Tech Week - Wednesday Notes

REVISED FROM EARLIER, PRE-MATURE POST

Wow! It finally all came together! Thanks everyone for your hard work and dedication last night. Your focus was perfect, and you all brought your best work to the table.

Tonight is our speed-through line rehearsal at Aaron Van Etten's (Rogers) house. You should have gotten directions from him last night. Otherwise, check the contact sheet and feel free to give him a call.

The notes are about 90% technical (for both cast and crew). The character work was superb, and I'll try to make sure I highlight the great work that each of you did last night.

All - DON'T REACH THROUGH THE WINDOWS ON THE FRENCH DOORS. Use the handles. We have handles on both the front and back. Every person in the cast (except for Jeff Schaver) grabbed through the "panes" of glass to use the frame as a handle. Please stop doing this. It breaks the illusion. The reason we don't have glass or Plexiglas on stage is that it causes light reflections that are too difficult to abate, so PLEASE stop doing this.

All - The costume changes HAVE to be done more quickly, particularly between 1-1 and 1-2, and between 2-2 and 2-3. The break between 2-1 and 2-2 should have NO delay, yet it was almost 90 seconds.

Shawn & Jenn - We'll get to the point where the costume changes are happening much more quickly, so be prepared to start fading out the inter-scene lights and music sooner. Shawn, take your cue to fade and go from Jenn, unless she can't see (like when MacKenzie is ready).

Howard & Jenn & Shawn - We shouldn't be able to see Wargrave take the soldiers off the mantle. Let's make sure that either a) he's in the dark to get them or b) Jenn gets them.

Howard & Jenn - Howard, can you find a time to inconspicuously take the two soldiers before Rogers & Emily are killed? If not, Jenn, we'll need to start 2-1 with only five soldiers in place.

Shawn - Help Amanda find a way to steady her spot light. It jitters too much and doesn't move fluidly. Also, ask her to be sure to carefully dim down her spotlight before she switches to a new character, and then carefully dim up. She's doing a great job, and I'm proud of her for taking on the task.

Shawn - Don't forget to restart Lower Deck, Disc 1, Track 2 at the top of 2-2 (the dark scene). It cut off abruptly five minutes into the scene.

Jeff - Good work. Thanks for all of your help and for doing Narracott for us. It's great to have you with us.

Leland - Your interactions with the other guests are good, but let's back off on the kissy face to Emily. It's a little too indulgent. Instead, go ahead and have a few more facial (not too big) reactions to what people are saying.

Leland - Okay to get just a little more drunk.

Leland & Mike & Jenn - What happened to the vomit last night? It looked like the hose may have gotten kinked. I looked at it afterwards, and I'm concerned that the hose might come loose from the stopper some performance and create a big wet spot on Marston too soon.

Tami - Good energy, but let's tone it back a bit. The nervous energy is appropriate, but you're way above everyone else. Dial it back and continue to connect with Aaron. Remember two weeks ago when you found a few "dark" spots. They weren't cartoony or over-blown, and I don't want you to drift into a characterization of Ethel. Dial it back and connect.

Tami - The faint sequence and subsequent scene was PERFECT! Thank you.

Jerry - Several folks noticed your note cards. I don't mind if you use them, but they can't be obvious, which they were last night.

Jerry & Linda - Jerry, you need to slowly advance on Vera to give her a reason to keep the chair between you and her. Linda, if he's not advancing on you, it's okay to stand your ground against him. Thank you for moving the way you were blocked, but now let's move because your character needs to instead. This is a tricky scene, I know, but you've done it well as recently as last week.

Aaron - Great! Great! Thank you for keeping your head on straight (as an actor), and for being consistently great in your character work.

Emily - The work is great, but we've drifted a bit too far into the "bitchy for bitchiness sake" territory. Re-infuse the vulnerability you had last week and earlier, but don't let the pendulum swing too far that direction. Also, don't lose the intensity of your voice (as an actor). I want to be able to hear you, but I need a bit more vulnerability brought back.

Mark - The outward manifestations of Armstrong's mental issues are getting a bit confusing. I think the direction I gave you previously on the stuttering was incorrect. Let's simplify it more and make it less real. The ironic part is that someone last night commented that it was great that I could make use of an actor with a speech impediment. That was not the effect I was going for, so let's pull it back to more of a "stage" stutter. I was wrong. Now, let's also use it at least ONCE more, when Armstrong is highly stressed. Also, let's make the physical ticks SLIGHTLY more obvious. I'm VERY happy about your character work. Your energy and responses are great. This comment is merely fine tuning.

Mark & John - "I may be dead wrong...", Armstrong's chuckle, and his "Sorry.", please pace this out according to audience response last night a bit more. Here are the five, distinct beats to this scene...

• Lombard - I may be dead wrong... hey, get it? Dead wrong?
• (Audience groans/chuckles and Armstrong laughs over them, inappropriately.)
• (Lombard looks at Armstrong and audience laughs a bit more at the embarrassment.)
• Armstrong - (Pause) Sorry.
• (Audience chuckles a bit more.)

Jack - Your work is consistently great, but resist the temptation to "gild the lily". You're funny to watch, so there's no need to beef up what you're doing any more than where we've had it for the past several weeks. Stay fresh. Keep it honest. Don't mug or chew the scenery.

Howard - Excellent work, but there are some new mannerisms that have crept into your final monologue that are a over-used and which are not working. We know you're crazy, but we don't need you to grab your face and hair over and over again to prove that. Too much there. The semi-seductive use of the noose on Vera's back is too much. You used it three times last night and by the third, it was tedious. You've got a great HIGH energy, and you've incorporated some low end energy, but not enough. The pacing is perfect: I like the rapid-fire delivery of most of those lines, but don't make too much of them. The audience was laughing at the "...small animals..." and "...slaughterhouse..." lines because they were cartoony and not character-driven. If you get a chance, watch a few minutes of "Silence of the Lambs" in the interview scenes between Lechter and Starling. What Hopkins does exceptionally well is play the low end. It's often creepier to talk to someone as an equal, respectfully, even though your prey is bound and gagged on the floor. Another good bit of source material is in the end of "se7en" when Kevin Spacey is taunting Brad Pitt's character. I want you to work a bit harder at doing much less. Is that confusing? Another thing, your focus is too often directed to howling at the heavens above to justify. Instead of pleading with the gods for approval, take the opposite tack and explain to Vera why you've done it all. The smaller and more matter-of-fact it is, the creepier. Some high end energy is fine ("...members of the jury..." "Silence in the court!" "I must have my hanging...") but give us a lot more of the low end.

Howard - Good at tying up Vera, gagging her, and hovering over her. Good death, also.

John - A little too much time fumbling with the gun. Wait a little longer to get up, and try to get the blank loaded less obtrusively and further up stage.

Linda - Before you "fall" down behind the table, give us a LITTLE, fake thump of your foot to suggest maybe that you've tripped. Just drag your foot a bit and then tap it lightly before going down.

Linda & John - The shooting of Lombard by Vera was good.

Shawn - The final gramophone in 2-3 is a little too loud. Take it down a notch. Also, wait just a second more before cuing it. Give Vera a bit more of a chance to relax at the bar for a half a second.

Linda - Your character work was VERY good last night. We need a bit more of a character progression from the start of the show to the finish. Previously, you've grown more and more bold/saucy/disgusted, and that worked well. What also worked was when your feelings towards Lombard matured and developed. I need you to bring all of these back and give us more of a character arc over the course of the show. For instance, the monologue about Petey was GREAT. You invested a lot of good emotion into it, and it paid off. But in your interactions with others, it wasn't there as much as it could have been. The MacKenzie interactions should be with the BOTH of you. Figure out why you're really continuing to sit there and listen to him. The interactions with Emily are better, but they can come forward even more. I need you to bubble up even more emotion in your interactions.

All - There has to be much more at stake. People are dying around you, and it seems inevitable that you as a character will be killed as well. Let it scare you, please.

Thanks!

- Sean