Ellen Field

In order to best rehearse, Sydni and I decided to watch Wellesley College Upstage's performance of Stop Kiss. Attached is a screen shot of the first scene. 

It is interesting to see two people act as the characters Sydni and I are trying to portray; watching them interact and speak their lines and move across the stage makes us realize that there are a million different ways to play these two characters, and it seems like a daunting task to determine the right way for us. As a result, we have been really focused on the "right way for us" idea. 

Our rehearsals have been very organic thus far. We have memorized the lines for the most part, we know the characters and the basic reasons behind the choices we make. At the same time, little of what we've done so far has been pre-determined. Our stage directions are improvised, as is the tone of our voice and the pace of the scene. While there is value to seeing the show performed, it is sometimes difficult to separate their choices from our own. A good example of this comes from our class trip to see Between Riverside and Crazy; the cast acted nothing like how I had imaged while reading the play, but in an amazing way. All of their choices were valid and great, but they just wouldn't have been my choices. It's interesting to consider what we as individuals have to bring to this scene that no one else could.

We're excited to see where the scene takes us.