Hello all,
My name is Joe Alaimo and I am the Front of House Manager for Infamous Commonwealth Theatre. ICT is very excited to have just begun rehearsals for the final production in its 09-10 season. As rehearsals roll on and the weeks leading up to opening night on July 10th get shorter and shorter, we wanted to invite our loyal patrons to check in with us throughout the process. In the weeks to follow, we will be posting blogs from different people on our production team, giving insight into the process from their points of view. It is our hope that this will really give you a chance to see behind the scenes as we prepare to open our next production.
Up first is the director of Escape From Happiness, Genevieve Thompson.
Top 5 of Week 1
Five interesting things I’ve learned during Week 1 of Escape from Happiness rehearsals
5. Coffee is going to be vitally important. It always is and always has been important. But more so. Much more so. This is not a reflection on the actors. They are brilliant and entertaining. This is a purely self-indulgent number 10.
4. Escape from Happiness is not small. After shows like The Grapes of Wrath, Cloud 9 and The Kentucky Cycle, people have come to think of those as regular sized shows. I’ve gotten lots of comments like “Oh, you must be excited to have such a small show to work on!” Newsflash: a ten-person cast with a fight call longer than one typed page, 4 necessary entrances and exits, and pretty much chaos from page 1 til the end — that’s not small.
3. For some reason, when I block, I feel it’s necessary to talk really really loud — sort of like those people who talk really loudly to people who speak a foreign language. Except I talk loudly to actors who understand perfectly well what I’m asking them to do.
2. My utopia would be a world without pauses. I think, from all of my research, that George F. Walker would agree with me. Most actors who have worked with me know my deep disdain for pauses. But this show has NOTHING on my past shows in terms of speed.
1. I seem to think in terms of animals when directing. In the first 3 days of rehearsal, I have asked actors to think of themselves as lions, tigers, hummingbirds, monkeys and monsters. This is surely an odd collection of animals — especially if you count a monster as an animal.
Thanks Gen. Next week we will hear from more people on our technical staff. In the mean time, if you have any comments, feel free to leave them. If you want to hear from someone specifically, let me know.
Filed under: Escape From Happiness
