Production Journal

We had auditions on Day 1, which consisted of some cold script readings, learning parts of an ensemble song, and doing some dancing with Kirsten Geier, our choreographer. Everyone was wonderful! Casting that evening was tough because of all the talent we had to juggle around. Like those Flying Karamazov Bowler guys. Hahahm.

Today, Day 2, we started blocking. Blocking is the process in which we all get told where to stand or move on the stage while we say certain lines. Tedious, perhaps, one might call it. But sometimes it's fun, too. Hopefully we'll be done with that pretty soon.

We played a drama game today called "Wax Museum". Every person but one pretends as if they're a statue, and there is one "curator" or "caretaker" who prowls about amongst them. The statues' goal is to tag the caretaker without being seen, and the caretaker's goal is to catch the statues moving. We played in the dark, and had loads of fun.

The group vibe is already strong, with Jesse Howard, our director and "Drama Man", helping us stay focused with metaphors like "Summerstage is the complete breakfast" and "don't we all want to be like the Mariners?" Jesse likes the Mariners.

Jesse continues to tell stories, and many "inside jokes" of Summerstage are created every day.

Kirsten is in the rehearsal studio room working out some choreography for "Ya Never Know" that she's about to teach to the ensemble. The choreography for "Downtown" ended up looking so great yesterday. Everyone does a synchronized "walking" part in the slow section of the song that gave Jesse and I, watching it for the first time, the chills. it made Jesse teary, he said. And that's a really good thing.

Wow, these people keep sounding better and better. He just put the guys and girls together, in a chord progression that's really powerful. Anyway, enough about the cool singing. Except: that is one high high part.

We're now more than halfway (ha) done with blocking! We have the majority of the plant stuff to block, though; it's only just on Pod 3 in the scene we just blocked. The plant stuff gets more and more complicated as it gets bigger - it's operated from inside by Quinn (or Mr. T or just T) now. It's amazing that he fits inside; it almost looks that it's too small, but hey, he does it. He says it's starting to smell like just him, now. Eau de Marinated Quinn.

We all ate lunch together today - it's one of the best parts of the experience, when we all get to hang out without being, say, blocking at the same time. Many of us got Thai, some went to World Wrapps, and some to Larry's Market. We all got takeout and came back to eat in the On The Boards lobby. Quinn told the story of his car and how he mushed it to bits before it stopped working. He dented in the back end without breaking the glass. Now that's talent. Or luck. But he tells us we're not supposed to tell that he told us about these experiences, for fear that he's "a bad influence". But I think not. Jesse's told us much worse. Hahaha.

Well, I think I've run out of things to say for the moment.

Nope: he just put together everybody's harmony and it sounds FREAKING AWESOME!!! Plus the Audreys sound wonderful. Also freaking awesome. Just everyone coordinated together is so beautiful.

In any case, what strikes me the most about summerstage is how the days seem like weeks. Not because they're boring by any means, but because so much happens!! You can read some of the things Sarah talked about, all happening in one day... it's crazy. Today at around 11:30 I realized that even though I had done seemingly about two days worth of work on the play it wasn't even time for lunch yet. On the other hand, it's hard to believe we're already more than a sixth of the way through with summerstage!

The tech side of things are really starting to roll. Alexis and Eliana are really trucking with the costume design, as are Alex and Morgan with props. I got the set design people started today, showing them what is being built; their job is to decorate the set, with everything from paint to flowers to signs. I started going through the script to find all of the different lighting necessities in preparation for a full light design.

My other job besides "Total Eclipse" is webmaster, so I hope you like the web site, and this very production journal! Me, Mr. T, and Sarah have been taking pictures of rehearsal, which will appear periodically as entries get added.

As an actor and singer I continue to thrill at the opportunity to work with this much talent. Behind me right now I can hear the full glory of "Downtown" starting to form. The Alto's had a small victory a few minutes ago, and as they hit the note their connectedness seemed to spread across the room.

Over the weekend, set building and painting took place at the Arkin household. Next weekend we'll load the set in, and paint some touch-ups here in the theatre.

Wow! Sam and Winslow sound great!

Right now, the "Betsy"s (short for "Backup Trio Chorus") are rehearsing the dances we've learned so far. Today, Molly and I taught the rest of the Betsy's the "Dentist!" dance, which looks so, incredibly awesome! They're doing so well, and Molly and I are so excited to see other people perform our choreography! We were freaking out so much when we first watched them do it without us. Whoohoo!

We've already had our first run-throughs, which Jesse put as "not as big of a train-wreck" than he had expected.

We learned the end Chorus part of the finale today and it sounds so amazing. It's another one of those many-harmony-d songs. Yesterday, the Betsy's and Ronnettes had extra rehearsal (as we will today) and we learned "You Never Know," which (as a second Soprano in that song) is very hard. Each part is quite different.