First Rehearsal

October 25th

The first blocking rehearsal went really well. I only called Francesca, Emily, and Rachel and we blocked pages 5-14. The girls started out being a little nervous and awkward. But after a pep talk about the rehearsal process they were able to ease into it a little more. I like working with relatively new actors because I like coaching while I direct and it makes me feel good knowing that I am helping them as actors and giving them tools that will help them with the rest of their careers. Since I have both an education from The Conservatory of Theatre and Dance at Southeast Missouri State and have a conservatory certificate from the Stella Adler Studio for Acting, I feel like I could actually make a difference and help them sooner by being in this show than them waiting to have these skills until they get into upper level classes. I am also trying to help them with their confidence. Most of the people that I have cast have not really had the opportunity to show that they have what it takes, and that sets them back. I feel that by giving them the chance to be in a show like this, it will give them the boost to do well in other areas of their life. Rachel has natural talent, but she also does not have a lot of training and has some bad habits. Within one rehearsal, I was able to almost break her completely of one of them. She had the bad habit of apologizing if she even thought that she messed up. Even though this was the first blocking rehearsal, and the first time she had been given instructions and the first time she was actively working with her castmates, she still apologized if she read a line wrong, or forgot when she was supposed to move. However, I helped her get over that and by the end of rehearsal, she was acknowledging it significantly less, and had stopped breaking character to apologize. Francesca thought that this rehearsal was the worst acting she had ever done. So I helped her realize that getting the acting perfect is not what blocking rehearsals are for, and it was still only the first one. We have over five weeks left to get things how we want them to be. With Emily, I was able to help her awareness of when she was indicating and help her ease into a natural state of being present and not trying to show us everything that she is thinking. The last time we ran those pages, they were so much more comfortable and easy with each other and I can already start to see this coming together. One of the ways I am blocking this is giving them as basic blocking as I can, letting them run with it and seeing what comes naturally, then going back and helping them specify things through justification. I am trying to use the Adler technique of the three levels of justification to make this show come to life and help them be more in tune with their characters. I am also really enjoying watching them enjoy their work. I am already so proud of them.