In one week alone, I devoted 3 nights to this delightful step in play development (staged readings are often used as a way to "test" a new play--or even a known one!--with a theatre company's audience, to see if the community this company serves might be interested in a full production of the piece, and/or for the playwright to get a better sense of what works and what doesn't in their script). On Wednesday, I had a wham-bam hour-long rehearsal of 10 minutes of a play *I* wrote (!!); on Thursday, hubby & I were part of a private reading of a new piece for a local playwright, to allow her to hear her words and get some feedback as she continues the process of sculpting this story; on Saturday, that aforementioned 10-minute scene of my play was "performed" in an evening of sampler staged readings--little bite-sized morsels of new plays by local playwrights.
That Wednesday rehearsal was a total rush. The hosting company is a really exciting play development group. They are in the midst of combing through submissions to pick the next batch of plays they will work on, and they wanted to celebrate the local playwrights who were still in the running after 2 full rounds of slimmin' down. And I *love* a celebration! (See Figure A.)
figure a:
I had the last slot in that 4-hour rehearsal evening. Each playwright (it surprised me, how much I loved being one of the "playwrights") was given a dramaturg and director to work with, as well as a cast of actors. Our single hours were broken down like this: 20 minutes for the dramaturg to introduce the piece to the group and have an open discussion with the playwright about the chosen scene; 20 minutes for the actors to read the scene out loud and discuss it with the dramaturg, director and playwright; 20 minutes for the director to get the actors on their feet and direct the reading.
Often, a staged reading looks like this: actors sit or stand behind music stands that hold their scripts. They read the dialogue either to each other or straight out, while someone else reads the stage directions. Simple, clean.
Come Saturday, thanks to my insanely-imaginative director (who only got--no joke--about 7 minutes of the 20 she was supposed to get on Wednesday because I got SO EXCITED about talking about my play with other people!:), my staged reading looked like this: the actors sat some feet away from the music stands. When the scene began, with one character following the other up to her rooftop, those two actresses climbed up onto chairs (one with ease, like her character; one struggling and finally sitting cautiously, like her character). They held their scripts in hand, and spoke to each other.
As the scene progressed, actors would either utilize the music stands to read a scene, or stand on chairs or sit on the floor, depending on their character's actions. Chairs became houses, music stands became flowers. One actress conducted a symphony forwards and backwards; the director read the stage directions while she played out the actions with eyes closed, in a world of her own. Three actors ended up kneeling before the music stands, reading something off of the ground as the words were spoken by an actress standing on a chair behind them (existing, mind you, in another time altogether).
Cut to me: I was BEAMING. Grinning like an idiot. A friend commented that I was practically vibrating with energy. I was terrified, thrilled. I felt exposed, I felt found. I teared up at the final bit. I couldn't believe a thing that had come from me could have a life--even this tiny, brief-brief life--outside of me. I have written three short plays that have been performed in the past, but I was *in* all of those productions. I have never had this experience of simply WATCHING.
The play is not "done," mind you. I thought it was:), or, rather, I wanted to think it was...but it's not. My homework is to make myself sit down and think (and write) about why I chose the scene I did; what I hoped to learn; what I wish for this play to be. And then, with the help of some generous play-lovers in this town ("my" lovely dramaturg, for one, who has kindly agreed to engage in some cawfee-tawks with me), perhaps I can begin re-sculpting, and learn what it really means to CRAFT something....
But that is for another post.
In the weeks to come, I will be part of another private reading for that exciting other playwright on her own journey (bringing us a revised script), followed by a public reading of that work. I will also be rehearsing an adaptation of Shakespeare for public radio, and participating in a festival of staged readings of new plays for young audiences.
I have gone from wordless theatre to word-centric theatre. I love that my art can encompass both.
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