In which Tenara gets really super excited

On Wednesday, Britt and I had a really great conversation about what I needed/wanted out of my actors.  She gave me some directorial tips as an actor who's worked with Rich - just stuff he's used when she was having trouble and gotten great results.  We talked about how difficult it is to be a good actor when you're dishonest with yourself.  I like the actors I have, because even though they're a touch inexperienced (some less than others), they all seem to have a pretty good sense of self, and so their raw talent is incredible.

Yesterday's rehearsal was good, but afterward Britt gave me some suggestions.  Before that I had been telling the actors that the closer to next week they could be memorized, the better.  Britt told me I had to give them a specific date to scare them, but to get it done.  She also suggested that I think about letting the actors do the scene uninterrupted, so that they get the feel for the momentum of the scene, and then I would just take notes and give the notes to the actors when the scene was over.  I tried that today and I think it was better for the actors' sake.

Another thing Britt suggested when I mentioned how I was handling actors who were speaking in an unnatural cadence and rhythm because they were hyper conscious of being onstage was to have them put down their scripts and then start a conversation about something totally non-theater related.  She said that Rich did that when he encountered the same problem, and what ended up happening as after the conversation, Rich would point at the actor and say, "There.  That's exactly how I want you to say it."

I did that with Keihin - he was having trouble explaining something in the script naturally, and so I asked him what he did when he got home from rehearsal the day before.  After about half a minute of explaining he said, "What exactly is it that you're looking for?"  And I said, "Like that - just like that - see how you've explained your day to me?  Do it like that."  I believe his response was, "Ah.  Mind tricks.  I see how it is."


Today, I told the actors they had to be memorized by Wednesday.  Rachel Mock, a fellow theatrical person from around Columbus who Britt recommended for stage combat choreography, came and worked with Keihin and Daryon on their fight scene.  They went out to the lobby and worked for about an hour straight on just the basics of stage combat.  I peeked in on them a couple times.  Keihin and Daryon seemed really overly polite and nervous, and I wondered why they don't act that way to me.  Obviously I know why - they give me crap because they see me as their friend first, director second, which is kind of bad, but it works in a weird way, because as their friend, they take my directions in stride, and I think it feels less like work and more like fun for them.


While Keihin and Daryon were working on their fight, I was in the theater with Rachel, Wes, Amber, Damien, Bailey, and Whitlee, doing exercises to show them the physicality of their characters for Boys Will Be Girls - when the boys are girls and the girls are boys.  We practiced walking like boys and girls (even though there's very little walking in the scene), and then how to voice their lines as the opposite sex.  I showed them the difference in throat voice, chest voice, and stomach voice (I'm sure there's a more eloquent name for it, but at the present I can't think of it).  While as an actor, it is NEVER advisable to speak in anything else but your stomach voice (which is where your diaphragm is, which is what you should be projecting from), I helped the guys see that when they talk in their throat voice, they sound softer and slightly more effeminate.  Same goes for the girls - the deeper their voice (stomach voice), the more like guys they sound.  It's not a stereotypical deep voice - where you're trying to make your voice sound way way deeper than it is - it's moving the power from your throat or chest into your stomach, and by default it just sounds deeper.  Now that they've got this, a lot of the little stuff will come a lot easier.


When Daryon, Keihin, and Rachel came in to the theater to show me what they had come with, I was absolutely floored.  Not only did Daryon and Keihin seem so comfortable combating like that, but it looked very life-like.  Obviously I knew that it was staged for safety, but the way they did it made it seem so real.  Rachel had showed them the way to tackle someone onstage safely, and then from there she asked me how I would like Keihin to punch Daryon.  I liked the idea of Keihin hitting Daryon while he was already down, because it's such a Tony (his character) thing to do - kick him where it hurts.  Rachel staged it so that after Keihin tackled Daryon, he knelt on his chest like a boxer and just punched him straight in the nose.  It's such a gross, underhanded thing to do.  It was perfect.  I literally cannot stop thinking about it - I love little tiny things like that, like a fight scene, or a moment between to actors where it looks so genuine you forget they're acting.


For some final thoughts - today in the Comparative Religion Class, the students were watching a documentary I had seen years and years ago called Promises about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  It's an incredible documentary, and I was so stoked to be watching it again that it motivated me to reserve and check out some books about the conflict.  I have one in my bag - Understanding The Holy Land: Answers to Questions about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  The FIRST THING my parents said when I told them I checked it out was, "Who wrote it?"  I was pleased to tell them - not an Arab, not an Israeli - just some WASPy guy who writes for the New York Times.  I suppose no matter who you are, you're bound to slant the information in some angle, but in the introduction, he said he was not out to determine which side was in the right, but merely present the simple facts.  It's written very simplistically, and I like that.  I'm kind of annoyed that I don't know enough about the conflict to have a serious opinion.  As of right now (and I'm sure I'm about to piss someone off), I think the Israeli government is completely in the wrong.  As a Jew, I can understand the intense emotions behind the need to have a country specifically for Jews - especially since the Diaspora and WWII...but I can't, no matter how I look at it, justify the occupation.  The problem is, every time I think or say that, I feel guilty.  Like maybe I've misspoke.  Maybe I'll feel differently when I read more about it, or when I work with Sadaka-Reut.


Oh - last thing - MY PASSPORTS CAME IN FROM THE ISRAELI CONSULATE.  Now I just have to rush my American passport to the post office to be renewed.  BUT THAT MEANS THAT I'M LEAVING ON FEBRUARY 23!!!  WOOOO!


Anyway, pictures of the actors in action are coming - for both the program for the scene night, the posters I'm making to plaster literally everywhere in the world, and for this blog.  Right now I'm at the theater without my camera, so I can't upload them.

NEXT TIME = CLOSER TO SHOWTIME/CLOSER TO DEPARTURE.  I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN HANDLE IT.