Well...

How was it?

Awesome-ness. Pure awesome-ness. It is only get even better with time.

Last day to do stuff...

Fight? Whassup with that? You should still do it. Mr. West would want you to. James, you can call him and talk over any issues. But he worked too much on it and I paid him too much, and we spent too much time to ditch it. In my opinion.

Evonne-I am not on duty tonight, so we need to finish up the program during 6th.

Austin -- Let's double check our tickets. Send everyone, including Tommy P. the new posters with all the dates/times on it.

Everyone- Print posters and get them up.

Xander - the bulletin board? I'll print out the director bios.

Lena- You will have to do the CTC makeup with extreme speed. Have a plan. Do you have list of who paid for tshirts? They are in my car, we can get them during 6th.

Anything else?

Are our shirts here yet?

-Awesome job today!

As you have heard, we WILL have practice tomorrow. You need to call each of your actors and remind them. Houston has sent out an email and D and I have started spreading the word.

-A few props are left.
-Reeses Peanut Butter Cups or Reeses Pieces.
-On time and pushing actors to be ready tomorrow.

-Spacing of actors. Go through the scenes ahead of time and work it out.
-You should plan a time to practice the fight.
-Snickers or Milky Way?

-Today went well and we saw some great acting
-The play is moving along.
-We need to be harder on the Psychologist scene and getting them to take it more seriously.
-How are the props coming along? We are still missing a good amount of them.

The Golden Fish

Hey, guess what? Your show is in less than two weeks.

I was getting a huge vibe of lack of energy, enthusiasm, and a sense of anger and general malaise towards this project. That's too bad.

Even though you are nearing the completion of this, it is far from over...your words, visions, pictures, jokes, and hours of hard work are going to go up in front of the whole school, your families and friends. You have worked for many months on this project. Even though all of your thoughts and dreams lie out on the lawn, on the beach, on mountains, in Florida, Delaware, Chicago, Kalamazoo, NYC, NY State, DC and who knows where else...you are at Pennington. For better or for worse, graduation is not tonight! It is in June. So, you need to buckle down, reach into your hearts and minds, get yourselves together as one and direct and tech this show! You owe it your actors, techies, your teachers, but most of all, you owe it to yourselves.

I don't want to wax too poetic here, but there will come a time in the not so distant future, when you will be off living your new life somewhere and thoughts and memories of the Blackbox and all it meant to you will come to the surface. So, let your last memories be of this show and the greatness it can and will be. Don't drop it now and regret it later.

Peter Brook, a great theatre director of our time, described the production of a show like a group of fishermen (or women) going out on a ship to catch fish. There are many tasks to complete. Getting bait, checking weather, setting sail, dividing up jobs, swabbing the deck, sewing your nets, and finally, when the wind is just right, the water calms, and you cast your net to see what you can pick up. Lame theatre companies drudge up a rubber boot, or a tire, or a tin can. Mediocre theatre companies pull up fish that aren't mature enough for selling or eating. The best, most professional, polished and creative theatre companies might be lucky enough to pull up a golden fish.

All of you know, from being at Pennington for so, so long, that we pull up the golden fish each and every time. You want this show to be another one in a long line of gleaming, glittering, golden fish. Resist the boot and tire option. Go for it!

-Professinalism is going to be key for next week. We all need to set the tone and be good examples for the actors. Today was not very good and we all let Friday get the best of us. Next week I expect a lot better.
-Props: they are YOUR responsibility
-Audio: they are YOUR responsibility

-Props need to be in by Monday! Also, they have to be used on Monday
-Dillion great job. Embrace the authority!
-Lighting, let Coleman know. "Be specific"

Updates

Tshirts are ordered.
Austin is working on posters...slight snafoo today with Dean Liwosz, but we're working on greatness. Stay tuned.
Evonne is typing the program, so directors, make sure you send her your special thanks and any other information. Each of you can type four or five lines of message to your inspirational guides, family, casts, crew, whatever. Coleman/Pibl - Evonne will need the jobs for tech crew. Who is doing what, etc. Deadline for program info. is Monday, April 19th.
I think you all should get together and write one "Director's Note" about this whole thing. We can work on it in class and then James/Lena can contribute, as well.
Sadat and Xander are making good sound cue progress.
Set looks good, even with the walls !

Mr. Moore!!!!!! Mr. D!!!!!!!! Great job!!!!!

LH

-dressing the offices is up to you. Don't spend too much time on this because there is a lot more important things to do!

-PROPS! All of the props need to be in by Monday.
-Use time more effectively
-Space issues on stage

-Props!!! Where are they? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, fork, knife, marracas, mexican hat, pom poms, finger, heart, money, bloody tissue, cotton balls for aaron's nose, list of green ideas, 2 lab books, hot dogs, handkerchief, pillow behind psych couch
-We need the actual snack bar for rehearsal ASAP!!?
-great job again Sadat.

-Represent Professionalism
-T-shirt money tomorrow $10
-Charles rethink your blocking
-Remind your actors every time you see them that they need to bring in their costumes.
-Sadat! Great job today. You did very well and kept their attention while not losing your composure
-From now on: DOD needs to make notes on a master script.
-Lena!

Information for this week from Houston

1) Every day one director will be in charge of the run-thru. We will start with Sadat today and move on from there. Each director will funnel their notes through the D.O.D. (the director of the day). You need to set a tone of seriousness with regard to the fact that people will be sitting frozen and still during times they aren't acting. Start that today. It will work if you harp on it. If you don't harp on it and don't take it seriously, then you may have to resort to entering/exiting which destroys the entire premise of the show -- that these people are locked into these rooms for dear life. The thru line of the entire show must be apparent to all during these run throughs. Remind your actors that they should know their motivation and purpose at every step of the show. Feel free to stop the action at any point and ask them "What is your character thinking right now?"
2) Xander and Sadat will be in charge of sound and the music playlist. If you have suggestions for songs (or James/Lena -- music for your songs), it needs to go to Xander and Sadat.
3) My proposal for this Friday's rehearsal is for the filming of the montage to happen. Any actors not involved can be dismissed for the day, and the tech crew can load in the entire set. That means that the set has to be done by this Friday!!!!!
4) Please check your email and read the script for the final scene in the car. If you do not respond to Charles, then the script will be set in stone. Mr. D and I approve of the changes. It ties things up well.
5) Tickets for cast/crew will go on sale next Monday, April 12th. Tickets for the world go on sale Friday, April 16th.
6) Tshirt money is due. I'm ordering them today or tomorrow. Is the design done?
7) Tell the actors that Austin is going to start putting up random propaganda posters at the end of this week. If they hear people questioning/asking around about them, they should not say "It's for the Spring Play."

Please read and post every day. Thanks.

-T-shirt money! Bring it.
-Remind the actors the costumes have to be in!!!!!!!!!
-Give Pibl all script changes.
-Put the movie into the script.
-Be ready for Monday and running through the entire show.

Getting them OFF BOOK

In my experience as a director, people have many different ways of learning lines. People learn lines the way they learn anything. Sometimes, they haven't thought about this fact so much. There are many learning styles some of them are:
Repetition, Writing, Listening, Moving.
If you have an actor that is stuck, ask them how they best remember things. Then, they can focus on either going through the lines repeatedly with you or others, writing out their cue lines and lines, recording their lines and playing them back, or actually acting out their scene repeatedly.
Telling them to get off-book is not good enough. You must help them get off-book.

LH

-Sadat!?
-Xander they need to be off book, crazy now.
-How are the shirts coming along? We getting nervous.
-Can I (Moore) have a copy of a llayout of the stage? Tomorrow.
-Which would you rather be able to do breath under water or have the ability to fly?
-How has your interaction between you and your actors changed over time?

"Today was interesting."

Sadat: great job today?
Sadat: great job today!

There is rehearsal on Thursday!

Sophmores, in Honors English, will not be here tomorrow.

What does the set look like? Can D and I get a copy of the layout?

Starting on Monday we run the hole thing!

Should someone "Craiglist" Bathroom stalls?

Important/Read: Director's Bio(s) are due on Monday, April 5th.

-If you have made any scene changes they have to get to Pibl!

-Your actors should work on memorizing their lines. Also, they should memorize/remember the line before their's. Finally, they should have been off book today

-Starting Monday we are doing run throughs so make sure your scenes are blocked

-Reminder: We have practice this Thursday after school! (Even though we have off on Firday)

Welcome Back!

A few things to consider/clear up:
Evonne is writing down conflict days for directors. If there is a day you will be out for dental issues, college things, etc., please tell Evonne.
James - please help Evonne do blocking/choreography for the song in the snack bar. Make it cheesey.
Tshirt designs - See Lena's note. We have to have the design set by next Monday.
Costume designs - See Lena. If you have opinions about your costume designs, you need to tell Lena, otherwise, she's going with her own ideas (which are great).
Read and respond to chapters 11 and 12 of Michael Bloom.
There are some issues/questions about the final film sequence. We will work on it tomorrow. It will probably be a version of the scene in the car with the seniors.
Charles and Dillon have a filming plan.
We need to look towards next week when you are running the show. You need to think about how you will communicate with the actors -- will one person be in charge and all notes be funnelled through them? Will you each give notes on your own sections? I think it would be good to figure out a way to run those rehearsals where it's not chaotic and random who is giving notes when, etc.
- LH

Some thoughts for Spring Break...

You have accomplished a great deal up to this point, which is fantastic. Over break, be thinking about the details to add...
--Set decoration and props (you need to have lists for Erica)
--Costumes (will be mainly variations on the "dress code" - Lena where do we stand with costuming?)
--incidental music
--Tshirt Design (someone needs to collect sizes and money)
--Marketing

Also, Dillon and Charles you need to be ready to roll with filming. No pun intended.

Coleman and Pibl - you need to make sure you are really using all the materials you can scrounge in the tech shop. We may not run out to buy a ton of lumber. You can adjust some of your designs based on materials, I'm sure.

James and Lena - you will need to record accompanying music for your songs. Do that earlier rather than later.

Austin - make sure you are sending reminders to the actors over break to learn their lines. It's really important.

Evonne/Coleman/Pibl - make sure you settle on the design for the snack bar counter. Remember that it will need to be struck so that the psychologist's office can be seen.

Many things to think about...I'm glad this project can serve to motivate you in this odd time of limbo as seniors. Have a nice break :)

When you give students directions be constructive and positive!

Don't say "NO NO, don't do it that way." Try this instead, "That was good, but try it this way." Being constructive is key.

Another example, ""Shut the hell up." Is wrong. "Please be quiet and listen up." Is right.

Lastly, "Don't be staggering around" is wrong. "Try to not stagger because..." Is right.

James it looks great.

Lena great work on the singing/song.

Charles I like the movement/blocking in your scene.

If you are in the art gallery make sure you clean up after yourself.

Also, you are responsible for your actors, so if you see someone misbehaving take care of it.

Make sure you are having your actors writing everything/ every direction down. If they don't write it down they will forget everything after spring break.
Remember tomorrow, to emphasize, that they/actors need to be off book after spring break.

You are in the blackbox 2 more times before we start running through the show.

Some of you have a loose grip over your students, make sure they are attentive when you are talking.

Things are starting to come along better.

Awesome=Dillon and Xander (Dander) for pulling out the couch.

James: nicely done with using your time wisely. I am excited to see it all put together.

Sadat: nice control of your actors. Do you think that giving a break to your actors is helpful? (Maybe other directors would like to hear your input.)

Colonne (Coleman and Yvonne)
Chollo (solo Charles)
Lames (James and Lena)
Padat (Pibl and Sadat)
Austin

Note: each scene only have 3 rehearsals in the black box before we start running the show.

"Hackers got nothin' on me."

First day! When I was walking around I saw a lot of good things. It seemed like you were all in control and had a good presense in front your actors.

Note: If you don't have actors in every scene you need to come up with character exercises.

James: awesome activity!
Sadat: awesome activity!
Evonne: awesome activity!

Think about this: you have 10 days for blocking. So you really need to think of constructive ways to use their/your time. You are training these students not just for your play, but for all future Pennington plays.

Note: Zombies cannot eat other zombies. Proven FACT!

Also, and most importantly, all directors must stay at the end of the rehearsal for a group meeting.

First Rehearsal Monday

Guys and Gals: It's good to have a plan when you enter the first rehearsal. There should be two main goals for you depending on where you are rehearsing. People running scenes in the Blackbox and gallery should concentrate on blocking and running the blocking repeatedly. People running scenes in alternate locations should concentrate on those other things we do in theatre like writing characterizations, playing bonding games, and learning lines. It is very difficult for a "normal" actor to memorize lines without blocking, so I would attend to the blocking first. Time is of the essence. I think we calculated something like 20 rehearsals before tech...so don't dilly-dally! Use your time well. You will run out of it, take it from me. Think about Bye Bye Birdie and how we felt like we were ahead and then, boom, 2 feet of snow. Anything can happen -- illness, accidents, expulsion. So, use the time you have been given.

Is there an intermission?

How did it feel to hear your play out loud/read by others?

Me: The play sounded amazing. You have casted some great characters and actors. It was haaaaalarious.

Evaluate your casting and comment on the adjustments you are going to make. Did it live up to your expectations?

Call Backs

Profesionalism
-We must keep all that was said during our discussion within the blackbox. Do not discuss anything that was said outside of the group or in front of other actors.

Listening
-You all did a great job listening today. You talked it out and helped each other make dicisions (Pibl) without pushing your ideas.

Tomorrow
-You need to start thinking about how you are going to come together as directors and lead the actors. You are now Ms. Houston, you need to be a leader and get these students pumped for one of the best shows Pennington will ever see. Tomorrow is going to set the mood for the rest of the production. The way you lead will set precedents for the rest of the show. Be firm, be excited, and get ready to be flexible.

-"The key to being a good leader is being a good listener" Mr. D

-Listen to eachother! Everyone had good, interesting, and constructive ideas and comments for the play/characters. It is important to have discussions (as opposed to arguments), but do not try to out yell each other. Yelling will only lead to frustration. Take turns talking AND listening (you should doing the same amount of both).

Which are were you being a pusher-of-opinion or sponge?

Its back...

Welcome to Spring Play 2010: The Secret Production!

Welcome!

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