I'm finding that there are many pros and cons to working with friends. The pros are that you know them more intimately so you can speak to them in a different manner, they cut you slack when you need it, and they are willing to go the extra mile for you. The cons, I'm finding, are that it's hard to feel like you have the right amount of authority, they can take advantage at times, and they don't conduct themselves as professionally. The cons might sound like horrible evil things, but they're not...it's simply what arises from working with FRIENDS.
Peter had a bad day on Sunday. He was caught doing double duty at his other job, he had had a fight with his girlfriend the night before, and he was basically just at his breaking point with STRESS. I had talked about calling rehearsal off so that we could build some boxes for the set, but decided it against it because James at Tipping Point thinks we can use some that he already has. Peter then got it in his head and thought we had cancelled rehearsal altogether because we weren't building.
Not good.
COMMUNICATION IS KEY!
I thought, because we were friends, he was going to bail on me because he just needed a night off. This almost set me off the deep end because I know he wouldn't try to get away with that with any other director. Luckily, we talked, he assured me that he never planned on bailing on the rehearsal, and all is well.
But it got me thinking about communication and how it's so important with directing...maybe even the most important part. I have a written rehearsal schedule which is set in stone unless i change it, but all the TALK about changing it can be confusing. It's also a good idea, if you're working with friends, to know the temperament of your actors...how they're doing...are they being overworked?...is having a rehearsal more harm than good? Talking openly about concerns is very critical among friends in a working environment, because if you bury it, the process can turn toxic almost overnight.
But overall, rehearsals continue to be very strong and productive. I'm really learning how to talk to Peter and Kelly to provoke the responses I want. I'm totally stealing from Tony when I ask, "Does that makes sense?" Peter spotted that just last night..."Taking a page from Tony's book, eh?" And I am, because I think it's a very good question to ask. We need to understand each other if we are going to get anywhere. I caught Peter generally saying, "Yeah...yeah" to a question I posed and I got the feeling he didn't understand me. As it turns out, he didn't, so I re-explained and he got it. I don't know why we as actors do this....we don't want to feel dumb, I suppose. But it's ok to need a difficult concept to be explained a few ways as long as you can understand it ultimately.
I think my greatest strength at this point is my ability to ask provocative questions. This comes from having read the script a TON, which has served me very well.
My weakness at this point is that I'm having trouble directing the actors forward. I struggle with diagnosing exactly WHY a scene isn't working and HOW to fix it. I think a good deal of that has to deal with the fact that we're not clear on our ACTIONS at this point and we don't know where we're going in the scene. A lot of GENERALIZED acting going on, which we can't have. However, I think this is ok at this point. We're still in the "asking question" phase. Next week, we need to move to the "answering questions" phase.
We also had our first night with experimenting with chalk drawings on the floor. Absolutely FASCINATING to watch. I'm so excited because I think my idea is going to work here. The chalk goes on and comes off very easily. It's very entertaining to watch someone draw something...I don't know how many hours I've watched Bob Ross in my day but it's completely captivating to watch. We don't have his skill, but we have provocative ideas to explore and it will be something that the audience enjoys. I'm still in my "How do they do what they do in Russia and how can I incorporate that artistry into my work" phase. It's fun to explore and I'm can see the show start to take shape.
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