ENTER THE REHEARSAL HALL -- WHERE THE MAGIC BEGINS!

There is something magical about sitting in an audience as the house lights dim.

The buzz in the room settles into quiet anticipation as we wait to be transported into someone else's world, someone else's story. But what we see on the stage is just the culmination of weeks, sometimes months of work behind the scenes by artists of all description: actors, directors, designers, wardrobe people, carpenters, painters, sound and light experts and others.

This blog will give you a fly-on-the-wall glimpse into that unknown world, following the rehearsal process.
This will be your guide to the hard work, fun and weirdness of putting together a play
for a professional theatre company.

You'll never watch a play in the same way again!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Now blogging:  Trish Cooper, playwright, on the experience of seeing her first full-length play, Social Studies, develop as a professional production (running at PTE until December 8, 2013).

Bob Metcalfe & Trish Cooper
I thought blogging would come more easily to me but it’s actually been hard to write about the rehearsal process.  Probably because I feel like the rehearsal hall has some of the same rules as Vegas - what happens here, should stay here.  Except the rehearsing eventually leads to the performance, which will, hopefully, be seen by the audience. But, the process, and the stumbling, and the sweating, and the crying and the turmoil should be private.


Alix Sobler & Richie Diggs
Sharing my thoughts during this highly-charged and neurotic time could be bad for my future self-esteem.  It is humbling to watch a director, actors, and designers, try to work with your words when they are clunky or cliché or repetitive.  It’s all so embarrassing. And humiliating, and, like, embarrassing.

At the same time, this is such an incredible opportunity. Professional Theatre, Baby! More than one professional -- a whole team! It’s such a thrill to see how it all comes together: the set, the lights, the props, the music, actors in their various costume changes. The attention to detail is incredible.

Some Lessons Learned from this Rehearsal Process:


Marina Stephenson Kerr & Alix Sobler. Photo by Bruce Monk
People expect you to know what your play is about.  Weird.

Actors will make choices with your words that are very different and sometimes even better than your original intention for a line.

Punctuation is your friend.  Don’t be a jerk to your friend.

Stage Management will smile at you and save you.  But, secretly they curse you if you write scenes that require popcorn (food, really), dirty dishes, or expensive fruit.

Bob Metcalfe, the Artistic Director of PTE and the director of Social Studies, makes an incredibly convincing drunk teenage girl.  It’s a gift.

Oh wait, that might be one of those things that should have stayed in the Rehearsal Hall.
 
>> More info about Social Studies
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