The Excitement Builds: And Rehearsals Begin for the Page to Stage Playwrights Festival.

There is nothing like mounting a show in less than two weeks. Unless, it's mounting two shows in less than two weeks. Good thing, one of the shows only has one act. I have taken on triple duty, as I am the director of both Lumin and Senior Prom, and I will also be taking on the role of Clancy in Lumin. Excitement builds as we begin rehearsals for the Page to Stage "That’s What She Said" Playwrights Festival.

I always enjoy the first day of rehearsals. It's always fun to walk in and receive your scripts. It's exciting to meet the other directors, casts, and crew. This year, Page to Stage will be producing a mix of eight full-length and one-act plays.

Here are photos of the cast during rehearsals of the one act I directed Senior Prom. When I have a short rehearsal period, I focus on getting the bare bones of the play together first. For more a musical it would music, choreography, and blocking. For a play and specifically this staged reading, the bare bones would be just the blocking. I take the time, to clearly communicate the blocking to the actors. I make sure they write it down, to ensure I only need to give it to them once. I work before rehearsals to come up with blocking. So, I don't waste the small amount of rehearsal time we do have. With a short rehearsal period, I try really hard not to change their blocking. Multiple changes in blocking in a short rehearsal span can cause confusion. After, we have our bare bones that is when the real rehearsal begins. We run the show as much as possible and smooth out an bumps in the road along the way. We also start to focus on the acting more. We look at pacing, chemistry, character development, and perfecting the moments that are going to pull on people's heart strings.

Here are some pics of rehearsals for Lumin, the full-length play I directed and acted in. As a director, for every show I like to find a focus or over-arching theme. Something that production team can use as a guiding post. For Lumin, I wanted to lean into the horror and suspense of the play. I wanted to play with the audience psychologically. During the Lumin rehearsals, we worked on subtle nuances of perfectly placed moments. I wanted the audience to second guess everyone's motives, questioning every lingering gaze or forced smile. I also really leaned into the tech to give the audience that prickly feeling. For Senior Prom, I want to focus on family. I wanted to make sure the actors felt like a real family on stage. I did this by giving my actors time to get to know each other and really taking the time to find those intimate moments that can only happen between family members. We are quickly approaching our performance day. Although, I'm cool, I definitely feel the pressure. I will let you know how it all goes. See you on stage!