Hey, I had fun tonight!

Yes - I had fun tonight! We did scenework, and that's what I most enjoy.

We did start out with improvisations, but then we got to what I consider the meat of rehearsals - actually working with the text.

The improvs can help inform our characterizations, yes, but I, personally, work better when I can chew on the text and try different ways to bring the character physically to life through the text.

Tonight, instead of the director stopping us with line readings, he coached from the sidelines as we went through the scene. He entered the stage area and gave us direction within the scene, and I was glad he "massaged" the scene that way.

Tomorrow is a three-hour improvisation. I'll probably be too tired to write about it when I get home, but I'll do a recap of the most recent rehearsals on Sunday, when I have a day off. I'm looking forward to that.

Arrrgggghhh, I'm too old for this!!

It's 11:30 PM and I'm just getting to this posting. No, I didn't have a late night rehearsal. I just worked all day, went to a music class at 5:15, went to rehearsal at 7:00, was supposed to get out early but stayed until after 8:00 (more on this later), then picked up a bite to eat and brought it back to my second job so I could
1) do a Requision for a Purchase Order (How Thrilling!) and
2) respond to a prompt for my online class.

Ahhhh, a little venting.

That feels better.

Interesting night at rehearsal. More improvs. I'm getting antsy to at least tackle a scripted scene.

Be careful what you wish for.

One of the actors had an allergic reation to a spider bite and isn't here tonight. The scenes to be worked on after the improv are major scenes he is in. Adapting is a holy word in theatre. One must adapt or die (you think I'm kidding?)

So we tackle the scene we're supposed to do tomorrow night. Off-book without even having read it in a read-through! Rough and rocky for me.

The director is giving me exact mannerisms he wants me to imitate. Once upon a time it would drive me crazy when a director directed by giving line readings. Now it's just another way of approaching the task at hand. I can't help but laugh as I watch him prance and mince in the character of Mrs. Holly. I'm tempted to say, "I know you'd love to play the role yourself. Why don't you do it in drag! You'd have a ball!" I actually think he'd be hysterical. But then, Suddenly Last Summer isn't exactly a comedy, is it. But,hey, a little humor could be welcome here.

I need to stay within the scope of the exaggerated character the director wants and making her believable. I need to trust his eye for this character. After all, he is a Southern Gentleman, and he knows the kind of woman Mrs. Holly is. He's met many like her.

What comes after the improvs?

Well, I still don't know even after tonight, the second night of rehearsals. That's because the scenes scheduled after the improvizations didn't include any that I am in.

In fact, I won't be finding out about how the scenework progresses until Thursday, when I'll get to test my memorization skills. So I'll get a couple more chances to try out my lines on my dogs as I walk them in the morning. Then I'll give our stage manager grief on Thursday as I call out for "line" more often than I'd like.

Well, it wasn't what I'd expected for a first rehearsal...

but I'm always up for new experiences.

I've been doing theatre ever since I was fifteen, and I'm used to a certain standard for first night of rehearsal - we sit around in a circle and have a read-through of the script.

We didn't do that last night. We started out doing improv. Improvisations of imagined scenes in our characters' lives.

Now, the norm at FUSION Theatre Company is for actors to come to the first rehearsal with all of their lines memorized. I find that a challenge, because I memorize best through the repetition of rehearsal and by associating my speaking with my physical movements on stage. But I also understand the advantage of being "off book" when you're first on your feet at the start of rehearsals.

I just have to work a little harder to memorize my lines. And because I was focused on getting the lines down, I didn't read over the script as often as I should have.

Ah, and here I am, not even getting to test my memorization skills, but going straight into improvs based on details of the script that I may have overlooked. Egad!

It wasn't that bad. In fact, I think it was very useful. The director, Mr. Fred Franklin, has a definite game plan!

Kathy and Ken take their own picture on O'Connell Bridge, over the Liffey, in Dublin, Ireland.

First Entry

Hello, everyone!
This is my first jump into the giant swimming pool of blogdom. I say "jump" rather than "dive" as I do most things feet first rather than head first - and those feet are usually attached to legs that are kicking.

Not that I'm screaming along with kicking - I'm not really that reluctant to do a blog, I just have resisted up until now.

But I'm going to start this one out with a purpose.

ActorHarper is my "persona", so you'll find lots of entries about acting and playing the harp, as well as entries about tangentially related topics.

I start rehearsal on Monday for "Suddenly Last Summer" with Albuquerque's Fusion Theatre Company. Throughout all the many years that I have done theatre, I've never kept a consistent rehearsal diary.

Well, there's always a first time...

*************************************************************

Rehearsal doesn't start until Monday, however. So first, let me tackle some of Professor Price's suggested questions:

* What is your favorite hobby?

Well, you can probably tell that I enjoy acting and love to play the harp. But I also sing and play guitar with a Celtic band called Shenanigans, and I love to learn new music, especially songs in Irish and Scots Gaelic. I'm also addicted to my Early Music Ensemble class, which feeds my hobby of learning to play lots of early and exotic musical instruments, like the rebec and the lute and the saz.

* What are your must-see TV shows?

I admit it. I've become hooked on the new "Dr. Who" series! I think Christopher Eccleston is a perfect doctor. I've had some trepidation about David Tennant as the new doctor, but after watching him in Masterpiece Theatre's "Casanova," I eagerly await the new series broadcast with him as the new Time Lord.

* What book, if any, have you really enjoyed recently?

I consider mystery novels my "candy books" - books that are delicious and often filled with empty calories. But not all those calories are empty. I recently nourished myself on "Death of a Joyce Scholar," by Bartholomew Gill. To make it more scrumptious, I read it while I visited Ireland - and Dublin, where the book takes place - for the first time this summer.