Well, we’re far into our third week of rehearsals now, and I wanted to get this out earlier. At the end of this week, we’ll have the show completely blocked. There are still many acting choices that need to be made, as well as several inevitable changes in the blocking. Many stronger ways to express what the characters are saying will be made, once the actors become more familiar with their lines, and I expect the actors to make those decisions very soon. Right now however, even the simple things are hard. Just the simple act of a handshake is made more difficult with the addition of a script in one hand, a possible prop in the other while trying to speak sentences and thoughts that are virtually foreign to you; all on a bare stage. Actors are pretty amazing people and I admire what they go through every show.
Our fight choreographer will visit us on Saturday. This is an extremely important person whenever any type of combat is featured on stage. In early conversations, I said that I didn’t think we would need to have one for this production. I have used a fight choreographer for many of my shows here in Burien: Reefer Madness, Christmas with the Crawfords and Dracula, to name a few. It is always the right choice to employ such a person. Frankenstein has many people dying during the course of the show, and the proper, safe way to rehearse this is with a fight choreographer. For example, we have three people getting strangled by the Creature. I have already blocked those scenes, and the actors know how to get into and out of position for those deaths, but I left the actual struggle blank for now. I needed this professional to teach the actors the safe way to do what they had to do.
There are also still many technical details to be worked out, but the designers have been hard at work coming up with their ideas on what you will eventually see on the stage. The set design is coming along, we have a great concept and the details are being worked out. What I like about it is this will be a simple but elegant design. Add in the lighting design, and I feel that it will provoke the feelings that are going to be important to audience’s expectations of this show. The costume design is also progressing well. The drawings I have seen are exciting and I can’t wait to see them on the actors. Our composer is also making strides and has started recording some of the music you will eventually hear during the show. All this is happening while the actors are busy with their parts. It is always amazing to realize how many people come together to put these shows on stage.
