Script prep for Mrs. Hawking reading

[breakinglight11]

Being stuck in the house trying not to let the bad thoughts take over, I decided to get to work on preparing the Mrs. Hawking script for the Bare Bones reading. The real work will be in improving the actual text, which will require serious thought. But there's also preparing it so that it can be read in the circumstances of the Bare Bones form.

I will be able to pick six actors for this reading. That means multi-casting pretty carefully to keep the characters straight, and to keep anyone from having to talk to themselves in a given scene. The biggest challenge is in the stage directions. Because it's such an action-oriented play, a lot of the stage directions have to be read in order for the story to come across. But frankly six actors is the absolute minimum required to just cover the characters. So as a solution to that, I'm creating a rotating "narrator" role. The stage directions that need to be read will be indicated by formatting the directions as lines under the name Narrator, but it will switch between three, so no actor is double-cast as Narrator in a scene where they are playing a character.

I'm planning on choreographing the reading similarly to how PMRP productions work if you've ever seen them-- the actors will all sit in chairs along the back of the stage until they are in the current scene, at which point they will come up to stand at the front and read. Whoever is the narrator at the moment will act similarly, except they will have a designated narrator space to stand in at the far side of the stage's edge. Practicing the rhythm of coming out into place and returning will be an important part of rehearsal.

I will need three men and three women. And I would love it if you came out to audition. If you would be so kind as to lend your voice to this, go to the production website here and sign up for an audition slot. I would be very grateful for your help in bringing this piece forward.

Comments

[khyros.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say that I wish I was in your neck of the woods because I really love your writing and would love to be a part of giving it life.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, thank you! That makes me feel really good to hear. :-)

[crearespero.livejournal.com]

Gah, I would love to do this, but on-script reading is my weakest point, and physicality my strongest, so I feel that it would be a rather silly thing for me to audition for (I need to get off script for Ruddigore ASAP, I am kind of humiliating myself). Best of luck though --- I'll make sure to actually watch this when it goes up.