tharristheatre’s Blog

Based on our schools execution of Grease in the previous year, I was a little apprehensive about doing Sweeney Todd. In my mind it would be much harder to do this play successfully. When rehearsals began I became even more doubtful because it was clear to me that many of the people involved were not giving 100% and appeared not to care enough. Since Sweeney Todd is a highly ensemble based play, I thought this was going to be the thorn in the lion’s paw. When rehearsals began I sat in on the ensemble vocal rehearsals. I found it astonishing and amazing that peoples faces and ‘energies’ could tell so much about whether or not they wanted to do something. As more rehearsals came and went and the ensemble began to realize what a pivotal part they played in this production, it became clear just by their faces that the majority of them became more invested. Sometimes it was something as small as a smile when they got a part down pat, or as obvious as an expressed desire to be at rehearsal. This was when I began to realize he potential greatness of this production. This year I decided to be as involved as possible in the making of Sweeney Todd. Last year when we did Grease I only became involved about two weeks before opening night. As a result, I did not feel the connection. This year I also decided to widen my horizon of technical knowledge. In passed years I had limited myself to ‘sound technician’ for different events. However, this being my senior year, I decided to shake things up a little and step outside my comfort zone. For Sweeney Todd I worked the lighting board instead of the soundboard. It was a very different experience from running the soundboard. When running the soundboard I had to pay attention at the beginning of scenes, when characters entered and every now and then to make sure everything was set and running smoothly. For lights, constant vigilance was required. I had to ensure that all the right characters were lit at the right time on top of many other things. If not important portions of the play could be missed and misinterpreted. This caused me to realize exactly how much could go wrong during the actual execution of the play.

Acting is more than just correctly portraying a character on stages or on screen. Good actors become the character they wish to portray. They know everything there is to know about their character and do not allow anything to break their concentration. It takes years of practicing and training to fully develop this technique. I think through the theatre department I have seen a few actors and actresses who look as if they are already on their way to developing that skill.

We have started working on a play for one of our IB things. I think the Practical Play Proposal (PPP) but I am not sure. We picked a play about this woman who was raped and whose husband is now friends with the man who raped her because he does not believe that she is telling the truth. This play has some foul language and has some very “intense” scenes. For there reasons I thought this play would be a bad idea. However, it proved to be a good obstacle for each group member to overcome. I think Lauren, the other senior in the group, might have the hardest job out of all of us. She needs to find a way to channel all the pain her character has been through.

I stopped in at rehearsal for Sweeney Todd today and was pleasantly surprised. I had some apprehensions about us putting on this show especially because it is so much earlier than we are used to. At this rehearsal some of these apprehensions however, were put to rest. For so early in the rehearsal process, the chorus sounded pretty amazing. The sound was very unified and as far as I could tell, there was no one who was sticking out. I also sensed the feeling among the chorus members that their part was essential. In three years of musicals I had never seen that before. All the members also appeared to be really in to the music and working hard. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. This is a great musical for us to do because it shows the chorus that they were recognized and not overlooked.

In theatre we are beginning to build the set for our musical Sweeny Todd. Though it is good that there are a lot of people helping, sometimes it feels as if we are getting the “too many cookies” phenomenon. There will be for example, five things that need to be done and fifteen people trying to help to do them all. Inevitably it ends up that six or seven people work productivity while everyone else stands around and watches. Also if one of the watchers attempts to help but does something wrong, instead of being told, they may get ridiculed and have their job taken away. I do not think this is being done on purpose or by one person because it is basic human instinct to jump in when something is being done incorrectly. I think more people would be willing to find projects to initiate if they knew they would be helped if they got into trouble.

This week in Theatre we were introduced to a portion of the technical side of Theatre. We learned about creating perspective with the different stage curtains. I have not yet, but I think it would be beneficial for me to memorize the names of all the curtains and their placement on stage.
This week I also helped with Broadway or Bust at The Arcade Theatre. This was a showcase for children to young adults. I watched three rehearsals and the three shows and something baffled me. For some of the numbers (mostly the dance numbers) the participants seemed to make little or no progress in the learning of their dance moves over their dance moves over the six day span. Even though they are children, they should have had the discipline to set aside 10-15 minutes to practice and synchronize any dance moves or harmonies they were having trouble with. The shows overall were ok. Some of the little children were actually very talented, however, some of them needed a bit more practice.

This week in theatre we were assigned a Marvelous Monologue assignment. This assignment involved having each student create a 3-5 minute monologue that was to be performed for the class. I am not very gifted in acting, so I was feeling very dubious about this assignment. After a week had passed from the date the assignment was given, I still did not have a topic or any idea what I was going to do. I knew that I did not posses the ability to portray extreme emotion. That was when I decided to write my monologue about someone who thought she was a good actress, but in reality, was not. I did not have much time to write my monologue because of procrastination and other factors, and of course once on stage, I spouted out my monologue as quickly as I could without getting what I considered a failing grade. Also, since in my mind I was just trying to get through it and off the stage, I also forgot some of my lines. Thankfully my classmates had more acting ability than I. The fist monologue was performed by Ben S. who told the story of he and his friends excursions through the roof of the school auditorium. I think that he is usually a pretty decent actor so I was expecting a little more than he gave from the performance of his monologue. Quite a number of the monologues featured mommy/daddy issues. The daddy issue monologue that stuck out for me was Lauren M.’s because in that specific performance I witnessed how much she had grown as an actress since Junior year. She acquired the ability to portray anger effectively on stage. Another monologue that I enjoyed belonged to Alex V. , a junior. her monologue pertained to the flipping of roles in a relationship in which one of the parties has an illness. I enjoyed it because it was something that many people had either experienced or witnessed.

This week in Theatre we did an activity called Spontaneous Talent. We had five minutes to get a performance talent ready. Though seemingly dumb and pointless, this activity allowed the theatre students to not only become more comfortable with their peers but also introduced them to the world of improvisation. My performance, making a fortune teller, was innovative but lacked some of the showmanship of my fellow thespians. I gleamed from that experience that a good actor/actress has the ability to make anything entertaining.

I have a new obsession with the musical Spamalot. II have known about it for a while but never actually got the concept of it so I thought it would be really retarded. However due to a crossing obsession, I realized that it is actually hilarious. From the clips I have seen, it looks like a very interesting show. The stage props are usually over exaggerated and if not done properly, can ruin many portions of the play. Unlike most other plays, it relies heavily on scenery, lighting and sound technology. My goal someday is to either see Spamalot on Broadway, or work in it, (if Broadway is still alive when I get to Adulthood.)