All Eyes on Me

So last night we had our last tech rehearsal before the show.

By the time call time rolled around, I wasn't feeling so great. Around two o'clock I'd started to feel worse than just a really sore throat; my head was pounding and my whole body felt weak. I had a nice lunch with Jared, drove him to his appointment, and then went home to crash and eat Advil. Bernie stopped by and very sweetly brought me orange juice, and stayed with me for a bit while I dozed. After he left I slept some more for real, then took a shower. I felt a bit better after all this, though the Advil took forever to kick in and didn't totally kill my headache.

Rehearsal was a bit slow getting started. The men are all pretty easy to get ready, but getting the ladies into their hair, makeup, and in the Graces' case, costumes, is a pretty big production. I hope an hour and a half before showtime on Thursday and Friday is enough. This at least gave Bernie the time to mess with the sound, which was the only technical element left to incorporate. Jared very thoughtfully brought me soup and watched me like a hawk to make sure I ate it. There is also a dance element in the show, beautifully choreographed by Charlotte, that they took this opportunity to practice. We had hoped to do two runs, but given the time constraints and the need to also do photo call, we decided to only do one.

That one went well, though, with only one noticeable error, which they are now prepared do deal with should it ever arise again. Jared was so wonderful it made me ache. I was also kind of flattered that blendedchaitea, who has seen the show several times now and said she was planning on getting going as soon as she saw everyone onstage, ended up sticking around for the full run. And she still laughed at all the jokes. The show is that good, people. :-) The sound elements ended up integrating beautifully, and now the tech is complete and looks very slick.

We did photo call after that, and I nabbed some really fantastic pictures. They will go up on Facebook soon, but I think not until the show is over. I don't want anything potentially spoiled before people actually see the play. :-) But trust me, there are some wonderful shots that do everyone involved justice.

Perhaps the most fantastic thing, though, is that everyone feels so good about this show. They're enthusiastic and proud to be part of it. The process was enjoyable, they felt respected, their hard work paid off. This was the sort of theater experience that actors hope to have. I'm incredibly pleased and proud to have been able to be part of that.

There will be no rehearsal tonight; two of my actors have other commitments, we're in pretty good shape, and I need a night to rest and heal. So I let everyone off. We open in tomorrow, so I hope the break energizes them.

We open tomorrow. I am very happy. I hope you'll come share it with me.

With rehearsal last night, tech week has begun.

It went very well; everyone was right on their games. The acting was extremely sharp last night. I was particularly impressed with certain small reactions they had to each other-- Jared's momentary cringe at a painful thought, Kindness's frustration with his friend's stubbornness, Liz's sympathetic sadness, Plesser's struggling with his conflicted feelings... and so many other small expressions of grasping character and investment in the moment. I was so impressed, and so very proud. This is going to be a good freaking show!

This was also the first full dress rehearsal. They had played around a little in their pieces for test purposes, and I must have made Frances try on that dress ten million times, but they'd never been all together in full costume before. I was incredibly pleased to see how they looked as an ensemble. One trick to costume designing for the stage that I've always found it a bit tough to keep track of is that no one costume can be chosen in a vacuum-- one must always keep in mind how it will look up beside every other costume it will be up there with. Colors must not confuse or clash, no one element should draw undue attention, there may not be wide disparity in quality, fit, or style unless it's got a point. Costumes can have so much meaning that you can't let the little things slide. This time, though, I attended to it scrupulously, and if I may say so myself, I really think I nailed it.

Also, there was one other thing... let me see if I can phrase this in a way that is vague enough as to not spoil my intended effect for those who will be coming to see the show... I was also pleased to note that something I had worked very carefully to engineer so that the audience would notice its significance gradually despite it being present all along seemed to have come together in the way I wanted it to. Since I already know the intended effect I suppose I can't be sure, but I think it's not so obvious as to immediately jump out at everyone, but obvious enough that as the play goes on it will become clear.

Tonight will be our first night in the theater. We've mostly been practicing in a space designed to match the dimensions of the actual stage, so it shouldn't be too difficult a transition. This week will involve working the lights, the sound, and in full costume. I've got about eight thousand errands to run before then, but I'm psyched.

This is good. This is going to be a very good show.

Today I think will represent the calm before the storm of the next fourteen days.

After today, I will have exactly one week until my show opens. We are in a very good place with it, but I still have a fair bit to do. Have to get a hold of the desk that is the most important set piece. Still nagging people for bios, which I need to finish putting together the diorama. I want to get a hold of a video camera I can use to film the thing and get a record of it for posterity. Then just making sure the odds and ends of everything get tied up in time. I've been in far worse, far more frantic places a week before shows before, so I'm pretty grateful, but I need to stay on top of everything.

In the midst of all this, however, I need to generate a writing sample for a graduate program I'm applying for with a due date of March 1st, as well as write another character sheet before the Labor Wars meeting the same day. That will be a bit of a pain. I hate to compromise my thus-far perfect sheet-turn-in record, motivated by the New Kid fear of being shunned for my failure, but I may just not be able to get it completely done this time around.

In related news, it appears that we have a date for the inaugural run of The Labor Wars. This new weekend-long will be going up June 16th-18th, generously permitted to occur at BCOS by its lovely residents. This is very exciting. I like having a date to work towards, it helps me finish things, and this one is far enough out in the future that I don't feel pressured at all. It's also going to get plugged at Intercon, which is incredibly cool to me.

So. Lots of work ahead. It kind of just hit me just how much it is for the next two weeks. Guess I'd better get cracking.

Grace rehearsal went very well last night. I was pleased that once I even mentioned that they would need to carry themselves a particular way, they all started doing it on their own, and I didn't have much work to get them to where they needed to be. The synchronicity was a bit tougher, but they got the idea and we'll have several dress rehearsals to practice. Well done, lovely Steph, Caitlin, and Liz.

We also fitted the chitons last night. I was a lot happier with the results than I feared I'd be; they will most likely not look totally absurd. :-) The fabric did have the unfortunate tendency to obscure their shapes, which is not the most flattering of looks, but with some strategically-tied cords and draped colorful shawls, I feel they will appear with at least some measure of the necessary elegance. That means, except for some shoes that still need to be found-- ah, appropriate shoes, the tough little side note that plagues theater and larp costumes alike --To Think of Nothing is totally costumed.

Tonight I can relax a little. I am very much looking forward to going to BSCF tonight and playing Small World with captainecchi. I love that game, and it'll be lovely to spend some time with her. I am also planning on baking these yummy-looking red velvet moon pie thingies for Jared. They're kind of a Valentine's Day treat, but since he'll be off on a ski vacating on Valentine's Day, I'm making them early. I hope he likes them; God knows I'm optimistic about anything with red velvet in it.

Hit the thrift store today in hopes of finding something for use in To Think of Nothing. The biggest thing I was looking for a red formal dress for Frances. Her character Andromeda is supposed to look like she was dressed for an evening out at the theater. I wasn't expecting to see anything suitable, but to my pleasant surprise I found an elegant gown in a perfect color. I tried it on myself, and found it a very nice fit. This made me optimistic, as Frances is similarly shaped to me, but I immediately after became nervous, as I have tried on costume pieces on her behalf before that did not always end up fitting her. Still, it was just the look I wanted, so I decided to take the chance and buy it. When Frances and Brenda came over for dinner tonight, she offered to try it on. Figuring I should get my heart broken sooner rather than later, I agreed. I waited in the kitchen, my breath caught in my throat... only to have my lovely leading lady emerge looking perfect in the gown. I couldn't believe I actually lucked out! So, for only eight dollars, Andromeda is excellently costumed.

It needs ironing, and it will have to be hemmed to proper length, but that's nothing I can't take care of. Will have to investigate how to accomplish the sewing. So that means Frances, Jared, and Plesser are dressed. Jared will be wearing a sky blue button-down shirt. Plesser will be wearing the blue Elizabethan doublet my mother made for my brother when he played Romeo a few years back. It's a beautiful piece, blue velour on one side and reversible with a silky blue patterned other side. If we had more time and a bigger budget, I might ask her to make the costume for Charlotte. I need a burgundy Elizabethan gown for her, which might be tough to find. If worst comes to worse, I think she may have a burgundy dress that we might be able to make seem Elizabethan in a pinch. We need a green button-down for Kindness, but that won't be tough to find. If he doesn't have one of his own, Jared does.

Not sure what were going to do about the Graces. They need to look ancient Greek, but not too cheesy costumey ancient Greek. If we can find white gowns with that air that would be fine, and if worst comes to worst, Steph knows how to make pretty cool-looking chitons out of sheets.

So we're in pretty good shape, costume-wise. And we're keeping the budget low too! Hooray!

Today I decided to really do some work on To Think of Nothing, and I got a lot done. Part of it was working with Bernie, who will be my co-director in order to satisfy school rules; we combined our powers to generate some cool ideas. And part of it was the fact that I finally found a way to make a useful physical model of the stage.

I'm a very visual learner, and sometimes it's hard for me to see what the stage composition will look like just in my head. This gave me a way to experiment with blocking in such a way as I could see what everyone will look like in relation to everyone else. For the stage itself I used a dungeon tile. Three d6's stood in for stage blocks, while part of a tiny jewelry box lid became the desk. I picked eight miniature figures and wrapped each one in a colored flag with the first initial of the character they represented on it. With this, I could click them around the stage and check their positioning.

I've always been inclined to use aids like this, but I've never exactly figured out howto make the model before. These D&D accoutrements have served nicely. I think this will help me a lot.