Act One Take One

         I always reflect about the first run-through of a show because it is such an interesting time in the process of creating the show. We have finished the basic scene work, and we are about to begin a difficult process of tweaking and editing every scene to the best possible way of sharing that moment. We got to the initial run-through of Act 1 much quicker than we have for any other show I have been in. Though that creates the risk of creating moments hastily and not slowly building scenes to their full potential, I do not feel that this was the case. In fact, this was probably the most successful first run-through I have been a part of, and the fact that we are already to the staging of Act 2 will give us time to work each scene until we create the most beautiful retelling of The Ugly Duckling.

Now that I know how to do the dance moves in the opening number of the show, A Poultry Tale,  I began thinking about my character in the scene. Everybody is sharing with the audience and letting them know that their life is perfect in their “patch behind the farmhouse”. There are several moments in the song that demonstrate otherwise, such as the cat discussing her plan to eat the ducklings and the entire ensemble doing chores at the beginning of the show. I am still working towards mastery of the dances in the show, but I decided that I would focus on trying to actively pursue an objective as I did the choreography that was crafted for the song. I thought it was interesting that adding what seemed like it would be an extra burden (acting the song well) made doing the staging easier. I felt that it was easier to move with a purpose driven by my character, instead of moving because Elizabeth asked us to move. It also made me feel more confident with the choreography to be focusing on getting a point across, instead of making sure every move was precise.

Overall, I thought that there was very strong listening during the run-through. As Kivan said at the end of the rehearsal, the duckling ensemble is amazing, especially when it comes to listening. They are always playing off each other and it is evident in their performance. They impressed me a lot today because they all did the same thing together, but they all seemed to have an objective behind their action. Each individual duckling seemed to be driven to bully Ugly, but they also took ideas off of each other to improve their performance. I watched them stage “Look at Him” and they have already made significant improvements from a few days ago. One of the most amazing things about the run-through was that nobody seemed to have decided exactly how they were going to say their line before the run-through. Typically, most people fall into a routine and say their line the same way they always do, instead of listening really hard and responding to their partner in the most honest way. This is one of the biggest challenges I am facing as an actor, and I will continue to work on always being honest. This is also one of the biggest challenges for many shows, and I think that the risk of losing honesty becomes greater as we get farther into the show. Everybody was saying their line in a way that made sense because of what their partner did. I am going to do my best to maintain honesty all the way to the last curtain call, and I am sure the rest of the cast will too.

 I felt that there was some fascinating character development that was demonstrated and some places where the acting needed to be worked. We just staged the show and we were still trying to remember the blocking and timing of the things we did in the show. I think that character development will be demonstrated more in upcoming rehearsals when we have more time to talk about acting and I think that it will be very beneficial when we have a chance to go through everything and look at the specifics of the acting. Making sure that we dig to the roots of our characters is a challenge that we will face throughout the process of creating this story. I also felt that there were some moments where very clear choices were made and you could really see what was driving the character to make certain decisions. When Asher sings “Different”, he has very clear moments when his thoughts are directed at himself and when they are directed towards the ducklings.

I know that we are going to embrace the challenges that this show brings us and continue to make many discoveries as we stage Act 2.

Ben Siegel

(Jay Bird)