My senior project deals with theater: for the next four months I will be shadowing two directors from different theater companies. The first director is Eva Tessler, who works for the Borderlands Theater (Borderlands mostly deals with border and/or gender issues) and will be directing Between Pancho Villa and a Naked Woman. I have already been shadowing Eva since early January and the performances start on Friday, February 12th. So far, I have tried to attend every rehearsal (although I admit that I have not been able to be at every rehearsal so far, but this should change now that school is over) and follow everything Eva does. I have also agreed to be the dresser for the show,(my duties include keeping all the costumes organized, spraying down an actress who needs to appear wet for one scene, and making sure a knife is properly inserted into the back of one actor's jacket) so that I have reason to attend all the prop/set/costume/lighting/sound/etc meetings.
I have observed a very consistent directing technique from Eva: the first time a scene is performed, she lets the actors do whatever they want without interruption to observe what is natural to them, then she has them run the scene again but this time she stops them after every few lines to ask them what their character is thinking or feeling to be certain that the actors fully understand the character they are portraying. Then the scene is usually run again so Eva can observe the changes in their portrayal and comment on whether this looks better and give advice on what still looks inadequate. Every act was run every few days so that the material would stay fresh in the actors' minds and there were typically five to six rehearsals per week.
As the rehearsals progressed, props began to trickle in, and right now there is either a prop or a stand in prop for every prop that will be used in the show so that the actors will be used to the prop's placement. Also rehearsals take place at the South Side Presbyterian Church so a diagram of the exact area of the space and door placements at Zuzi theater (the theater where the play will be performed) have been taped in white on the floor. All of the dance scenes have been timed so as to make sure they do not run on too long for Eva's taste and all of the musical cues are played on a CD player that I or the stage manager control.
Since the play goes up in a few days, every night that we rehearse before opening will be a full run through of the show. In the past week Eva has mostly stopped commenting on the acting and mostly interrupts the rehearsals to adjust the use of a prop or explain where the actors should stand in order to optimize the effect of the lighting (although she gives notes at the end of rehearsal on lines that sound wrong to her or need more work so that the actors can think of a way to fix them before the next rehearsal). Also, the lighting guy and prop guy have started showing up to rehearsals and they too give notes to the actors at the end of rehearsal about the issues in their respective areas.
Between Pancho Villa and a Naked Women (fondly nicknamed "Pancho Villa" by the Borderlands cast) is a play mostly dealing with gender issues. This play is based off of a movie (by the same title) although the movie is in Spanish and the play is in English (I have tried to get the movie from Casa Video but they lost their copy so I will be watching the film with the cast once the play is over). It is about a man and woman with a very complicated relationship: the man, Alberto, still has a wife but the two are all but divorced and no longer live together so he feels no guilt in dating Gina. Gina is the mother of a Harvard student whose husband (Felipe) died several years ago. Alberto is writing a book about Pancho Villa, but has Gina type up all of his work so that she also has an interest in Pancho. One day, Isaac, one of her sons' friends shows up at her appartment and convinces Gina to go surprise Alberto at his house and ask to get married and make a baby if they really love each other. Gina (who is very drunk) agrees but discovers that Alberto is with another woman. She seems to forgive Alberto, however, when he finally asks her what she wants. She rattles off a huge list (waking up with him every morning, Alberto making his divorce with his old wife official, etc) and Alberto agrees. As the next scene begins, we find out that after this meeting, Alberto does not call or visit Gina for three months. When Gina furiously interrogates him, Alberto seems to have no reasonable excuse at all. Gina then admits that she is in love with Isaac and he will be moving into her apartment with her. Upon hearing this, Alberto completely throws a tantrum but then shows Gina that he got his Pancho Villa book published in a final attempt to impress her and win her back. During his tantrum, Pancho Villa as a figment of Alberto's imagination guides and gives advice to Alberto (usually telling him to kill Gina). Finally Alberto jumps out of Gina's window, but Gina lives on the ground floor so Alberto will be fine. In the final act Alberto shows up to Gina's apartment but we learn that Gina has left the country with Isaac, and Gina's friend (who happens to be the granddaughter of one of Pancho Villa's greatest enemies) is staying in her house while Gina is gone. At first Alberto is disgusted by her because of her family history but ultimately ends up sleeping with her, only to proclaim that he misses Gina and does not feel good cheating on her.
Well, this is the synopsis of the play in a nutshell. Today I have given an overview of the process I have been witnessing. My next post will focus on the changes that occurred week by week.