by Spencer Duncan, dramaturg And so it began... the biggest week of our rehearsals so far. Recently, our talented group of actors met from 7 or 8 am-2 pm to rehearse our show. In the evening, they took home assignments to prep them for the next day's work. Talk about a full day! What exactly are they doing in rehearsal? [caption id="attachment_3887" align="aligncenter" width="2560"]
Despite looking confused, actor Haley Flanders DOES know what she's doing. She communicating in a physical storytelling exercise.[/caption] While these photos may make rehearsal look all fun and games (and truly, it is fun), these actors are engaging in carefully designed learning exercises. [caption id="attachment_3890" align="aligncenter" width="616"]
Actors Michael Comp (left) and Oksana Poliakova (right).[/caption] Because Water Sings Blue is a devised piece, there was not a traditional script. Instead, the cast created the plot collaboratively under the guidance of our director, Teresa Dayley Love. The results were short, audience-interactive vignettes of story revolving around Kate Coombs' poetry, woven together to tell about a day at the beach and in the sea. [caption id="attachment_3889" align="aligncenter" width="2560"]
Actor Arianna Krenk (right) and director Teresa Dayley Love (far-right) coach actors Logan Ruesch (left), Michael Comp (center-left), and Danny Brown (center-right). The actors are practicing Aristotelian plot structure using events from Arianna's summer.[/caption] However, such a process takes a lot of imagination and hard work. [caption id="attachment_3886" align="aligncenter" width="2560"]
Actors Michael Comp (left) and Danny Brown (right).[/caption] To prepare, actors had to:
- memorize their poems
- come with rich character backgrounds
- study the marine life they will portray physically
- understand storytelling techniques and story structure
Then in rehearsal, by engaging in the carefully-designed activities and improvisations, consistent blocking and a poem-based script solidified. You can learn more about devised work, a increasingly popular form of creating theatre, from these videos by the National Theatre. [caption id="attachment_3885" align="aligncenter" width="2560"]
From left to right: actors Lauren Wilkins, Sierra Docken, Oksana Poliakova, Haley Flanders, and Logan Ruesch.[/caption]
