Rehearsal Day One:

I get to the building early so that I can get the new script run off. The cast takes it surprisingly well that they have a new script that they have to memorize after I told them to be off book by the first day back. Which means that most of them were probably not off book. Except Hayley who memorizes things within two days. I’m not kidding. It’s weird.

We start with some games to get them familiar with each other. Everyone knows each other, but not everyone has worked together. After some warm-ups we played Sardines, a favorite of my productions. The mixture of people being reunited with the games seemed to make everyone comfortable with each other so I skipped the trust exercise games that I had planned next. I’ll probably wait to do them until Tiffany gets back from Brazil.

We then go into character walk stuff. This works pretty well. Susan, Hayley, and Ryan do the best at it. Nate is distracted. Cameron is shy, Hank is going to his stock characters that he has built, Abe is also doing well. I take them through some dislikes and likes. This tells me who has moved away from the script and built their own character and who is still using it as a crutch. Hayley has the White Duchess down, but seems to be relying on stereotypes of Bill the Lizard, not as rich a character to watch. Ryan too has added no depth to the Cheshire Cat. He comes across as a super-villain, something that I knew would be a risk.

We take a five minute break and this is when Nate gets a call that he needs to be in Pittsburgh immediately to get his hand X-rayed. I have no choice but to let him go. We break for lunch.
When we get back we do some minor character confidences and then I tell them that we’re going to break for a while and come back to do video. Tomorrow we’ll continue to do regular rehearsals. We have not gotten to rehearse any scenes by this point. Video will begin shooting at seven. Besides I desperately need a nap. I never sleep the day before rehearsals start.
And hour later I get a call from Nate. He will be in surgery tomorrow morning. His hand is extremely screwed up. He’s on his way back to pick up his stuff. I can’t miss two days of rehearsals. So I have Kate call back the handful of actors that I need to do the first couple of scenes. Luckily they’re understanding. No mutiny yet. Video is to be held off till tomorrow now. I tell Scott to think of what video we can get done. As much as possible so we can stay on schedule.
We’re waiting at Waller for an hour before Nate gets done on the phone with various doctors and family. We run the first couple of scenes. Nate is incapable of getting out of his head. His distraction makes him impossible to direct. This is where I would normally do something silly that would get energy up, but by this time my eyes burn in my head I’m so tired. And we have three more scenes to get to. Susan is doing surprisingly well. They both start out acting in a soap opera however. Is this how they view the script, how they understand it? Or is this their comfort zone? Still Susan takes the direction, but has nothing to work off of with her romantic interest. I resort to laying down the blocking track. At least I’ll have some work done on this scene. I go onto the next scene with Ryan and Nate. Again, blocking only for the most part. My fears that Ryan will be a super-villain are valid. At least he’s giving me something and can be adjusted later.

By the time I get to Nate and Hanks scene I’m angry. Hank is no longer acting having become so comfortable with playing himself over the years. This is going to take work. Rehearsal ends. I go home. I work on two more masks. All of the masks will be done by Thursday at this rate. After today’s rehearsal it feels good to work on something that I both have control of completely and will see instant results.

Video Meeting Update:

Talked through a lot of the video last night after hearing about Nate. We’ve broken it down so that we can form a schedule with which to shoot. As polished the video in the first Act. The first video is pretty exciting. It’s called the Danse Macabre and explains why Alice is having these crazy dreams as well as introduces you to Wonderland a little earlier so that it’s not so jarring when I happens later. It’s very complicated to explain, but needless to say it lifts the opening so that the audience gets into the show much sooner than later.

We assigned location and people to the video. I have a props list for the first half.
The last thing we did was work out what sound design is going to be used early on. Scott’s recording a weird Gregorian chant sorta thing mixed with Silent Hill-esque themes. Silent Hill is a video which I haven’t actually played, but I love the soundtrack to it and often write while it plays in the background. It’s also a movie, a Japanese game directed into a movie by a French-Canadian and written by the former best friend of Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avery. Yeah, it’s that sort of good. Scott and I have also pulled influence from the movie.
Scott has derived this idea from a game that he played in a Jason class. We never did that in Directing Studio or Playwrighting so I have to take his word for it, but it sounds like a good idea. Also I like Gregorian Chants.

We always branch off to other topics. One of them was the use of the damn fresco flower table that we found months back. How I hate this table. Before Scott had intended to use it for the tea party scene, but my hate for this table was undying. I hate frescos and I hate frescos of flowers even more. Scotts cough syrup thick enjoyment of irony made the table a wet dream for him. Finally we found a place for it in the café’ scene at the top.

We had looked through the prop/ furniture storage book in the office and had found nothing, except a piece here and there. Our show is too unique. But now Scott will be able to bring that Better Homes and Garden abortion to good use. I think I may paint parts of it black so that it doesn’t fill me with rage every time I look at it.

We also polished the first dream of Act II (post intermission) so that it shines like the Danse Macabre dream.

This is the kind of excitement that I used to get while working on the video for Twelve Dreams. Scott admitted to not really being excited about doing video for this show. Twelve Dreams was more fun. I agree. But we’ve found ways to make the story better through the use of the video instead of it being there for the sake of video. As used after these discussions the video really enhances the experience. It’s the difference between a Sheetz hotdog and a Nathan’s 100% beef foot-long with chili. Completely fulfilling and slightly self indulgent.

Nate:

He was in an accident last night. I think he’s alright, from what I can tell anyway. We talked briefly. He was able to get to the emergency room so he can’t be too bad. I mean he was sitting in the waiting room. I would hope they wouldn’t keep him there if anything was truly busted up. Still, it’s worrisome and I hope he’s okay. The guy has some real bad luck. Strangely the reason I called was to ask him the name of the deadliest snake in the world. It’s a boomslang. It makes you bleed out of your eyes. Probably not what he wanted to hear at that moment I’m sure.
Some guy T-boned him while he was on his bike, with another bike. That’s some crappy luck.

Welding:

Scott went home for two days. While home he’s getting the door ready for set use. Needs legs welded to the bottom. Also, the Jabberwocky pipe and Mad Tea party table will be created. His dad is an expert welder and doesn’t mind helping out. This will save us production time when the actors get back.

While not all of the production business will be ready to be set into place before the actors get back as planned, we’re much further along that Twelve Dreams was. And I never really expected that all to be ready the first day back, but being this far along has allowed us some of our more fantastic ideas to be realities. Such as the masks and the wide variety or fantastic set pieces and even the ability to polish the script as much as I have. And of course I can actually focus on the actors instead of if the video will be done or not in time.

Barb:

Spoke with Barb about scheduling. Worked out a schedule out that will work for the production, both of them I think. Also showed her the set. Got that okay. Had it okayed with Patrick a couple of days ago. I’ll have Scott shoot it over to Rick, Rob, Jason, and Val. The best part about the meeting was that she informed me that the websites were not attached in Brian’s e-mail so we can get that sent out. I want to update them first. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to transfer my journal from my computer to the internet.

Also, she’ll be able to check out the PowerPoint, though it’s slightly outdated by this point. Still, it’s a good starting point and probably better than reading the novel that my journal is turning into.

After meeting with Barb I can write up a honest and true schedule rather than the bare-bones one that the cast has.

Corey:

Worked with Corey that last two days. This will ensure that the set will be finished on time. As of Monday the 17th the deck will be ready to be put down. Victory.

Susan:

I’ve had several conversations with Susan about her character. It’s a character that’s out of her type and that she doesn’t quite understand. Also, Susan is still a very young actress and relatively inexperienced. Furthermore, most times when she’s it’s because she is very attractive or because she is such good friends with the person in charge and fun to work with. Of course this is not always the case. Certainly not with Boys’ Life. When I cast her in Twelve Dreams it was because the character needed to be stern and mature, but have a soft side around Putnam (Andy Venturella.) This is more in Susan’s type. As soft and kind as Susan is in everyday life, she is stern and adult, almost condescending in her stage life. Rick broke her of this a bit, but then again that attitude worked for that character.

In Saving Alice, Susan is playing a character that is far different from her previous roles and getting her to believably portray a meek character has been some work. The first thing that I did with everybody was to get a handful of journal entries from them. This let me know where they were in the understanding of the characters. Susan actually didn’t get those entries till after the character conference I had with her. The reason for this was that she hated the character.
Susan doesn’t understand why people cut themselves. Most people don’t and that’s been a trouble with the script. The way to solve that is to have Susan be so likeable that you can’t hate her or think less of her. The natural response to a human behavior that is not understood is to write it off as foolish and weird. Susan has to charm them. Admittedly her looks won’t hurt this process. But Susan condescending manner on stage is off-putting.

We had to get to the core of the character. When asked what that was Susan said that she was Innocent. But what is innocence? Where does it come from? What makes a person innocent? It is not ignorance. Ignorance begets naivete, not innocence. Megan Miller is innocent, but not ignorant. Things have happened to her that are horrible, but she maintains her innocence. Understanding this Susan hit the nail on the head, Alice maintains her innocence, because she still has hope. That is what makes her Carter’s opposite and that is why they are attracted to each other. Carter is a cynic.

Why does Alice cut? I don’t care really. Neither should the audience. As soon as you try to explain it, it can be questioned. Susan has to know, but that is not Alice. Alice is not a cutter, she is Alice, a girl who happens to cut. That seemed to help Susan also get into character.
The last piece that got Susan where she needed to go with the character is a stuffed bunny that I purchased from Molly last spring. Being enough in character Susan took the bunny as the prop that brought her into the world.

It’s strange to see your friends slowly take on traits that you know are for the character. I understand it from having acted before, but it’s slightly unnerving but at the same time very exciting. Hayley is worse, simply because her characters are some much crazier.

Video Update:

Our nightly conversations continue. I’m never sure whether I’m going to feel better or worse by the time that I’m finished talking to Scott. Still they’re conversations that have to happen.
Talked about the way that we’re going to handle what the script refers to as the “Epiphany Dream” which translates to “ the stuff that helps the audience get the story that’s happening behind the curtain a little better.” This one was the one that begins the second half and deals with what happened right after Alice’s death. The audience is going to feel unsafe and unsure after coming back from intermission. The title character was just killed off. Some may not even know that there is a second half. Scott and I came up with a sweet way to help the more traditional theatre goer. Cue cards, a Brechtian devise will be inserted as certain points where the transition needs a little pick-me-up and I’ve found a great place towards the very end where it actually helps complete the plot. It makes sense considering that the play is a sort of play within a play that Charlie is putting on for the audience.

The Bar:

Spent two hours at the bar talking/ arguing/ laughing about the differences between Brechtian, Staslavskian, traditional, Commedia theatre with Scott. Do other majors spend this much time working on projects and theory? Came up with an idea for the Mad Tea party that will give the actors something to play with on stage. Originally starting out as a tea fountain it was regressed to an “absinthe dispenser”. Of course this will dispense tea instead of absinthe, but it will add some action to a scene of mostly sitting and giving us the opportunity to “steampunk” another
set piece.

Leslie Meeting:

Sat down with Leslie and looked at her new designs. They fine. I have to continually remind myself that she’s young and hasn’t been a designer on a show yet, that I know of. Her designs will work with the show, but they won’t stand out.

If nothing else she’s become very easy to discuss designs with. Sometimes I think that’s more important than turning out an amazing design with a designer that you hate to talk to.
What will save them is the steampunk additions that will occur later.

She is working on the costumes that we’ll need for filming first. Poor girl really does have much more time to get work done than I do, and that’s saying something.
She has picked up on the irony of the show that others haven’t. That’s a plus.

Masks:

Two more masks are complete. That’s six so far. Have to wait for Abe and Ryan to get back to do the two more important masks. That makes me nervous. Nothing I can do about that however.

Set/ Blocking:

To save a ton of time Scott and I went into the studio over the duration of two days and blocked out the placement and movements of all of the set pieces and a lot of the actor entrances and exits. This is something I normally do the first day or two with the actors/ actresses and it’s agitating and annoying to all involved. A necessary evil, or so I thought. Blocking things out like this has taken a lot of stress out of the first couple of days of rehearsal. I learned to do things the previous way from fellow student directors and then working with Rick, it was something he didn’t do, but I couldn’t figure out how he avoiding wasting that time.

From now I I’m doing things this way. I’ve gotta tell Hayley about this, it’ll help her out too. I know that she sometimes has trouble deciding on blocking out movement like this especially if it’s not built into the dialogue (Though most times it is if you look at it abstractly.). This will allow me to focus on the acting from the beginning. Sweet.

Meeting with Brian/ KCACTF:

Met with Brian pertaining to taking Saving Alice to festival. It’s something that we’ve wanted to do from the beginning of pre-production. The power point that we created can’t actually be sent out to the faculty. Brian has a copy know, but I’m not concerned with informing Brian, he’s the production’s adviser and has been updated pretty much every two weeks or so. He knows what we’re doing. Professors that are understandably busy will have no idea how much the script has developed and the depth of the production.

Twelve Dreams is nothing in comparison to Saving Alice. 12 Dreams is like a larva form of this production, as it should be. Scott and I have grown so much since then. It feels like years ago. It’s only been a year, but we’ve done three other productions since then (Fish Eyes, Boys’ Life, and Mineola Twins.) Twelve Dreams was only in production for about three months as well. This is three years and then three intensive months, not including rehearsals. That’s one of the reasons the script became so long. Luckily I’ve finally gotten enough time to distance myself from the script and re-write it with the audience fully in mind. The first version was for me and I loved it. The second version was for theatre people, artsy types, my friends. This version is for all to enjoy...mostly. I’m not going to pull a Michael Bay and sell out so everybody who sees this advertised on a Burger King cup can come and enjoy it only to forget it a week later.
This is supposed to sit in your gut like a heavy breakfast. Oatmeal. Not a shmuffin. But oatmeal with strawberries in it to the plain gross oatmeal that Susan eats.

Brian suggested writing up a one page e-mail explaining all the work that we’ve bee n doing. That’s damn near impossible. I could write a book. A tome. But I’ll do it. I should be making masks, but I’ll do it. Damned able IUP e-mail. I suppose the powerpoint was just too much to swallow.

Leslie:

She sent me another three sketches of Alice’s dress at the end. I’m starting to get a little upset that she’s spending so much time on this piece. I gave her a list of costumes that need designed first. A list of priority. She still comes back to this piece. She knows that it’s only in the play for a total of five minutes. The amount of effort that she’s taking is wasteful. But I know that this dress means more to her than all of the other costumes. So with that in mind I have to bite my lip and let her go with it. If I take this away from her I’ll only get crap out of her for the rest of the production. In a way it always me discuss designs with her that she doesn’t care about, yet I do, and I get what I want. That’s called compromise. Yes, I suppose I’ve learned a bit of that. She gets the Alice dress and I get the sweet Jabberwocky costume the way I want it.
He design for Ryan’s costume has improved. She has taken the images and suggestions I gave her and has done good work with it.