On March 13, a group of new Headwaters performers experienced the curious initiation rite of the Talent Inventory.  Because Headwaters operates under the y’all come philosophy – if you want to be in the show and can make the time commitment, you’re in the show, and we’ll find the right role for you – we don’t hold auditions.  Instead, we inventory the abundant talent from our goodly portion of beautiful Northeast Georgia.

So instead of a nerve-wracking experience where you have to read a script or perform a monologue in front of people you don’t know (a standard professional theater audition), the Headwaters Talent Inventory starts with introductions, movement, theater games, and singing, so that long before anyone has to read from the script we’ve made a mini-ensemble of people who know a little bit about each other and who enjoy watching each other play with the script.

Seven intrepid souls joined three veteran Headwaters performers, plus many of the production team — producer Lisa Mount, co-producer Tommy Deadwyler, co-playwright Jerry Grillo, Music Director Walter Daves,Vocal Director Brandon Nonnemaker, and assistant stage manager Mike Kaiser — in singing the song that will open the show, "Ain’t No Place."  We made pretty harmony together, and everyone managed to sing the chorus in a round while moving around.  Ain’t no mean feat.

On Saturday afternoons (March 13, 2010), puppet designer Lynn Jeffries worked with puppeteers Amber Nelms and Sara Drueke on the shadow puppet segments from Birth, Death and Places In-Between.  Jerry Grillo came in to read both Jimbo and Cowboy, and Courtney, Ginny and Layla came by just to watch.  Lynn helped Amber and Sara set up the complicated sequence of movements it takes to make shadow puppets look life-like.  The final shadow puppet scene is really moving (which might be hard to imagine, if your only experience of puppets is the Muppets). We videotaped the puppet sequences from both the front and the back of the shadow puppet screen, so that we have a reference for what should be done – a refresher for Amber and Sara, and useful instruction for their back-up puppeteers.

On Sunday March 14 Lynn worked with Alainey Penn, Elizabeth Hughes and Jacob Wheatley on the bunraku puppet of the horse Cowboy.  Amber Nelms read the role of Jimbo as Lynn guided the three puppeteers through the conversations Jimbo has with his horse.  We discovered new movements – Cowboy leaps and rears now – and Jacob picked up the art of hoof movement quickly.  Alainey remembered half her lines from last summer, and has gotten even more adept at moving the horse’s head to illustrate the words she’s saying.  

Headwaters has been very fortunate to receive consistent support over the last four years from the National Endowment for the Arts.  We recently applied for a grant to commission the next new script for Headwaters, and in the process prepared three video segments from the 2009 production.   The NEA application is a useful deadline in many ways, not least because we needed to have some current video of the show on the web.

Wish the production luck as we wend our way through the decision-making process at the NEA.  It’s quite fair, and appropriately rigorous.

Work on Headwaters continues in advance of the first rehearsal on May 22.  Stay tuned.

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