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Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Theatre 101: Break A Leg...The Launching of a Play
You guys...it's ALMOST HERE! The play launches on Thursday and we're getting serious. We have dress rehearsals all week. The first one was last night. For the first time we're working on an actual stage. Since we do the dinner theatre at our church we have to bring in risers and everything. All the rehearsals have been done on the floor with tape to indicate where walls and exits will be. We've also
been using regular plastic chairs to stand in for couches and other set pieces. The stage lights are being hung. It is a very different feel when you're suddenly a few feet above the ground and looking into actual (blinding) stage lights. You can't see much of anything past the stage and you suddenly have to worry about falling off.
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| Stage is up, walls still to come |
We also got to wear our actual costumes for the first time. That's always different. This is an 1890s Western Melodrama. My character is April May June, noted opera singer and hat connoisseur. As the description would indicate I get to wear a lot of outrageous hats and I get to sing (badly for the most part). My costume is big, the hats are bigger...and so is my hair. The picture below is very tame compared to what it looked like after the "teasing" process. I looked like the Bride of Frankenstein or someone who'd touched a live wire and gotten electrocuted.
As this stage of a play (no pun intended) everything
changes. Working with the actual set and costumes means we have to relearn a lot of things
because what worked
when while wearing jeans often doesn’t when replaced by a voluminous skirt. The couch isn't quite where you imagined it would go so blocking changes. You tend to forget all your lines because now you're more worried about your hat staying on. (Two of mine slid off.) One of the men literally almost lost his pants because they were too big.
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| Check out this do! |
Dress rehearsals
have a reputation for being awful. It’s kind of a thing in the theatre and a
lot of people actually believe a terrible dress rehearsal means the actual show
will be great! Don’t ask me why, but it’s true.
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I love these theatre posts. They bring back so many memories! One of my favorites took place during a rehearsal for "Don't Drink the Water." One guy made what many would have considered a rather inappropriate comment as we were carrying a cot off of the stage. However, we were really good friends and his comment did exactly what he intended - it made me laugh. We both had to choke back giggles every time we repeated that scene for a live audience!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that your show will be fabulous. BREAK A LEG!