Stone to Stage Video

I was finally able to get my thesis video up online!  The quality is fairly good, though there are moments when the white of the costumes and the hotspots in the lights combine to make ghosts out of us.  And of course, I have to say that watching the video does not compare well to the live viewing of the piece, but if this is my only way of sharing it, so be it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=SMqV552QTX4

The video is only accesible through the link (in other words, you cannot search for it by title on youtube).

If anyone had been waiting for this moment since April, I thank you for your patience as I went through the process of making this shareable.

And now I leave you with one final dog:

Opening and Closing

Well, clearly the weekend has come and gone, which means that "Stone to Stage" has opened and closed its very brief performance run in Washington, DC.  I could not be more pleased with the way this piece turned out.  Over the past week in particular I have noticed a streamlining, a tightening up, and focusing, in my acting of each scene.  Wes and Penny were very patient and adaptive as I continued to receive notes from professors and friends and requested changes in their performances.  We neglected to take a picture in our fantastic hand-marbled unitards, but my parents did film both shows in order to share my thesis with family and friends, so perhaps I will end up being able to post a clip from that video.

Despite the stress of the process this was a very fun and gratifying piece to perform and I am extremely proud of Penny, Wes, and myself.  Thanks to everyone who helped and to everyone who read the blog.  I hope it was as entertaining for you as it was helpful for me!

Considering that I may be back to post a link to the video, I'll leave you this time with a very "I'll be back"-like dog:

Count Down to Friday...

After a successful first dress rehearsal (with only 2 holds to address lighting and sound cue problems) I am feeling very good about performing a smooth piece in front of Friday's audience.  My advisor, who was present for the run through, assured me that we are sufficiently rehearsed and definitely know our stuff but now we need to dig deeper into the scenes.

Now for some feelings:
While this comment from my advisor was reassuring, it also made me more aware of what I am nervous about: not having spent enough time exploring my performance as an actor on different levels.  I have expressed before how hectic a job it was to be the director etc. and an actor at the same time, and now I am feeling the results of this job-juggling.  My last post was all about me wanting to diva-up and focus on myself more since this is my thesis.  The acting notes from my advisor are all fairly simple and certainly things that I should have been able to address on my own as an actor by this point, so I was confirmed in my belief that there needs to be more me-time.  But it is the week of the performance!  So, what could help me right now...?

I do not feel that I could benefit from more time in order to address these aspects of the performance, instead I believe the only fix would be to simply be an actor in this thesis.  Unfortunately, I find myself unable to simply be an actor, even at this point when tech is running so smoothly.  I am just not the kind of person who lets her duties (varied as they are) drop until the project I am working on is over.  A personality flaw, maybe, but how often is an actor required to be a director for herself and two others, a production manager, costume/set/props designer, and all for a piece that was entirely devised (meaning there is no precedent set by previous productions because the piece has never existed before)?  As dreamy as it sounds to have that much control over an entire production, it is an awful lot of labor for one person.  And it is a rare phenomenon.

This is a performance thesis.  Performance.  PERFORMANCE.  My performance is what counts, not the design or even the performances of the other actors.  Yet, I am the one responsible for making sure that all the elements, like the set and costumes and Wes and Penny's performances, are all at a level where they compliment and support my performance.  It would have been irresponsible of me to ignore those elements for the sake of my own work as an actor, therefore I did not ignore them.  I do not find myself regretting the attention I payed to these elements.  I do find myself lamenting that it was me who had to provide this attention.

Sorry for the lengthy feelings--I only wanted to voice my opinion on the process (the point of this blog, actually) and how I believe it was flawed.

My thesis is by no means doomed by the flaws in the process! I believe in myself and my ability to deliver a great performance, so I am not terribly concerned.

In fact, I will end this post on a happy note.  No, not a dog wearing glasses yet.  Just the news that I received the package with the unitards yesterday, we tried them on, they fit, I dyed them to give them a marbled look today, and tomorrow we will see how this dye-job looks under the lights.  Hooray!




Now here's the dog:

Tech Begins!

After a one-on-one rehearsal with Wes on Friday I felt very good about the small pacing fixes that needed to be made to the Machinal scene.  We also worked in breath where it was not already present, such as the movements in and out of the statue moments.  (Penny was the victim of a mugging and subsequent problems that stemmed from that event last week--she is OK and has since joined us at rehearsals.)

Today we had a cue-to-cue with our amazing lighting designer and I could not be happier with how everything looks! Turns out that I am using an awful lot of light and sound cues--more than I had anticipated.  At first I was nervous about relying so much on technical aspects to keep the piece moving, but I am more at peace with that reliance after today.  The technical elements are fairly subtle and really support the action on stage, so I feel every light cue and every sound cue is completely justified.

Since tech has taken over my focus recently I made sure to review my lines on my own time and reminded my fellow actors to do the same.  I was debating whether or not to hold rehearsals during our regular rehearsal times this coming week since we will be running the piece on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  After realizing how long it has been since we did a run I decided that we would benefit from our time on Monday before doing the whole shebang with tech on Tuesday.  It's been long enough since we ran through everything together (especially our lines!) so I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of the show with Wes and Penny.

My focus during tomorrow's rehearsal will be to concentrate solely on my own performance.  I have spent so much of this rehearsal process being a director as well as an actor and I have finally reached the point where I must trust my fellow actors and stop being both things.  It is not as though I did not trust Wes and Penny earlier, I just couldn't let go of the observational habits I developed in the first few weeks.

Letting go: a lesson well learned.  From now on I'm turning into a diva.  This whole this is going to be about ME!

This is my inner diva.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Changes are being made and tech is being applied!

Wednesday's rehearsal was extremely productive in terms of incorporating acting and blocking changes based on the feedback we received last Friday.  We also went through each transition and worked on the timing using music.

I was very surprised to find that the timing of each transition, as we had been running them without music, matched the music I edited almost perfectly.  There are a few transitons where the music ran longer than the transition.  I am taking these as opportunities to milk the transitions for what they can convey (changes of breath, body, and attitude).  For example, in the transition out of August: Osage County and into Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief I morph from one character to another in a single area of light.  The amount of time that the music gives me to make this transformation is luxurious enough to allow me to change my body, breath, and attitude and even live in my new character (Emilia) for a beat before the dialogue begins.  Silent stage time can be very scary.  Actors often rush through silent moments because they feel the need to "perform" and fill the void left by the lack of dialogue, but I aim to embrace the silence and fill those times on stage with very clear physical and emotional reality.  In most cases during this piece the most important moments--when characters are established--occur in silence.

Also taking place in silence are the statue moments, which we will be working extensively this Friday.  I secured the dance studio for an hour and intend to work the moments leading into and out of the statue moments until the breath, length, and stillness of these moments are ingrained in our bodies' muscle memories.  Using the mirrors to gauge how breath effects our bodies and what kind of stage pictures we create when moving in and out of the statue positions, I will have a better idea of the overall look of the piece.  I want everything to look clean so it is important to me that I know how these moments work from an outside point of view.

On a more technical note, I have met with the lighting designer and explained to her what my lighting needs will be.  In this discussion I realized that I would need two of the areas of light to have two sizes associated with them (something I hadn't formerly thought about since I thought I was being ultimately clever by staging a lot of the action in specific areas--little did I realize that lighting three people in one area is different from lighting only one person!).  Luckily I am working with a very knowledgable lighting designer and I have the utmost confidence in her ability to make happen what I described to her.

On another technical note I have ordered the unitards and they are due to arrive on Saturday! If they are a complete disaster (wrong sizing or see through fabric) I should have enough time to order a different brand before the show.  Fingers crossed that these first ones are perfect though! I would rather not cut it close with a second order.  All props have been acquired except for 2 handkerchiefs which I will ask the costume shop for tomorrow.

I can't wait to get the lights hung this weekend and see what my stage will look like with bodies and lights and costumes! Exciting!!!

Speaking of exciting, look how excited this dog is to be wearing glasses!

There Will Be Music!!

There was no rehearsal on Monday of this week because Wes and I both had other commitments.  To make up for the missed rehearsal time I finally forced myself to buckle down and edit the music for the transitions.  Using my novice GarageBand skills I cut selections of songs that that I picked out at the beginning of the rehearsal period.  Here is a sampling of the songs I picked:

"Little Person" by Jon Brion

"Second Lover" by Noah and the Whale

"We Move Lightly" by Dustin O'Halloran

The clips that I made vary from 20-40 seconds in length and will be used to create a tonal shift from one scene to the next and to support the action during the transitions.  During Wednesday's rehearsal we will incorporate these songs into the transitons.  My other goal for this rehearsal is to apply the notes I received from my advisor last Friday.  Mainly that means finding moments to place emphasis on breath, re-working the transition out of the August: Osage County scene, and blocking the ending out of the Waiting for Godot scene.  I am really looking forward to making these changes.  I believe that they will make the piece more cohesive, and adding the music to transitons will make the piece feel complete.  Obviously adding an ending will contribute to that feeling of completeness too!

It is hard to believe that we only have 2 rehearsals left before starting tech this weekend.  Next week's rehearsal spaces are still booked during the day but I have not decided yet if we will use them since we will also have Tuesday and Thursday night tech runs in the performance space.  It all depends on how smoothly things are running by this weekend!

I still need to order the costumes.  The school never wrote the check that the department requested so a second request had to be sent.  Looks like I will just have to place the order with my money, then pocket what I get from the school.  Not the preferred way to go about things, but we do need costumes as soon as possible!!!

If push comes to shove, we could always dress up as the mascot of this blog...a dog wearing glasses!!!!

Outside Eyes

Today was a very special day for "Stone to Stage"--this is the first time the piece has been seen by anyone who is not in the cast!

My amazing thesis advisor watched us run through the piece as it stands so far and took terrific notes on what she saw.  After Wes, Penny, and I had finished our whirlwind performance, I sat down with my advisor and absorbed all of her wonderful advice.  To summarize what I came away from this rehearsal with, I will use 3 points:

1.  There are underlying themes that I have unconsciously included in each scene (either through the choice of the scene or the way I have staged it).  These themes are: stone (that one was intentional), breath, and isolation.  Further emphasizing these elements where they already exist and drawing them out where they could exist will serve to unify and streamline the piece as a whole.

2.  My advisor proposed lots of little fixes, as opposed to lots of overarching fixes, which is a great indication that the piece makes sense! Yay!!!

3.  After my advisor confirmed some inklings I've had recently about certain technical elements of the piece I have decided to make two changes to my original idea:
a.) Instead of using recordings of museum noise/commentary on the sculptures during the statue moments, these moments will now be silent.
b.) Instead of using my small allocation of money on white body paint and white hair spray I am only going to buy full-leg and long sleeved unitards for the 3 actors.  I am stepping away from a literal marble look and moving more towards the representation of marble through the white unitards.  My advisor and I agreed that it will be far more important to see every bit of our expressions than to believe we're entirely made of marble.  There is nothing wrong with the audience being aware that these are actors performing this piece.  I like the idea that this performance of "Stone to Stage" is the deconstructed and simplified version (as the premiere) and that it could be developed beyond this point aesthetically.  This is, after all, an acting thesis, so my focus should be on the performance, not the tech.

My favorite part of receiving notes from my advisor was that she pushed me to go further with my ideas.  It is always encouraging to hear that people want more of what you're giving them.  I feel confident that my actors and I will be able to deliver more (especially once we stop calling for lines!) and make this piece as emotionally full as it promises to be on paper.  I want the audience to walk away from this performance thinking, "That was EVERYTHING."


Speaking of everything...let's complete this post:

Visible Progress

It is official! We have rehearsed without scripts!

There is nothing like the feeling of being unchained from the physical script in rehearsal.  I've always felt  my performance can breathe, stretch its legs, grow once I put down the script.  This can mostly be attributed to the amount of eye contact that becomes possible between scene partners once you are no longer nervously glancing down at your lines every time it is your turn to speak.

There is one scene in particular that benefits from very deliberate and prolonged eye contact between the characters, and that is the scene from Ruhl's Melancholy Play.  I remember trying to describe, in our first rehearsal, how I wanted there to be a palpable attraction across the room between the two characters, Frank and Tilly. I explained to Wes that there should be this constant connection between the two of us and, despite the physical distance I created on the stage, the audience should feel that we are very close.  Until yesterday's rehearsal of this scene we had not been achieving this feeling, having been too stuck to our scripts to reach out to each other. I received a huge boost of confidence yesterday, though, when we indulged in eye contact and employed our entire bodies in creating a connection between these characters.  Rehearsing that scene without scripts reminded me that I can accomplish what I envision with my fellow actors.  This performance can be what I want it to be, instead of being almost what I imagined.

Over the past couple of weeks I've feared that I do not have enough time left to work on what I have established thus far.  Thankfully, I'd simply forgotten how easily and quickly performances can grow once you put down the crippling crutch that is the script!

My thesis advisor is coming to watch rehearsal tomorrow and I feel confident that she will see a piece that is in a good place (considering that we are 2 weeks away from performance!), so in the spirit of optimism, here is a dog looking optimistically into the future:

Sculpting Our Bodies

On Friday Wes, Penny, and I took some time in the dance studio to work on sculpting our bodies for the performance.  Rather, we worked on looking like sculptures.  Working with mirrors and printed photos of statues we finally took the time to perfect the physical statue moments that will be occurring during the piece.  First, each of us studied a picture of the sculpture we were posing as, then whoever was not posing would critique every little detail of posture and positioning until an exact replica of each statue was achieved.  Below are photo comparisons for some of the statues:

                

                   

               

               

I am really happy that we got this time in the studio to work on these moments.  I am hoping to have at least one more day in the studio so that we can be sure we have each sculpture memorized along with our lines.  This coming week will be all about repetition, running what we have, and fixing problems along the way.

Happy April Fool's Day, and here's a puppy:

Words, Words, Words

Last Friday's rehearsal had to be cancelled due to last minute scheduling conflicts.

Today's rehearsal was all about memorizing lines! We read through each scene 2-3 times (repetition is the best way to memorize, for me).  As we did this I was finally able to concentrate on the vocal quality of each character.  When we are on our feet I'm so preoccupied by the physical aspects of what we are doing that I hardly have time to think about giving notes on how our characters should sound.  I made sure to encourage and praise the different vocal performances I was getting from Wes and Penny and gave my opinion on certain characters that I felt lacked a huge differentiating character choice thus far.

Though this thesis is about my performance, I find myself taking on the role of director so often that I neglect my own performance in rehearsal.  Sitting and reading through the scenes today I felt that I was able to focus on myself more.  When I memorize lines by myself this week I will be particularly self-indulgent in exploring each character's differences physically and vocally so that I can give the most diverse performance possible.

We have scheduled an extra rehearsal for Wednesday to make up for Friday and will continue to work on getting off book.  Instead of sitting, we will be running through the blocking and weaning ourselves from the scripts by running each scene 2-3 times.  There is always someone who can be on book because all of the scenes are only between two people! I love how convenient that is.

I suppose there is not much else to say, so here comes your dog-in-glasses picture:

Back in Action

After a refreshing spring break the Stone to Stage players got back together for a quick rehearsal on Monday.  We reviewed all of the blocking and I introduced Wes and Penny to the positions they'll be in upstage while they're not in a scene (and consequently where their props will live).  We also got a chance to put all the transitions on their feet for the first time (consecutively at least).  By doing this I realized that I had forgotten about one or two set changes, but we worked them out as we went along and I think it will all work out.

We will start rehearsing with props on Friday! There aren't that many of them, but I think it will be important to get them in our hands as soon as possible.  The set is so minimal that any odd placement of a prop (or a forgotten one) will really stand out.

Our preview for my advisor has been pushed back to Friday, April 6th but I am keeping the off book date on March 30th.

That's all for now.  A lengthier report will surely follow this Friday's rehearsal with props.

And now for your picture of a dog with glasses:

Blocking--Check!

All of the scenes have officially been blocked!

Penny and I had a rehearsal today where we put together the scene from Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief and the scene from Waiting for Godot.  I created transitions, but I'm certainly not married to these, so I'm expecting to change them.

The issue I found in going from August: Osage County into Desdemona is that there's a blackout at the end of A:OC.  That is the only scene in which I require a blackout, so that takes the transition and disconnects it from the previous scene.  Until this point all of the transitions deal with connecting the end of one scene to the beginning of the next.  I've been doing that by having new characters enter and bring an actor from the previous scene into their new role, or by ending a scene physically where a new one will begin.  I am not going to go into the details of each transition (I don't want to give away the whole performance!) but the point is that there has been some connective tissue between scenes until this troublesome blackout.  If I don't change this transition before my advisor sees the piece at the end of the month, I will find out from her if that blackout is as irksome as I find it to be.

One thing that has certainly simplified these transitions--and I must say I am proud of myself for making this decision--is the simplicity of the set.  Four acting blocks are quick and easy to move around and do not require dressing to make them functional in the scenes.  The small amount of props makes things simple too, but something occurred to me during rehearsal today: where to keep these props when they are not in use? Why it took me this long to think of this question, I do not know, but at least I did think of it! I'm also unsure as to where actors are entering from/exiting from since there is no set piece to create a barrier between the stage and the wings.  The nature of the space we will be in pretty much eliminates the wing space too....so these are two technical problems facing me at the moment.

A solution I am brainstorming:

Have actors who are not currently participating in a scene stand on an acting block in a sculpture pose (like in the introduction).  That would require that 2 acting blocks be placed far upsatge (left and right), making that 6 blocks total for the performance.  The props could then be kept behind these blocks according to the actor who uses them.  All of Wes' props would live behind his upstage block and all of Penny's props would live behind her's.  The props are all relatively small, so that is completely feasible.  The only drawback to this solution might be any distraction caused by an actor preparing for an entrance.  They will be completely visible to the audience, so I might have to work with Wes and Penny on a way for them to subtly prepare/have them prepare completely in character.

That goes on my list of things to do after the break.  While we're on the subject, here's the complete list of what I aim to attack after the break:
-working in rehearsals with the plan I just outlined above
-working in the Dance Studio to perfect all of the statues as they occur in the scenes (I want the actors bodies to be as close as possible to the positions Rodin sculpted)
-running the entire show straight through with my actors
-being off book by March 30th
-working the scenes to bring out distinct performances based on the style of each scene
-purchase of costumes and makeup
-recording of museum moment sound tracks
-editing of music for transitions
-acquisition of all props
-sending a description of my lighting needs to the lovely student volunteer SM

That's what I'm going to be doing when I get back.  Over the break I will be commencing the memorization of lines.

Now, as always, I will leave you with the pictures of the 2 sculptures that were worked into the scenes Penny and I blocked today:

"La toilette de Venus" from Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief

"The Thinker" from Waiting for Godot

and the obligatory photo of a dog with glasses:

Regular Rehearsals Have Begun!

Last week I established a regular rehearsal schedule with my actors for the rest of March.  We will be rehearsing on Mondays from 12:30-2:30pm and on Fridays from 12-2pm.  Wes and I started off with a one-on-one rehearsal on Friday where we reviewed the scene from Melancholy Play that we blocked several weeks ago and made some adjustments based on lighting decisions I've made.

There will be three spots on stage: one up center, one down right, and one down left.  When possible I am going to try to place actors in these spots, not only for statue moments, but for the action of the scenes as well.  This will simplify lighting for most scenes, and also serve the style of some scenes very nicely.  For example, the scene from the expressionistic play, Machinal, that we blocked at yesterday's rehearsal relies a lot on the disconnect between the main character and the other people on stage.  By using the downstage spots I can create a severe sense of disconnect between the characters and emphasize the isolation of the main character who will be all alone upstage center.

But I'm getting ahead of myself! In addition to making adjustments to the Melancholy Play scene we blocked the scene from August: Osage County.  By putting this scene on its feet and having in mind where the previous scene would be ending, I was able to come up with a transition that includes a necessary set change.  I am pleased with the efficiency of the transition as it stands right now.  Another discovery that was made during this rehearsal was the need for a total of 4 acting blocks in order to form necessary set items and the appropriate height for certain statue pedestals.

Finally, at this Monday's rehearsal I worked with Penny and Wes to block all of the scenes that the 3 of us are in together (including the introduction--Invocation), leaving only two scenes for Penny and me to block at rehearsal on Friday.  I am extremely happy that blocking is moving so quickly because it means we'll have more tim to work the scenes and polish them to a nice sparkle!

Once we come back from spring break Wes, Penny, and I will run the scenes and work to get off-book before showing our work to my thesis advisor.  I will also be taking the week after spring break to establish any transitions that do not come together by Friday.

More to come after this Friday's rehearsal, but in the mean time, peruse the statues from the scenes I've already blocked:

 

 "Invocation"                       "Eve"  

      me                                Penny  

                                       

                                            "Adam"          OR      "The Bronze Age"

                                               Wes                                 Wes

"La Danaide" for Titus Andronicus

"Pygmalion and Galatea" for Melancholy Play

"The Crouching Woman" for Machinal

"The Kiss" for August: Osage County

And now here's another dog wearing glasses:

TA-DA!

Invocation

Last week I entered a brainstorm.  Today I exited this brainstorm with a brand spanking new introduction sequence for my performance thesis!  I am really pleased with how it plays out on paper and cannot wait to try it in rehearsal.  Below is the recipe for my sweet intro, or rather, my Invocation:

Let's start by looking at Dictionary.com's definitions of the word invocation.

1.

the act of invoking or calling upon a deity, spirit, etc., foraid, protection, inspiration, or the like; supplication.

2.

any petitioning or supplication for help or aid.

3.

a form of prayer invoking God's presence, especially one said at the beginning of a religious service or publicceremony.

4.

an entreaty for aid and guidance from a Muse, deity, etc., at the beginning of an epic or epiclike poem.

5.

the act of calling upon a spirit by incantation.

And now the sculpture, "Invocation" by August Rodin.

And now the opening words I have chosen from Act V, Scene iii of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

Tis time. Descend. Be stone no more. Approach.

Strike all that look upon with marvel.  Come.

I'll fill  your grave up.  Stir.  Nay, come away.

Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him

Dear life redeems you.

That short passage will be chanted at the beginning by all three actors who will start the show as three individual sculptures.  I will be in the "Invocation" position and from there I will start my monologue as Helen from Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.

"O were that all! I think not on my father,

And these great tears grace his remembrance more 

than those I shed for him.  What was he like?

I have forgot him.  My imagination

carris not favour in't but Bertram's.

...

But now he's gone, and my idolatrous fancy 

must sanctify his relics.  Who comes here?" (excerpt, I,i)

I will make my way back into the "Invocation" sculpture postion and then start a second monologue of a completely different nature from a different play.  I will play Philomele from Scene 15 of Timberlake Wertenbaker's The Love of the Nightingale.  At the start Wes will speak the few lines of Tereus, the rapist.  To create a seamless transition into the first scene, which is from Titus Andronicus, the last five lines belonging to Tereus will be split between Wes and Penny, who then become the two rapists, Demetrius and Chiron.  In that scene, as in the scene from The Love of the Nightingale, I will play the victim.  These two scenes also line up perfectly because Tereus cuts out Philomele's tongue at the end of her monologue and the twins have just cut out Lavinia's tongue (as well as cutting off her hands) at the start of their scene.  

The difference between the two victim characters will be expressed by the statues I chose for each scene.  Philomele, shown in her scene to be an outspoken and strong victim will be found in "Invocation"--a very open and imploring position.  Lavinia, unable to retaliate with words or gestures, will be found in the collapsed posture of Rodin's "La Danaid".

The idea of the Invocation is to invite the audience to buy into the concept I am presenting (which includes believing that the actors are sculptures that can move and believing that a single sculpture can hold many stories).  Also, there is the Invocation that conjures life from the sculptures.  Then there is the sculpture, "Invocation" and the invocation of Philomele for some kind of justification for Tereus' rape.  Aside from everything in the introduction fitting so nicely under the title of Invocation, my favorite part is how nicely the Philomele monologue segues into the Titus Andronicus scene.  After all, transitions are my biggest unknown right now, so it's moments like this, when the puzzle pieces fit so well, that I feel relief.

All of this came together today in a meeting I had with my thesis advisor.  I came to her with two ideas for my introduction, feeling unsure about the directions each would lead me in.  On the one hand, I felt that using the invocation from The Winter's Tale would trap me into a narrative with these three sculpture characters, and on the other hand I felt I might be too vague if I just dove into a monologue right away.  She reminded me that audiences appreciate straight forward elements like the Shakespearean invocation and told me she did not think the audience would expect a narrative to follow.  That solidified my determination to use the lines from The Winter's Tale.  She then gave me advice on which Shakespeare monologue to use (out of the seven that I pulled!) and that solidified my choice to use the Helen monologue.  I already knew I wanted the scene from The Love of the Nightingale because it worked so well with my first scene.  The sculpture also fell into place when my advisor saw it among three I had picked out as possibilities.  She immediately recognized the usefulness of employing a sculpture called "Invocation" in the introduction and from there I tied that title into the rest of the elements of the intro.

Next step: Wes and Penny perform this weekend so we will start up with rehearsals next week, blocking the five remaining scenes.  After all of the scenes are blocked we will work on the transitions between them.  My hope is that transitions will become apparent in the rehearsal process based on blocking.  My advisor and I have set up March 30th at the tentative date for her to view a run of the piece.  I'm glad to have that date ahead of me as a goalpost of sorts.  

Next week I should have a rehearsal report for your enjoyment! Until then, here is an adorable animal for you to look at:

Read Through & First Rehearsal

I made this blog about a week after I cast Wes and Penny as the other two performers, so we have consequently already had our first read through and one rehearsal.
At the read through I introduced them to my concept and described how I envisioned the performance.  Then we read through the six scenes that I have chosen from the following plays:

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
Melancholy Play by Sara Ruhl
Machinal by Sophie Treadwell
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts (will possibly be replaced by a scene from The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker)
Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief by Paula Vogel
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

The order in which the plays have been listed is most likely the order in which the scenes will be performed.
At the end of the read through Wes and Penny expressed enthusiasm for the concept and scripts I've selected.  They're both excited to dive into rehearsals and so am I! Wes and I scheduled a rehearsal for the upcoming Friday.

At this rehearsal Wes and I worked on the scene from Melancholy Play, which is between the characters Frank (to be played by Wes) and Tilly (played by myself).  We started off the rehearsal by warming up and stretching to a song that I've picked out as a possible transition song for this scene.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKQqxt7xd20)

Transitions are still something of a problem for me.  I think I want a very abstract movement/music combination to move us from scene to scene.  After I've blocked each scene I will start rehearsing with Wes and Penny in the dance studio and we will focus on how to make these transitions happen.

This first rehearsal made me confident that the blocking part of the process will happen quickly.  Wes and I ran the scene probably 5 times and worked on getting into the position for the statue that will be used for this scene:

Rodin's "Pygmalion and Galatea"

Both Penny and Wes are in a production that goes up the last weekend of February, so they have just begun tech rehearsals now.  I'm going to give them a break until after their show closes before starting in with a regular rehearsal schedule.  In the mean time I will be working out the script for the introduction.  In order to introduce the idea of the sculptures happening in the scenes I am going to pick out a monologue or two to be performed by myself at the beginning.  I'm thinking I will weave the monologues around a sculpture or two so that the audience can grasp the concept of sculptures occurring as moments of physicality within the performance and the idea that these sculptures can take on new meanings based on the context of the scene (or in the case of the introduction, monologue).  Since the Shakespeare scene is super short and I do not have a speaking role in it, I intend to use a Shakespeare monologue in the intro.  Unfortunately that is about as far as I have made it in terms of planning out this intro.  I will post within the next week with my progress on the subject.

Welcome!

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the process of my Senior Honors Thesis at The George Washington University.  This semester (Spring 2012) I'll be creating a performance thesis that will showcase my versatility as an actor while exploring the idea of versatility in physical expression.  How will I explore this idea in a performance thesis? I will be taking six scenes from different plays of different topics and genres and I will insert sculptures by the French artist August Rodin as moments that occur physically within the scenes.  The content and style of the scenes chosen will purposefully contrast the story (often myth) behind the original sculpture.  By presenting contrasts in the context surrounding these statues I will be presenting the versatility that is inherent in human physical expression.  This performance piece is entitled "Stone to Stage", just like the blog.

I will be assisted in this project by two wonderful actors who are also students from GW, Wes and Penny (names have been changed).  They will participate as my scene partners throughout the 45 minute performance.  The aesthetic behind this project is a very simple one: the three actors are like pieces of marble (literally, dressed and covered in white) and will use minimal props, costumes, and set to produce six very different characters, situations, and environments.

By recording my process in this blog I am creating an easy-to-access journal for myself when I have to write a self-evaluation that reflects on the success of my thesis at the end of the semester.  Also, the Board of Advisers in the Department of Theater and Dance may use this to track my progress throughout the semester.  Anyone else can follow along for giggles, or in order to watch the final product as a well informed audience member.

I am very excited to set out to bring this project to life over the next few months.  The performance dates are set for April 20th at 7:30pm and April 21st at 2pm and will be presented in repertory with three other Honors Theses.