Week 3: real-life gobos:)

This is a picture from Saturday's rehearsal for my one act, "The Happy Journey."  The story follows Ma and her family as they travel to visit her married daughter Beulah.  The predominance of the piece takes place in a car, and in Thornton Wilder's style, the car is represented by 4 chairs.  You can probably imagine this makes for an interesting, but difficult, rehearsal process in that: though this is a realistic piece (in action, characters, and relationships), the scenery (aka the car) is representational and not realistic.

So, Saturday, we took a real trip.  In a real car.  And I let Joe drive (aaah).  I had them go through their lines while driving in a car.  What a joy it was to witness this happening!  All of a sudden things made sense.  The actors didn't have to work so hard, they were just living it.  Joe couldn't take his eyes off the road because there was really a road, for example.

But I had another trick up my sleeve.  While we were taking our "happy journey," I had my stage manager and other actors position themselves right around the corner from where we would return to surprise them.  In the play, they finally arrive at Beulah's, whom they haven't seen in some time.  We parked the car in the Mesa parking lot, and were walking back to return to the rehearsal space, having just finished running the lines that took place in the car.  When they rounded the corner and saw Beulah sitting there, they went right into the lines for the last scene!  What a special moment I was able to capture thanks to my good ole' Iphone.

In the picture, I love that Beulah (Kirsten) is in a patch of light in the center, and seems to be glowing.  She might as well have a spotlight on her!   In addition, the tree limbs and leaves are making a beautiful pattern on the ground, like a natural gobo.  To me, this is a great representation of how warms and cools work together.  Despite the bring sunlight coming through the trees and spilling on Kirsten, the picture seems to be just as cool, with the shadows helping to add dimension and balance.  This photo also evokes a feeling of comfort and safety, which blends beautifully with the actual text and circumstances of the scene.  Beulah very much needs the support of her family, and though we follow the family's journey for most of the play, we realize by the end that it is just as much about Beulah's journey to reunite with her family after a big loss, and be comforted and feel safe.  I am so happy to have captured this memory of part of the rehearsal process:)