Dress Rehearsal

Last night was the dress rehearsal for A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

First we ran through the entire show, including the recorded introductory narratives. With that done and notes given, we ran through the 2nd and 3rd acts a second time. From my point of view things went pretty smoothly.

My role is that of the leader of the "acting troupe"; the other supporting cast members make up the rest of the troupe, with the exception of the role of "Bottom" which is danced by one of the professionals. We open Act 2, with me giving "stage direction" to the troupe, holding a book that is intended to represent a script. This is followed by my only solo balletic move: a soutenu turn. Woot! I'm ready for the big time!

I tried something new last night, holding the "script" book open to make it more obvious what it is. I close it before the turn. This didn't cause me any trouble, so I'm going to keep it tonight. 

Cast call time yesterday was 4pm (yes, on a Friday). I left home at 2:30, stopping for a quick lunch on the way. I expected to arrive 15 minutes early (it's an hour drive at a minimum), but fire trucks closed the road a couple of miles from the theatre so I ended up arriving a couple minutes late. The student company had a mandatory warm-up, which we (the supporting cast) joined, while the professionals were left to do their own thing individually. Since the theatre doesn't have any barres, we used a balcony railing overlooking the lobby.

After warm-up I changed into my performance costume. This is basically my renaissance faire costume -- a loose white shirt and a green leather suede tabard -- with grey tights and slippers. The tights are brand new Wear Moi brand, fit like Spanx, and the crotch is forever trying to work its way down to my knees. The shoes are new white Só Dança canvas that I was told would be dyed grey, but were painted instead. I've heard of fabric paint but this is my first experience with it. It's made the canvas very stiff and possibly shrunk them a bit, which is not terribly comfortable.

Since I have nothing to do during the two short contemporary pieces that precede Midsummer, nor Act 1, the supporting cast and I stood around backstage and socialized. We're an odd bunch: four young women (26, 26, 20, and 16) and me (62). I found the discussion fascinating, though for much of it I just listened.

After opening Act 2, I again had nothing to do until the finale. So I wandered around, watching from the wings and keeping out of the way. I wish I'd spent my free time sitting  watching the show from the audience seating, because it looks like it's going to be a great show. There is going to be a recording for cast members to watch later, but I can't imagine it would be as much fun as watching it live.

Our first performance is tonight.  I've got the makeup down to about 30 minutes (more on that in another post when I have time), but I'm allowing an hour in case something goes horribly wrong and I need to start over. I've basically been stalling until it's time to start getting ready, and it's about that time.