Our Schedule for the Remaining Production Process

Notes on the Schedule:

-There are very few changes from the audition packet you received in March…this is the calendar we all signed on for!

-All days listed below are mandatory attendance for all Actors, Management, and Run Crew, unless otherwise noted; No Conflicts/Absences accepted that are not already known

-5/10 is Mother’s Day…Call times remain in effect and mandatory for all.  Any family celebrations should account for your prior commitment to the team here, as times have been posted since March.

-5/17 is Strike…Call times remain in effect and mandatory for all.  Illness is not a reason for a Strike absence; your ability to contribute will be accounted for in your Strike assignment.  Failure to attend Strike will result in exclusion from (SW)2/Wilson Drama events until time is made up.  This is also the date we will extend our run, if the situation calls for it, so your presence is important!

-The Build Call on 5/2 is optional…but we can definitely use your help to get your show ready for your audiences!

-The Call time for each Dress/Performance day will be at the discretion of your director.  Your director may choose to call you later than the posted time, if prep doesn’t require arrival at the posted time, but will not be earlier except in the most dire of emergencies.

The Schedule:

April 30

-Tech Rehearsal/Kaleidscope: 600p-900p

May 1

-Tech Rehearsal/The Veldt: 330p-530p

-Rehearsal/Chicago Abyss: 530p-730p

May 2

-Optional Build Call: 1000a-500p (See Notes re: Build Call)

May 3

-Dark: No Call

May 4

-Tech Run/Full Show: 500p-1000p

            -Includes Costume Parade, Photo Call, Run of Show, and Notes

 May 5

 

-Dress Rehearsal 1: 500p-1000p (See Notes re: Call times) 

May 6

-Dress Rehearsal 2: 500p-1000p

 May 7

 

-Preview/Dress Rehearsal 3: 500p-1000p

 May 8

 

-Performance 1: 500p-1000p

 May 9

 

-Performance 2: 500p-1000p

 May 10

 

-Performance 3/Matinee: 1200p-500p (See Notes re: Mother’s Day Matinee)

 May 11 & 12

 

-Dark: No Call

May 13

-Pickup Rehearsal: 500p-1000p

            -Includes Archival Filming

May 14

-Performance 4: 500p-1000p

May 15

-Performance 5: 500p-1000p

May 16

-Performance 6: 500p-1000p

May 17

-Strike: 1000a-300p (See Notes re: Strike)

No rehearsal tomorrow!!!!!!  We will resume on Friday- 5:30-7:30.  I will begin with notes! : ) 

Chicago Call for the week of April 27-May 1

** Please be aware that from here on out, if we are not finished with our show we will need to stay.  However, I do not foresee that happening. 

Also, Yes, we do have a matinée on Mother's Day. Everyone will still need to be here for that show ... Bring your moms! : )

Mon- No Call
Tue- No Call
Wed- TECH: EVERYONE CALLED ( CAST AND ENSEMBLE) 5-8
Thursday- EVERYONE CALLED ( CAST AND ENSEMBLE.. Unless you are called for another show's tech) 5:00-7:00
Friday- EVERYONE CALLED ( CAST AND ENSEMBLE.. Unless you are called for another show's tech) 5:00-7:00

Next week: Dress rehearsals and calls ( Follow your calendar)

Individual Notes:

Lauren and Olivia- Please, Please see Miller ASAP to get your song recorded.
 

Thank you!!!

Chelsie

Tickets Now On Sale!

Sell your show!  Link to the right!

j.

The Veldt - From The Director

Hi Friends -

Lots of info to convey, so please read thru the whole email and send an e-mail confirmation to our stage management team to ensure that you read this!

1. I'm really impressed and delighted by the positive energy and dedication you all are bringing to this process. It makes me really, really happy. I'm absolutely confident in the work we're doing and I'm really excited for audiences to see what you've done!

 

2. We're zeroing in on the tech process for our show. We have a fair amount of work ahead of us and it's gonna be a hell of a thing, so brace yourselves: stay hydrated, get plenty of rest, take care of yourselves emotionally as well as physically. As we move forward into runs and stumble-thrus, here are some key concepts:

   a. Principal Castmembers: please get off book as soon as you can. This will help all of us in shaping and sculpting the show. For me, it helps to go by manageable increments; don't try to be completely off book by the next rehearsal, take it beat by beat.

   b. Lion Ensemble: get a copy of the re-formatted script so you know what we mean by "Beats" and the pagination we're using. If you don't have one already, let me know and I can print off a copy at work.

   c. Lion Ensemble: I hereby empower you to take risks and be forthright as performers. Listen closely to what's happening onstage at all times, even when you're not in the scene. When you are onstage, I want to be able to feel the force of your personality emanating from your bodies. Lauren, Elena, Gwyneth and Abbey are already really on top of this, but each of you have been making important discoveries on this front and I want to keep encouraging you to take risks doing this. 

   d. Principal Cast and Lions: whenever you're in the Room, think of space--the space around you in the Veldt, the heat/cold/damp/dry that the Room is giving off or flowing through you.

 

3. I have a department meeting that I can't reschedule today, Tuesday, April 21 during our rehearsal time, so today's Veldt rehearsal is cancelled. Principal cast, please use this as an opportunity to get off book.

 

4. Lion Ensemble will be called on both Wednesday April 22 and Thursday, April 23 for as long they can be with us prior to Chicago rehearsals at 5 pm.

 

5. I'm hoping to schedule an additional rehearsal on Monday, April 27, from 4 pm - 6 pm, Principal Cast only? If the Drama Room at Wilson HS is unavailable, I can book us in the Rehearsal Hall at PCS downtown? 

 

6. Some dramaturgical resources:

 

My feeling about the Room is best captured by Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. It's a terrifying book. Don't read it at night. I'm bringing excerpts on Wednesday.

 

Acting Style: Look at Hitchcock's movies, particularly Rear Window, Psycho and Vertigo, as indications of the acting style that I think are closest to what we're going for. Also, The Exorcist and The Shining. Also, Royal Tenenbaums.

 

My feeling about the Lions is best captured by John Vaillant's The Tiger, a book-length work of reportage about a psychotic Siberian tiger. This tiger purportedly hunted down a poor hunter in the wilderness, completely eradicating him except for his clothes and his head, with the face smashed through and hollowed out. The tiger then went on to destroy his hovel, and every outhouse he'd visited recently. That's the fury that I want the lions to embody. I'll bring excerpts on Wednesday.

 

Other books to look at: Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow, Three Weeks in December by Audrey Schulman, The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obrecht, Leviathan by Paul Auster, Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon.

 

Sound: the music that's playing in my head, for whatever reason, around this play are: The Beach Boys' Sloop John B, Taylor Swift's Blank Space, David Bowie's Moonage Daydream, Haim's The Wire, Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky suite, The Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Tom Waits' God's Away On Business and Alice.

 

6. When you email Sarah and/or Maya with a confirmation that you've read this far, please also include the name you would choose for your pet dragon if you had a dragon of your very own?

 

Tech Call: 4/30 @130pm

What better way to spend a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon than in a windowless room doing manual labor?

Join your friends and castmates at 130pm tomorrow for a build call in the auditorium!  We'll be here until 530pm...help us get ready for a fantastic spring show!

j.

Chicago Abyss Rehearsal Call

Wed, April 15- All called, excluding Ensemble from 5-7

Thurday, April 16- All called, including Ensemble from 5-7

Friday, April 17-All called, including Ensemble from 5-7

Chicago call for Wednesday, April 8 ( updated):
Old man
Stranger
Wife

Ensemble List: Future Tense!

 The directors have opted to include an ensemble of movement actors to be used across the Future Tense festival as needed.  Possible roles include: weightlessness support/movement – Kaleidoscope, figures of the nursery/lions – The Veldt,

townspeople – To The Chicago Abyss, etc.

 

Please get Mr. Miller your email address and contact phone number for distribution to the directors/stage managers of the individual shows, so you can be added into their processes

 

Please sign the callboard sheet if you accept your role/assignment:

 

Ensemble Captain: Gwyneth Bushman                                    

 

(current Future Tense cast members)

 

Andrew Foran                                                                     

Lauren Lamont                                                                    

Quinland Thompson                                                           

Elena Braxton                                                                      

 

(additions to the Future Tense acting company)

                       

Daniel Trusty                                                                       

Abbey Hanson                                                                     

Emma Iverson                                                                     

Grace Kemling                                                                     

Chicago call for week of April 7-9

Tuesday: 5pm-7pm
Wednesday: 5pm-7pm
Thursday: 4pm-6pm ( Changed from the original schedule, but we talked about this last week)

Call for Tuesday:
Old Man
Young Man
Stranger
Wife
Cop ( Called from 6-7)

We will be blocking pages 25-33

Call for Wednesday:
Cop
Stranger
Wife
Old man

We will be blocking pages 34-41

Call for Thursday:
Everyone ( no Luke)

We will be blocking ensemble scenes such as the last scene of the play, as well as the first scene that we blocked yesterday. 


Thank you!!

Chelsie

Chicago- Rehearsal Call Thursday, April 2 ( 5-7 pm)

We will just start from the top, and see how far we get in the first hour that we have everyone.  The second hour we will work on fight choreography  ( old man/young man scene)

Called:
Old Man
Young Man
Stranger
Policeman

* We will add in Elena and Quinland to the chorus scenes at a later rehearsal.  

Tonight we worked on creating our psychological gesture, as well as learning where our characters hold their tensions to better create their physicality.  A few of you asked me to write up a little explanation of what I did tonight:

First I asked you to move around the space as you, the actor, move.  Then, I asked you to notice where you were feeling tension in your body. I slowly asked you to exaggerate that tension until we finally exaggerated to the point of creating a ridiculous cartoon character of yourself.  I then asked you to take note of how you were feeling inside based off the physicality that you created from the tension and asked you to think of a character that you could create based off that.  Then I asked you to introduce yourself to another character in the room.  I then had you shake that off, and walk around as yourself again.  Then, I asked you to find someone in the ensemble to watch ( without letting them become aware of the fact that you were imitating them) and I asked you to slowly imitate their walk. Then, I asked you to exaggerate the part of the body that they held tension until you had built a cartoon version of them.  Again, I asked you to take note of how that made you feel and to think of a character based off how you were feeling .  Then, I asked you to introduce that character to other characters in the ensemble.  I then asked you to shake that off, and move around the room as yourselves again.  I then asked you to, knowing what you knew about your character, find an area of your body that your character would hold tension.  If you didn't know, I asked you to make a choice.  Then, again, I asked you to exaggerate that tension until you had created a cartoon version of your character.   I asked you to take note of how you were feeling emotionally and physically, and then I asked you to say one of your character's lines.  We then worked on Michael Chekhov's technique: a psychological gesture, which is a movement that expresses the psychology, the state of mind of the character, a symbolic representation of the character's feelings.  I told you that this gesture is seldom ever performed on stage, but is a metaphor for your character's psychology and can help you get into character by creating an image in your mind to hold onto during your scene.

Please hold on to everything that you created tonight, it was all very compelling to watch.   I want you to continue to work on your character's physicality.

 I also asked you to create a character biography for your character- answering any questions that you can think of that will help you develop your character, making choices about your character's past, etc.  These are choices that you will make, but that no one else needs to know.  It will just help steer you in a particular direction.   Also, create a name for your character, if you dont have one :)

We made some choices about the setting:  we decided that we dont see this as taking place in a particular location or time even, but rather that this is a timeless story as history always repeats itself. We did talk about having this show take place now, but that the clothing would be old, plain, and very conservative.  The characters are just wearing whatever they could get their hands on, and could come from various time periods/locations in the world.

Lauren and Olivia agreed to learn and record the Duncan Sisters song.

We talked about a LOT more, but that is all I am going to re-cap.  Thank you all for your hard work tonight!!

Chelsie