Still working here..

Well, I hope you all enjoyed "Stories As Told In a Bed" this weekend. Barbra and the cast of Sheila, Telsche, and Dario executed the piece so well, and I was really impressed by the transformation the show made in the final few days before the show, thanks to Bob Rosen's directorial vision and the hard work of sound and lights crew and stage managers Kristin and Deb. I saw the show on Friday and felt completely refreshed by the changes and embellishments that had been made since the tech on Wednesday. Great job, everyone. Really exciting stuff, Barbra.

And now...

I will proceed with the rest of my story as an observer, watching the process up to the point in which it was shown to the public this weekend. I truly apologize for the delay in these writings. My coursework at school had me completely tied down during the final week before the Stories opened, and I am sorry to not have finished this before the show.

Anyway, continuing with the rehearsal on October 24th..the cast has been working through bits and pieces of the show. Large pieces of canvas are hung as a backdrop in Bob's studio space. Barbra is doing some grande plies in the center of the room, while Bob talks to the cast who are still laying on the bed by the back wall, under the canvas hangings.

Before they move on to the next scene, Barbra tells Bob the thing that strikes her most in the moment they have just worked on is how alone that person (her character) is. "So, it'd be nice to just have the person alone..and hopefully not sad," she says. "I really think moments where I'm just still and talking would be nice."

They also talk about Barbra's costume. Bob says, "You almost look too clean right now in that coat," so they discuss how to make her look dirtier. "I could be barefoot," Barbra says. "My feet are just really cold."

Barbra does the forest part again, and Bob thinks there are some gaps that need to be filled in. Barbra and Bob continue working on this part while the others take a break. I can hardly stop watching them figure through Barbra's lines and actions. Their communication is so cohesive and they are equally dedicated to the evolution that will inevitably occur in the piece through their work. They are respectful in responding to one another’s ideas, and seem to have parallel wavelengths, artistically. It is as if each idea one comes up with has been something buried in the other’s mind that they just hadn’t yet discovered.

Bob and the cast work on manipulating the canvas hangings by rolling and pinning them up in different ways to achieve a space to show the audience a fire. Bob supposes they could use transparencies over the lights to show images of the fire and the horses again, this time in a different context. Silhouette or shadows could be used to avoid realism.

Telsche runs around in a circle, shaking her arms to warm up.

They talk more about the fire. Telsche is most familiar with the Bedlam space, and she adds that there are sprinklers that are heat-detected, but the Bedlam stage does not have fire alarms per se, so the fire should be okay.

Bob finds a screw sticking up in the floor. Everyone crouches down to investigate.
Barbra talks with Bob about having the cave men – Telsche, Dario, and Sheila – make a sort of shadow show on the back wall of the theatre or on the canvas.

Bob, James (assistant director, musician), and John Bueche (Bedlam’s Co-Artistic Director), set up extension cords to try out the shadows on the canvas. The cast of three decide what they are going to do in the shadows, and Barbra looks through the text, reading, marking.

Sheila, Telsche, and Dario sit close together and Bob shines the light on the side wall, creating a shadow of the group. They play around with the shapes they can make in the shadows, moving hats, brooms, and arms, and watching the pictures they are making.

Barbra and James hold up the fabric hanging and Bob tries shining the light on that. “It’s interesting,” he says, “to have not just the white back, but…texture,” referring to the canvas.

Bob gets closer to the cast with the light, and watches their shadows get larger and larger on the canvas.

Sheila suggests they try standing. Dario puts his arm in a distorted sling position over his head and walks frumpily around, hunched like a caveman, frowning.

I am sitting by, interestedly learning with them, but my intrigue increases ten-fold as they move violently with the objects. The shadows appear to be killing something.

They use papers to drip down like guts falling out, a pillow is beaten, Sheila stabs with a stick, Dario takes a block of wood overhead and slams it down. What is happening? I wonder.

Sheila kneels down and flaps her arms like a bird while Dario and Telsche make stabbing, beating motions to appear to kill the bird. Sheila stops moving to indicate she is dead, and Dario and Telsche devilishly stir the pot of papers. The shadow is more than disturbing.

After playing with this scene, they converse about different ways to use the light and the canvas and how this will be seen from the audience.

The cast does the same with another scene, acting out the part about the prisoners in shadows, pretending to eat together while Barbra reads the text loudly.
They play with this for a while, but some seem unsatisfied with it. They finally decide to just get rid of this particular image. Barbra is a little disappointed, but knows this is to be expected sometimes. “It was too good to be true,” she says and sighs. “We were moving so well.”

Barbra suggests they run the piece from the beginning of the show, since Telsche and Dario will not be in attendance at tomorrow’s rehearsal. Considering what they have “sort of accomplished today,” it would be wisest to use the rest of their time running the piece. Telsche reassures everyone that they need slow days like this sometimes to just work through things. Hopefully it will help them make some decisions and she reminds them how nice it is to have people act out ideas to see how they look, although it is more time consuming.

Bob compares this cave scene and the image of people pushing rocks to Dante’s inferno. He talks of Barbra seeing the horrors of these cave men. “Not only did she leave her family, everything she knows, but she’s going back to the beginning of man,” he proclaims.

He puts forth a thought that is expressed in this scene: the point where one asks “where am I going, and what am I looking for?” Nothing is answered..

I watch them do the shadow scene again with the two cave people beating the bird and Barbra articulating the text, closer to the canvas. How interesting that the shadows made by the three are so much bigger than Barbra, and they get even taller as they walk towards her, so tall that their heads are cut off at the ceiling. They are like giants, enveloping Barbra. As she steps closer to the wall and creates a clearer shadow of herself, the three people are following behind her, creating larger, more blurry shadows of themselves around her. She reaches out to look as if she is touching them.

They wrap things up as rehearsal comes to an end. Barbra wishes Telsche well on her weekend journey on the road, and Bob and James talk about the play, images, music that James will play.

I think the shadow work was very successful, and I am extremely excited to see this scene on stage.