Wednesday, February 3

STAGE COMBAT WORKSHOP
We continued with our pushes, shoves, slaps, and punches.

We also started working on kicks (including groin kicks, which seem to be a real people pleaser), chokes, and contact punches (where you end up actually touching your partner... just in a safe, non-painful way).

We began getting the blocking for what will be the 2nd-years' exam fight. It's similar to the one that the current 3rd-years did last year, but it has some new moves in it. It'll be fun to work on. My partner is All-The-Way, and I think we're going to have a good time with it.



THEATRE
I went to the matinee performance of The Life of Galileo, because I wanted to see it again before it closes and this might have been my last chance (depending on what my Machinal schedule turns out to be like). It was sold out, so I ended up sitting on the stairs in the mezzanine.

I cannot remember if I mentioned, but I saw The Search for Eden: The Diaries of Adam and Eve last week at the matinee. The actors in it are both graduates of my conservatory, who are now married to each other, and they are also playing Jamie and Cathy in the Rep's production of The Last 5 Years right now. They do Eden some days, and L5Y on others, and to complicate it further, the husband is also in Galileo. Such demanding schedules! But they're totally pulling it off. I particularly liked the second act of Eden. They seemed really connected with each other in it.


MACHINAL
The way rehearsal has been running lately is sort of like this.

- We start with the whole cast/class (clast?) sitting in chairs in a semi-circle, facing the Director and Stage Manager. We are sitting on the edge of the chairs, with our feet on the ground, and our hands resting on our legs, as though we're ready to jump to our feet at any second. (It's a Russian thing, apparently.)

- Director tells us to close our eyes. He claps once, and we internalize our circles of attention, trying to hear only sounds being created from within our own bodies. He claps twice, and our circle of attention widens, so that we're listening for any sounds in the room. He claps three times, and our circle of attention shifts to sounds made outside of the room and outside of the building.

- Sometimes then he asks us to extend an arm and draw a circle in the air, and tells us to try to see the circle, in a specific color. Once we can really "see" that circle, we are supposed to lift our other arm to draw another, and try to see BOTH circles. If we can get that, then we try for a third. (Honestly, it's really hard for me to do two circles... I've never tried the third)

- Director says to pick up our chairs and move around the room. The Clast takes a second to sense each other, and then attempts to stand up as one, turn to face our chairs as one, lift up our chairs as one, and begin walking as one. Then we have to try to "fill the space", while not walking into each other, and "find a tempo", meaning that we all have to be moving at roughly the same speed.

- Director claps, and we all stop wherever we are. Then we try to put down our chairs as one, and sit in our chairs as one.

- As soon as we're seated, someone says "A", someone else says "B", someone else says "C", and soforth. We have to try to sense when someone in the room is going to speak a letter so that no two people are speaking at the same time. If two people do, then we have to start over at "A" again. We try to remember our letters, as sometimes we then play a game with them in which we have to spell a sentence by clapping whenever our letters come up in the sentence, and collectively hitting our laps whenever there's a space.

We do other, different exercises depending on the day. Today they included:

- We put up a wall (it's a black hinged flat). One person stands on each side of the wall. The person on one side is the "initiator". They have to take a position and an action, and then call the person on the other side of the wall. The "follower" has to try to sense what the initiator's position is and mimic it while saying their name. (Way easier said than done.)

- Repeat the Rhythm - . Sometimes it's that one person makes a rhythm and then the class repeats it, with each person doing one clap. Then when the conductor person claps, we have to change the direction that the rhythm is going in our line of claps

- Add to the Rhythm - One person starts a basic rhythm with their hands (clapping or snapping). One by one around the circle, everyone finds a way to contribute to the rhythm using their hands. Then we add to it one by one with our feet, and finally we add to it one by one with our voices.

- Choreographer - One person stands at the front of the group and dances to a piece of music in a way that they think everyone can follow. Today was my day to be choreographer, and as soon as I got up, my classmates made jokes like "No back bends!", and asked me not to do certain things that are in my movement vocabulary that are not in theirs. But no worries. I know my class really well, and I know what they will and won't be able to handle. The Director played "Back in the USSR" by the Beatles, so I choreographed to that. I had a blast, and a couple of them told me after that they had fun following me, so I think I did an okay job. :)


We started blocking Scene 4, which is the hospital scene. In it, Newbie has just given birth, Iceman is her husband who is trying to cheer her up to no avail, I am the Nurse, and Big Show is the Doctor who thinks I'm incompetent.

I really like the way the scene is going. I'm almost hesitant to write about it on here, because I don't want to ruin anything for the people reading this who might end up seeing the show... But anyway. I like it, and I was happy to get a chance to work.