3 hour rehearsals are a bad thing. How did Academy directors do it? With the Freshers Play I never held rehearsal over one hour-it was convenient, the same time period as a class, so no one had to leave, and by the end of whatever microcosm of a story that rehearsal held everyone was exhausted. Cue The Doctor Despite Himself, a much more traditional rehearsal process. With my goal being to finish rudimentary blocking by the time we split for break, I've held 3 hour blocking rehearsals on Friday and Saturday. During these we've blocked over 1/3 of the play! But my God, they are tiring, for all involved. It's a funny thing that the simplest, shortest scene takes a half hour to an hour and a half to block (depending on physical content), all for maybe 3 minutes of stage-time. And there is a deep dissatisfaction in knowing that the blocking I'm giving will change, depending on the physical features of the stage, how the scenes fit together in the end, and how much the actors forget. And we have barely even started working in "passing the food" to the scenes. Passing the food is focus passing using sharp head movements, the bread and butter of the style. But I think we will reach my goal, and I think and pray that it will work.
We will see what today holds. I finished two books on Sustainable Development recently. Global Spin is about how corporations and special interest groups use the media, advertising, think-tanks, and the government to get what they want and control contemporary dialogue. It's very conspiracy theory, but quite good with loads of case studies and examples, and it does an excellent job of arguing why "free market" controls are undermined by monopolies and so require further controls to protect people and the environment. Philosophy and Environmental Crisis was okay, arguing philosophy about the rights of animals, the value of ecology and ethics's place in it, and how the population bomb and quality of life affected the environment and through it basic human rights. A collection of essays, it was a bit scattered and disorganized, but all-round at least interesting.
This week I'm going to read Heart of Darkness, since we didn't senior year and I've really wanted to. Taking "Infinite Jest", a few thousand page monstrosity, to Spain, with the thought that I'll have quite a bit of traveling time to read.
Was homesick for the first time last night. Weird. An odd combination of events and chemical reactions. I have found friends aplenty here, but no confidante. Everyone to share humor with, few to share thoughts. Everyone who wants adventures when they're drunk, few who can overcome the inertia of laziness when sober.
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So theater sounds like hard work... few things in life show the effort that went into creating them! The "consumer" just sees the end result that looks effortless, not all the time and sweat it took to get there. It's interesting that students seem lazy when sober... it's more than the effects of a hang-over I assume. Is it something cultural (ie bright college students are not supposed to be engaged in creative activities when clear headed?). This type existed when I was at college, too, but was a small minority. Keep looking... I know the students you're looking for are out there, even if hidden ;)
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