comedy

Why is the number 3 funnier than the number 2 or the number 4?

In comedy, things often happen in threes (there is some aphorism about that, isn't there?).

Or, reactions are funnier in three beats.

And repetition is funny. The first time a gag appears, it may provoke a smile or just a notice- but the second time is funnier, the third funnier still- and soon the audience is expecting the next gag- and then if you pull a twist on it- you can bring the house down.

Make 'em laugh!

For the past two weeks, in near record-breaking heat and humidity, I've been spending about 12 hours a day rehearsing.

We open tonight with Taming of the Shrew.

We have two casts: one cast pretty much according to gender expectations: men playing the male roles, and women playing women.

The other is an all-female cast.

I am looking forward to the audience response.

I am nervously awaiting the audience response. With comedy, they gotta laugh. If they don't laugh, you didn't succeed.

The casts are both just about ready-- just awaiting the energy and sense of fun that the audience can bring.

Make 'em laugh, teams!

off book

The first off book rehearsals are awful. Terrible. A disaster. A train wreck.

At least in a teen theater troupe.

I wish I didn't have to be there. There is virtually no opportunity to direct.

But I have to be there.

Because if I'm not there, they won't do it.

And the NEXT rehearsal will be the first off book rehearsal.

scheduling

I've just finished the rehearsal schedule: version 1.0-- for the current production. Scheduling rehearsals for a summer production of a youth theater is TRICKY. Our troupe insists that the last two weeks are clear for our cast members to concentrate on the play. However, when working with teens in the summer time-- with summer vacations, family events, lessons and classes, the process of scheduling involves intricate intellectual acrobatics.

I have completed a schedule that will please no one, and will barely address the needs of the production.

I've covered everything: working with the text, character work, stage combat workshops, blocking rehearsals, working rehearsals, stumble throughs, run throughs and tech. I've set deadlines for props, for lines learned, for costume parades, for set construction.

I've committed approximately 200 hours of my life over the next month and a half.

And I know I will be scrambling at the end...

Goal: for the next show I direct, I will have a set rehearsal schedule that the actors adapt to, rather than the scheduling-- and the director-- adapting to the actors.

Who do you love? THE AUDIENCE!

As I was working with young people, training them for performance, audience awareness had to be a part of the training.

We would do dances on stage: Look Upstage! Step Stage Right! Step Stage Left!

As we worked scenes and blocking, I would hop up and demonstrate positions that would open up actors to greater visibility on the proscenium stage.

"The audience wants to see *these* cheeks," I would say, pointing to my face, "not *these* cheeks!" as I turned around and pointed at the butt cheeks.

Lots of giggles. And they learned.

The short hand shout out of "Wrong cheeks!" would prompt the actor to re-orient, adjust, move to share more with the audience.

They learned.

"You are a sunflower!" I would say, "And the audience is the sun! Ever so subtly you move, you lean, you orient to the sun!"

They learned.

I taught them that without the audience there is no theater. "Who do you love?" I would challenge them.

The shouted response: "THE AUDIENCE!"

The audience, I taught them, wants to like you, wants to love you. Share your character, your voice, your energy, your play, with the audience and they will love you and appreciate you and give back your energy ten-fold.

Who do you love? THE AUDIENCE!

post-play

After a play closes, I am of divided mind.

Part of me is sad, missing the rush and the excitement.

And part of me is ready to rest, to detach, to regroup.

Ensemble

Ensemble is tremendously important to me. The idea of each of us contributing to the greater whole is inspirational; and in my own experience, when this is working, the result is far greater than the sum of the individual contributions. When ensemble is really working, each of us is driven, challenged, LIFTED into doing BETTER than our best work.

Ensemble is one of the guiding principles in how I choose the scripts I choose. Significant acting for everyone. Room to grow.

Ensemble is a delicate atmosphere. It is difficult to foster, easy to destroy. It is based on respect: respect for the art, respect for the process, respect for each artist and for the art in oneself.

Stanislavski described every element of the theater experience, from the hat check girl to the usher to actors to the director to the janitor, being a part of that art. A part of the ensemble.

And we must respect every part. And we must love every part.