So...here we are. It is March....I'm not even sure. I know it's Monday! I think it's the 10th....Yes! Just checked my rehearsal schedule and it is indeed the 10th. Tonight we are staging Gavroche's and the student's deaths on the Barricade. They are getting gun assignments and having the microphone talk to prep for using mics and pouches at rehearsal on the 12th.
I am starting work on my paper tech prep. Not sure what form that will take yet...I have to figure out how to hold all the details of costume, make-up, hair, mic changes, props, sets, lights, projection images, blocking and still be able to look at and feel the totality of the production. We--my team and I --have attempted to tell this story in a certain way: a spare, dynamic and versatile set, projections that provide texture and detail, simple and authentic story-telling with talented, collaborative and team-oriented actors, the thoughtful use of light and shadow, realistic details in props and costumes...My job is to have a firm hold on that re-telling of the story, so that any questions can be brought back to that vision. I have to be able to answer the questions: Does this element contribute to how we want the story to be told?
At any rate, I need to refresh my memory of all those details and put it into some read-able form. Paper tech is on Saturday, 3/15. I think going through all those things will definitely highlight what is going to take the most time at actual tech. There are many moments where we are guessing at timing of VDSU movements, timing of light changes, etc.
I'm also prepping to work with Andy, our lighting designer. I'm creating a scene list for him--from the top of the show to the end--that describes time of day, mood, action and feeling words. That will take some time, but again will lay a great foundation for our work together. It's kind of like creating a language to speak together.
In the rush of this type of mental preparation and imagining; it's difficult to believe that this will be all done in 5 weeks. I think I'm giving myself a sort of mental safety raft--if I can keep a count down in my head then somehow--when this project ends --I won't be blind-sided by emotion. It is impossible to keep those two mind-sets--"I'm in the middle of it" and "It's almost done"--going at the same time, and I'm not sure that the "It's almost done" piece is particularly helpful to the process of creating the show. It keeps me from full participation somehow....funny how I always find a way to protect myself from the wild and compulsive nature of full participation! It's a way to keep balance, I think. Even the minimal amount of hours that I'm spending at my day job requires a physical re-setting...of my mind, my focus, my energy level--especially if I start my day with coffee and email! Invariably there is something rehearsal related or promo related to respond to--and then I have to pull myself out of that world and back into daily reality. To say that I find it challenging to shift back and forth might be the understatement of the century. I suppose it is the nature of this beast--it's a living thing and it requires sustained care and regular feedings of energy, imagination, collaboration and the best that all of us have to offer in order for it to come alive and thrive. It's the sustained care and feeding that wreck havoc with the rest of one's life...
I hope that I can remember what this was like.
I've gone back to read what I wrote at the beginning of this post. Can you tell that I'm a bit bleary?? Once again, it is all about the story, and how my team and I have chosen to tell it...As our production schedule escalates and the thousands of production details start to converge, the trick is how to work, shop and do laundry when the care and feeding of this Beast could easily be a 24 hour labor of love...
To the barricades!
KAK
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