Republic County Rehearsal
On Monday nights I have math class until 7:20 pm, so I get to rehearsal late. I am playing the axe murderer Lizzie Borden, but mostly what I do is scream in people's faces and fall down. Yep, every scene I am in is an elaborate fight scene. I've done stage combat before, but this is in a much smaller theater in a much closer proximity. Also, most of my experience with stage fighting has been in slapstick situations (I've even used an actual slap stick), so this has been a bit more challenging. One of my falls is a blind tumble backwards over another actress.
When I got to rehearsal tonight Act I was in full swing, and I had already missed my first two fight scenes. (Damn you, math class!) Luckily, we spent the rest of the rehearsal dedicated to running the fight scenes. It was probably the first fight rehearsal that was fun the entire time. I think we are getting more comfortable and less afraid that we are gonna smack each other in the face. Well... here's the thing: the other day, I accidentally DID smack an actress in the face. I was trying to fake a punch, open my hand to smack her hand, and then reform my hand into a fist in one swell super-move of awesomeness. Unfortunately, instead of thinking about where her hand was, I was worried about opening and closing my fist correctly and I totally swatted her on the end of the nose. She said it didn't hurt, but her eyes were watering, so it probably stung something fierce. Anyway, I think we all realized that even if someone does get hurt there isn't too much opportunity for them to get hurt severely, so we are probably worried about nothing. This actually seems to be making things safer too. Yay!
In all, it was both a productive and fun rehearsal. I spent lots of time figuring out new ways to scream and yell crazily, which definitely had its toll on my voice, but it was worth it.
When I got to rehearsal tonight Act I was in full swing, and I had already missed my first two fight scenes. (Damn you, math class!) Luckily, we spent the rest of the rehearsal dedicated to running the fight scenes. It was probably the first fight rehearsal that was fun the entire time. I think we are getting more comfortable and less afraid that we are gonna smack each other in the face. Well... here's the thing: the other day, I accidentally DID smack an actress in the face. I was trying to fake a punch, open my hand to smack her hand, and then reform my hand into a fist in one swell super-move of awesomeness. Unfortunately, instead of thinking about where her hand was, I was worried about opening and closing my fist correctly and I totally swatted her on the end of the nose. She said it didn't hurt, but her eyes were watering, so it probably stung something fierce. Anyway, I think we all realized that even if someone does get hurt there isn't too much opportunity for them to get hurt severely, so we are probably worried about nothing. This actually seems to be making things safer too. Yay!
In all, it was both a productive and fun rehearsal. I spent lots of time figuring out new ways to scream and yell crazily, which definitely had its toll on my voice, but it was worth it.