The first read went well. Almost everyone picked up the cadence of Abe's writing and matched what I had envisioned for their character. I'm especially excited about Madeleine and Suzan... both of the actresses really just sound, just capture the energy and language of the characters - without pushing. The actor playing John I've worked with already, so he matched perfectly but I was less surprised at that..I had him in mind when I first read the script after Dan offered me the directing gig and I'm so happy he joined. He's also just become a real pal; we had a great chat after rehearsal catching up on everything from our respective significant others to drama at the Playhouse...isn't it the same everywhere?
After the first read-through, we took a ten-minute break. I expected everyone to leave to grab coffee or something, but everyone sat and snacked on the banana bread and chatted! I have to say, everyone got along great. There is no awkward person, no weird energy, no off-putting comments or cliques forming. I just love that.
For guidance, I plan to stick to Equity rules for timing as closely as I can:
In terms of breaks, rehearsals can't go more than five hours without stopping to take a one-and-a-half hour break. Plus, there must be a five-minute break after each 55 minutes of rehearsal or a ten-minute break after each 80 minutes of rehearsal. (Playbill)
Basically, be considerate and take breaks. TBH that's easy for me since my attention span is so short.
I gave some notes before we read through the second half of the play a second time. Here's a summary of the main points of the conversation:
Alex is less sure of himself than you the actor is. He is reluctant to fall into this leadership role...uncomfortable with being the authority. He's smart and sensitive; it's hard for him to think of potentially offending or hurting Suzan. More than that, Alex needs a motherly figure right now; he wants to be held, to be told it's going to be ok...Suzan is that for him right now.
Suzan and Alex - the energy needs to switch a little. Suzan can drive those first scenes together, especially the first scene. She is more in control than she might let on.
Scene 5 - Alex toys with the idea of and is close to firing Suzan. He wants to but cannot follow through.
Remember that the emotion at the end of the last scene transfers in/informs the energy of the opening of the following scene. Everybody was good with this, for the most part. I felt it was important to mention that at the beginning, since Abe made a point of mentioning it, too.
John and Madeleine - Madeleine playing with the dark side; a reminder to John to really be dark and make the audience (along with Madeleine) uncomfortable. He also has to scare Suzan in the car - again, that energy carries over from the scene before. The second read, the actor really took this further in a great way.
After the second read, we also spoke a bit more about John...how he can't fully articulate his feelings, and when he opens up it's at the wrong time and it crashes and burns...it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I want to better articulate Suzan's MO…She’s more in control, yes, but it's also that she is less aware of normal person-to-person boundaries. She doesn't get embarrassed; she isn't afraid or too prideful to ask for anything. Maybe she is just in a desperate time.
I need the actor who plays Alex to dial back a bit...that is...let the words do the talking. On a micro/physical level: less pushing of the vocal quality of his voice; on a macro level: stop pushing Alex into a role that he is not in yet. I hope he will ease into this as he learns his lines and the natural cadence of the play’s language. The other actors let the playwright's words do the talking; he just needs to breathe, relax, and do the same. They will bring the character to life.
Finalizing the Rehearsal Calendar and Schedule:
I brought a single, blank rehearsal calendar (all possible dates on there, but specific scenes not listed) to the Table Read and had everyone mark their conflicts. Conflicts were few - mostly at the beginning (this coming week) and over the holidays. In addition, the Playhouse is using the Stonzek for a full week in between Christmas and New Year's for holiday programming.
After the Table Read, I spent a lovely afternoon assembling the calendar seated at the Royal Poinciana Plaza courtyard sipping on a Celis Produce green juice. It’s sort of fun scheduling around conflicts…like a game of Tetris. My initial choices in days were based on the availability of the Black Box (where we perform). I find rehearsing anywhere else counterproductive since we always need to go back and remind ourselves what we did when we were in there. Right now, it works out to rehearsing each scene twice in December; when we return in January off-book, we’ll do half-play then full-play runs.
OF COURSE, as soon as I sent out my beautiful PDF calendar I immediately questioned whether or not we have enough rehearsals and if we will be okay or fall flat on opening night. I emailed Dan at 11:30 pm asking his thoughts...because that's normal and professional……….. Still, I want to know if we should add extra rehearsals now so that the cast can plan accordingly. I also want them to feel as confident as possible on opening night.
Anyway, I'm off to bed feeling rather proud of myself for this day, but also second-guessing the rehearsal schedule that I sent out. I'm proud of the preparation I have done for this up to this point; it made me confident in my notes and conversations with the actors.
I'm also SO excited to bring Drew into meet them.
Update: Dan responded and said it is enough rehearsal time. Success.
