Lucas Tibbits Lyons

Rehearsal Blog #1, Stop Kiss (1998)

In my first stages of rehearsing for the scene between Peter and Callie in the hospital waiting room, I have focused a lot on Peter’s identity. He is not a character who I’d say I have a lot in common with. I imagine him as traditional, masculine, prideful, and opinionated. None of these words have an especially flattering connotation. Consequently, my first obstacle is finding myself within Peter’s character. 

The component of Peter’s identity that I have decided to emphasize in my performance is his longing for control. Throughout this scene, Peter seems defeated, helpless, and angry. Towards the end, these emotions pour out of him when he verbally attacks Callie. Through this overflow of emotions and passion, Peter is expressing his desire to be in control of Sara’s life. He believes he knows what is best for her and that as long as they are together, she will be safe and happy. At the core of all of this is Peter’s desire to protect Sara. I often feel I know what is best for people and overstep in providing guidance. It is this overlap between Peter’s character and myself that I will emphasize in my performance. 

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Julie and I have made good progress in deciding how to set up the scene along with our body language throughout the scene. We, especially me, are still working on building confidence in memorizing our lines so the performance can be more fluid. 

P.s.

Sorry I don’t have any creative visuals to display the progress we have made. I’ll be sure to be more innovative in my next blog.