january 7, 1996

FIRST REHEARSAL for ÒChimerasÓ 6-9pm in Dana Dance Studio Present were: Ginger, Eva, Jacy, Mason, Tanya,Suzy, Erin, Lisa, Jenny, Jennifer

I started out tonight thinking we might get through two readings and maybe discuss the script. I have been amazed. This cast is willing and eager, they enthousiatically entered into the work and carried it farther in two hours than I expected for the week. A lively and intuitive discussion of the text insued immediatly after the first reading, in which I allowed the cast to interpret and answer each otherÕs questions and encouraged them to experiment and continue searching for alternative ways to look at the text and the experience overall. Jacy was especially on target and opened a discussion as to why the girl is experiencing this and what led up to it. She and Eva backed up their (correct) interpretation with evidence from their lines, deciding that in the second scene JacyÕs lines represent the girlÕs repressed memory of witnessing a murder, and MasonÕs lines the encounter with the same murderer minutes before and her subsequent escape. They also argued that several scenes later the voices are trying to help her remeber this repressed scene with Eva actually taking on the persona of the murdered girl. After the second read through, which focused on variation is vocal pitch, intonation, patterns and timing, we moved to the center floor. Here I encouraged the actors to experiment with movement, levels and degrees of interaction. We also worked scene by scene, discussing different interpretations possible for each character. I was amazed at how well the girls responded to me and to each other, genuinely listening and immediately putting into effect most suggestions. They are still a bit unsure what to do with the degree of freedom IÕm giving them. Sometimes they seem to really want me to tell them what to do or how to say what, and it seems to be a frightening place for them to go. I believe however that the uncertainty I saw tonight will not continue much longer and as they grow more confident in their grasp of the text and movements they will appreciate and experiment more with their characters. We actually did get into quite a bit of blocking tonight, as it seemed that it would help with their understanding of the script instead of complicating things as I had feared. The girls I was using, Eva, Jacy, Mason, Tanya and Suzy stepped very easily into the physicality of the scene and were eager and open to my ideas, enjoying the moments I had them pause and observe themselves in the mirror. The visions I had of the voices, the fragmentsÕ, desire to be one, is realized by all the actors and they are assisting me extremely when I was expecting to have to fight for what I wanted to see. Overall I am overwhelmed by the success of this eveningÕs rehearsal and am eager to work again. The response the cast had to me and to each other, was amazing. The dynamic within the room was so exciting and supportive, my confidence about the piece has been greatly raised and I am very much looking forward to continuing to work on it.

January 8, 1997 Tonight we ran through the entire play once, and worked through most of the major blocking. I also took each of the girls who have monologues aside and worked with them personally. I was again extremely impressed with our progress and with the work the cast did. We discussed and formalized many of the characters, establishing age, background, types of movement appropriate, etc. The main focus now is on memorizing lines, until those are down we canÕt work too much. Mason has developed an interesting little girl/siamese cat cahracter and costuming. Throughout the portions she was not speaking she maintained her movements and character and I was very impressed with how she ran with my ideas.

January 9, 1996 The progress tonight was astounding! After the first run through, I put on some music and asked the cast to explore their characters and emotions through movement. During the entire rehearsal I had Norm and Tank running lines for me so I was able to move around stage and interact with each of my actors. I canÕt describe how incredible it feels to watch them open up and develop. So many of the girls walked into this with very little experioence and a great deal of inhibition, and they are taking such risks now! We also spent some time on point of contact work, and I set up some of those who were comfortable and familiar with this exercise with others who were very Òsketchy about sharing space.Ó The dynamic of the group is improving, we are happy and comfortable with each other, and weÕre all haveing fun! I have never enjoyed a rehearsal the way that we have all loved the past week. We have the weekend off now and are supposed to be off book Monday. IÕm keeping my fingers crossed.

January 12, 1997 I hate this part of rehearsals: desperately trying to pound the lines into our heads so we can finally move on and practice moving to the words instead of clinging to the scripts. We did nothing tonight but read the play, over and over, on book then off book and again and again and again.

January 13, 1997 Again, we read through and through the play, running it with movement twice. I am frustrated at the amount of mistakes being made on lines and concerned that if they arenÕt mastered soon we will not be able to concentrate on the dance segments of the piece and perhaps cut them altogether.

January 14, 1997 Tonight we ran the play with all movement twice and spent over an hour working lines constantly on the second scene. There are still mistakes being repeatedly made, particularly on this, the key scene of the play. I was personally extremely upset with the additude of one of my cast members who angrily shot out at others trying to help her with her lines and cursed and muttered to herself through the first run. She also stopped running lines and walked offstage, shouting that she was going to use her script and didnÕt care what we thought about it. Repeatedly she muttered to herself and other that she was just going to walk out, that she didnÕt want to work on it anymore and she was going to quit. I am utterly disgusted and furious with this behavior. I stayed calm during the rehearsal and did not react, only asking the cast as a whole what they thought would help them most at this point and whether there was a particular thing throwing them off. (They responded in whispers that part of the distraction was this cast member, but otherwise they just needed more practice.) I was not anticipating this type of behavior from any of my cast members and especially not from the person exhibiting it tonight. I am glad that I did not call much attention to her actions and simply encouraged the cast as a whole to keep working and not get discouraged. I do not believe her actions were at all a response to anything I, or any of the other girls, said or did, only a reaction to her own frustration and ill preparation. While my assistant director was running script for the problem scene, I worked with my dancers and on the music and choreography for the show. I have chosen the score for all major movements in the script and outlined the dance sequences, if not the exact steps. These scenes were discussed and demonstrated loosely to the music for the cast to observe tonight. The response was quite good, all of them enthousiastic about making sure these pieces are included in the final production. I made very clear that these sequences will be the first to be cut from the production if lines and preworked scenes are not perfected. The general note was one of optimism and exhaustion as we left, forty minutes laterer than scheduled. The cast is anxious to get their parts finished and seeing the dance pieces, or potential pieces, did seem to work as an incentive. I am stressed over everything, and tired since I am working in the studio on choreography and miscellaneous problems or ideas for the production for approximately two and a half hours a day before rehearsal begins. January 15, 1997 Tonight was spent running the scene for tomorrow over and over and over again. The choreography for the jump rope scene is going well and we are all excited about the preview performance tomorrow for AllisonÕs class. The crunch is beginning, we donÕt know when we will get performance space so weÕre starting to get nervous.

January 16, 1997 The critique session with AllisonÕs Making Theatre class was exciting. We get so little outside input that it was almost frustrating to hear the same response we get from each other. Many members of the class made a point to emphasize how impressed they were with our work and the quality of the piece. Our rehearsal tonight was exhausting, I worked on the piece from noon to ten p.m. and am grateful for the weekend arriving.

January 20, 1997 We have a performance date!!! Tuesday night, January 28th at 8pm in Talmadge Hall. Tonight we worked in costume and makeup so that I could take publicity shots for the flyers and programs. I love the visual effect of our makeup and clothing experiments! Stress is definitely setting in, but we are excited too.