Tag: Lane Teilhaber

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Beau Jest: a few notes

Tonight is the free Preview. Lane considers it a rehearsal and it may stop and start as necessary, although this is unlikely. Tomorrow is opening night. Lane has placed ads in the Atlanta Jewish Times last weekend and this weekend. Hopefully we will have a good turnout for this six week run.

I always knew that I would run into someone that I would not get along with off stage, but it happened sooner than I expected. In only my second play, I disagree with a member of this group. I will be nice and not say if it is cast or crew. But it does boil down to the person not doing his/her duty correctly. And I am not the only who is annoyed with this person. Oh well.

This will be my second play, yet both involve a heart attach of the screaming, angry old man. Hmmm?

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Beau Jest: Off Book

Thus ends the first week of being off book. Acts 1 and 2 went extremely well according to Lane. He was very pleased. No one asked for lines. We skipped a few and went over that section again but all went well. For Act 3, we bogged down. Several of us had to ask for lines including me. I was just happy that I was not the only one, me being the newbie and all.

On Thursday night we had character development discussions. Other than in acting class with Chris Cole Harris, I have never been though a formal process. It was very interesting. In class it was nothing more than a few questions related to the character and how they might behave. Lane had questions for us in which we went over for each character.

Thursday night was also a big boost for me for Lane said he was very please with my character in Act 3. The first two times we ran through Act 3, we cut up, had problems with out lines, etc. So Lane kept us late to go though Act 3 a third time and in all seriousness. JOEL came together for me and the interaction with SARAH was very strong. It felt right. And well Lane said it was what he wanted to see.

Opening night is just 2 weeks away.

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Beau Jest: Finished Blocking

This was my first experience with the blocking process. The primary focus during this process is where when. I.e. what is my character doing at this point, move here, more there, stand, sit, etc. Some focus is on character development.

Lane, the director, allowed me, until last night, to kind of explore JOEL in the way I felt he was. JOEL is divorced, with two kids, has a successful (or at least I thought so) psychology practice and can be impatient with family. Maybe this was a little too much me. But what I never have thought is pompous. So the path I was going down was not what Lane had in mind. This makes a big difference in line delivery. Actually some of the lines are better because of this. Pompous and impatient with family changes the presentation of a lot of lines as well as physical attitude. This could be a major reason for the divorce. “I am the educated psychologist. I see and understand what is really going on here. It really annoys me when I have to explain these things that should be so obvious to you.”

The question for me is did I just misinterpret the character? I suppose I need more training on character development.

The worse thing about this is that I feel like I am doing a terrible job. Everyone else has lots of experience. For Sean (BOB), this is his 30th performance. I was really nervous the rest of the night. I suppose the confidence will come with more experience. This is only my second show after all.

One thing I need to do early on is get director input on his basic vision of the character I am to play. I think this will put me on the right path to begin with.

To be honest, I was having trouble finding who JOEL was until this adjustment.

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Beau Jest – Rehearsal – Week 1

OK, we finished our first week of rehearsal, “blocking” Act I. It went well all things considered. This is my first time going through this process. My last play, The Sunshine Boys, I did not come on board until after all this was done.

I think I have figured out what the director (Lane Teilhaber) wants out of his cast. I have been trying to make things as real and natural as possible. But what the director wants is for each action to be obviously clear the intentions of each statement, a little “over the top”.

JOEL, the brother of SARAH, becomes suspicious of “DAVID” (BOB) and asks a few directed questions about DAVID’s medical practice. Here the director wants to questions to be “grilled” at DAVID. No holds on what my intentions are in my questions.

In real life this would be rude and maybe even offensive. But this is not real life, it’s a play and the intentions of the characters have to be made absolutely clear.

In another scene (Act I, Scene I, page 23):
JOEL: I notice you’re not wearing a pager.
BOB: No. No. I left it at home. I didn’t want to be disturbed.
JOEL: You left it at home?
BOB: Yeah, well… It’s my day off.
JOEL: What if there’s an emergency?

Here too, I need to be a little over the top. JOEL is a doctor of Psychology with a practice. Even he knows that a medical doctor would never ever be without a pager in case of emergencies. Hippocratic Oath.

On the “all things considered” front: I hope I am doing OK. It’s hard to tell. The other members of the cast have a lot more experience than I do. Most of them have worked with Lane before and knows what he wants. I feel really awkward at times.

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