And… We’re back! Thank goodness.
Our first rehearsal following our nearly one-month hiatus was really productive – we fired through everything we needed to accomplish. I think everyone feels that since we lost so much time we’ve really got to hustle. There is a buzz in the air nowadays!
Everyone really liked Grace, and seemed happy to have her on board. She is lovely, so this was not surprising at all.
We quickly went over the schedule of events for the performance, did some relaxation and vocal warm ups, and then went right into working on the poem that we had been working on over the last few months. The poem is called, “I’m Fine, Thank You.”
If you remember, we had been reading it chorally and I was pretty sure we could pull it off beautifully. We had begun to add gestures and the whole piece was becoming quite animated and exciting. Then at our last rehearsal Barry commented that we “sounded pretty ragged.”
After some humming and hawing I decided to propose that we try something different – each person reciting two lines on their own, one after the other.
So that’s how we practiced it this week, and it sounded and looked amazing. We all agreed that we preferred it this way. Not only does it sound clearer, but each actor has a chance to work on and showcase their expression and acting skills. It’s also quite neat to see how each person approaches the text differently.
When I met one-on-one with Fay the next day she told me that she had been practicing on her own. She recited her two lines for me, and her dedication to the meaning behind the words and the pride that she took in the performance of it was just beautiful.
After the group finished working on the poem a few people recited their monologues. Again, I could tell that everyone is becoming very aware that the performance is just around the corner. It’s no longer something we talk about in the abstract – and this awareness seems to be an extremely positive thing for everyone. This, to me, is testament to the fact that having a product to work towards is vital to this sort of project.
Next we went through Tom’s play, Changing Your Lifestyle. Since we hadn’t been able to meet in such a long time I decided that I had to make an executive decision on which sections of the play will be read during the performance. Grace and I went over the script together and she gave some really great suggestions.
The reading took about twelve minutes, which I think is a perfect length. Everyone seemed to agree, and almost everyone was happy with the reading. Barry and Fay both expressed that they thought the play was great. Katherine enjoyed it too, and let us know – three times – that “we wouldn’t want it to be any longer.” Most importantly, Tom was very pleased. What a relief!
When I asked Nadine if she liked it she replied, “No.” Now, she is not a negative person, and in the past had expressed that she really liked the play. She went on to say that she “kept losing the thread” of the piece because although everyone began their lines very clearly, their voices dropped off and became quiet before they were done speaking.
This is a really common problem for actors and I was grateful that she brought it up. I talked about it with the group, explained that it’s a common issue, and said that we’ll work on it over the next four rehearsals.
We had a few minutes left in our rehearsal so Nadine performed her monologue. It is such an inspiring piece and leaves a very positive message about living for the moment and being happy with what you’ve got. When she was done everyone exclaimed about how much they enjoyed it.
As we were leaving I remembered to tell the group about the reception that will follow the final performance – it’s a reception just for us – and everyone was delighted. We are going to have a champagne toast and petit fours, and lots of hugs and tears and goodbyes I am sure.
Then Fiona asked, “What will we do with all the people who came to see us perform? Will we just kick them out?” And I said, yes, this may be a problem, but we’ll make it work.
Katherine said, “We will just say… ‘Au Revoir!’”
Problem solved.
Aynsley Moorhouse 