Let's Get Physical

So, tonight we had our first full on run-through sans scripts. It went amazingly well. From this point forward every rehearsal will be about polishing and perfecting. Although I have been missing my (real) husband in the evenings...a part of me is longing for Monday when I will be with my imaginary family again. I really miss them when we are apart...I know how temporary we are and I want to make the most of every second that we get to share.

When I first got rid of my script, I was made immediately aware of the fact that I have arms. And that they are inclined to hang uselessly at my sides or flail limply about if I try to force motion out of them. I remember Mrs. D in 5th grade telling us all about how awkward she felt as a teenager and how she was always confused as to what she should to with her arms. Yeah...I'm totally tracking with you, Mrs. D. Only I'm 32 and have had my arms for a good many years since being a teenager and to be honest, I haven't given them a whole lot of thought. But somehow on stage I find myself wishing that I were playing a character with two broken arms.

The physicality is starting to come. Part of it comes with the process of getting more comfortable with the rest of the cast. When a group of 22 strangers are brought together, there will naturally be a bit of reservation initially as it comes to touching each other. But as we all grow closer, that physical intimacy becomes more natural and we start behaving towards each other as a real family might. In fact, I can't think of a single one of my children who would shy away from a hug...they seem to love the affection...or maybe it's just me that loves their affection and I am grateful to them for hugging me back! However, there is another aspect of physicality that utterly eludes me and is my mission to conquer, or at least lay a strategy for, over this coming weekend. This is the physicality that involves my stupid arms when they aren't hugging a child. Argh. I just keep picturing myself holding my hands in front of me or gesturing lamely in some random direction. On stage, I know that gestures are supposed to be exaggerated...moving on stage is not the same as it is when sitting across from a friend at Starbucks.

There are people in our cast who are really remarkable when it comes to their physicality...I suppose a lot of it must come from years of experience on stage as well as just working on it between rehearsals; but even at the auditions, these people were physically so comfortable. There is a scene where Husband is telling his family a story that involves building a snow family and even at the first audition, he was brilliant at making the story so much more than just a spoken tale...he was able to make it an experience...which is what is needed for the stage. And Witchie, who I saw for the first time at the callback audition was instantly a PRESENCE. She was her character and she owned her space. This is just another glorious piece of the theater. There is so much I am (hopefully) able to learn from the other actors I get the honor of working with.

**as an absurd side note, i just ran spell check on this and for the first time in my life i spelled the word awkward right. i always think there is supposed to be a "c" in there. but i left it out this time. i made the right choice.

I Was an Eighth Grade Chorus Bunny

There were about 10 of us who had a little song and dance number in The Velveteen Rabbit. We thought it was ridiculous that we should have to be at every rehearsal when we already knew our number and we were hardly on stage at all, so I volunteered to approach Mr. Marvey about us wee bunnies having Friday night's rehearsal off. He was not receptive to my suggestion. "Maybe the rest of them might be able to take the night off, but YOU have a long way to go before you are at their level." Yup. That's what he said to me. It may not be an exact quote, (and Mr. Marvey isn't his exact name) but that is the gist of it. And that is one of my great fears...that I have somehow convinced myself I am phenomenal at something when all the while the powers that be are convulsing internally at my inadequacy.

I have waited too long to write. There is so much to talk about.

The Adult Rehearsal:
We had a rehearsal last week where only three of the adults were called (and one child, but she disappeared suddenly...I'm not sure where she vanished to). We were to start really thinking about and discussing the relationships between us. And that scared me a little. As the director was talking, I found myself daydreaming about what I would blog that night when I got home. My tentative title for the post was "Acting is Hard." I was secretly hoping that she would just tell us what our relationships were...but she likes to let us think and create and develop on our own. It's like she gave us birth and is willing to let us grow up into whatever we will become. If we get out of control, I have no doubt she will reign us in, but I have to say it is pretty impressive that she is willing to give us such freedom with the characters she created. I also have to say that it is really an interesting experience to find oneself in a 17 year or so marriage to someone they have never known before. It's ACTING! But it's hard. And it's wonderful. The relationships are starting to develop and become more and more natural as we all spend time together and get more comfortable with each other.

The Stumble Through:
Last Thursday we had our first rehearsal since the Read Through where the entire cast was there. We were going to stumble through the entire play for the first time. When we were getting into our places on stage, my first day of school butterflies started misbehaving. I was very nervous and felt suddenly very unprepared. It didn't help when Husband walked on stage for his first line with NO SCRIPT. Neighbor and I made our incompetent selves feel better during the break by harassing Husband mercilessly for losing his script. He had it with him for the last scene. I think he was just trying to make us feel better. Why do we do that? Why do we try to make people feel guilty for being successful and responsible? It isn't very nice. I think seeing that Husband had already managed to memorize his part was actually incredibly motivating, because at the next rehearsal, Neighbor and I were both (pretty much) off our scripts, too.