First Week of Rehearsals Part Two

January 27-29 started the first week of rehearsals for my play. I had originally planned to start rehearsing Tuesday, but I got a couple people in the cast to come together Monday after school for a little improv session. A few of the actors had approached me and stated they had stage fright, so I attempted to help them feel more comfortable by having them do LOTS AND LOTS of improv. It certainly broke the ice a bit, I believe, and it gave me a chance to see the skills they had. They were very good, much better than I had ever imagined for first time actors :)

Tuesday was the first actual day of rehearsals. I got as much as the cast together as I could during lunch, and then after school. After school I had Brenton, Sebastian, Andrea and I. I managed to grab Josh on his way out of school to stay for a bit. We started with Sebastian and Andrea's scenes, and switched back and forth from those scenes to Brenton and Angela's scenes with me filling in, and then some scenes with Josh them.

Wednesdays I had lunch rehearsal again, with Brenton, Angela, Josh, Sebastian and I after school. We mostly worked on Brenton and Angela's scenes, and while we had some difficulties they were over come eventually - I know how hard it can be to focus. We also cMy main concern as of this day was actually myself. I thought I was being WAYY too bossy and bitchy as a director. As after this rehearsal, on Thursday I spoke with my teacher about how to keep the cast on task and such. She gave me some helpful ideas, and that combined with me keeping my emotions in check have helped.

Thursday lunch rehearsal was the same crew. After school I saw Brenton, Sebastian and I. I also had the help of my assistant Dawn Sargent, who will be helping me throughout the rehearsals and possibly the performance. We worked the best we could with Dawn and I subbing for their other counterparts. There was a lot of good energy in the room.

Friday was only lunch rehearsal. We had Brenton and Angela. We worked through all their scenes, focusing on a couple, with my other assistant Hannah Shannon helping us. Overall it was a good rehearsal, and I think the actors are starting to pass through their stage fright. We've had an audience most of the rehearsals and havent had any problems so far...

As far as remembering lines go, the actors don't HAVE to memorize them, but I would really like them to. I think this might come in time though, as it's not really a lot of lines to remember, so the more they practice the better they get.

- C