Brecht Opens Tomorrow

...thank heavens!

We had our final dress rehearsal tonight. It's a short piece so we had the chance to run it twice. These kids have worked really hard. I was looking back at old rehearsal pictures and realized what a long way we've come from that first rehearsal with a golf cart sitting in our rehearsal space and some of the worst French pronunciation I've yet encountered.

We've gone from sloppy shapes to beautiful angles with my three students stuck behind a scrim for most of the show. I have a student who slithers artfully across a piano, one who kicks over a chair with incredible verve, another who, after much coaxing, singles out audience members to tell them how much better she is than them, and a young piano player who blows me away every time he touches the keys.

I can't say that this has been a stress-free love fest. High school shows are difficult because they lack the support of a professional theater. No matter how much I'd like to say otherwise, I produced this show nearly on my own. I fought with space problems, a missing costumer, no funds, no stock, and a fire alarm that kept going off in rehearsal after rehearsal. Everything that professional actors know instinctively has to be explained in great detail in a high school rehearsal, and never assume that anyone will remember anything I say. However, I will walk away from this feeling like I've given these kids something to think about, and maybe I've inspired one or two of them to do their own work...

It's been a learning experience for all of us.
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This is day one or two of rehearsal. The first time we worked as a full group in the cabaret set up. The first rehearsal they all learned how to play blackjack. I think they are showing off their new-found skills here.

The first time we put together the Pride tableau. This is one of my favorite moments in the piece.

The Pride Tableau in a cueing session. The lights are the essence of the piece. They train the audience where to look. The addition of the scrim changed how all of the students responded to each other on stage. It was a riot watching the tech crew load that thing out of the scene shop and bring it over to our little neck of the woods.

This is the climax of the piece in full costume. Anna's revelation, I call it.

Here we see the cabaret moments come to fruition. Still playing blackjack, but finally looking the part. It's only missing a little smoke and some whiskey bottles, but we joke that it's a smoke-free, juice bar cabaret. They're all the rage in Berlin.

My amazing family in their silhouette corner. They worked so incredibly hard to achieve these gorgeous tableaus and I am amazed at the results. I could watch them all day.

The cut out in the letter was my student's idea. As soon as they realized how much they could contribute, the ideas started pouring out. Much of the design of the show was put together by brainstorming with these kids. I love being able to say that the show is as much theirs as it is mine.

I give all of my shows as gifts to my performers. Sometimes I get something back in return.

A Job Here...A Job There

This is the iffy black box that I am tyring to present "The Brecht Project" in at Canyon Crest Academy. The kids and I step inside this hole for several hours every afternoon. They work hard, the kids, but putting this show up by myself has not been an easy task. Right now I'm trying to put together costumes. We don't have the money to truly go period, so we are trying to hint at the 30's while pulling things off the rack at AmVets and Salvation Army. The piece has also become a pretty prop heavy show. I didn't start off thinking that it would be, but as these kids keep working and suggesting, I find that every day we are continuously adding things to enhance. My poor A.D., who will unknowingly be in charge of preset, has her work cut out for her.

Yesterday was our last rehearsal without our amazing piano player. He's fifteen or sixteen years old and can pound out anything you ask for. I call the piano man "the heart of the piece" in the script, and he has proved himself to be just that. I'm excited to see what happens as we slowly get the set and costumes together. We open in a week.

I also just finished a video shoot for a little piece called "Weiblich Ist?" I wrote it and John and I shot it and John will edit it. The premise of the piece is a woman who is trying desperately to dress like her true self. She goes from a full ball gown to a full tuxedo and everything in between. Ultimately, she walks out the door in jeans and a t-shirt. KInd of like me.

We shot it in one day. It was a long, long day. I ended up exhausted and needed a day to decompress the next morning, but I think we were all satisfied with what we got. My friend, Cynthia, came along and helped me get dressed and undressed throughout the day. I love sets where we all get along - where we laugh constantly. I think there were only two or three times where there was any tension at all.

The piece premieres on December 17th at my concert, ". . .In Time" at the Arts & Entertainment Center in North Park. I'm shooting a little video in Budapest in a couple of weeks too. The Brecht piece goes up next week at Canyon Crest. These kids are pretty fantastic. I wish all of this work didn't wear me out the way it does.