Tonight the cast and crew are going to be going through some thoughts and observation of the Mariol text. We'll try and hit what we can and give you a peek of some of the more academic parts of the rehearsal process.6:07: We'll be starting at 6:30, instead of 6. Stay tuned.
Continue reading after the jump...
6:34: Still waiting on a few people.
6:40: Those in attendance: Bryan (director), Cassie (Marisol), Derek (Lenny), Amy (Angel), Heather (Woman in Furs), Jessica (June) and Tyler (Man with Golf Club).
6:41: Bryan gives Amy a hypothetical: Amy is "speed-dating", and asked "Tell me about yourself". Dude is gorgeous. "Do I mention the 11th toe?"
- Genuine country bumpkin
- Children trust me
Derek:
- Anxious
- Quirky
- Indecisive
Heather: - Christian, procrastinator, hates to clean
Tyler: - Easy going, a GC student, theater
Jessica: - Il Forno manager, don't eat there, accepting, wants to be involved in film
Cassie: - Loves to act, talking about ideas, experiencing outdoors in new ways
Feelings about this question: how can you boil yourself down to just three answers?
6:45: Another scenario: You're on a desert island, transported immediately, surrounded by strangers.Why do you say?... "Your name" Stunted silence.
What if you have to come up with three responses to this? Derek: Let them know that I am peacful (e.g., don't get killed). Heather: "Not very bright, complicated married person." Amy: "Lover, fighter, but peaceful."
Bryan: Qualities of identity. Some are motives, some are groups (e.g. students). Groups of people that give us a sense of identity. Marisol: about identity and lack of it, and how power is granted/removed by the addition or removal of that identity. Mariol: Porto Rican, New Yorker; June: Communist, strong; Lenny: would call himself an artist, even though he isn't (lack of identity).
Jessica: June wouldn't have really her own identity, but has to focus on so much else (like her brother Lenny), as, Bryan observes, he has no job/role/power.
Cassie: Marisol defines herself by what she does: educated, "edits", etc.
6:55: Set designer Eric Murto shows up.
Bryan: Identity gets jerked around/away around revolution. Look at Iraq. Doctors live next to garbage men. Marisol has put her life into structures (religious, racial, geographical). Those get ripped away... with the world becoming vague, ripped, so does groups and people.
As designers, actors: what would happen if our structural equivalents get jerked away... is there any humanity left under abstract concepts with so many ties to belief and identity?
Assignment for today was for actors to bring in symbols of spirituality. These things have a tie to identity, and thus power.
7:00: Cassie: brings in a crucifix with palm leaves behind it, a jar of shells and sea glass from the Oregon coast ("icon"), collections of angel image. Does not mean much, but present in childhood.
Derek: Relates to things from his past, not necessarily "present" spirituality. Boundary waters journal from high school. Tapes from childhood where Derek would tell stories and sing, entertaining for him... religious themes sometimes. Mormons came by Derek's house and left pamphlet. Not part of belief system, but found it interesting.
Amy: Necklace with serenity prayer on it, from South Africa. Serenity prayer is linked to Christian upbringing. Great faith in life. Also brought a fairy ear cuff. Feels strongly for Ireland, nature, earth, trees. Buddha mask... likes principles from the Buddhist...centered.
Heather: Doesn't own dove. :) Dove signifies the Christ, the baptism of Christ. Cross... crucification of Christ, other side of baptism. Bible... confusing, contradictory, hard to believe, beautiful.
7:10: Also about the bible: are we fake? are we pupptets? All religions comes to these same questions and sources. Good questions.
Jessica: Book, the Tao of Pooh. Very sweet way of going about itself. Grew up with cross, etc. Hard to answer trying to stray away from childhood icons. Significant: waking up in the morning.
Tyler: Mennonite, "firmly." Menno. hymnal. Not the words in book, but the act of singing it. Visceral reaction to the act of singing. Correspondence from friends since the beginning of college. Meaningful in study of religion: relationships with others, friends. "Major part of the Gospel." That's what gives power. Can't sign the Menno hymnal with just one person. "Name the Powers." Represents how he views knowledge, sees learning as spiritual experience.
Bryan: Story about vampires, leads to cross as symbol of power, even by crossing fingers. Box of letters from friends, family, etc. Significance in relationships. Collections of rocks/sand... piece of temple of the sun in china.
These icons have *specific* identity, and the power of meaning, to the holder.
7:20: Other assignment: bring pictures of limbo/hell. Where we lose power, identity, just a soul in torment. Cassie plays base static. Lots of printed photos... showing; anonymity (in nowhere AND in cities/crowds); barren, industrial decay; situations: 600-800 thousand humans are traffic each year, mostly women and children under 5, "legal in some places."
7:30: More images. Typical image of hell (burning man), but as a state of confusion. Beautiful girl, pushing a cart with a sign "Will model for food". Fake smile, fake attitude. Pictures of hallucinating, overusing drugs and loss of reality. Maybe worse to visualize worse and not know reality than to burn forever. Three photographs from South Africa. Graveyard of stones, representing tombstones of babies. Burying siblings, death of kin.
7:40: Derek journaled all about Jenny and Limbo in Act II. All anonymity, blaming the problems of the world on the ones we are able to laugh at and ignore, faceless. Talks about being a Jerry Springer, and what we put these people through, and how we demean them on air, in front of the world, and blame our problems on them, is hell.
Cassie talks about the blinking "12:00": disorienting, stripping of knowledge (where am I in time?). Static of a radio: sensory version of that loss.
7:45: Wide view of hell: not one version, compared to one another, same is true for characters. Bryan's hell: shows scene from Jacob's ladder.
Also, updating our flickr as we speak.
7:55: Jacob's ladder: Reality from NY and flashbacks from Vietnam all merging into one for character. Themes from the former infiltrate the reality of the ladder. Loses identity, even in "normal" things, like doctor's files. NY changes all around him.
8:00: That's a wrap, they're leaving to go an work scene 6. Flickr uploading is going slow, but I'll put on a slideshow link as soon as I can.
Hope you enjoyed that, I sure did.
6:40: Those in attendance: Bryan (director), Cassie (Marisol), Derek (Lenny), Amy (Angel), Heather (Woman in Furs), Jessica (June) and Tyler (Man with Golf Club).
6:41: Bryan gives Amy a hypothetical: Amy is "speed-dating", and asked "Tell me about yourself". Dude is gorgeous. "Do I mention the 11th toe?"
- Genuine country bumpkin
- Children trust me
Derek:
- Anxious
- Quirky
- Indecisive
Heather: - Christian, procrastinator, hates to clean
Tyler: - Easy going, a GC student, theater
Jessica: - Il Forno manager, don't eat there, accepting, wants to be involved in film
Cassie: - Loves to act, talking about ideas, experiencing outdoors in new ways
Feelings about this question: how can you boil yourself down to just three answers?
6:45: Another scenario: You're on a desert island, transported immediately, surrounded by strangers.Why do you say?... "Your name" Stunted silence.
What if you have to come up with three responses to this? Derek: Let them know that I am peacful (e.g., don't get killed). Heather: "Not very bright, complicated married person." Amy: "Lover, fighter, but peaceful."
Bryan: Qualities of identity. Some are motives, some are groups (e.g. students). Groups of people that give us a sense of identity. Marisol: about identity and lack of it, and how power is granted/removed by the addition or removal of that identity. Mariol: Porto Rican, New Yorker; June: Communist, strong; Lenny: would call himself an artist, even though he isn't (lack of identity).
Jessica: June wouldn't have really her own identity, but has to focus on so much else (like her brother Lenny), as, Bryan observes, he has no job/role/power.
Cassie: Marisol defines herself by what she does: educated, "edits", etc.
6:55: Set designer Eric Murto shows up.
Bryan: Identity gets jerked around/away around revolution. Look at Iraq. Doctors live next to garbage men. Marisol has put her life into structures (religious, racial, geographical). Those get ripped away... with the world becoming vague, ripped, so does groups and people.
As designers, actors: what would happen if our structural equivalents get jerked away... is there any humanity left under abstract concepts with so many ties to belief and identity?
Assignment for today was for actors to bring in symbols of spirituality. These things have a tie to identity, and thus power.
7:00: Cassie: brings in a crucifix with palm leaves behind it, a jar of shells and sea glass from the Oregon coast ("icon"), collections of angel image. Does not mean much, but present in childhood.
Derek: Relates to things from his past, not necessarily "present" spirituality. Boundary waters journal from high school. Tapes from childhood where Derek would tell stories and sing, entertaining for him... religious themes sometimes. Mormons came by Derek's house and left pamphlet. Not part of belief system, but found it interesting.
Amy: Necklace with serenity prayer on it, from South Africa. Serenity prayer is linked to Christian upbringing. Great faith in life. Also brought a fairy ear cuff. Feels strongly for Ireland, nature, earth, trees. Buddha mask... likes principles from the Buddhist...centered.
Heather: Doesn't own dove. :) Dove signifies the Christ, the baptism of Christ. Cross... crucification of Christ, other side of baptism. Bible... confusing, contradictory, hard to believe, beautiful.
7:10: Also about the bible: are we fake? are we pupptets? All religions comes to these same questions and sources. Good questions.
Jessica: Book, the Tao of Pooh. Very sweet way of going about itself. Grew up with cross, etc. Hard to answer trying to stray away from childhood icons. Significant: waking up in the morning.
Tyler: Mennonite, "firmly." Menno. hymnal. Not the words in book, but the act of singing it. Visceral reaction to the act of singing. Correspondence from friends since the beginning of college. Meaningful in study of religion: relationships with others, friends. "Major part of the Gospel." That's what gives power. Can't sign the Menno hymnal with just one person. "Name the Powers." Represents how he views knowledge, sees learning as spiritual experience.
Bryan: Story about vampires, leads to cross as symbol of power, even by crossing fingers. Box of letters from friends, family, etc. Significance in relationships. Collections of rocks/sand... piece of temple of the sun in china.
These icons have *specific* identity, and the power of meaning, to the holder.
7:20: Other assignment: bring pictures of limbo/hell. Where we lose power, identity, just a soul in torment. Cassie plays base static. Lots of printed photos... showing; anonymity (in nowhere AND in cities/crowds); barren, industrial decay; situations: 600-800 thousand humans are traffic each year, mostly women and children under 5, "legal in some places."
7:30: More images. Typical image of hell (burning man), but as a state of confusion. Beautiful girl, pushing a cart with a sign "Will model for food". Fake smile, fake attitude. Pictures of hallucinating, overusing drugs and loss of reality. Maybe worse to visualize worse and not know reality than to burn forever. Three photographs from South Africa. Graveyard of stones, representing tombstones of babies. Burying siblings, death of kin.
7:40: Derek journaled all about Jenny and Limbo in Act II. All anonymity, blaming the problems of the world on the ones we are able to laugh at and ignore, faceless. Talks about being a Jerry Springer, and what we put these people through, and how we demean them on air, in front of the world, and blame our problems on them, is hell.Cassie talks about the blinking "12:00": disorienting, stripping of knowledge (where am I in time?). Static of a radio: sensory version of that loss.
7:45: Wide view of hell: not one version, compared to one another, same is true for characters. Bryan's hell: shows scene from Jacob's ladder.
Also, updating our flickr as we speak.
7:55: Jacob's ladder: Reality from NY and flashbacks from Vietnam all merging into one for character. Themes from the former infiltrate the reality of the ladder. Loses identity, even in "normal" things, like doctor's files. NY changes all around him.
8:00: That's a wrap, they're leaving to go an work scene 6. Flickr uploading is going slow, but I'll put on a slideshow link as soon as I can.
Hope you enjoyed that, I sure did.
I love this post -- this blog itself is also shaping up to be an interesting glimpse into the insides of the theatre process. Having been through the process, it's familiar to me, but I would think that most people aren't very familiar with it. I wonder how many theatre's have blogs for their productions??