that Leanna was there to perform stage management duties, and she brought Lulu who helped with props and the sound cues.

So, how is choreography? Amazingly good, considering we're only a week into it. The muscle memory hasn't sunk in yet for most folks, so it's looks clunkier than it will wind up. Arryck did a great couples piece with Bless the Lord, and rather than focusing on their partners and looking like they are having a good time (which is what they will be doing eventually), they are looking at feet and off into space remembering the steps. Perfect! Exactly where they need to be.

So, a month later, and all of the funkiness with casting and stage management and percussion designers is all but sloughed off. I started introducing some props last night, and Leanna and I identified some additional items she can pick up for me this week. The last chunk of props that will be needed will be the parts to the mechanical Pharisee head. I'll pick those up on Wednesday, as I've promised that if we satisfactorily make it through the rest of the show tonight, we'll be off on Wednesday until the Thursday vocal rehearsal.

The Agnes of God settings, particularly the strings of yarn and the small step are starting to really get in the way. With ten people and six large set pieces on stage, every square foot counts. There's still three weekends left before their strike, and I anticipate having menhirs (in some form) on stage within a week or so... if nothing else, for the percussion rehearsals.

And I gave out a pair of drumsticks to everyone to start playing with. Arryck teaches the last two numbers this coming weekend (All For the Best and Light of the World) from 10:00 to Noon, and then I do the percussion stuff after it... at least I hope to. That would necessitate FINISHING the percussion arrangement by then, which would be only Friday evening to work on it. Wednesday would also be a good candidate, but that depends on the cast and their tenacity in tonight's rehearsal.


- Sean