Well, here it is. The night before
opening. (Ok, so I'm posting it the morning of. We didn't have
internet last night). This week has been really incredible. Not
necessarily fun, or easy, but still amazing none the less.
Lets start with last week. During the
middle of last week we had several visitors to our rehearsal process.
Naturally the sponsors want to come and see what we have been up to
during the week, so several of them came and sat in on our rehearsal.
It was very interesting to watch how this affected the boys. At first
I think it totally threw them. All of a sudden, after four weeks of a
rather intimate rehearsal process, there was this room full of
strangers. After a while though they did relax a bit. I think they
actually sort of got in to performing in front of them. And it was
great practice for this week when they get a full audience. By the
end of it I think they were rather excited about the prospect of
putting this show up now. Then during lunch there was the inevitable
schmooze with the donors. A few of the guys were invited to stay with
us and chat with them about the project. They all did quite well,
frankly they were better at mingling than I often feel when I am at
similar events. Then there was a sort of question and answer panel.
This actually sort of got to me a little bit. I may be a bit
presumptuous here, but it felt kind of dehumanizing. I mean we had
spent weeks building these guys up – treating them like
professionals, trying to give them the respect that they are so often
missing in the rest of their lives – and in come these people who
have no idea what we have been working on, and they begin to ask
questions. Really I think most of them were just incredibly curious
about the project, which I cant blame them for, but it was the way
they would address the guys. I am having a hard time putting it in to
words, but it made me rather angry. It felt like they were spectators
at a zoo, or some sort of freak show, which is so far from the way
that we have been trying to treat all of them that although I know it
was probably innocent it felt a bit offensive. It just rubbed me the
wrong way.
Moving on. We got in to the space on
Friday. And let me tell you (since we cant bring in cameras to take
pictures) the set looks great. Its all brick, and chain link fence
and scaffolding. Very simple, but rather effective. It is always
exciting to get on the set for the first time. And I think for a lot
of the guys Friday was the beginning of the realization that we would
actually be performing soon. I forget how novel this is for all of
them. And I think they forget how normal it is for us some times. I
have had more than one guy comment to me about how he does forget
that this is a job for us, because for them it has a whole other
meaning.
After a very short, but completely
enjoyable weekend, we all hopped back in the car Sunday evening and
headed back out to begin tech. Monday morning starts bright and
early, with everyone in costume looking absolutely stunning. It
really is incredible how good these guys look. Especially because for
five weeks we have seen them wearing nothing but warm ups and sweats,
maybe jeans. And then they show up dressed to the nines in 50s style.
There are of course some issues. A few of the guys really are not
comfortable stepping outside of their personal wardrobe tastes, and
have to be coaxed and bullied in to wearing what they have been
given. But they do. And it is totally worth it. We start working
through the show from the beginning, and make remarkably good time
for a tech rehearsal. Everyone stayed relatively chipper all day, and
there were only minor problems. I think everyone felt really good at
the end of the day.
By day two everyone started flagging.
Or maybe it was only me. No, I think in general things were a bit
bumpier on Tuesday. With few exceptions these guys have never been in
a situation like this, and although they were on the whole great
about having to stop and start and the frequent repeats, they did
start to wear by the second day. I don't think any of them really
realized how tiring the process can be, even just standing around
half the day, so there were some dust ups, but nothing too major. In
fact most of the frustrations seemed to be among the professionals
rather than the prisoners.
Wednesday saw our first EVER full run.
Until Wednesday afternoon we had never even come close to running the
show from beginning to end without stopping. I am not sure we had
ever really run the show straight through even with stopping and
starting. So to be completely honest, I wasn't sure we could do it. I
think the guys are great and are doing some amazing work, but I wasn't
entirely convinced that if someone dropped a line the entire thing
wouldn't just fall to pieces. However, they surprised me. Not only did
we get through the whole show, the guys did a great job of covering
the moments that didn't go as planned. There were some botched scene
changes and some missed lines, but on the whole nothing major. He
show is by no means polished, but at least we have a show!
Now throughout the week we have been
spending much more time with the guys than has been the normal
schedule. For one thing we've been in now four days in a row, rather
than two (the leads have had this schedule from the beginning, but
not us chorus). And for another, the guys have been allowed to have
lunch with us. I think part of it is practicality. There isn't enough
time in our schedule for them to be carted away to have lunch
elsewhere and then brought back. So we have all been picnicking
together in the rehearsal room. And frankly, this has been great fun.
I think it is safe to say that we have all grown really fond of these
guys, so it is nice to get some time to actually chat with them and
have real conversations. Rather than just between scenes and during
tea breaks.
Right, I have to run now, so I don't
have enough time to finish my thoughts. More installments to follow
soon. Off to prison I go!!!
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