As
of Monday, July 20th we have officially finished blocking and learning the entire
show of Once On This Island, choreography and all!! That puts us at least two weeks ahead of
schedule!! This is fabulous news, because it means the teens will have more
time in the next few weeks to rehearse lines, spot-check dances and really
start developing their characters. Mr Chungers and I are especially pleased at
the vocal progress that the teens are all showing--there is some gorgeous
singing going on at Solorio!
We have also started adding in some props and costume pieces, just to get used
to wielding them onstage. Overall, the effects are staggering--the song
'Rain' in particular really came together once we added some of the
handkerchief 'raindrops'. In other songs, we decided that less physical effects
were needed. In the song "Mama Will Provide", we use the teens
themselves to physically 'build' a tableau of everything that Mother Nature is
providing for Ti Moune on her journey. My personal favorite song of the show is
the finale, "We Tell the Story"--you can just feel the joy radiating
off the stage from the teens as they sing and dance!
Next week looks to
be very busy for us all. We have to continue to work on our production, of
course, but we also will be featuring our first performance for an audience
outside of Solorio! We also have two guest speakers coming in, Ms Linden Christ
and Ms Colleen Jackson, to talk to us about some of the challenges and rewards
of running your own theater company, what it is like producing and directing
shows, and holding mock auditions and masterclasses with the teens. It's going
to be an exciting and informative couple of days!
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