History, images, ideas, progress

It’s October 25th, Sunday. Rehearsal in Bob’s studio.

Some of the cast sits around the big white table, eating cookies as others wander in. Bob tells everyone about the film he saw a friend shooting the previous night. He relates filming to theater. Directors, writers, visionaries work really hard to get that “thing” that they want. They have an ending in mind, but there is so much work needed to find this end. It may not be revealed until something in the process of play sparks it. Once it is found, everyone can rest a little, but that thing that clicked has to be re-created every time.

They start talking about a show some of them just saw at the Guthrie. Then Bob tells them he was recently reading the Divine Comedy and noticed a connection between Dante and the Wizard of Oz. He realized that not only is every movie rooted in the Wizard of Oz, but theater is rooted in the Wizard of Oz, and even life is rooted in the Wizard of Oz.

The conversation shifts to the music for the show. Barbra wants Bob to listen to a specific waltz song played on accordion. Maybe Sheila could play it on violin for the puppet show or for background music as they are traveling on the bed. They will need to find the sheet music somehow. Bob says they could use a combination of live and recorded music, however it might be tricky to get a piano into the space.

Ideas are thrown out regarding the plot of the puppet show. Sheila suggests they could take a scene from Dante and adapt it or even a little story from the Torah. Something simple that can be made funny and cartoonish. Bob suggests a Golem story, something from Lorca, a Bible story, or the scene they brought up before with Catherine the Great. Perhaps there could be a fire, the puppets could burn and be cooked in a pot by the actors. Bob thinks of a horse’s smashed leg in the pot. “So dark,” but they all seem to like it. Barbra laughs.

They look for narratives by immigrant Jews in the How We Lived book to add to the graveyard scene. There are more historical references they want to add to the text. Bob reminds them that “we don’t want them all to be hardship stories.” Some should be hopeful, and there should be one about Barbra’s grandfather.

Deb says, “It’s 11:30, if you wanted to take a break.” They are still sitting and discussing these ideas. They laugh about how they are already on break,that today has been a constant break. I would disagree, having seen light bulbs blinking non-stop over each one of their heads since the rehearsal started today. “How about we take ten to work, and then come back to the break,” Bob jokes. Everyone laughs.

Later they work on what images are being shown in the cave scene. Bob says a lot of people will come out of an open room with light spilling out. The audience will see the shadows of the people, some in relief, some silhouette or shadow, but their outlines will not be completely clear. Barbra will play with the shadow people. Barbra adds that, thematically, it should be about war, violence, some reflection of that.

When they move on to the border patrol scene, where people are rolling stones, Bob says this is “all very dream-like.” He wants to keep the three actors separate, not characters interacting with Barbra, until they reach the sea.

This rehearsal was a huge success, in my opinion. I think they have all had some breakthroughs, whether they know the final answers or not yet. Again, I feel privileged to watch such brilliant artistic minds at work and achieving discovery.