Nightmares!
June 17, 2008
Lois and I have a quick dinner prior to the 6pm rehearsal and talk about what we are going to do that evening, the nightmares! Our goal is to leave a road map for other directors who produce the play. The stage directions need to give them an idea of the playwright’s intent.
Rehearsal: Lois has five rewritten pages, so the first thing we do is read through them. They are mainly the boy’s mother’s story. The rewrites are very effective. The goal was to add some suspense and doubt about the characters ability to “get it together” enough to care for her son. Simple things like holding a pack of cigarettes when she is saying, “I quit smoking” help create a real person with real struggles.
At the previous rehearsal I forgot to read one of the Dreamgiver’s scenes. We work through that rewrite. The scene is now more specific and it moves better with great pace and rhythm. Lois is doing a great job!
The “nightmare section” of rehearsal demonstrated everything I love about working in the theater, experimentation, collaboration and commitment. We try singing off key, gunshots with slow motion death scenes, hand kisses, face kisses, dogs howling, zombie moonwalking and on and on. It was great fun, never frustrating and we finally create a great road map, stage directions, for other directors who work on this play.
Time for sleep with sweet dreams, no nightmares!