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?