Thursday, January 30, 2014

ARS Day 27

I'm up at 7:30 am this morning. It's been a while since I've been awake this early. We've got our first student matinee of As You Like It and I'm determined to get in early and work on Epicene lines before our call. The morning has been the most productive time for line memorization.

Yesterday was a frenzy. We worked on the first half of the play, which includes all the complicated bits I've mentioned in previous posts. I tried the work-thru in half-costume, set my props and costumes where I thought they should go, and then we were off. I did my best to be as forgiving on myself as possible. This start-and-stop run of the first half was to joggle the memory and get the panic out of the way before the dress rehearsal. It's a circus backstage. I think some of the actors have three or four changes within the first 15 minutes of the play (not kidding). There's a lot of shifting props/furniture/instruments backstage. It's all quite exciting.

This is all part of the deal. Right now, honestly, it's difficult to root myself in the circumstances of the story. There are so many marks to hit. I just need to remember this is not a new feeling; the fussing over backstage traffic and other technical bits will melt away eventually and leave room for the acting.

In fact, the dress rehearsal we had today went much better than I thought. I did call "prithee" once. I'm actually glad I did that and not what I was considering: jumping 10 pages to a different scene. Already, within a day, the frenzy (for me, anyway) began to fade. Soon, it will become routine.

I'm excited for people to see this one.

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