lillibet | MITC - Stumbling and Blocking

On Monday night we had our first walk-thru of the play. It went remarkably well. There were only a couple of places where I had to say "Stop. This is what's supposed to be happening. Try again." Most people were off-book and everyone is getting there. It was great to see all the pieces together for the first time--there's some great stuff happening. The only thing I found really disappointing was my own fault; a good thing, since my own screw-ups are the easiest for me to fix.

Last night I fixed it--completely re-blocked the murder scene to make it more dramatic and give it more action. It was a lot of work, but everyone kept plugging away at it and we knocked together something that I think will be much more effective. It still has the sense of stillness and out-of-time quality that I was looking for, but it's not boring any more. I think I might have to add another few bits, but I want to see how it settles out over the next week. It's so wonderful to work with a cast who are excellent at finding their own bits and motivations, creating a detailed tapestry over the warp I string together.

Tonight I'll be working with the Tempters--they're coming together really nicely, expressing the different personal demons that Thomas has to reckon with to clear his spiritual plate. Each of them is creating a very distinct character in a short amount of time and it's a joy to watch, tweaking and blocking and working the interactions. And then I'll have a chance to work with the Chorus some more, working their lines, mostly. I've been working on learning them myself and I'm hoping I can help them.

But first, I have a Director's Note to write.