The Coat of Arms in Process

Photoshop versions by Mary Hickox.

Paint elevations by Dustin.

Painted by Kayla, Mary, Clara, and Dave.

Almost done. One more layer of distressing to go!

A Script Without Words

How do you take notes when there is no script and we keep changing things every day?

Stage Manager, Mary Wildsmith's method.

Great article in the Sunday paper of the show hot off the press:
http://www.cdispatch.com/lifestyles/article.asp?aid=15812

Thanks, Jan Swoope!

Now if we could only discover our ending!

Kali

The Week of Decisions

This is always the tricky part in any theatrical process. How do we make decisions about what to keep and in what order? How can we make these actions repeatable while still finding the joy and newness that we found while playing and improvising?

 

Our newest idea is to have the Court Jester (played above by Kayla) to guide the audience through the story, so that even when things get very melodramatic and heavy, she can remind us of the fun and connection to the audience.

We are also staging with a lot of fabric - it becomes evil powers, a wedding veil, babies, time passing, a wall. This week we are having to work out technicalities with such an unpredictable element so that we are safe, times to music, and still feel free to play out whatever is happening.

Decisions, here we come!

Ensemble Costume Design!

Today we figured out costumes to support our masks and the story we are creating! After agreeing on the palette for our world, Joseph (costume designer), Casey (assistant costume designer), myself (director) and Mary (the stage-manager) pulled a few things for each character. When that person came in for their fitting and tried something on, they could say "Hate" and then that thing would automatically be thrown out. They only had this veto power once and no one every used it. From there we would all rate the costume 1-10 according to character, world, story, and support for and movement in the mask. If we all rated a 7 or higher we used that costume as our base. If not, we went back to the shop and tried something new. Here is what we came up with:

The Queen

 

 

The Duke

The Old Lady

The Royal Daughters

The Prince

The Town's  Protector

The Dutchess & Town Gossip

The Sorceress Sisters

The Town Drunk

The Jester & Knight

The Awesome Stage Manager, Mary Wildsmith

New Vocabulary

At the end of the nights this week we have started to use the phrase "LOCKING IT IN" which allows us to all be on the same page about which discoveries we definitely want to keep as part of the piece we are creating. This way we can start to build around those things and accumulate rather than always starting from scratch. Some of the things that we "locked in" the past couple nights were: 3 pieces of instrumental music that really felt like they belonged in the world of our piece, using the wheelchair that Paige has been playing in since she hurt her foot, two towers, using the space in the round, using characters magical powers to tell the story, the daughters splitting up as an important moment. As the process goes on, we can open the door to these rooms that we have locked in and go deeper into them in order to fill out our piece.


After we say what is "locked in" we ask ourselves what we want to be locked in soon. What we are wanting to know. For example, last night people said that they wanted to use their props and that they wanted to find out more about the characters that are the townspeople. This way, I know how to better structure rehearsal for the next day.

Here are some other terms that we have been using - feel free to steal them!

PROCESS

• POPCORN - A quick idea that came from playing, observing, or marinating overnight.
• WHAT IF... - A way to build on an idea or get us thinking outside of the box we might be in. During any exercise or improvisation some can chime in with a what if.
• THIS REMINDS ME OF... - A way to connect what we are doing to other exercises or real life experiences.
• ANYBODY, ANYBODY - A prompt to get people to say "This reminds me of..." or "What if"  
• SOMEBODY ELSE - Talking with someone outside of our process about what our play/process is like and bringing that conversation back to the ensemble.
• VERSUS - Ways to polarize and describe our world. ie) dark vs. light, chaos, vs. order, isolation vs. community, innocence vs. guilt. We then play with these things physically in mask.
• PARKBENCH - A process of visualizing the story or a scene in our imagination either as individuals or as a group. And then popcorning one image out loud at a time while everyone shifts their own picture to include that image.
• TABLEAU - A frozen picture of an event or moment in the story.
• ENCOURAGE DYNAMIC RATHER THAN DETAIL - Starting to simplify and use bigger brush strokes within our story where we focus on the dynamic or push and pull between two characters rather than a he said/she said way of thinking.

WORKING IN THE MASKS

• WAXWORKS - Sculpting another persons body into a full mask character.
• BODY ATTITUDE - One shape that a character holds themselves in physical.
• PITCH - The amount of tension a character has in their body.
• RHYTHM - The pattern in which a character walks.
• VOLUME - The amount of space a character takes up with their body 
• STEPPING ONE MONTH AT A TIME - Thinking and moving in a way where every step is one month or even one year in order to move in suspended time and at a higher volume with one intention.
• CHARACTER MATRIX - Every character has a limited physical vocabulary of their own to choose from which includes: A prop, 3 ways to sit, three ways/shapes to stand and walking with each one, a piece of music, a superpower gesture & reaction to the effect.
• ANGLES OF THE HEAD - 3 ways to look out of the mask at things by just moving the neck.
• IN THE SPIRIT OF THE CLAPPING GAME - Including the audience as if they want you to do something or as if they hold the secret.
• LOOK, SEE, GO - Looking toward something, inhaling to absorb/let it effect you, and then moving toward it with that reaction playing out
• PLUNGE - Each person trying on and playing with a lot of different masks in a short time.
• THINK WITH YOUR HANDS - Showing us just what you are thinking, feeling, being effected by just by isolating your movement to your hands.
• BLANK CANVAS - A "neutral" body position where anything is possible.

I will keep adding more new ways of talking about things to this post as we go!

Thanks!
Kali

I was out sick today in the germ proof booth so I observed.

Now that our detailed background has been established Kali asked us to throw the details away and look at the dynamics between characters. We began to lock in the for-sure things such as the Two Towers, Dustin vs Lavosha, Paige in wheelchair etc. Everyone played with the ball for the first time, following whoever had it then music was added and it built up to being placed in the world of the play. The ball was energy to some people and to others it was something precious like a baby.

Today was a lot about music. Kali asked everyone to let the music make their bodies move and then switch to letting it dictate the emotions/thoughts of their characters. When the characters/actors were dancing the mood was uplifting and happy, completely opposite to the sullen characters walking around when the music changed their thoughts.

Some characters played with various music and made some interesting scenes such as Bosheca (Brittany) and Buckwheat (Kayla) with their sort of tug of war. The image of Bosheca pulling Buckwheat up the stairs was added to our new image board along with some others.

Here are some possible flags I created for the two towers:

 

- Mary Hickox

An Outside Eye...

When you have a head cold, there's only so much you can do. Sneeze, cough. Watch, listen. Hear. Learn. See the bigger picture in a whole new light.

Tonight I did a lot of observing. I kept an eye on individuals, and on the group as a whole, and let me tell you, a view from the outside can make all the difference in the world.

The first thing I noticed was the energy: boundless energy that seemed to radiate from each performer, bouncing between them, urging the audience to share in its bounty. I knew I felt it when I was out there participating; it was reassuring to find myself, the picture of an outsider, an anonymous member of the audience, grinning from ear to ear watching them. It hits me more and more as this process goes on that, "Wow...I totally get to do this for a living." We're all playing pretend, essentially. Having fun. Allowing an almost childlike creativity take rein. Sharing that with others. And this is our job...how cool is that?

The second thing that really caught my eye tonight was the development of the "townspeople." Before, these were interesting folk who were fun to watch, but perhaps tricky to place within the confines of the story. It seemed to me that most everyone sided either with Dustin's character or LaVosha's, with a few stragglers in between. I was surprised to see the grand majority take their place in the middle when Kali asked to see alliances. It made me view these characters in a different way. Caught in the crossfire, perhaps?

It's also interesting to note the relationships formed amongst the "townspeople." Within their own group were formed subgroups, or "cliques," as I dubbed them. Outcasts Buckwheat and Tommy's character started to stick together. Mildred and Izzy Crane became gossip buddies. We began to see some structure, as well as character development that maybe we weren't fully noticing before. Every character will be crucial to the final plot, and that's becoming more and more clear.

I'm looking very forward to seeing where this goes next. We have the beginnings of an epic story, all that's left is to keep on building. Next we will devise a titillating title for our medieval tale (try saying that ten times fast)!

With much love and cough syrup,
Casey "Spicy Chalupa" Duke

A Story Emerges

As soon as these characters started improvising with one another, we started to understand that there are three generations that have a sorted history of betrayal, magic spells and curses, and hidden secrets:

Some of the polarizations or battles within each character that we are playing with are:

Loyalty vs. Deceit
Chivalrous vs. Cowardly
Light vs. Dark
Attracted to vs. Repulsed by
Love vs. Hate
Hope vs. Fear
confident vs. Insecure
Public vs. Private

We are taking the weekend to marinate and let the gears turn to dive in on Monday with some new ideas and discoveries!

The Set

We understand that in our story there are two opposing forces: Dustin's character and LaVosha's character. They each live in their own tower: the Griffins or the Dragons. Everyone else takes allegiance or is related somehow to one side or the other and there is a third group of town's people that is beginning to rise as well.

Clara gave us some great options for the set today, and it looks like we are going to seize the opportunity to play in the round and go with option #3 below!

Freeing the Mind and Body

All photos by LaSquizzie Kern.

Throughout this process ( as we theatre people would call it), I have had an extremely difficult time learning to NOT think. No, that wasn't a typo, I really just said I have a difficult time learning how to NOT think. I have a tendency to over think things and be intimidated by being "free." Tonight at rehearsal, I had a breakthrough. I was able to relax my body enough to create movements with my mask that I have never been able to create before. I found myself at home in my mask and truly found myself becoming this completely different character. (Other than myself that is.)  After rehearsal, I was so baffled and overwhelmed with the feeling of letting go that I nearly cried. I wasn't wanting to cry because I was upset or disappointed, but because I felt so..... FREE. It was the first time that my knees weren't locked and my shoulders weren't stiff. Tomorrow, I have to work on audition stuff for SETC and I am going to use the energy from rehearsal tonight as I work.

Have and Peaceful and Productive evening... :)

Leah.

Amazing Presence

There are 14 students performing in this project and then some other great folks who are in the room at every rehearsal observing (Professors: Peppy & Lee and Kinsey the Dog), stage-managing & documenting (Mary), photographing (LaSquizzie), focusing on set (Clara), playing with lights (Bronwyn), and sketching/hair (Arianna).

Here are some of Arianna's sketched from tonight:

The Characters

Don, The Traveler played by Chris.

Spicy Chalupa, Daughter #1 played by Casey Duke.

Lady Izza Crane, The Town Gossip played by Mary.

Volora, The Wife played by LaVosha

Mildred/Henry, The Old Lady played by Parker.

Buckwheat, The Town Jester played by Kayla.

The Husband played by Dustin

BosheecaThe Sister Sorceress, played by Brittany.

Daughter #2 played by Leah.

Sir William, The Mayor played by Casey Davis.

The Queen Mother played by Paige

The Orphan played by Tommy.

The Town Drunk, played by Ray.

Officer Knight played by Joseph.

Rehearsal Week 1

The students explored what it was like to exchange a story about a "miracle" to another person and then take on the story that they had just heard as if it was there own and tell it to someone new. Then we told that new story through another perspective. Sometimes this was from the point of view of the dog or the brother or the window in a story. Then they got into groups of 4 or 5 and performed one of these stories without words. They could do these in any space and had to included an entrance, exit, three difference levels, slow motion, 10 seconds of stillness, and a title. It's amazing what kind of creativity can happen within those limitations given 10 minutes to work! Here are some images from what they came up with:

 

"The Ice Breaker"

 "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger"