Category: Reports From Stage Management

Call Began: 6:00

Breaks: 6:45

Ended: 7:20

General:

After the stage combat and intimacy practice (described in the movement section), we ran through scene 14 2 times with blocking. All of the actors were off book (although occasionally calling for line). The third time, we ran through just the lines of the scene (without any blocking) at a sped-up tempo.

At 6:45, everyone left except for Wallace. We blocked scene 11, and then ran through it 4 times. After that, we did some more exercises with just Jon for scene 14 (he ran the lines at different tempos and experimenting with moving in different ways across the space). We did an exercise where Jon spoke his monologues while running across the space – while he did this, Kat and Emma jumped in his way so that he had to dodge around us.

Movement:

We started with a fight practice for scene 14. We ran when Wallace punches grandma, when psychiatrist punches Wallace, and when Victoria stabs herself.

We blocked the intimacy for scene 14 with Jon and Caroline. We ran it once with just the motion and not the kiss. Jon’s blocking is to go on all four’s next to Caroline (who is lying on the floor) and then kiss her. After running it 2 times without the kiss, we ran it a few times with the kiss. At the same time that we blocked this intimacy, Grandma and psychiatrist went into the other room and practiced stage combat on each other.

Props:

For scene 14, we used a plastic box with the baby doll, paper money, and kitchen knife props

Call Began: 7:00

Breaks: 7:30-7:40 and 8:30-8:40          

Ended: 9:20

General:

We started by running through scenes 6 and 13 – using set pieces for the first time with these scenes. Some of the blocking was changed to accommodate the set pieces. During Wallace’s

We worked on scene 14. The blocking for this scene is very complicated, so we talked through all of the blocking first. Then, the actors walked through the scene once very slowly with their scripts – focusing just on getting the blocking down (not focusing on intention yet). Then, Kat gave notes to all of the actors and had them run the scene once more. During this next run, we did a start-stop method fixing the scene as they were running it. None of the intimacy or stage combat was used for the runs of this scene yet (Kat’s plan is to add it in on Friday, so that the actors could use this day just to focus on the scene’s general movement) In the last 5 minutes, Kat taught Caroline how to kill herself with the prop kitchen knife. She emphasized that Caroline would not be putting any actual pressure on her stomach with the knife.

Kat talked through intimacy with Caroline: no-fly zones, vocab, etc. We ran through just the intimacy section of the scene with only eye contact instead of the kiss. Then, they ran the scene a few times with the actual intimacy. After that, we ran the entire scene with the intimacy.

After scene 7, Kat explained the stage combat push to Jon and Caroline for scene 4. They practiced the push/fall three times in slow-mo. Then, they ran the whole scene with the stage combat- each time getting closer to the real-time push

Set:

In scenes 6 and 13 we used the psychiatrist chair and couch.

Props:

The psychiatrist used a clipboard and pen in scenes 6 and 13

We used a box, baby doll, and play money in scene 14

Call Began: 6:00

Breaks: 6:42-6:50

Ended: 8:50

General:

Kat went through intimacy vocabulary – powder, paint, and clay with Cam. Then, Cam and Jon told each other their no-fly zones. She had Cam place Jon’s hand on her face and leg (so that she has control over where he is touching her). They ran through the scene once with just eye contact in place of the kiss, and then they ran the scene with the kiss a few times- working on tempo, positions, and intentions.

Kat went through the intimacy vocabulary and no-fly zones with Sydney. Sydney placed Jon’s hand on her face to show him where she is okay with being touched. They then ran through only the intimacy part of the scene (once with eye contact in place of the kiss, and then a few times with kissing). After the actors felt comfortable with the intimacy, they ran through the entire scene.

We did work on scenes 1 and 18 (Andrea practiced slitting her throat with the kitchen knife as well as removing her shirt). Kat explain to Andrea how she should position herself (when she slits her throat, after she has died) and when the blackouts during the scene occur.

Kat went through the intimacy vocab and no-fly zones with Jillian. Jillian placed Jon’s hand on her face to show him where she is okay with him touching her. Then, they ran only the intimacy parts of the scene once without the kiss and then multiple times with the kiss (until the actors felt comfortable). Then, they ran the full scene. When we got to scene 19, Kat changed the slap written in the stage directions to a hit on the chest.

Sound:

We experimented with James Taylor playing as background music underneath scene 17.

Set:

We used the kitchen table and kitchen counter today for scene 1.

We also used Wallace’s side table, desk and chair for his dorm room

Props:

Andrea practiced using the kitchen knife to slit her throat today

We also used notebooks and records for people to play with in Wallace’s bedroom

The empty picture frame was used for multiple scenes today as well

Costumes:

We sent out an email reminding the cast to send in photos of clothes that they own which they might be able to wear as their characters. In that email we also asked for them to send in their general sizes (so that we can find clothing for the pieces they don’t own).

Call Began:  8:00

Ended: 10:00

General:

Jon had common hour until 8:30, so Kat worked on scenes and blocking with Molly alone. They went through scene 3, establishing more specific blocking and bits for Molly’s character.

When Jon joined, we did blocking for scenes 3, 8 and 20. Molly (grandma was off book, but still calling for line for all of her scenes.) The blocking was more specific this time than the last time we ran these scenes.

Kat began by talking through intimacy with Jon and Abby- telling them about intimacy vocabulary (powder, paint, clay), asking them what’s the intention behind the kiss in their scene, and having them to tell each other their no-fly zones. She told them that we would start towards the middle of the scene, running through the intimacy part slowly (letting them know that they could say STOP if they ever felt uncomfortable). They practiced the scene 2 times without the kiss (once with a high five and once with just eye contact in place of the kiss) before running the scene with the real kiss.

After the line “oh come on”, Jon will use his upstage right hand to touch Abby’s shoulder, and then kiss her – she will just sit still. Abby will lean out from Jon to end the kiss. This kiss should have a paint quality- there’s a sense of urgency underneath the scene, but this urgency is not shown through speed because Wallace is still trying to be smooth and suave.

After the intimacy work, we went back to run all of scene 10, working on blocking. We finalized the overall blocking for the whole scene. After they ran it once, Kat gave some notes, and then we moved on to scene 12

Set:

When we ran scene 12 (with Wallace and Sarah), we practiced with using the door for the first time

Call Began: 6:00

Breaks: 7:06-7:10

Ended: 8:15

General:

After giving Jon 5 minutes to look over some of his monologues, Kat did work on all of Wallace’s long monologues: Scenes 1, 5, 9, and 13. After reading each scene once, Kat talked through each of the monologues with Jon, asking questions like: Where are there dips/breaks in monologue? What tempo fits with what he’s saying? Who is his audience? How is he carrying himself- how will this change in his later monologues? Then, we ran through the monologue two more times (using the notes that were just given).

Kat’s announcements: everyone will need to write and email a character bio by Tuesday night. This week we will be doing fight and intimacy choreography. Next Sunday, September 9 will be our first stumble-through of the show (with Anjali coming to watch). Props and set pieces should be coming in sometime this week. Costume discussions will be happening this week.

Movement:

We did a movement exercise today. The full cast walked around the space- stretching themselves out, and then finding their actor’s neutral. Experimenting with leading with different centers. Experimenting with walking based on age.

Intro to fight choreo: experimenting with the motion of the head (side to side). Chest nap practice. Handshake distance. We practiced slaps, punches, and pushing

 

 

Call Began: 6:00

Ended: 7:30

General:

Abby talked about her character background for Sarah. They talked about how she met Wallace: are they in classes or clubs at school together? They also talked about how Sarah feels about Wallace: does she know about his reputation at school? What does she ideally want out of her night with Wallace?

Kat gave general blocking for scenes 10 and 12. The actors ran scene 10 2 times and scene 12 1 time. After each run, they were given notes on intention to think about for next rehearsal. They were also reminded that they should be off-book the next time we run these scenes.