Sorority Life

Today we ran Act II, but only once. I wanted to end things a little early because Francesca had to leave for initiation for her sorority. She was supposed to do her initiation before rehearsal even started, but since the other girls took so long getting ready and getting started, she had to leave to come to rehearsal. She was a little stressed since this was really important to her and she wanted to get back as soon as she could. I was also let in on a secret, so I wanted to get her back as soon as possible too. Since her older sister was also a part of Alpha Delta Pi, she drove down to be the one to initiate Francesca. I cannot wait to see how it goes when I see her tomorrow. I like that we were able to have a couple of rehearsals where we can just work on Act II. I feel like since the subject material is a little bit harder, they are struggling with it a bit more. The blocking is also a little bit more complicated, especially since they are all getting drunk. Plus with the added props that are introduced during intermission, timing needs to be worked on. Tripp and Trisha also have the organic stage chemistry there, we just need to work on technique. Once they are connected, they are connected. But every once in a while, they will let the tension drop. This creates a problem, because it is much easier to have a scene go smoothly if the tension is consistent. Every so often, either one of them will go from yelling and fighting with each other to dropping their voice back to speaking level. This makes the moment of the kiss less effective as it cuts down on the urgency. There is also the problem of throughout the scene, Tyler will break eye contact in places where he should not be. It isn’t big, but it can be noticeable. He will glance away for a little bit when he should be driving a question forward. I had them do an exercise where they have to do their lines keeping eye contact literally the entire time; staring each other down. If one of them broke eye contact, the other had to call them out on it and they had to start over. I had them stay a little bit after I had let everyone else go in order to do this. I wasn’t going to make Francesca stay later than she absolutely had to so she could get to her event. While Tyler and Rachel were practicing this, the other three girls helped to clean up props and furniture so we could restore the space. I am so thankful that my cast is so willing to help out with this production. They make this so less stressful than it could be. Their eagerness to take ownership of this process is a reason that I am so grateful to be working with this group of people. We always get out at a reasonable time since it is not just Ryan and me picking things up and putting them away. I love them all. Ryan also makes my life so much easier by being an accountability partner and making sure I stay caught up and sane during this semester. I am aware that I put a lot of stuff on my plate, and I am so happy that I have someone to help me not go through it alone.