Christmas Carol Chronicles, Part X
We played a game of Ninja Tag as a warm up to our long day of rehearsal on Saturday. It was a wonderful way to limber up the body, heighten the senses and connect with our fellow actors. As I was the first one to lose both my appendages and get kicked out of the game, it gave me the perfect opportunity to snap some pictures. These are a few of my favourites.
In each of the last three productions I have been in (The Farnsworth Invention, Hometown...The Musical!, and Les Mis), transitions between scenes have been key to the success of the shows. A Christmas Carol is going to be no different. Yesterday, much of the focus was on the complexity that happens when one scene melts into another.
Set pieces move, fly, and revolve in perfect synchronicity with people. Working out this melange is hard work, and requires lots of time. We managed to make it through the show by the end of the day. Meanwhile, Steph Link, our stealthy stage manager had to record everything in the theatrical tome that becomes the roadmap for the production, the huge stage manager's binder. There are a lot of moving parts that need to be captured in one central spot.
While there are moments of great joy and connectivity during rehearsal, there are also moments of great exhaustion. After lunch we moved into the second act and text that I'm less sure of. I found myself unable to muster enough brain power to pull out the words that I knew I had filed. Instead I acquiesced and grabbed my script. Honestly, I was so spent I wanted to run out of the room and grab a piece of floor and snooze for five minutes. Instead, I waited until Steph called for a 10 minute break and stretched out on the floor of the rehearsal hall. In that short window I was able to slow my heart rate down and actually drift into a deep, yet brief, sleep. I awoke feeling refreshed and ready to power through the rest of the day.
I wasn't alone in needing to find a recharging opportunity. At one point, I glanced over to a quiet corner of the room, and two others had their eyes closed.
Now that the business in the scene transitions has been set, we'll move into a phase when we work through the show, scenes connecting to scenes, and working all the stuff in the middle. In a short couple of weeks, everything will come together, layers will get added, the 19th century set will take on the patina of the period, costumes will begin to play a role, and all the technical plug-ins - fog, sound effects and the like - will appear.
I'm so grateful for the next couple of days, as a chance to finish learning my lines, working on our closing song, and reading through the original text of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. By the time Wednesday evening arrives, I'll be ready to hit the ground (or the floor of the rehearsal hall) running.
Set pieces move, fly, and revolve in perfect synchronicity with people. Working out this melange is hard work, and requires lots of time. We managed to make it through the show by the end of the day. Meanwhile, Steph Link, our stealthy stage manager had to record everything in the theatrical tome that becomes the roadmap for the production, the huge stage manager's binder. There are a lot of moving parts that need to be captured in one central spot.
While there are moments of great joy and connectivity during rehearsal, there are also moments of great exhaustion. After lunch we moved into the second act and text that I'm less sure of. I found myself unable to muster enough brain power to pull out the words that I knew I had filed. Instead I acquiesced and grabbed my script. Honestly, I was so spent I wanted to run out of the room and grab a piece of floor and snooze for five minutes. Instead, I waited until Steph called for a 10 minute break and stretched out on the floor of the rehearsal hall. In that short window I was able to slow my heart rate down and actually drift into a deep, yet brief, sleep. I awoke feeling refreshed and ready to power through the rest of the day.
I wasn't alone in needing to find a recharging opportunity. At one point, I glanced over to a quiet corner of the room, and two others had their eyes closed.
Now that the business in the scene transitions has been set, we'll move into a phase when we work through the show, scenes connecting to scenes, and working all the stuff in the middle. In a short couple of weeks, everything will come together, layers will get added, the 19th century set will take on the patina of the period, costumes will begin to play a role, and all the technical plug-ins - fog, sound effects and the like - will appear.
I'm so grateful for the next couple of days, as a chance to finish learning my lines, working on our closing song, and reading through the original text of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. By the time Wednesday evening arrives, I'll be ready to hit the ground (or the floor of the rehearsal hall) running.
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