These past few weeks have been a whirlwind. From the beginning of the Hairspray rehearsal process, my team and I have had a goal to dedicate our final 2 weeks of rehearsal (before finals, spring break, and tech) to full run throughs. We stuck to our goal (for the most part) but the process has been so much more liberating/rewarding/beneficial than I could have ever imagined at the beginning of the quarter.
Watching run throughs is an interesting thing. There’s a lot happening for the first time—actors have to piece together transitions, blocking and choreography, and moment to moment work, all while being off book, which is pretty scary in itself. On the other side of the table, my creative team and I are finally watching the show in its entirety, which means I’m franticly writing lists of every scene and formation and joke that needs detailing or a complete overhaul, while also experiencing the delight of seeing a SHOW, a real, tangible story, coming to life onstage. There’s a lot of learning and reflection that is required of everyone in the rehearsal room, but watching the show evolve from run to run has been so refreshing and exciting.
My Tracy and Amber! And look at those GESTURES!!! Definitely a 10
Ultimately, I think approaching these weeks as being about progress rather than perfection has been very powerful. Especially during our final week of run throughs, I watched so much about the show transform before my eyes. The one day that surprised me the most was when we decided to go back to the basics, letting go of a run in order to talk about character, physicality, and the world of the show we have been creating. My actors delved into their characters, relationships onstage, and back stories. We played Hot Seat, where actors sat in the middle of the circle as their characters and answered question after question about themselves. Everyone showed up in costumes from home that made them feel most like their character (which was adorable and created so much energy in the room). We worked on gestures and started solidifying a language around movement and commitment that could be applied to every scene (“You’re giving me a 4, BUT I WANT A 9”). Every moment was elevated to a new degree—for example, did you know that the party at Motormouth’s record shop is for Zeke’s 17th birthday which Seaweed totally crashes when he invites his new friends to join? Don’t worry, my actors will show you. There’s a party planner and DRAMA and it is such a joy to watch. This idea of letting the actors own what they have created, take care of the audience members, and explore the world they have built has been so much fun to be a part of.
The best part of all is that we had a lot of fun and the work had very real results onstage. I left rehearsals feeling so refreshed, watching my actors breathe new life into the story that we’ve been working on for 10 weeks now. Taking the time to re-center ourselves allowed all of us to stop “going through the motions.” Our final run through of the quarter was incredible because of it. As cheesy as it sounds, theatre magic never fails.
Now, it’s all about switching gears. Next week while my actors are hopefully spending lots of time sleeping or having fun with family and friends during their spring break, the production team and I will be getting everything ready for tech. The set will arrive on Monday, and then it will be a matter of building, working transitions, and giving the designers as much time in the space as they can get before the craziness of actual tech begins.
Until then, I’m treating this finals week like my spring break, catching up on sleep, taking some time for myself, and preparing for all that is ahead! My actors have worked so hard over the last 10 weeks, and I am so excited to see how the show will continue to evolve and grow in this next phase of the production process.