WEEK FOUR: Days 4-5

Day 4:  Thursday, October 7

3:00 - 6:00 Paper Tech - Patrick, Teddy, and I met to go over all cues before getting into Tech on Saturday.  We clipped along pretty well, and almost finished Act I.  The first two days of tech will be Act I, so we will find another time to do Act II prior to Tuesday night.

Rehearsal:  Plan to run with invited guests!  At 6:30 we worked a few items that needed attention and I felt that 3/4 of that  manifested in the run itself.  at 7:15 we began the run.  It became apparent in the run more of what I couldn't tell in the rehearsal room (due to my concept of the crew being an active part of our continuing story) more than what I could tell.  It also was interesting to me how we have work to do to find the EVENT in every scene and work up and down from that so that the story propels forward.  At this point, I feel that there is more work ahead of us than behind us.  BUT as a director, I also have to remember that Tech rehearsals can also keep propelling the acting forward if I continue to engage the actors.  We have  a good deal of hours remaining before we open.  It is the ultimate job of multi-tasking for the director.  If managed well, all can be accomplished at once.

After the run, even though I tried to circumvent this by email, the guests spoke with me in the room after in response to what they experienced.  My hope was to set additional meetings to maximize my rehearsal time with the ladies.  This is a peculiar part of the process to Carnegie Mellon.  It always feels like it creates doubt in the actors mind about what product we have at this point.  It stops momentum.  Anyway, the actors got a substantial break and then we began reworking Act I Opening and Act I Finale.

Day 5:  Friday, October 8th

1:30-2:30  Meeting with Jed Harris to receive specific notes from run.  There are specific, concrete notes about "truing up the acting"  that will be useful to implement over the next week.

4:00-5:30  Rob Hartmann is in town to meet with Corey Waschala, the keyboard player, to devise a patch plan for orchestra rehearsal.  It was discovered that much can be accomplished through Garage Band tracking the patch changes.  They will meet again prior to Orchestra Rehearsal tomorrow.

Rehearsal -   Rob was with us to be an outside eye to "crack the nut"  that is the Opening of Act II.  He gave interesting insight to why I was feeling imbalanced.  There was a thought in my mind that if this was the 200th time the icons have been through this cycle, they would be tired and Agatha would have to inspire them......this shifts the energy to the opposite dynamic necessary.  The intent is that Amelia and Aimee are just content/happy to continue this cycle, but Agatha is not - SHE breaks first.  Then the others have to buck her up!!!!!!! THEY INSPIRE HER TO BEGIN.   Then we worked many Act II numbers.

We have Orchestra and Tech tomorrow.

WEEK FOUR: Days 1-3

I cannot believe it's October AND it's Thursday today.  Day 1-3, M T W have been huge days in the production's development.

Monday 10/4:  

NEW Sound Designer hired.  Welcome Matt Benjamin on sabbatical from his duties at Wright State University.  I am very excited to work with this seasoned, talented professional.

PRESS MACHINE MEETING:  The design team, Brian Russman, and I met to discuss a redesign to endow the machine aspect with more human like qualities.  We are going to make torsos metallic, heads more mannequin-like with press hats and dangling arms and legs with camera and pen/pads.  

REHEARSAL:  Individual work day.  We broke rehearsals down to allow for a rotation between Alexander/Dialect Coaching, Solo Music Coaching, One on one Staging/Acting Coaching.  Strong work was done to move us forward.  We also crawled through Act II.  Worked in detail about when/how the women take control of their world (props) and identities.

Tuesday 10/5:

Phone Meeting with Sound Designer to talk through my Rough Cues.  He emailed an augmented Cue sheet incorporating ideas we discussed and created together. 

Rehearsal:  This was a day where we had 45 minutes at the top to do spot work and then we were doing  a run for designers.  It was my job to maximize our efficiency of time for the beginning of rehearsal.

6:30-7:15: WORK  accomplished:  Integrated Press Machine as a "Character"  in the opening of the show.  Kept trucking through the GP section-Lady Lindy-giving new intention of "Making Amelia" as a product.  Give new intention of traveling with a suitcase to place to place and using it as a platform, etc.

7:25 RUN THROUGH - This was a huge step forward and illuminated the exact moments that need reworking.  The ladies were allowing themselves to give over to the journeys and see where it takes them.  Some specific directorial challenges... Each scene is high stakes.......how do we work with pace to vary energy/intention of Act I?

WORK AND ADD DETAILS TO ADVENTURE, SPECTACLE, MYSTERY to personalize each woman's story and give the Vanishing Point Trailer!!!!

Wednesday 10/6:

JUDY CONTE DAY OF MOVEMENT ADVISING!  After restaging different scenes and moments, my Movement Advisor came in and helped make those 'dramatic storytelling through movement'  moments clear and specific.  I showed what I had for the moment and Judy and I worked together to add and specify elements for the actor.  The sheer physical control that Judy exhibits and her ability to pass that toolbox onto each individual actor was an education for me.  Thank you - another leap forward.  After, we added new moments to build Act I Finale to the feverish pitch that it needs to have right before the disappearance.  Each woman left feeling fed with new inspiration, including me.  

Production Meeting went smoothly, and we continued by going into the space and talking about monitor and camera placement.

The deck is being installed;  I took a look into the Rauh after rehearsal.  Set is expansive - in a good way.  The space always looks different to me in compared to in the model and then, again, different to the rehearsal room!  Wild.  There is a space concern on the Deck left side, but Stage Management feels that we can still manuever all changes in the space allotted.

In the late evening, I received Sound Samples from Matt for all of our cues.  Couldn't wait to get at them on Thursday morning in prep for our meeting.

FULL DAY THAT MADE IT A REALITY IN MY BRAIN THAT WE ARE DOING THIS WITH AN END DATE........WITH AN AUDIENCE.

WEEK THREE: A Note from Christian Fleming, AD

This week was exciting. Beginning the exploration of Act Two, added some new layers to the show's "message" for me. I, personally, would like to live in the world of Act Two much more than the first act. The difference between the two act's worlds is refreshing. This week felt more playful and more spontaneous. 

WEEK THREE: Day 3,4,5 & 6 Staging Act II

Wed 9/29, Th 9/30, F 10/1, and S 10/2

Staging Act II:  Very different, womb-like, space that allows for play and the women having a real, palpable relationship with each other and explore what that means.  We came into rehearsal and the stage was bare and the designer asked that it be our playground.  So I asked each actress to take all the props and furniture pieces that were important to them in act one and strew them about the SR and SL platform.  Then, we began staging by allowing Lee, Tess and Kaleigh to just improvise the story of Act II without using the actual text and discovering props in the space as needed.   We did this for the portion of the show after "The Plot Thickens" to through the set up for "Afternoon Tea".  I encouraged the icon to experience the surprise of  the twists in the new stories and enjoy the freedom allowed by the not knowing what's happening.  We, then decided each icon would be in charge of the set up and discovery of their individual story instead of being forced into it.  This would be physicalized by moving the furniture necessary to create the tale.  The fun and frolic translated into a renewed sense of investment in each other and the piece.  Of course I had some strong pictures that needed to happen, but how to and from there, we created together.  Just like the women created their ultimate destinies together.
Special joy and fun was had staging Afternoon Tea and Red Herrings ------- our tribute to traditional musical theatre staging and choreography!

We are in a slight redesign of the Press Machine to eliminate the clanking noises -love them but are overpowering the voices of the women.  We also are combining the machine quality with more humanistic traits and endowing it with press acutrements - press hat, perhaps pad/pen, camera.  We will introduce it as a character at the top of the show and them allow it to take its place on stage in the vom.

Stumbled through Act II!  We are on the way!  Next week is full of runs and refinement!

WEEK THREE: Day 1 & 2 Continued

M&T Continued:

(Somehow the blog published prior to me finishing!)

Ceiling fans:  Patrick and I expressed the need for the fans to have a high/low speed control.  Teddy expressed a question about a control capacity beyond on and off.  We all agreed that a test needs to occur to find out the reality of the fan choreography.

A new issue was presented about our "crew" lighting operator in the space is not satisfying "crew" duty so it needs to be an actor.  I need to address this in production meeting so  a clearer picture of the duty will be understood.  I must decide if this is worth fighting for.

Excitement around Carnegie Scenic - our set is being built and is so substantial that parts of it have to be stored in the hallway of Purnell.  As people walk by, I hear them ooh and ah and ask WHAT SET IS THAT.  We will definitely make a statement in the Rauh.

We will run Act I tonight with guests.  Tomorrow we begin creating the womb that is Act II.  It is of the utmost importance that no one be in the space in the beginning.  I have ideas about the music that I need to discuss with Rob/Liv/Bob/Michael about how to make the music happen without the orchestra being in the space....

The work continues.

WEEK Three, Day 1 & 2

M 9/28 & T 9/29

Going through Act I with a fine tooth comb.  REALLY looking, listening and assessing what we have. It was important after roughing a great deal of material in quickly that we get into the nitty-gritty of the reality of the moments.  What is the trajectory of each journey?  We worked moment to moment, allowing each actor to do the work that will allow them to pursue what they need and find a variety of colors.  As we did this work on Monday, the time flew by.  I was pleased at my decision to not fight the clock and DO THE WORK that I knew we needed to do instead of being pressed into the scheduled Tuesday run-through.  We needed to continue to work through Act One before the exercise of running.  I seized the opportunity to change the run through date to Wednesday so that this good, detailed work could continue. (On a personal note, that felt like an accomplishment to me.  I am in charge of this process.  I set the schedule, I can assess it and I can change it.  In the past, I would have forced the process into that box of a schedule due to avoiding "feeling behind" or  "feeling guilty of inconveniencing others".  )  The yield of these rehearsals was great leaps forward in the scenes that led into the songs - the songs became an extension of the story instead of our only story.  This is actually very logical in our process due to the bulk of the first week was Music related.  Up to this point, the actors have been more committed to the musical storytelling simply because THAT IS what we have been concentrating on.  Monday and Tuesday the room made the commitment to the text outside of the realm of the music.  It was a huge leap forward.

Other side notes:

Meetings on Monday and Tuesday to bring this to production were very fruitful:

Monitor meeting:  The team and Buzz Miller met to discuss the placement and reality of available equipment for our monitor needs.  The mounting hardware for placement under the booth seems to be the part in question.  Teddy expressed a need for dousing the glow of the light that emnates from the monitors.

Teddy spoke about ceiling fans.  Patrick and I have the desire for speed control.  There are some

Prop meeting: Yun, Patrick, Kristi and I met to discuss How Do You Do It prop/easel images.  I believe the ideas were clarified and simplified for greater impact!  We discussed dressing the Press Machine to include vintage camera parts and recognizable communication machine parts from the era (printing press, etc.)


We now have a Sound Designer to build our sound cues

WEEK TWO: A Note from Christian Fleming, AD

The overall growth this week has allowed this show to really start to come to life. Akin to Marya's posts, the work every member of this team has put into creating Vanishing Point is apparent, stimulating, and exciting. At the start of this week, we were joined by the writers, Rob Hartmann and Liv Cummins. Their presence in the rehearsal room was both a form of motivation and comfort. Hearing the story of the germination of some dialogue and musical moments enriched the progress of this show's growth in terms of depth and understanding. Interestingly, during this week an idea stuck me. I discovered this show's connection to Freud's theories of the subconscious construct in relationship to the formation of an identity. We have three historical women who share common characteristics and a shared experience of "vanishing". Amelia functions like the ego, whereas Agatha and Aimee function like the superego and id, respectively. This is interesting because in the formation of identity, the superego and the id are said to be in conflict over the ego. Whether this "conflict" is apparent in the show is debatable, however, in Vanishing Point, all three women emerge in a transformation of identity. In order to achieve an authentic identity, a balance must occur between the forces of the id and superego. When Amelia successfully vanishes, this balance is obtained. Ultimately, these thoughts lead to a discussion about who is the character behind Vanishing Point's subconscious. As we continue to explore in the rehearsal process, I am interested about this question. I look forward to this next week of rehearsals and hope that we continue on our path of admirable accomplishment. 
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