Blood Sweat and Fears

I am now in full swing of rehearsals for a production of Macbeth (that's by Shakespeare, by the way). Being in this particular production is wonderful for a multitude of reasons, but mostly, right now... Guess who's got two thumbs and isn't collecting unemployment anymore? This chick! That's right friends, I'm making money doing what I love more than anything in the world, and things are starting to look up.

This is a shot from the first year I did a touring Shakespeare show, three years ago. Best. Job. Ever.

 I thought I'd devote a little time to break down exactly what being in rehearsals means. It's only recently become apparent to me exactly how foreign the theater world is to those of you who have real people jobs (meaning that you either have an office/cubicle, you spend a large portion of the day looking at the computer or you work from 9a-5p five (or more, in some cases) days a week). Similarly, how foreign having a real person job would be to me.

Crazy people? Nope. Actors. (Which is not to say we're not also crazy)

This particular production is a condensed version of Macbeth which is focused on making the play accessible for high school audiences (more on that later). The day-in-the-life picture of the rehearsal process looks something like this:
Get up early. Warm up my body. Coffee. Not too much. I'm thankful every day for the espresso machine my sister and brother-in-law gave me for my graduation. It's saved me a lot of money on early tour mornings, and likely a few heart palpitations. Leave for rehearsal around 8:10. We're very lucky, it's about a seven minute walk to the space, and taken briskly is an excellent warm up. Set up. Set up involves putting coffee on in the office (where the admins have real people jobs and work in a theater! Amazing!) Getting out weapons and putting the set together... er... what we have of the set so far. This year it's two ladders, a ten foot tall rolling staircase, and three large flats to hide us when we're not onstage. Then; rehearsing.

These are the weapons we were using. Something about school policies, blah blah blah and now we have to use wooden ones. Still fun, but kids are a little less into the fighting if they don't think it's bad ass.

Right. What does that mean? Our main job as actors (not to mentions the director, set designers, sound designers, costume designers, etc.) is to tell a story. To tell a story that's over four hundred years old in a way that's very clear to understand to you, the audience. As actors, we know our lines and mostly know what they mean (certainly will by the time we open) so the main job of rehearsal is to make things clear. We run scenes, work scenes to figure out how a certain moment can be more clear, or more specific, figure out how to indicate the passage of time from one scene to the next without saying, "Meanwhile, back at the Macduff's house...". Our job is to let you know what's going on so you can sit back and enjoy the story, because that's really what this is all about; the story.

Our sound designer. Doing his part to tell the story with an added bonus of looking awesome.

So. We rehearse for six hours, with two ten minute breaks and one twenty minute break. We work on the timing of our entrances. Dissecting exactly what we're saying, working different moves with umbrellas (lots of umbrellas in this world of Macbeth), tracking where props go, figuring out who will be backstage to hit a sound cue, etc.

We go on like this for three weeks, which never feels like enough time, but we always pull through. This year, however, we missed the first three days because designers were brought in from out of town, our fight choreographer couldn't make it yet, etc.

So. That's pretty much rehearsal life. It goes by pretty quick, and we'll be on the road performing in one week from today, which is an entirely different job and thereby, will have an entirely different blog post.

And I suppose I owe you an explanation for the not-so-positive-sounding-post-title.

Blood: Rehearsal does not come without muscle soreness or bruising. My legs are coated in bruises from different fights (let it be noted that I may be the only one, as I bruise much like a well ripened peach). I did also gash my thumb open on a particularly ornery umbrella.

Sweat: Aside from the menial "work-out" I've been doing in the morning, these condensed shows are marathon acting. If you have anytime backstage, you are not resting, you are doing a quick change, running a sound cue and helping someone else with a quick change. Usually all within fifteen seconds.

Fears: Actors are sensitive. It really is true. We put ourselves into a job that opens us up for criticism and rejection from every angle, even more so when you're performing for a high school audience, which is, as far as I'm concerned, the most critical (both by being one of the most necessary as well as one of the more judgmental) audience on the planet. It's nerve wracking and sometimes devastating, but it is so entirely and absolutely rewarding.

In other news: Last week my hair was down far past my shoulders. What happened this week? Stay tuned for an awesomely hairy post.