When creating a performance for the workshop, whether it be a small exercise or a scripted play, three important questions are asked: What will you say? How will you say it? And what will you do while saying it? With the completion of writing week, we have the first question answered. But the latter two still need to be decided, and that is what staging week is about. Together, the participants will decide how they want their pieces to sound and look to an audience. It’s an exciting week as the actors begin putting their scripts on their feet and giving them a voice. I visited each of the small groups over the course of the week to see what they were working on in order to give insight into each of their unique staging processes.
But first, on Sunday we had our first whole company rehearsal of the week to work on the staging for the opening piece. As Gwethalyn explained the blocking to the participants, they listened closely.
This week requires more focus than the actors have been required to give before because of the small amount of time we have to attempt some complicated blocking, but by the end, they will all have fully-staged pieces that are ready to run. How exciting! When creating blocking for the opening piece, we began with the participants climbing hair a la Rapunzel’s Prince in an intense race.
Because the directors were not sure what would work the best, we spent time experimenting with how the actors delivered their lines during the race. Obviously, the nature of our work is experimental, and so often in our staging, we try multiple ideas for a single part of the script. While all of our ideas are legitimate solutions to our problem, some work better than others, so after trying them out, we pick what looks and sounds the best as well as what the actors can feasibly accomplish. We continued this type of experimenting as we blocked more of the piece.
Do the above photos look familiar? That’s because we played a little Human Membrane for staging in another part of the piece. The games we play in the exploration stage of the workshop are not just a chance for the participants to sharpen their performance skills, but they also serve as fodder for our staging. Commonly, we use the exercises as blocking ideas. I had to step in for a missing participant, so I didn’t get to watch what the blocking looked like. However, as I was rehearsing, I couldn’t help but feel envious of the actors who get to perform this piece–it will be a powerful opening to our show.
Beginning my observations of the small groups, I visited the Wellman group on Tuesday. I arrived to cheers, not for me, but for the unveiling of a certain prop for their piece. I laughed at the sight of it, knowing that it would be quite a hilarious addition to their play. Prop use in the workshop differs for each piece depending on the techniques of the author, but for something more on the side of absurdity such as Wellman, it was perfect. The group also worked on songs for part of their rehearsal. The he use of song and dance is instrumental in many of Wellman’s plays, and so this group is doing the same. With their song lyrics already written, they tried out singing them with popular song melodies to see what would fit. They had already decided on a few, including one that included playing a trick on the audience. Testing their trick on me, my laughter turned to shock as I slowly realized what they had done. Hopefully, the audience will make the same discovery.
Soon the actors were up on their feet trying out blocking. Usually, the directors have an idea of staging for the pieces, but the participants also supply many of their own ideas. Using the directors’ eyes for interesting stage pictures and the actors’ abilities, we communicate with each other to create the piece. Does this bit go on too long? Should they face this way or that way when delivering these lines? This blocking isn’t working here, but what if we save it for a later part? All of these decisions went into Wellman staging for the day, and it took multiple tries to find what worked best. However, by the end, what they had created seemed to be working wonderfully (the staging combined with one song gave me goosebumps). All that was left for the rehearsal was to decide on some transitions between the blocking–how do we get from here to there, for instance–and to run what they had so far a few times for memory.
The next day, I entered the theater for the Pinter small group rehearsal to a completely different scene. The actors were not on their feet creating blocking, but instead, working on lines with the directors. Staging in Pinter’s plays is often very simplistic, and so, the group had roughly finished staging the piece at the first rehearsal. Now, they were working on their line delivery.
The way Pinter’s characters speak is very different from naturalistic theater. The most obvious difference being the “Pinter pause”–when the characters must face an unescapable truth. Together, the actors and directors decided on where the pauses should go in the script by selecting keywords that indicated a change in emotion. Then they tried them out. Pinter’s silences go on for a bit longer than a normal pause in a conversation, and so there was a little bit of coaching on how long to let each of the pauses go. These decisions and line coaching took almost the entire rehearsal, but they ended with just enough time to run the piece. With the blocking minimal, the strange way the characters communicate becomes more apparent. For next time, the directors decided they wanted to work on more stylized movement for the piece.
On Wednesday, we had our second full group rehearsal to work on the staging for the closing piece. Using the techniques of Cocteau, we had some of the participants read the narration while the others acted out what was being read. Under Megan’s leadership, the actors worked together to create stage images and comedy bits that would provide a hilarious ending to the show. The most difficult part was working out the pacing of the narration with the pantomime, but with some practice, the participants began to find a good flow for the piece.
The last visit I had to make was to the Open Theater group on Friday. When I arrived, they were working on creating blocking that could be repeated each time they repeated their anchor lines in their piece. They began by working with physical gestures that one would do when finding their friend in a crowded room. Quickly, the exercise evolved into the participants noticing each other across the room and then running toward one another for a sweeping embrace. It wasn’t quite what the directors were expecting, but it was a totally awesome image and the directors gladly started working with it. Soon, the participants were trying all sorts of variations to their gestures to find what looked good with their words.
The different kinds of hugging looked great, but it was a little too much to begin the piece with. Instead, one of the participants had the brilliant idea to try out what it is like when one person goes in for a hug and the other just a handshake. I’m sure you all know the awkward feeling. It was a hilarious observation, but seeing it played out rang true to the group’s idea of missed connection. Ultimately, they decided on an evolution of the greeting gestures as they repeat the anchor throughout the piece. With that finished, they began running blocking from the previous rehearsal and then adding on. I was excited by what I was seeing. Clearly, this piece, just like the others, was going to be absolutely weird and wonderful.
Looking ahead, the participants have one more week after they finish staging their plays. This week will be used to figure out the technical elements of the pieces like lights and sounds. Also, this is a vital time because the pieces will need to be rehearsed and polished leading up to the performances. It is important that the actors develop a discipline that they can then rely on when performing their plays in front of an audience because, like all theater, anything can happen (but especially anything when it is experimental). However, there is no doubt that the participants are all working hard, and with the small snippets I got to see of their pieces, I am overcome with impatience to see the final results.
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