Thank you to everyone for a great first week, and thanks especially to Ross and Michael for jumping in to help us.
As a reminder, please bring any instruments you'd like to play/offer with you to rehearsal next Tuesday, and do ask any friends who play percussion if they'd like to work with us. The sooner they can jump in the better.
I'll have Tuesday's rehearsal schedule posted by tomorrow. Thank you again for your creativity and fierceness!
Hey, great work tonight!! Chorus members, way to stay present on the floor -- thanks for that. Carl and I are learning how to build off each other's work and we appreciate your patience when things shift.
So tomorrow here's what I think we should do:
12:00 Tiresias and Guide, opening sequence
(Ashley and Breana, I will be at the theater by 11:45 if you can come early to warm up your voices.)
Also at 12:00 in Arena dressing rooms
Antigone/Ismene familiarize/run lines for scenes to be worked today
Haemon/Eteocles work with each other to solidify memorization of opening sequence
12:30 ADD Haemon, Polyneices, Eteocles, Creons, Ismene, Antigone to work pages 3-6
1:15 ALL CALLED for chorus review (opening sequence and dance we learned tonight)
Note: Please enter quietly if I am still working with those called earlier.
2:15 Antigone, Ismene, work keening and pages 12-14
Also at 2:15 in Arena dressing rooms:
Creons work together on speeches we will get on their feet at 3:30
Sentries work together on memorization of pages 18-26 that will be staged on Tuesday
3:30 Creons: work speeches: page 11, page 17, page 24
5:00 end of day
Memorization assignments for tomorrow:
Haemon/Eteocles, firm up memorization of opening sequence pages 3-6
Ashley: memorize "speaking in tongues" phrases
All women: review war chorus pages 6-8
All men: review chorus pages 15-16
Antigone/Ismene/Creons: be very familiar with scenes/speeches we will work Saturday
Memorization for Tuesday:
Haemon, Eurydice, Eteocles, Women's Chorus Leader, Polyneices:
lines through page 11
Men's Chorus Leader page 18
Sentries pages 18-26
Creons through page 25
Antigone/Ismene through page 14
Great work tonight everyone! Thanks to Ross and Jacob for joining us!
Thank you for having the space clear and for using the first few moments of rehearsal to bring yourself into a peaceful frame of mind, ready to work in our 'sacred' space. Please be sure to take time to sketch in the work we've done so far in your script so that you can review it before tomorrow's rehearsal.
We'll meet Friday at 7:30 to review the group work we did tonight and go over memorization for the women's and men's choruses that Carl will work with beginning at 8:30.
Looking ahead, I project we will work from 12 to 5 on Saturday, with everyone called the first several hours for choral work/review, and to finish roughing in staging through page 17 (Creon's speech before the Sentries' entrance). After the group work I will touch in with Haemon, Eteocles, Polyneices, Tiresias/Guide, Creons and Antigone/Ismene for individual sessions. Timing TBD.
Great work tonight on our opening sequence! Here's what's up for tomorrow:
7:30: all called, review of opening scene with voice/acting work deepened, pages 3-6
8:30 - 8:45: check in with Ashley and Breana on Tiresias text for opening section
also 8:30-8:45: women's chorus and men's chorus, find a space just outside of rehearsal hall to briefly run through your speeches due for memorization on Friday (see below)
8:45 - 9:30: Antigone and Ismene pages 12-14
9:30 - 10:30: Creons character work and opening speeches
Off-book assignments for tomorrow:
All: be off book for short "Hear our prayers" chorus on page 3
Miles & Andrew: Be very familiar with your text on pages 3-5
Claire, Christian, Bob/Adam: know your short lines on page 5
Off-book assignments for Friday in prep for work with Carl:
Miles & Andrew: Be off book for pages 3-6
All Women: Be off book for chorus on pages 6-8
Brendan, Aayush, Zach, Ben, Josh, Ernest: Be off book for chorus on pages 15-16, line assignments as follows:
CHORUS OF SOLDIERS
Ernest: Oh Light of the Sun,
Oh most glorious light that ever shone
Upon Thebes of the Seven Gates,
(CUT: Across Dirce's streams,)
Zach: Oh eye of the golden sun,
Oh then did you shine
Upon the Man from Argos
With his Gleaming Armor.
All: Polyneices!
Aayush: He came in bitter quarrel with his brother.
Screaming shrill, like an eagle he flew about our land.
Covered with a wing white as snow.
All: Polyneices!
Josh: He stood above our city's homes, hovered there,
Spear thirsty for blood,
A black circle of death.
Ben: And then, before he could slake his thirst with our blood,
All: He was turned back.
Josh: The war god screamed at his back
And Thebes rose like a dragon behind him.
All: Polyneices!
Ben: Traitor!
Zeus struck him down with a bolt of fire.
To the echoing ground he fell, twisting hard,
Fire yet in his hand.
All: Seven Captains at the Seven Gates
Lowered their weapons, yielded to the might
Of Zeus who turned the battle...
Ernest: All but those brothers in blood,
Two bred of one father one mother,
Zach: They alone hurled their spears
And found a common share of death.
All: Polyneices!
Eteocles!
Zach and Ernest
Now
Victory whose name is Fame
Dances in the joy of Thebes,
City of warriors.
Brendan:
(CUT: But)
Let us forget these rough wars.
Let us worship at the shrines of the gods.
Josh: Let us dance though the dark night
And Bacchus will lead us,
All: God of Thunder, Lord of Thebes.
POINTS OF GOOD SPEECH FOR GREEK PLAYS
1. 'wh' sound as in "where, when, why"
2. Prefixes of 'i' as in "between, deny, remain"
3. Liquid 'u' sound as in "tune, duke, resume" where appropriate for the class of the character.
4. Distinguish between back vowel sounds by notating the short 'o' as in "pop, shop, copper" and notating the 'aw' sound as in "law, awful, daughter"
5. Although you may use rougher 'r' coloring in these plays than in other classic plays, don't let yourself be pulled into a sound that calls attention to itself.
6. Use voiced final consonants and use strong medial consonants.
7. Identify and notate long vowel and diphthong sounds. Are there other sounds/words that seem to want to lengthen? How can these sounds help you evoke the emotional experience/stakes of the character?
8. Identify alliteration. How can the consonants help you evoke passion, action, violence, pity, grief?
9. Plan your breath phrasing and use your most full-bodied, resonant voice.
10. Explore use of pitch for emphasis, story telling and creating the world of the play.
11. How does the verse form work? Use line endings and explore punctuation.
Hi everyone, thank you for a great first read through and for your focussed and creative work with Carl. Tonight we'll meet at 7:30 for text/table work, and then Carl will work with us on the opening moments of the play. Everyone is called. See you at 7:30!
