| | American Triage: Table Work
For the benefit of those readers who aren't in theatre (if there are any) the definition of table work is: a process by which the director and actors read through a play scene by scene in order to discover the nuances of character, motivation, theme and overall narrative structure. In other words, the director leads the actors on a journey of discovery whereby they discover who their characters are moment to moment and their motivation moment to moment.
And, according to Nick our director for American Triage, it's important to do this work before you start blocking and staging. That way you don't waste time discovering it at that later stage when actors are concentrating on getting it all into their bodies.
So last night I arrive a little bit late to rehearsal and the actors were already a couple of scenes into the play. Table work means our director Nick may stop actors mid scene, ask them questions, give them direction and then the actors either resume or start from the top of the scene.
That is, unless we get the giggles. I've had it happen before, and I'm sure it'll happen again. In Austin last December Nakissa and I got a big case of the giggles...though, that might have been due to sleep deprivation.
Last night's giggles are completely due to chemistry. Nicole, the actor playing Soraya, is a real ham. Don't let her serious character fool you, she breaks into song (Papa, can you hear me?) and cracks jokes aplenty. Nick also encourages that we all bond so that the connections between characters feel authentic.
Case in point. We both bonded and got the giggles last night when Nicole started a hug wave. It started just as a hug to another actor but it got passed around the table and then started going in both directions which resulted in a collision hug between me, Nicole and the floor/table. Please note: no actor or playwright were injured in the making of this play.
We got through half of the play last night and today the cast is rehearsing during the day, so unfortunately I won't be able to attend since I'm here at my 9-5. But I will have more tomorrow about our translation work with playwright Caridad Svich.
-M
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| | Posted 1/31/2008 9:24 AM - 163 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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