there are two weeks now until in^significant others opens at zeum. we had a run thru yesterday and it went very well - considering we haven't rehearsed for a week since many of us were off in sacramento performing homeland for the organization of chinese americans convention at the sacramento convention center. these photos are from that incredible experience (one of the cast and me on stage before the performance, the other of the house from the stage - jason hoover's photos from his phone camera). on sunday last the cast got together to review the music. then we reviewed staging and choreography for the next 3 days. on thursday we headed up to that huge theatre (where the national tour of light in the piazza had just closed) to "load in" our show. "load in" is in quotes because all we had to load was two chairs, two tv tray tables eight picket signs and costumes. the biggest part of the load in was the sound with which sharon and anton did a remarkable job. they did the sound for my recent production of songs for a new world and they're doing our sound for in^significant others at zeum. they got to hear the show for the first time as they worked it in rehearsal on thursday night. friday night's performance was the second time they had even heard the show and they did a wonderful job with the sound. very difficult thing to do in a huge space in which you've never even seen a production, let alone worked one. the i.a.t.s.e. union crew was terrific. especially larry, the electrician. the deal we had made was that we'd have "concert" lighting for the show and it would be basic lights on, lights off. during the rehearsal on thursday as larry watched the show, he wrote cues on the fly with our brilliant stage manager, gregory holmes. by friday night the show had some pretty light cues and was much better than we had dared expect it to look. david garcia's choreography looked much better on such a huge stage (it was really fun to watch from the balcony on thursday night). i got to roam the theatre and see the show from every angle of those 1,800 seats. while i was doing that, it occured to me that this show would look so beautiful in a broadway house. someday... the cast of homeland did an incredible job. sara hauter and alex rodriguez came to our rescue to replace will and kelly from our december production. you could never tell that they were not part of the original company from december. the cast was flawless and their trust, commitment, passion, energy, teamwork and sense of humor was astounding. i've never had this experience (putting up a show in one week in an 1,800 seat house!) before and hope to not have this kind of pressure again, but if i ever do, i hope it is with these people who made it so easy. take a look at www.homelandmusical.com where you'll see who they are and what we were doing. so now we're on to the next show. might not be able to write here much, but it is rather theraputic to just blurt all of this out.
the biggest thing i learned this week was to stay out of their way - not to interfere. not that i was completely successful at that, but when i was able to let them work it out, they did and it was fun and the result was terrific. i'm trying to do the same thing with in^significant others. give them what it is we want to see, etc. and then get out of their way and let them do it. staying out of the way at yesterday's rehearsal (for the most part) they were able to find their way, make their mistakes, have a lot of laughs (sometimes it is just too funny when things go wrong) and not have that horrible pressure that a director can put on a cast. the pressure never helps. being there to give them a safe space to work in, that seems to help. it also helps me to get ideas about what will make it work even better when i'm stepping back and letting it happen instead of trying to fiddle with it.
we're all pretty exhausted today and thankful for a day off. rob and i are taking sort of busman's holiday for me today and going down to palo alto players to see the closing performance of noises off. even on my day off i can't seem to stay out of a theatre or rehearsal hall!
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