We have reached the point in the rehearsal process where the actors are off book (memorized) and now, as they say, the real work begins! It has been an exciting few weeks working on this piece. Each day I learn so much about the play and the characters as the actors make new discoveries in their work and the designers bring in new thoughts for us to try.
We are slowly going back through each scene after running the full show for the first time on Tuesday night. The run gave us a chance to find out what worked and what needed work and pointed us in the direction we needed to go this week.
The Scottish accents for the women are coming along nicely. Connie DeVeer, the voice and dialect director for the show has been working with the women outside of rehearsals and teaching them practice drills and working on individual lines and scenes. She also comes into rehearsal to listen to the women up on their feet working on scenes and gives them feedback at each break. We laugh a lot because the actresses often continue to speak in their Scottish dialect even when we are on breaks, talking about scenes, or doing warm-up.
Today's weekly production meeting went very smoothly. Each area had new things to report. Set: the set is up but not painted or carpeted (carpet will be used for grass on the set) and carpet samples were brought to see how easily it could be painted. Lights: we did a test of water under stage lights as well as looked at the color of the light on some of the costumes. The light crew is currently in the middle of a work call until 11:00 PM tonight and it looks like things are going well in the CPA. Costumes: fittings have been going well and the actors now have their shoes from the costume shop to rehearse with. Props: Props are being gathered and there was much talk about how to work with the candles the script calls for (they have to burn for 35 mins or more on stage in the hands of some of the actors). Sound: new compositions are being created all the time to underscore some of the sections of the show.
Tonight we will be working on some of Madeline's monologues and re-working some of the finals scenes in the show.
A special THANK YOU to all the ENG 102 students from Elizabeth Hatmaker's class for all your visits this week and last!
Emily Gill
Director, The Women of Lockerbie
