March 2, 2010
We thought that it would be fun to share our ugliest photos with you all, since there have been so many great photos taken in the past few weeks during SOUNDING- Call it a line up, call it silly, or just plain ugly, here we are!
Ms. Gibbs!
Not so secret... Irene and Rudy
Deer in the headlights- Stephen!
The fearless leader- New Haircut face.
This woman isn't so into it. She's like, a famous actress or something...
Ana: Shocked and shot from above
Taili: There ya go. Tongue and all!
February 14, 2010
Here are some more photos taken during tech and rehearsals. Click the link to see a slideshow…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40007811@N05/sets/72157623427681566/show/
February 13, 2010
We’ve been immersed in technical rehearsals over the last week and a half and have made a last round of cuts to the script. The show is running about 90 minutes which feels like the right length.
The show is really starting to cohering at this point – all the elements have been incorporated: music, setting, sound, lighting, video, costumes. Its been so great (and completely necessary) to have as much time as we had with the designers together in the room.
We were also joined by Qui Nyugen this week to do fight choreography – he did an amazing job on the Walters Leda fight near the end of the show.
The cast continues to do amazing work and are growing in their roles by leaps and bounds – thanks to Jen and Elenna for all their support in this area.
We are now really focused on uncovering the rhythm of the show at this point — each day, we are still doing a mixture of scene work with full tech but getting a full run in everyday from here on out. When we finish the run each day, we all feast together on the leftover chocolate cake that Charlotte makes – we will share the yummy vegan recipe here soon —
We still have a lot to do, including puzzling out the right ending for this show, but are getting excited about getting this in front of an audience Wednesday!
February 3, 2010
Tomorrow is our last day in the rehearsal space before moving onto HERE Arts Center where we tech until we open on February 17. Our set designer and technical team have been loading in since early Monday morning and we are thrilled to be working in the actual space. Check out what we’ve been up to til now:
Thursday, January 28
Today we had the full cast in shifts for continuing scene work. Where video is added each scene responds to the element differently, sometimes in pleasant surprises and sometimes making clear to us that a choice doesn’t work and needs to be changed.
Friday, January 29
Full cast worked thru Acts I and II then ran the acts as far as time allowed. This play requires actors to be onstage and present for the duration- and we’re beginning to realize just how long those interstitial scenes can feel – especially for the actor 6 feet away from the playing action who’s been given the direction to abstract a movement sequence for four pages! Today, we keep playing.
Saturday, January 30
Full cast worked thru Act III then ran the show. Kim Whitener, Producing Director of HERE Arts Center, and Pete McCabe (HERE’s dramaturg) joined us for the run and to share their thoughts afterwards.
Sunday, January 31
No day off here. Okwui and Michael came in for scene work while Kristin, Okwui and I begin a full one-on-one (on-one?) talk through for Leda’s emotional arc. Ninety minutes later we were almost through Act I.
Monday, February 1
Load-in begins at HERE while the full cast works Act III moment to moment. We run the show again. Our composer, lighting designer, set designer, and Melanie Joseph of The Foundry Theater were among invited guests to share their notes afterwards. Never having seen the work, Melanie’s notes were a valuable fresh perspective. Going strong into the night, the production team then paper tech-ed lights and sound. Who needs sleep.
Tuesday, February 2
We continued our one-on-one’s exploring character arcs with Michael, Stephen and Rudy today. During the day Okwui was a total vocal trooper as we worked all four songs for nearly 5 hours. The four of us in the room could sing every note by the time we had to strike video in the rehearsal room today.
Tomorrow we walk the rest of our equipment two blocks north and Rie lights our gorgeous REAL space!!
Ciao-
January 28, 2010
Week Three finished up strong and we’re into our last week before loading into the HERE Arts Center Mainstage for tech. Check it out- Week in Review:
Friday, January 22
Okwui worked through the opening for Act III with Tal and Jane building cues madly through the course of the day. These sequences are intricately designed in conjunction with script and acting discoveries on a daily basis. The full cast joined in the afternoon to work through Act III. Seeing the piece in larger chunks is beneficial and also raises contanst questions.
Saturday, January 23
Today we revisitied Act II, working through the end beat by beat before we ran the show from top to almost bottom! We’re, um, a bit over time but, no worries… early stages…
Monday, January 25
Rudy and Irene. Stephen and Ana. There were sparks all day.
Tuesday, January 26
All I can remember from today was major conversation about the ending. WHAT HAPPENS TO LEDA? is a question still debated in this rehearsal room; raising it effectively keeps everyone in the room at the emotional stakes we hope our audience will find during the performance.
Wednesday, January 27
Today we began work on our closing sequences for each act which heavily involve video and sound similar to our opening sequences. The past rehearsals have emphasized finding parallels, reflections, and echos between scenes and the video is clarifying these attempts throughout. Oh, and we choreographed cake sex.
More rehearsal photos to come!
JK
January 22, 2010
And we’re moving along…
Slightly more than half-way through Week 3 of rehearsals and we’re on our way to a full work thru this Saturday! As the scenes have begun to take shape we’re adding layers of nuance and connectivity among the actors who remain onstage through the whole piece. Jenny Gibbs, our playwright, has kept our sights on the mythology of the piece and the emotional signposts that guide each act: terror, seduction, and sacrifice. Elenna will be posting some really cool background on the mythology used in the play so keep your eyes peeled for that. Here’s the week in review thus far:
Monday, January 18
We worked through Act II today. Our gals worked out some choreography with a fabric portion of our set that serve as screens for projected video images. While the track for the fabric was tenuous we discovered some beautiful imagery. Check it out.
Tuesday, January 19
Today Jane and Tal worked the opening sequence for Act II while Okwui and Kristin played around to find choreography for Leda’s seductive duet. Rudy came in to work on his monologue and found some amazing physicality while giving the stretched-thin production team a much needed crack-up.
Wednesday, January 20
Well-deserved day off!
Thursday, January 21
Jane and Tal repeated the magic today and created a lovely song sequence for the top of Act III. Each sequence they create builds from its previous counterpart and the arc of the whole piece is really becoming apparent in the rehearsal room.
We’re working towards run throughs and the final week of rehearsals before we start teching, but for right now we are still discovering new things every day. The script changes, the actors are making exciting choices, cues are being written, sequences being built and we’re glimpsing the fruits of our labor. We have a long way to go but those glimpses are promising!
January 18, 2010
Hello!
We had some amazing energy in the room this week; everyone came into the process ready to work and we’re discovering new things in the raw material every day. Check out the week in review below:
Tuesday, Jan 12
We kept working in our fantastic rehearsal space as the week started, getting as much light and sound equipment set up as possible. Kamala Sankaram, our composer, was here today to work songs with Okwui. Then Okwui and Michael did some deep text work with Kristin and Jenny. Parts of the script were recrafted on the spot.
Wednesday, Jan 13
Okwui and Rudy got to work today as well as Rudy and Irene- and sparks flew. We worked some tricky choreography with a garden hose…
Thursday, Jan 14
Today was all about getting our designers in on the mix. Rie Ono, our lighting designer, came to help us create a look we could work with in rehearsal while Liz Bourgeois, our costume designer came to observe our actors in motion.
Friday, Jan 15
All hands on deck today as we worked through the first act. We had our actors finding new physical moments in the scramble while Jane Shaw, our sound designer, joined the mix. The video is coming along as Tal Yarden and his fabulous assistant, Taili, work through cues for nearly every scene and Jane was right there to complement those moments with her audio. After a detailed production meeting, we can be sure the week coming up is going to bring even more discoveries as we work through the entire play. Stay tuned for daily updates as we make our way to tech!
-Posted by Jennifer Kraus
December 21, 2009
Tal, Jenny, Okwui and I (and Tal’s 5 3/4 year old son, Ivo) drove to Pennsylvania Friday night to finish shooting – We shot Okwui in a wonderful heated swimming pool and Okwui with the beautiful baby of the house, Othello.
We got fantastic footage and are so so grateful to Jody, Joe and Penny for letting us shoot in their beautiful country home.
Driving back Saturday afternoon was a little touch and go but we made it before the perfect storm really bombarded us.
December 21, 2009
So we just completed a 4 day workshop of Leda’s first song/swim and the Stranger’s return. It was wonderful to finally have the whole design team – Tal, Jane, Rie, Liz and Nick – all working together in the room with Okwui. We were joined by Emily Rea, our awesome new SM, Jane her ASM and my AD Jen Kraus. Lots of smart folks!
The big discovery was that we finally found the visual and auditory language for the representation of the Stranger —played on video by Todd D’amour — how to represent him in the past memories and present infiltrations.
It was also really exciting to hear from other HERE resident artists and audiences what they saw and experienced from the showing.
I can’t wait to start full rehearsals on January 4.
Check out some pics below.
October 2, 2009
Saturday’s video shoot:
Okwui, Todd, Tal and his son, Ivo.
Kristin Marting
Artistic Director, HERE
kristin@here.org
SOUNDING 