A Pot Luck and Brain Picking

One thing Phil likes to do as director is have a pot luck dinner one night in lieu of rehearsal. Everyone brings something to eat, we set up tables on the stage, and we chow down and chat about characters. What do the actors themselves think of the people they are playing, what do they like about them, what don't they like. How do they relate to the people around them? Why do they say the things they say, why do they react as they do?

It can be an interesting process, learning what back stories people have come up with for their characters. For example, Jacob decided that Lucien grew up on a farm and now has an interest in agriculture. Mike says that Norman's father was in the army. John says that Mr. Klemper is the most damaged of the whole group, that he has a failed heart.

They chatted about how they as real people connect with the characters on stage, and how the characters connect with each other. Once in a while, one person will have an insight into the psyche of a character that no one else had thought of. Maybe the backstory they came up with explains a seemingly meaningless line echange between characters.

In the end, it helps to flesh out what you will see onstage, to take them from "characters" to "people". I noticed as they talked more, the various actors went from talking about their characters in the third person ("Barry thinks Mrs. Fremus is easy to talk to," Jamison said) to talking about them as if they really were these people ("I think Norman is just big, and big is good and solid," Tammi remarked).

So over a dinner of hot dogs, roast beast, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, hummus and Doritos, and a dessert that involved apple pie, strawberry shortcake and, of course, doughnuts, they all went into definition mode for What Makes Who Tick in the show. In depth, at length, they looked at it all from every angle, from Phil's original thoughts, to ways other people have played, to what everyone had in their heads from the first read-through.

General feeling is that this was very heplful and informative. It helps to know what is in everyone's head, so that you can properly bounce off of each other on stage, and everything makes sense. Jamison said he was impressed with how much thought John has put into the character of Mr. Klemper, and since Mr. Klemper is Barry's father, it helps Jamison to know how better to play Barry, because now he has an idea of how Barry grew up.

As a guest tonight, Sue from The Arc came to visit. Check out arcofcabarrus.org for more information on them - the local chapter is lending a hand with this production. Sue came to offer insight into the actual disablilites the characters have, to see if the actors have caught the correct nuances, and to gently nudge in the proper direction, to help the characters be more people than caricatures. Jacob felt that having Sue here was a help. Yay, because she said she'd come back and watch a couple rehearsals this week.

Becky Porter did not bring cookies.