Feedback

Today was my in class workshop day for directing and I got great feedback on my show. The class really seemed to love my casting decision for all my actors. My biggest fear was erased when jason thought that my show wasn't to over the top and times it needed to be. My classmates really seemed to like the show and thought that my characters had credibility. They mentioned minor technical elements that they liked such as the mommy and daddy t shirts. My set seemed to work for everyone and they liked the entrance and exit from the stairs of the studio. They gave me some feedback about how i could have used staged left a little more and that I could have also added a few props such a baby toys lying around. At times i was given the suggestion that i could have made joe and amandas baby talk even more prevalent and built it up throughout the show. But mostly i was given great compliments. I am so glad that my class mates liked my work. I am proud of what I have done and hopefully this show gave my actors something to be proud of as well.

Closing Night

Tonight was closing night of my show Baby Food. I can't believe it is all over. Tonights show was very good and the audience once again loved it. I still think my favorite was opening night and I cant help to think it was better. I am sure every director is like that though. I mean nothing went wrong and the audience loved it but there was just something missing. I am very sad that it is over. We striked the set and in ten minutes flat POOF, my show was over. I had such a great experience with this directing show. I had the perfect cast. They really helped me learn that I can be a good director even if I am laid back and not as strict as some. i feel I really grew and expanded my knowledged of directing. I learned that I have good ideas and a good eye for details. I am also glad that I did a comedy. Comedy is what I love and its what I am good at. Looking back I am happy with all of my decisions and am happy with the feedback I was given. I am so thankful that I had a stage manager this time. I really think that made a huge difference. My past directing show i did not have a stage manager and it made it really hard to be looking down at the script all the time and also trying to watch what the actors are doing on stage. It was also nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and here their opinion. I really think that after this directing process that directing might be something I would like to pursue in the future.

Last rehearsal and Opening Night

Today was opening night as well as our last rehearsal. It was a really good idea to have a rehearsal before the show because this made the cast and myself feel more confident. We played some warm up games and even created our own game with the ball called categories. We also ran our show with Andy's so that we could practice the set change. Both shows went really well and we let our cast get dinner and prepare for the night. Leading up to the show I was very nervousI wasn't nervous because I thought the show wouldn't do well, but I was just nervous. All I can say is that I couldn't have asked for a better show or a better audience. They LOVED it. The show went better than I could have ever imagined. My cast was soo on and full of energy. They knew how to hold for the laughs and were feeding off of the audiences reactions. They added some things which only made the show even better. I am pretty sure everyone in the audience got a good laugh. Afterwards was amazing because I have never benn given so much positive feedback. People told me that I was a great director and I couldn't beleive it. Directing was always somethings that I was afraid of and never thought i knew exactly what I was doing. I guess I did. They only thing left to worry about was wondering if tomorrows performance would be just as good.

Dress Rehearsal

Today was sort of a last dress rehearsal form my show. It was also a preview. Barb and some of her modern class came to watch the show. The audience certainly laughed, but not as much as I had hoped. The casts energy was low because we didn't have time for warm ups. It was a good run just not the best audience. My cast was feeling very badly like they had let me down. I thought the show went well. I told them not to worry about anything and that they did great and it was just the audience. Also I have heard that if you have a terrible dress rehearsal you will have a wonderful opening night. Hopefully that's the case, even though things went pretty well in my book.
We are not having a rehearsal tomorrow because of my theater criticism obligations but we did decide to have one more run through before the show on Saturday. This will provide some last minute adjustments and make the actors feel comfortable and familiar with the show for opening night.

Run through with a few guests

Today was a run through of the show with the added elements of light and sound. The show doesn't have any specific light cues except for lights up and lights down. There is intro music in the beginning that fades and then there is music at the add when the lights fade. We also added a sound effect of a baby cry which really adds to the humor. The run went really well and the two audience members were howling. It was good to hear an audiences reaction and I know it really helped my cast with energy. One of the audience member was a fellow class mate and director, who really helped me with some simple suggestions. I only had a few minor notes for my cast. I am really excited about tomorrow because Barb and a some of her modern theater class is coming to watch the show. Fingers crossed!

Insights as of now

I decided to give some of my insights on directing the show Baby Food 
thus far and some things that have learned and discoveries I have made. First of all one 
activity that I felt was very beneficial was one that I did at my very first read through. 
Since I have to couple in my show I told them to get with their partners and to come up 
with their back stories as couples and also come up with a story of how the two couples 
became friends. My cast was very excited to do this activity and they took it very 
seriously. After giving them about seven minutes I had the couples take turns presenting 
what they have come up with. It was very amusing and interesting to see what they 
came up with. Even though they were very different it was good to let the actors come 
up with what they wanted. Another activity I also felt was very beneficial for the actor’s 
character work was the circus walks activity. I had the actors do this before our second 
rehearsal and I could tell such an immediate difference after the activity. I also had them 
say what their characters likes and dislikes were one at a time. This was also very 
entertaining to see them decide what their characters would say. For my rehearsal 
process I decided to do the bite size chunk method. I broke the show into 2 pages at a 
time and did the blocking organically. I found this to work very well. It was a nice way to 
block because it is very collaborative with you and your cast and gives them freedom to 
form their characters. Sometimes I worry that I am a director that just goes with the flow 
and isn’t very by the book. I don’t want my cast to think I’m unprepared or careless. The 
other day at rehearsal my cast and I were waiting for one cast member to arrive and two 
of my cast members told me something that really put a smile on my face. He said, “You 
know what Casey, I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your directing 
style.” “You are really laid back and don’t tell us what’s right and wrong, instead you give 
us the freedom to choose and help us if we stray.” “I really like that and I think that a lot 
of people are going to want to work with you in the future.” That really made me feel 
great about my directing. So it just goes to show have more confidence in what you do 
because even though you may think you are not doing things right, other people might 
think what you do is great. My show opens next weekend and I am thrilled to have an 
audience and see my finished product.

5 days till showtime

Tonight was another run in the studio. We had more set dressings today as well as the last props needed. The actors wore there cotumes as well to get the full effect. The show was going good and I only had a few notes to give. I decided to change blocking for Joes entrance and also Rhett and Jamies exit. Since the show takes place in a nice finished basement I decided to have them walk down the actual audience stairs and exit going up the stairs. I like this a lot better then just existing stage left into the black. Also I decided to add to the ending. The show kind of ends on a very strange note and then there would be a blackout. I told Joe and Amanda that there last lines really turned them on to start making out wildy. That later turned into Amanda jumping on Joe with loud sounds fading to black. It is strange and absurd and thats exactly what this show calls for. We also decided to light the candle that is one the coffee table. This provides and really neat effect because when the lights are out it lights up the baby picture of aloyosha. This sets the mood for so much strangeness.