Second Act Read Through
Our third rehearsal - the first with the second act - was another exercise in making a cohesive company, as well as a good listen for lots of folks. As with last night, people read very well and enjoyed singing and moving together. We tried a movement called "flocking," where the object is to be a clearly defined group in motion, without a designated leader. An exercise in speaking body language.
We sang well together, adding two group songs to our repertoire: "You get a line I’ll get a pole" and "I’ll fly away." The latter closes the show, and is pretty much a guaranteed sing along. Moving and singing (at the same time) was great - we started just by walking around in a rough approximation of the performance space while singing, then made pairs and traded partners (woo hoo! threesomes, too!). Then we tried flocking, with tiny little steps, and when we found out we were good at it, we got bigger steps and then added singing. It was fun - several people commented about it at the evening’s check-outs - and it taught us all that we can move and sing, and make it look easy. My college theater professor told me that was the mark of a professional - it looks easy.
Tonight was the last night for "buyer’s remorse" - any cast member could quit without repercussion tonight, and two did, citing scheduling conflicts. So far, everyone else is in and committed. With conflicts, by the handful. Jerry Stropnicky, who has directed many of these kinds of community performances, advised me early on that if 80% of your cast shows up, you should feel good. He also told me that several people will memorize the whole show, and they’ll fill in in case of emergency. I’ll be interested to see who those folks are. I have some hunches, but it’s so early I’m nearly guaranteed to be wrong.
I take myriad pleasures from these rehearsals, including the opportunity to play the banjo and sing for people who will listen. This show will include one song written by moi, an adaptation of an old mountain hymn of the hardshell baptist type. I sang it for folks tonight, and Sheri Kling picked up the cue expertly, asking "who wrote that?" and allowing me to say "I did" with no small pride. Yeah, yeah, goeth before a fall, okay, I know.
Tonight was also the visitation for Lamb Johnston, who left this life on Tuesday morning after more than 89 years. His son, Jim, was the first person from Sautee Nacoochee I ever met, and he invited me to lunch at Bernie’s restaurant to talk about SNCA - he was then the Executive Director. I was pretty much hooked from the time I came over the rise on GA 17 where you get your first glimpse of the Nacoochee Valley. Funerals, and all their attendant rituals, are for the living far more than for the dead, and this family of living deserved the good wishes of all those present and more. That informed tonight’s rehearsal somewhat - changed our start time, for one, and Lamb Johnston was included in the rememberings at the end of the show, as we read through it.
The "I remembers" are a frequent feature of Jo Carson’s story plays. I first saw it work in Colquitt, with the early Swamp Gravy shows, but tonight people added in a twist - remembering places as well as people. I think I might like this - but it took me a minute to conquer the part of me that says "but wait, that’s not how you do it". Of course, whatever we do is how we do it, the question is what we choose to present to the public.
And the next several rehearsals will begin to set that aesthetic. Movement design will take pride of place on Friday and Saturday. We’ve got all manner of guests coming in for the weekend - Celeste Miller and Nicole Livieratos, our movement designers, and ST Shimi, who will offer an aerial fabrics workshop on Saturday, and who will consult on the challenging question of how to introduce the Bear Angel. But that’s for another day.
Oh, my, this is so fun!
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