So our official rehearsal period has ended, and we are now getting ready to go into tech week. The rehearsal process was a seriously amazing one. Here's a little re-cap:
July - We started re-writing the original Heptademic script. With Rachel Peake at the helm as dramaturge, we nurtured our characters into much more complex and interesting people; we changed and, in some cases, re-wrote our characters' fantasies entirely; and we brought the script to a darker, but still largely humourous, place. A lot of gummy bears, cheese strings, and pop was consumed in the process.
August - Anthony F. Ingram took over as director. It takes a certain type of character to fit into our group's particular dynamic, and luckily, he fit in just fine. Using the script and a whole lot of imagination, scenes and fantasy sequences were built with a sense of energy and play. Rehearsals took place at Dreamlife Studios, and high energy, sweaty rehearsals were not uncommon. Unfortunately, Anthony had to leave us before our show opened, but Emilie Leclerc has more than capably taken over and has worked to refine scenes while staying true to Anthony's original vision.
Some fond memories from the rehearsal process:
- Raes asking you, "You've got a band, what's it's name?", and you had to reply with the first few words that came into your head. Some of the band names that people came up with were "France and Jekyll", "The Pantsuit Hobos", and "Polly and the Chocolate Factory".
- Playing games of Cowboy, Samurai, and the immortal Big Booty. A new game was also invented called "You've got a band, what's it's name?" and the entire group had to act out the made-up band name.
- Anthony telling us about various Kurosawa films that we had to see
- "Totes, totes, totes, mag-otes." This was repeated incessantly throughout the rehearsal process
- Lisa's amazing man scream during one of the fantasy sequences
- Emilie giggling uncontrollably when giving a note about a strobe light
- "Aaron is turned on by penguins." Not sure when it was said, but a pretty sweet sentence.
- Gui having buttons on his rehearsal shirt that allowed him to go from clothed to barechested in a matter of seconds. You can imagine how many times he took full advantage of this shirt.
Excited about going into tech week and then opening the show! Yay!!!!
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ on my taking advantage of the shirt. Allow me to explain: In the proccess of rehearsal my body reached such extreme temperatures that my garments exploded ,not only once but often, as a result of the hightened reality driven stunts this show requires insofar as I have been simply a victim of my own actions while acting my butt out. Or, well, my chest, in this particular case.
Ah yes, that explains everything. Thanks for clearing things up, Gui.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add one of my most memorable moments:
ReplyDeletereferencing "Gilligan's Island" and being met with blank stares on non-recognition. I suddenly realised that I'm actually old - none of these people has ever seen "Gilligan's Island", a major touchstone of North American Culture!!!