Rehearsal Recap

The second week of rehearsals is through, and there has been much accomplished. The whole play has been blocked and rehearsed with careful attention to all details. Mark Weinberg came to rehearsal to teach some effective moves for particular scenes that required his expertise in stage combat. The dance sections of the play were also rehearsed and the busy week ended with a run of the whole show for the production and technical teams.

Sound cues, including dance music, car horns, explosions, and a very important train whistle are continually being refined and added to rehearsal to make sure that their timing is consistent and precise. It is always a little humorous at this point to hear cues that may not be timed quite right and to see an actor, for instance, arrive into the scene before his car is later heard approaching. These things will all be smoothed out this week.

Costumes are being fitted and tweaked as are props, and everyone is gearing up for the load-in into the performance space that will occur very soon. It is full speed ahead...

For your enjoyment, I will include this clip from the movie, PICNIC. While the movie had some questionable casting and took great liberties with the original play, altering it quite a bit, it was very popular when it first appeared in 1955, and earned two Academy Awards. Here is a little music and dance by Ernie Higgins and his Happiness Boys to give you a taste of the times...