The fun begins!

This is now beginning to be fun! Before now, it was mostly tedious work-- "you stand there, she moves over here on this line, give more stress to this phrase..." Now, they're beginning to ACT!

We worked on the first half of the show. Mostly what I did was fixed the blocking of some sections to make it more "organic"-- natural and flowing. Sometimes I give actors blocking without explaining WHY they move that way. This usually results in forced, illogical movement. After we talk about it some more, they help make sense out of what I told them to do. Good actors can really make a mediocre director look REALLY good.

We also worked on putting more humor into the show. I'm not talking about jokes or funny slapstick bits (kicks in the pants or pratfalls), but mostly just attitudinal things: perhaps a sly look to the audience to show the silliness of a character, or a silly voice to "mix it up" a bit. The more versatile an actor can be, the more valuable s/he will be to a director-- and that means more jobs.

There is SO MUCH history in this show: terms, names, places... we HAVE to find a way to make it fun and interesting for the kids in the audience. That is exactly the same challenge classroom teachers face everyday.

The actors began working without their scripts! When they came to a section they didn't have memorized, they pulled their scripts out-- but I could see that they have been diligent in doing their "homework," learning their lines and blocking.

On a technical note: we're working a lot on FOCUS. That is a term actors use to indicate where we want the audience to be looking during a show. A good actor knows how to help guide the audience's attention to the actor or part of the stage that has the important thing going on. This is such a fast-paced show, the actors coming and going at breakneck speed, we need to make sure the audience's focus is exactly where it needs to be at all times. You've probably seen a play or something where a character is talking, but your eyes are drawn to another actors who is making a funny face or picking their nose. That's called "pulling focus" and that is NOT what we want. Ha.

The weekend is coming up. That means no rehearsal for a couple days. The actors will relax a bit-- but they'll keep working on their lines and blocking. Our plan is for them to be "off book" (have their lines learned so they don't need to carry their scripts, allowing them to start "acting" more-- using props, gestures, etc) by next Thursday. Let's all wish them luck!

When we come back on Monday, we'll work the same way on the last half of the show. We will be performing a short cutting of the show for the Kansas Council for History Education (state history teachers organization) next week in Garden City. That should be exciting! We'll be performing the first 15 minutes of the show. So, we'll be rehearsing that section a lot this next week.