First, we shuffle. Then we deal.
Woke up bright and early at the crack of eight this morning for our first day on the job.
After a hearty free breakfast ("free" in this sense meaning "not paid for by me") of cereal and muffins in the hotel lobby, it was off to the rehearsal space in the other hotel. We met our fourth cast member in the lobby, so we were able to arrive together.
After a bit of discussion about what to expect while on the road, including some ground rules (apparently, verbally abusing castmates and drinking heavily before performances are frowned upon. Good to know.), we did a first read-through of the script. No, wait; back up a step. Before the read-through, there was the small detail of recasting the play.
Each of us had been told which character we would be playing when we were emailed our scripts several days ago, so we'd be able to get started studying our lines, thinking about our characters, and all the other stuff we actor-types have the nerve to call "work." However, once Director (that's her name. Really.) got us all in the same room together, she seemed to start questioning her original casting decisions.
Now, of course, with any play, each actor has to fit their role in a particular way in order for the thing to come together as a whole. Your flawed and troubled protagonist must have vulnerability (but not too much vulnerability) and likeability, your bad-egg antagonist must have charisma (but not too much charisma) as well as a certain "edge"...well, you get the point. I arrived for rehearsal thinking i was the supportive (but not too supportive!*) best friend, but upon reevaluation of the cast as whole, i wound up as the bad guy. I guess i was deemed to have sufficient "edge" for the part.
It wasn't just me, the whole cast ended up being shuffled around (except the girl. She's still playing the girl.), and none of the roles are more or less important than the others (well, i guess the main character is a bit more important). Initially i was a little thrown by the change, but on the whole i'm actually happy about it. I think the new character (Tom. Tom the bad guy.) will be fun to play.
It was a pretty short work day - most of the time was spent talking about the ins and outs of the job. I was glad that the rest of the cast seemed to have as many questions as i did, and we all know a lot more about what to expect now than we did this morning. After an initial read-through (and going over a few scenes a few more times to make sure the actors were all a comfy fit for their parts), we called it a day, and went our ways to do some homework.
I'm so glad to see that Director is treating this thing like a real play, and us like real actors. Even though the principal reason for this production is to get a message to highschoolers about gambling addiction, we're still approaching it like you would any other play - as actors telling a story as believably as we can.
Hey, that reminds me. I should probably be learning my lines right now. Since that's, like, sorta my job.
Man, that still sounds weird.
There's a lotta work ahead. I can't wait.
*This was where i got sick of this joke.
After a hearty free breakfast ("free" in this sense meaning "not paid for by me") of cereal and muffins in the hotel lobby, it was off to the rehearsal space in the other hotel. We met our fourth cast member in the lobby, so we were able to arrive together.
After a bit of discussion about what to expect while on the road, including some ground rules (apparently, verbally abusing castmates and drinking heavily before performances are frowned upon. Good to know.), we did a first read-through of the script. No, wait; back up a step. Before the read-through, there was the small detail of recasting the play.
Each of us had been told which character we would be playing when we were emailed our scripts several days ago, so we'd be able to get started studying our lines, thinking about our characters, and all the other stuff we actor-types have the nerve to call "work." However, once Director (that's her name. Really.) got us all in the same room together, she seemed to start questioning her original casting decisions.
Now, of course, with any play, each actor has to fit their role in a particular way in order for the thing to come together as a whole. Your flawed and troubled protagonist must have vulnerability (but not too much vulnerability) and likeability, your bad-egg antagonist must have charisma (but not too much charisma) as well as a certain "edge"...well, you get the point. I arrived for rehearsal thinking i was the supportive (but not too supportive!*) best friend, but upon reevaluation of the cast as whole, i wound up as the bad guy. I guess i was deemed to have sufficient "edge" for the part.
It wasn't just me, the whole cast ended up being shuffled around (except the girl. She's still playing the girl.), and none of the roles are more or less important than the others (well, i guess the main character is a bit more important). Initially i was a little thrown by the change, but on the whole i'm actually happy about it. I think the new character (Tom. Tom the bad guy.) will be fun to play.
It was a pretty short work day - most of the time was spent talking about the ins and outs of the job. I was glad that the rest of the cast seemed to have as many questions as i did, and we all know a lot more about what to expect now than we did this morning. After an initial read-through (and going over a few scenes a few more times to make sure the actors were all a comfy fit for their parts), we called it a day, and went our ways to do some homework.
I'm so glad to see that Director is treating this thing like a real play, and us like real actors. Even though the principal reason for this production is to get a message to highschoolers about gambling addiction, we're still approaching it like you would any other play - as actors telling a story as believably as we can.
Hey, that reminds me. I should probably be learning my lines right now. Since that's, like, sorta my job.
Man, that still sounds weird.
There's a lotta work ahead. I can't wait.
*This was where i got sick of this joke.
posted by alex at 10:30 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds interesting. Are there any other Saint John-ers in your cast?
I thinks its oppression, telling people they can't abuse their cast mates, and you can't be drunk when you go on stage? really, Unheard of. I don't know how you do it Alex. Sounds fun being the bad guy though.
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