Third Sunday

Hard to believe we started this trip only two weeks ago. But when days are like 12-14 hours long a lot can get packed in. Today was mostly given over to memorizing lines and rehearsing. Going through it a couple of times it started to gel and take a more specific shape. But, once we moved into the space we needed to renegotiate how the pieces fit together. The primary issue was splitting the focus between Cheyenne on stage and the other three up on the catwalk. We had worked out some specific movement patterns, but not being fully lit and moving above was distracting. Jonathan – the directing intern – made the suggestion that we not move but just offer voice.

We had opted to filter the whole of the first act of Three Sisters through Natasha as a kind of memory play set 20 years after the events. She encounters a box of objects that trigger specific memories that lead up to her entrance in the original play. Having the three of us only use voice put a great deal more pressure on Cheyenne to carry the whole piece physically, but since she had created a movement score attached to the objects much of that was already worked out. In the end it is a piece about the ghosts of the people that haunt the house she forced them out of.

I like the simplicity of it, but wish we had settled on a specific concept sooner. It really only came together in the past two days. But that said, the simplicity is its strength. It has the feeling of a Maeterlinck piece – who was so influential on Chekhov – so works nicely. The bonus with how we have ended up staging it is that I probably won’t get any actor notes on the use of my hands. So – I hope I actually get some sleep tonight – my body feels a bit run down and I am trying to avoid whatever congestion crud is making its way though the company.