Three Block(ing)s

This week I had the first real blocking rehearsal with both Ali in Her Heart and Lena in Seeing the Thing. In Her Heart, Kivan was happy to see how we wanted to move, at first, and then gave us more specific direction later. We got rather specific and began using the space in unique ways. Because we're not performing in a normal proscenium theater, we can use the space more realistically. With an audience in front of you and only in front of you, actors have to worry about always facing them (not showing their backsides). It creates a degree of artifice that isn't conducive to good performances. You have to play to the crowd. On the other hand, with an audience on two sides, we're playing to the corner, yes, but more than that, we're playing to each other. We have the freedom to emphasize one character over another in any given moment and blocking becomes much more organic, as we interact with one another without worrying so much how it looks from one singular perspective. Ultimately, this will mean that each seat will get a little different view of the action and that's okay. Every side is interesting, in my opinion, and tells a slightly different story.

We also set some rules for ourselves. Glory, Ali's character, for example, would go downstage (towards the audience and the northern lights) when she felt more connected to her deceased husband, and upstage (towards the back wall and me) when felt more connected to East, my character. This created a unique dynamic for the scene and one that gave clear reasons for moving.

Blocking for Seeing the Thing was an unexpected consequence of the weather (I was meant to rehearse with Travis in They Fell that evening) but ended up being very productive. Kivan wasn't as prepared as he had been for Seeing the Thing but we were productive nonetheless. I guess the biggest thing that emerged for me in blocking with some idea of the ground plan, was the impact that levels can have. When Lena's character of Rhonda would be up on a platform higher than me, it drove home what a monumental task giving his gift is for Dave, my character. It made it far more daunting and her a bit more intimidating. Having to physically climb to say what I needed to say was quite effective at making the impediments to Dave's goal very clear. It was like a more physical version of psychological gestures (a technique for making lines clearer where in you deliver the lines with a physical gesture in mind. For example, an angry line can be delivered with a push). I guess that's what blocking is supposed to be; an extension of the pursuit of an objective and an outgrowth of the circumstances of these characters.

Overall, it has been an excellent first few blocking rehearsals.

Ben Sulzberger

East/Chad/Dave

A Word From Someone New

I have enjoyed my time at Story Theater Company. Me being new to this program, I am not use to such a close relationship with my peers.   Being in Costumes is a personal joy. I have an opportunity to work with everyone, allowing for a much more personal relationship with my cast. Our director, Kivan Kirk, has taught us in a way that allows us to figure out how to act by ourselves. It truly allows us to find an inner peace within ourselves. We really get to know ourselves.

I have met a lot of new friends and I am learning to work and communicate with my fellow workers. I am especially close to my scene partner, Elizabeth Cowley. We have been friends for a while and it was luck that got us in the same scene. We have been able to work on scenes in study hall as well as in our acting and tech classes. I know that after this production we will still be close friends, but the best part about this production is that I know I will be friends with all of my cast mates.

I have been acting for only two years now and I know that this has been the best acting experience of my acting career. All other productions I have done have been done through the school. When I worked with my school there was a cast of 70 people. Half of them I didn't know and the others I was not in a scene with. Here at Story Theater Company I truly feel like I have built a strong relationship with all of my cast mates. I also have been able to form a great relationship with my directors. In school plays I only was able to talk with my director if I did something wrong. Here I know I am truly getting the full focus of how I can improve.

I look forward to doing more Story Theater Company productions in the future. I can not wait to build even more relationship with more cast members and strengthen the already existing ones from this production. The better part of this is with each new production there are new scenarios to figure out. This experience has been one of the best. I can not wait to see how much further I get into the world of acting.

Drew Wilson

Lendall

Stepping Back

So far, participating in Almost, Maine has been very fascinating. It has been different in many ways from other shows I have acted in in the past. I think that stepping away from the script and getting to know the play as a whole and learning more about its themes and concepts before we started working on the individual scenes has been really beneficial in many ways. For me, it has helped a lot with stepping back and looking at the whole thing instead of just focusing on what I say and what I do. It really helped when we just sat down and talked about love. From the beginning, love had always been scary. It is confusing. And it generally isn’t something I often have conversations about. It was helpful to hear others’ experiences and stories.

Another thing we have worked on so far in the rehearsal process is looking at many different possibilities, and being open to trying new things. While blocking This Hurts, Kivan showed us a few different ways Jayna and I could do something, and then we decided which one we thought fit best.

Also, I’ve noticed that whenever I come in for a rehearsal or workday, everyone else seems very excited to be there, and that helps keep a positive, enjoyable environment and it definitely makes for a good, productive time.

Overall, working on this show has taught me a lot so far, and I’m excited to see what other great experiences it will bring our way.

Anna Suski

Steve

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Leader

What’s it like to be the leader of a team that’s all the same age as you? How does that change how things have to be handled? How will I use my position as a way to better improve those around me and myself? These are some of the questions that I constantly thought about when I started my position as Props Head. Keeping these concerns in mind, I was able to form solutions for what kind of leader I wanted to be throughout the entire process.

My team doesn’t sit in on production meetings with me, therefore they don’t get the chance to talk about the decisions behind each prop, the connection to the director's concept, and the whole production aspect that underlies everything. While I discuss ideas with just the production heads and directors, and this has allowed for freedom in expression of ideas, my team is sometimes at a loss about what is happening when they arrive early Saturday mornings. Part of my job is to fill in those gaps and give them just enough insight so that they can help me make decisions and carry out the image we want for Almost, Maine. While it can be hard to always take the time to properly explain the thought processes that went into choosing a specific prop, I think it’s important to key every member of the group in.

I can be very much a perfectionist, particularly if I know what I’m doing. It’s easy to know what tasks have to get done, what they need to look like, and when and how it’s all going to be completed. However, while knowing my job to the fullest extent is extremely important, it doesn’t help anybody else out if I keep them in the dark about everything we do as a team. I’m finding it’s a better experience for everyone if I keep them as informed as I can as we’re heading out for a shopping trip, or starting to sew 11 (yikes) bags of love. They should know why we need this and how it will contribute to the overall production.

I’ve been on the props team as just a member for two years, and through observing my leaders at the time, I built up some basic knowledge on how the job should be done and things to avoid. Therefore, my intent is that hopefully the members on my team will have a new found sparked interest in props and they can use that in further projects. Ultimately, learning and building on experience is what I hope to gain, not just for myself, but for each individual member of the team.

One of the biggest challenges that I’ve faced so far is the obstacle of everyone on my team, along with other designers that you have to correspond with, being relatively the same age as me. While this may increase the level of comfort when working together, sometimes that comfort can overlap and blur the line of authority that is supposed to be held at all times to create a productive work space. It’s very easy to shift into an attitude that centers around a main goal of making new friends, or continuing friendships (especially as a teenager).

Sure, it’s important to connect with your team, but it has to be done so in such a way that they still view you as someone who is in charge and to be respected. Acting too much like a friend can result in work not being done on time and workshop days being flooded by the mindset of “we’re here just to hang out.” There has to be trust in every relationship; however, when the line between leader and friend is crossed, things can easily become complicated. It often creates the thinking of “oh they’ll understand, I can turn this assignment in late because they’re my friend.” Once that line is crossed, it can be extremely difficult to backtrack and gain back that level of jurisdiction. While the easy route is to act like a friend during work days, this results in an unmotivated environment.

Overall, being in charge is an experience that wouldn’t be possible without actually having the chance to make decisions and figure out the best ways to deal with all kinds of situations. The knowledge that I’m building up now will better prepare me for the future, especially with the trial and error process that will eventually help me to understand effective leadership.

Allyson Goodman

Props Team Leader

Discoveries

At Story Theater Company, “making discoveries” has always been a constant phrase I’ve heard, no matter what production is in process. Our director, Kivan Kirk, often asks us what kinds of discoveries we’ve made lately, or if anyone had a discovery during an activity, or how many discoveries we found while reading through the script. Further along in the process, he’ll even ask us what discoveries we’d made on stage during our second performance of opening weekend. Whether they’re small discoveries, or huge ones, we’re always encouraged to share with everyone in the cast. More often than not, bringing up a discovery you’ve had can lead to a full blown discussion, with everyone tossing in their thoughts and relations to their own findings.

“This week has helped me slow down during my scenes and speak clearer. I’m naturally a very fast speaker, and though this is fine in normal conversations, it can be hard to understand onstage. During rehearsal for the prologue, Kivan reminded me multiple times to slow down and think slower. Doing this helped me to think more like my character, who is very much in his head. Slowing down also allowed me to better process what was going on around me in scene.” - Zander Reed

“A specific discovery that I’ve made during this process is how important emotional readiness is. My first impression of my character, Jimmy, was just sad. It didn’t really get any deeper than that, but when diving into the process, I was forced to see deeper into him. We noticed that he’s not just sad, he’s lonely because all of his family moved away, his pet died, he hasn’t had a relationship since the last one with Sandrine, which ended horribly. He’s just alone.” - Ryan Weber

Jayna Wanamaker, Kivan Kirk, Maria Werner Anderson

Being a teen show, we have a handful of teens who have a great deal of authority and responsibility, taking charge of massive aspects of the production. Allyson Goodman is one of the teens with such duties. She leads props on her own, delegating tasks to her three helpers. As of now, by her incredible headway, nearly all of her props have been located and put in a corner of the workshop, waiting for a later deadline when we’ll bring them out for use. But she touches base on an important aspect of being a production team leader.

“The hardest thing about being a leader in this production is that your entire team is all relatively the same age as you. Sometimes it’s hard to actively remember your position, because it is all too easy to become just another member of the group. However, the second you forget your role, time gets wasted and it becomes difficult to regain the control that is needed to successively get tasks done.” - Goodman

This may be a concern of hers, but so far she’s doing a pretty knock up job of keeping everything in control. Kudos, Allyson.

“Each of us does our own job. Coming into this, I thought we would independently work with just our own groups. I then found out that each team needs each other. For instance, if a prop needs to look a certain way, we refer to another team. Or we might need a prop to match a costume so we ask the costume people.” - Travis Cooper.

“This has been a new challenge for me as Set Designer given the nature of the play and the vignette form. So far it's been really fun to see how they can all work together in one space without big bulky transitions.” - Zoey Lazere

“I've had a lot of experience in the past with STC, helping out with plays, but working on set for Almost, Maine has been a different experience. I've never worked directly on set, other than helping with some painting on the kids’ plays. The Teen Plays are so much fun, and I'm learning a lot about being a leader and a lot more about set. Zoey Lazere has taught me a lot about building sets, and we have come up with amazing ideas.” - Clove Woodworth

This year, with the specific way Kirk is approaching the scenes, there have been millions of discoveries about acting and (I know I’ve had discoveries about) human emotional circumstances. If you’ve read from the previous posts, you’ll have an idea of how we’re going about the scenes this show. No lines have been memorized, and blocking only commenced a few days ago. So far, we’ve been coming in and having a base idea of our scene, and running through the situation, relationship, and story, and then investing in the emotions that result from these facts.

“My favorite thing to watch these past few weeks was how honest and sincere the actors were, or became, through the rehearsal process. Their dedication to the emotions in each scene is incredible.” - Maria Werner Anderson

Ben Sulzberger, Lena Menefee-Cook

“Reading it, it felt like [Gayle] was overreacting, but then acting it out with another person made it feel a lot more true. I feel that not memorizing lines and not working with a script allowed me to discover the emotions rather than keeping her dramatic.” - Elizabeth Cowley

“I’ve been working on my lines before bed or after homework, which means I can relax and retain what I’m memorizing for the next morning. It’s incredibly useful. One problem I’ve had in the past was getting into a rhythm of lines and saying them in certain ways. At first I thought this was counterproductive, but I’ve been learning to memorize in a monotone way, with little emotion. So when the time comes for the scene, I can try out new ideas without getting into the same rhythm over and over.” - Jayna Wanamaker

“Working together really helped us understand new perspectives on our parts. I really enjoyed the different perspectives on my part.” - Madison Ogg

“This week's rehearsal was with the large group/cast. We each got with our partner and reviewed the pivotal points or sections in each of our scenes. From then we improved, or really, lived the scenes without worrying about lines or blocking. I loved getting feedback from the large group and hearing all of their different perspectives. I was able to incorporate the knowledge/understanding I built last week with the internal and real anger and try to work it into our section. I loved this, beyond words, because everything felt so real. I love this and have never done it before, but it made everything feel so much more genuine, and that is what captures the audience and leaves them with the lesson/story and touches them in the core of their hearts, and back of their minds.” - Ben Teske

And of course, outside of acting, we’re making personal discoveries as well. Discoveries from working together in dependant groups, and trusting one another to be the leg we can lean on as we’re trying to support someone else on our back.

“This week I learned the importance of relationships within the production. Just throughout the first few weeks of the rehearsal process, I’ve formed closer relationships with many people. I think that the environment we have is a great one because we do get to have fun and get to know each other, but we also get a lot of work done. This makes rehearsals and work days really exciting. I get to do things I really enjoy doing around people I enjoy being around. It makes the space more relaxed and it’s easier to leave everything else outside the door and focus on what we are trying to accomplish.” - Anna Suski

Jayna Wanamaker, Anna Suski

One last interesting thing I’ve discovered, myself, is how much we’re learning about our own community by listening to the comments from the new faces in Almost, Maine.

“The wound of losing Almost, Maine to a matinee curtain call in November of 2014 was still fresh when I auditioned for STC’s production. I came, not in the hopes of reliving nostalgic moments from a year ago, but rather in the pursuit of improvement.” - Ali Sandler

“I am not used to Story Theater Company’s way of learning. I have met many new friends in this production, but what really surprised me was the fact that everyone, no matter what, supported me.” - Drew Wilson

“What blows my mind about this production  - and what distinguishes it from our past teen shows  - is the personal investment of each individual. Everyday when I walk into the rehearsal hall, I walk into a room of collaborators. Not just students. Not just actors waiting for direction. But I walk into a group of people as equally interested as I am in finding the best version of these stories.

And nothing gives me more joy. I don’t feel isolated on the outside, or like I’m being used as just another set of eyes. There is this amazing conversation that has opened up and we’re working together. ” - Kivan Kirk

Mabel McIntosh
Publicist

Dramaturgy Documentary

The First Month of Almost, Maine

The creation of our production of Almost, Maine so far has been one of the most interesting theatrical processes I’ve experienced. A huge part of Almost, Maine is communication--in the script, in production work days, and in rehearsal.

The script of Almost, Maine explores the ability (and often inability) of the people in Almost to communicate with one another. One of my favorite exercises we did early in rehearsals dealt with the difficulty of communication, especially in emotionally challenging situations. In this exercise, Mabel and I stood next to a white board, dry-erase markers at the ready, surrounded by the cast. Kivan told everyone to call out everything they could think of related to love. The board quickly filled up with words like happy, friendship, difficult, partnership, butterflies, love, kissing, cuddling, sharing, awkward, hard, etc. Eventually Kivan stopped us. He said, “Good job, guys.” Then he eerily chuckled. He told us all to scoot back and become the audience as he brought a chair forward, placed Ryan in it, and then told Ben S. he had to tell Ryan he loved him without using any of the words written on the board. If he said any of the words written, he would have to start over. Ben, Elizabeth, and I each had to do this. The audience collectively became very anxious as the confessor struggled to communicate to their partner; we all wanted them to do well and be able to say what they needed to say, but there was always the worry that they would grab onto a word they could not use and lose it all. Being on the inside was even more stressful. I felt like I was grappling; I was searching for words that weren’t there but there was the constant need to express, without the ability to do so. When I originally began, “difficult” was one of the first words I said, so I immediately had to go back and start again. This exercise gave me a clearer understanding of an issue these characters are constantly dealing with, and the constricting feeling that comes with not being able to communicate.

As both actors and members of the production teams, we are able to be involved in all different sides of the production and interact with multiple leaders. In addition to Kivan (our director), there is Maria (the stage manager), Mat and Megan (the technical directors), Hannah (the producer), Zoey (set designer and set team leader), Clove (assistant set team leader), Elizabeth and Ali (costume designers/team leaders), Allyson (prop designer/team leader), and Jayna, Ryan, and Zander (dramaturgy). During the first couple work days, Zoey explained her design to us and asked for some input on ideas for painting and arrangement. We discussed the different scenes of the play, where they take place, what set pieces might be required, and how we could communicate the time and atmosphere of the scene through the set. Mat, Megan, and Kivan would all occasionally come through, join the discussion, ask questions, and offer their input. When we began to look for platforms and flats, Zoey told us the plan and then delegated tasks to us as we found and needed to adjust them. The dramaturgy has shown us a few presentation on their findings so far, including a powerpoint about the Northern lights and a scene-connection map. It’s awesome to see all the different parts of the production come together from the inside and be able to actually aid in creating the physical world of the play as a production member in addition to living in the world as an actor.

In rehearsals, communication is an entirely different story. In my rehearsal with Ben S. for Seeing the Thing and in the rehearsal I watched with Ben Teske and Mabel for Where it Went, the first thing Kivan had us do was play games.  For Seeing the Thing, Kivan had us arm wrestle and keep each other from scoring a pillow-in-the-laundry-basket goal while in wheely-chairs. For Where It Went, after having Mabel and Ben T. stare into each other’s eyes for an extended amount of time, Kivan instructed them to move mats from one side of the room to the other--crossing paths without direct interaction, and then Kivan sat them both down, back-to-back with linked arms, and told them to pull each other until they reached what they wanted. While playing games may seem irrelevant to some, participating in these activities not only warmed us up, but helped us understand our scenes as well. These “games” were actually each an exercise with a specific set of objectives and given circumstances designed to reflect and explore the objectives and relationships in our scenes. When we worked on one of these exercises, we were each given a line of dialogue (mostly direct lines from our scenes) to repeat back and forth while we pursued our goal in the game. This technique of repetition was originally taught by the acting teacher Sanford Meisner to elicit honest reactions from actors and get away from the intentional, rehearsed inflections that can make acting false. In these exercises, you are not allowed to “act” the lines you are saying. Just repetition: listening and responding. Seeing the Thing begins with Dave (the character Ben S. plays) trying to convince Rhonda (the character I play) to let him go inside her house; Rhonda does not want Dave in her house. After arm-wrestling once with no words, Kivan gave Ben the line “Let’s go inside” and me the line “this is far enough.” He told Ben to get my arm all the way down to the table and told me to no longer try and push his arm down, but just prevent his arm from getting any closer to the table with mine. As we both actively pursued what we wanted (our objectives), the words became a vocalization of the action--not as lines, but what we actually needed to help us.

After these exercises, we went through the scenes by unit (small chunks of the scene revolving around the same action or idea) sans script. Working on Almost, Maine without our scripts for the first month of rehearsal has been one of the most interesting parts of the process so far. After analyzing the script and breaking it down into units and beats, we found we actually knew the progression of the scene well without the lines. Kivan essentially had us improvise the scene unit by unit. Initially, I was pretty nervous to go through the scene this way. However, once we actually got into it, it was rather freeing. Without the barrier of holding a script and constantly looking down at my lines or the stage directions, the blocking process became easier and more exciting to explore. We made many discoveries through this process about what characters were trying to say with their lines, moments that change the tempo of the scene, and how the characters move and interact onstage. I definitely think we’ve made more growth initially rehearsing this way than if we had dove in immediately with the script, with just writing down and practicing premeditated blocking plans.

The process has been incredible so far, and I can’t wait to see what comes next with this show!

Lena Menefee-Cook

Rhonda/set team member