Good day of work today on Act Two. Our business is truly like no other. I only met Tom Ryan and Dan Jenkins 2 & 1/2 weeks ago (Rory hasn’t officially joined us yet) and yet we already share so many ‘in’ jokes and to the outside eye it seems like we’ve known each other for many years. We have so much work to do yet I trust them so implicitly that I know we have something special. It’s a business that can be full of ego and insecurity and there can be some very challenging personalities in its midst. Hats off to Jonathan Silverstein for putting together such a talented and joyful company.
I should add that our rehearsal room is not made up of just actors & a director. We have two amazing stage managers, Kara Kaufman and Joanna Muhlfelder, who go above and beyond at every turn. Since we often rehearse in a different room every day they put together everything we need for rehearsal in mere moments. We also have a terrific Assistant Director, Nick Kepley, who brings such a wonderful energy and perspective to the project. He comes to us with a great deal of dance training as a performer and choreographer and is so helpful with all the movement the show requires. Our designers are not present every day but we look forward to whenever they pop their heads into the room. I haven’t met our set or lighting designers yet but I adore our costume designer, Jen Paar, our sound designer, Bart Fassbender (I asked already and sadly no relation to Michael) & our fantastic Dialect Coach, Charley Layton. Charley has a big job on this one as we cover a huge range of dialects- British- upper and lower class, Italian, German, South African, Paraguayan, Philadelphian, Turkish…I’m sure I’m forgetting a few. He has emailed various tapes and recordings for us as well as working one on one and listening in at rehearsals and giving us notes. Jen, our costume designer, has fitted us in our matching suits (we all wear matching suits) and they are all being tailored as I write this. She’s given us our bowlers and shoes to use in rehearsal which are a great help. Bart, our sound designer, has been in quite a bit as well as he puts together all the various sound cues and music the show requires.
Siobhan Thompson performs a tour of the accents of the British Isles - and the celebrities who speak with them!
Next week when we move into the theatre all of these various aspects will come together in many long days of technical rehearsals (or what we call Tech). Set, Costumes, Lights, Props, Sound, etc..But more on that later.
For now, I’ve got to take a look at my lines and my dialects and get to bed.