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May 09, 2008 Taking the MinutesJules Corriere - Franklin County, Georgia We had a large cast rehearsal today, and we started to gel together in the first stages of that beautiful thing known as ensemble. The many separate individuals merging to act as one organism. People applauding each other when things looked great, laughing when things were funny, and encouraging when things went, well, not perfectly. All of these acts are signs of a deep listening that is starting to take place. They are not just saying their lines and listening for their cues- they are listening to the pieces, listening and reacting to each other. It makes for really good theater, and it makes for even better community. Folks have gotten full scripts this week, instead of just their sides, and they are coming to understand the full scope of the play and their role within it. We've moved from table work to full out big staging, and the pieces are starting to dance. Pretty soon, the actors will be dancing them on their own, but Richard tonight was really leading this waltz of words and movement and expression. It's coming to life before our eyes, in a space I don't think any of us, including Richard and myself, have moved in before. Dynamic is a word I've used before. After tonight, I'll have to add elegant. It's easy to "sweep" through the space. One cast member was so inspired by a rehearsal we had this weekend, that he went home and wrote a song. It's got a real regional feel, it feels very of the place. good song. H simplye wrote it in response to the scene and the activity we were doing in it, and the feelings and inspiration that participation in the scene brought up for him. He's a big talent, but I don't think he knows it. He's come up to us a few times with some really stellar notions about scenes, and how to add to the business. This man is a director. He thinks he's just passing on ideas, but they are ideas of a director. big talent. Other big talents are emerging everywhere, and a sense of fun and play must be present, because other cast members have been showing up, even on nights they aren't rehearsing, just to see what's going on. Rehearsal attendance is getting better, too. Judy and Genny published a newsletter for the cast this week, to address some of the questions that were coming in, to cover areas such as costumes, parking, rehearsals (and the importance of coming on time or calling if lateness is anticipated.) They included all necessary phone numbers. Information on family discount tickets, and discounted ads for cast and crew members, for the program. Also, they gave information about the play in general, including the production team and how this was all put together. Vivian was there tonight as always. She's the go-to person I've written about before. She's assembled a stage management team of four members, and they are on the spot for everything from being on book, to taking props and costumes notes to taking down staging. Vivian said, business person that she is, "Oh, you mean take the minutes" when we told her the basic idea of what she needed to do as a stage manager- take notes and write down and record all the action. She's amazing, as is Barbara, Michelle, Cindy and also Kathy- our props person. There have been at least two stage managers present each night, and on some big nights, as many as all four of them there to assist. Vivian's fabulous approach: the work all needs to get done, but I don't need to be the only one doing it. I just dig her so much. One of the stories in the play is about her grandmother, who was a kind of a medicine woman, or healer. Vivian has some of that in her, too. She sure knows how to remedy any situation that arises. You'll hear her name a lot as the weeks continue, I'm sure. Well, it's late. More later. We're moving right along.
May 07, 2008 RaceRichard Geer - Franklin County, Georgia When we worked with a project on the West Side of Chicago, the play had one role for one white woman, and we would find someone and she would drop out. And we'd find another, same thing. Again and again. Both Jules and our white stage manager eventually played the role, we couldn't keep it filled. In most of our projects, the situation is reversed and the project needs black cast members. That's the situation here.
Roads Richard Geer - Franklin County, Georgia Roads instead of stages. Misty Hayes is a woman in her thirties living with muscular dystrophy. For two years she has been in Swamp Gravy, and is the only cast member in a wheelchair. She can only perform in two places in the theater, neither particularly prominent. She can't climb up the levels to the tops of the stages. Down in Colquitt, Misty's presence is helping Swamp Gravy toward a stage re-design that will be handicapped accessible. This last year, her story was featured in the play REUNION. In that play we rigged temporary ramps to get Misty up to the mainstage. But here in Franklin County, Misty's stage is already built.
Who Makes the Moon Shine? Richard Geer - Franklin County, Georgia It's about conquering your fear, the new community performer said. He's a guy in his fifties, hasn't been onstage much if any, but he's channeling the moonshiner Leland. It's his story. He is the son of a moonshiner who help his dad with the moonshining and with his other work, which was cleaning out chicken houses. "My dad would clean out the bottom level and I'd clean out the top." Every morning he watched his dad take a drink before going to work. When it was time for the boy to go to school he did just like his dad, went to the jug, poured some in, mixed it with water and slugged it back. He immediately through up but managed to get to the bus, climbed on board and passed out "cold as a cucumber." His dad had to come get him from school and take him home drunk on his first day of school. And then he and his dad busted up 15 gallons of liquor and both of them quit drinking. His dad went back to it after a while, but that was the end for the kid.
Flow with Hogs Richard Geer - Franklin County, Georgia I was letting my blogs stack up, and some were getting out of date. So I'm publishing all of them at once and catching up. Mother and daughter. Her name is Leslie, she is Carrie. It was Leslie's rehearsal tonight but Carrie came. Leslie is thirty something, pretty, short hair, generous in her proportions. Carrie is eleven and a half, just turning toward young womanhood, pretty, as well. Mother and daughter are both pert. They make me sit up straight and engage fully.
Life Size Fisher Price Jules Corriere - Franklin County, Georgia We did three of our really big scenes last night. The ones where we incorporate large numbers of people all throughout the space. This is a huge space, probably the biggest we’ve worked in, so there’s a lot of real estate to move these actors around on. I used to have these Fisher Price toys as a kid, my brothers and I did. We had the Fisher Price Castle, the airport, the garage. (I never had the barn, though, and I always wanted it.) And there were the Fisher Price Little People, they looked tiny compared with the size of the playsets, and we’d move the Little People around inside the castle and airport and garage. We’d play for hours with the Little People, making up little storylines for them to live out inside of the playsets. I laughed a little last night as I was directing folks to go to one area, then the next, and standing in for some other actors, just having a ball. I realized I don’t think I’ve ever gotten out of playing like I did. Directing and writing is just a grown-up version of Fisher Price. Each theater is like one of the other play sets. And the great thing about these play sets, is that I’m one of the Little People now, moving around inside of the playset, and the other people are moving around on their own, too. It’s all of our imaginations coming alive inside the playsets. That sense of fun and play makes it a joy to keep coming back to work. (Or is that play? I like that.) I love going to play each day. “Bye, honey, I’m going to play now.” How was your day, dear? “Oh, you know the usual. I played for 8 hours, and came home and cooked dinner.” “Have a good day at play.” Now, playing can be hard. If you’re missing certain pieces, if other people don’t want to play nice with you, or if something breaks. That can be hard stuff. Even as an adult. I want to remember now to bring that same sense of imagination I had as a child to such situations. Because as an adult, the same things happen. How did I resolve it as a kid? A little imagination to fix things that are broken. Getting my brothers and sisters to help me look for the missing pieces. Maybe an adult, every once in a while, reminding me to play nice. A glass of milk and some Oreos isn’t too bad a solution, either. Hm. It worked when I was younger. Too bad those simple solutions are forgotten, around the same time we forget how to play. They’re not bad tools for resolution. And if getting your brothers and sisters to help you doesn’t work out, never underestimate the power of sharing a glass of milk and some oreos.
May 06, 2008 Will we march?Jules Corriere - Franklin County, Georgia The final scene in the play here deals with a March. It is a march and a call to action, it is a parallel story of another scene, in Act I, in which the Mill Hill and its people are a victim of urban renewal. The Mill Hill folks are dispersed, and the community is very much lost. Some time later, urban renewal came to another neighborhood, a predominantly black neighborhood. But this neighborhood found a way, even after being displaced, to stay together. Churches came together, along with a café, to hold school classes for kids during the week. They had a center, I think it was a gym, where people came together and played and had fellowship. And some hard things happened. They felt encroached upon again, but instead of dispersing, and instead of resorting to violence, as was happening elsewhere in the US at this time, the community drew up a list of demands and marched it to City Hall. Heather wrote a brilliant, powerful song for this moment. Those are some of the words. Yeah, I know. She’s good, as I’ve been telling you. The woman who was to sing the solo for this song, along with her son, who played a key role in the scene, and her other daughter, dropped from the show yesterday. Their schedules for the rehearsal and their schedules for real life just couldn’t come together. I’m feeling a bit of despair. We found out just about 2 hours before our rehearsal for this big scene was to begin. As 5:00 approached, all the other cast members in the scene showed up, but there was no principals. And nobody to represent the community in the march. We’re together trying to solve this. What was important about this moment, is that no one even suggested that we rewrite it or remove it, or do it some other way. Mary Ann turned to us and said “We have to have this scene, It’s about who we are.” Victoria started asking smart questions like, “If it’s too hard for them to get to rehearsal, can we bring rehearsal to them?” Gas prices here are $3.53 per gallon, and this is a region that has a large population of people right on the line of minimum wage. Tough times all around. Kathy mentioned some people who she just saw in “Seusical” who could do the role, but could not remember their names. Cindy went out to her car and got the program, because her child was in the production, I believe. Everyoen was working together to solve it as Richard and I watched. Then, about 39 minutes into what was supposed to be this rehearsal, in walks Lynetta and Bobby. Bobby is not cast in this scene, but arrived an hour early for his scene, “Ahead of ht Times”. Lynetta got the time wrong for her rehearsal, thought it was at 6:00, it was at 5:00, and she would have been early. Bobby agrees to take the role that was dropped by the other young man. Lynetta reads the role of the woman—she’s 17 but has a much older soul. Spirits in the room are lifted. We have a rehearsal, we have a scene, and we’ve got the beginnings of connections. They both said they were planning on recruiting down in Goose Hollow after their rehearsal. They understand, they need others with them to make the march make sense. So do the other cast members in the scene. They’re all working at different ends to make a solution. This community continues to lift me. Oh, and by the way, did I mention I had some green tea in an alternative health store that has been there for about 15 years? Shelves stocked with herbs, teas, alternative medicines, and a library with books by Carlos Casteneda, Carolyn Myss, Wayne Dyer, etc.etc. They also have free wireless. And a meditation room. This community continues to lift me. Cool.
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