Saturday, August 18, 2007

Blocking begins ...

Making a lot of 'blocking noises' as NWP used to call them, but with a cast this size there has to be some method to the madness. So far we've blocked two 'shows' - that sounds so much more industrious than having blocked a 'scene' or even an 'Act.' The SMs have been diligent about measuring and laying out the groundplan and somehow the stage seems so much smaller than before - like in comparison to 'Flesh & Blood.' I added a cross-over, but that's only 2'3", so that can't explain it completely. The ramp to invoke the hillside is one reason - but we also had that in 'Sacred Hearts.' (As Greg said this set is 'David's Greatest Hits' - elements from past sets used to create the great outdoors in an intimate indoor space that is the Plaza Black Box Theater. Need to put my order if for tree number & sizes from my 'tree guy' - Nate - every set designer needs a 'tree guy.') We haven't even gotten to a rehearsal with all the actors to see how small and crowded it's going to get when all 23 cast members are on it. Have to block the two 'big' shows this weekend - God's Great Supper (Civil War) & Fire in the Hole (Coal Strike, 1920). Not sure how I'm going to create the feeling of a coal mine in the space yet, but that's this afternoon's challenge. (Wait, Deirdre, can we ass some railroad tracks between Tall Tales & Fire in the Hole to make it more realistic!?!)

Was just reviewing the 'final' draft of the press releases for the show and added references to this & the dramaturgy blog in the releases. Maybe that's a hook, someone would be interested in hooking onto. Whatever it takes. (Why does 'dramaturgy' fail most spell checkers, drives me crazy! Which is not a long journey at this point, granted, but still!)

How we spend our one day a week without rehearsal THIS WEEK!

3 comments:

Deirdre Benson said...

(Wait, Deirdre, can we ass some railroad tracks between Tall Tales & Fire in the Hole to make it more realistic!?!)

That typo is quite apt. *grin*

And, no, I'm betting not.

Deirdre Benson said...

Oh, and:

It's actually the same size we always have, but we know how small it is this time. For F&B and SH, we didn't bother to actually measure the length so we rehearsed in a space significantly larger than what we finally ended up with in the space.

The last time we got true measurements for rehearsing in was Say You Love Satan, we've been approximating since, which we can't risk on this show.

Maureen said...

And let us not forget the chair miscalculations on Stuff. Face the facts....it's smaller than you think.