You know who is AWESOME? Joan Jubett, that’s who. Do you know her? She is this amazing actress who went to Columbia for MFA in acting, I think the same year as Connie. Everyone who knows her and her work raves about how incredible she is.  I knew her peripherally for years, and then got to know her better over the last year or so.

Anyway when I sent out casting notices for oph3lia a few months back, I was shocked when she expressed interest in participating.  She ended up having an immovable schedule conflict during the run of the show, so instead she’s come on board as “Assistant Director.”  I put that in quotes because, really, I’ve never had an assistant director before, and probably wouldn’t have thought of trying to get one, or asking anyone I knew and respect to fill that position.  But I can’t tell you how great it’s been to have her in the room!  Someone clear-headed, intelligent, passionate, and who innately understands how to make theater.

On Sunday I asked Joan to review the schoolgirl dance on DVD so she could teach it to everyone.  I knew that the old cast would kind of remember it but I thought it would help to have someone jog their memory.

Well this was one of the best ideas ever, because, it turns out, Joan is like Dance Captain Supreme, Queen of Choreography.  “I’m not a dancer” she kept saying, but then she’d plow through all the movement sequences.  She was able to teach the whole dance to the girls in one day.

Here she is in the green shirt in front.

And that is the butt shot.

Here they are doing “the robot.”  Joan had very specific philosophies about this dance.  Ask her about it some time.  Laura pulled out the C-3PO.  Fricking hysterical.

(above is a shot from warm-up)

Today I had the actors playing their school characters playing/rehearsing scenes from Hamlet. Like quotes within quotes. It was amazing and funny and revelatory.

Connie as Polonius, Alanna as Ophelia.

Multiple Ophelias, observed by “Gertrude” and “Horatio.”

This is amazing. Jy playing the teacher, Mr. Pratt, directing and playing Polonius; Dawn playing the teacher Ms. Warren playing Gertrude; and Jorge playing the Principal, playing Claudius.

Girls playing the inanimate objects in Alanna-as-Heidi-as-Polonius’ study and Connie as Ophelia.

POLONIUS: Affection! Pooh!

Girls giggle uncontrollably.

I don’t know what they took but I swear to god the school girls were high tonight. It was actually a great evening, and the ensemble is beginning to really gel and blossom in a way that (I am embarrassed to admit) sometimes makes me tear up. Anyway, during a kind of physical improvisation session today, the girls are started choking, gagging, retching, dying and reviving, in a really like exaggerated grotesque “28 Days Later” kind of way, as Joan put it. The photos of that didn’t really turn out, so I settle on these:

Connie, nonplussed, is having a moment with the audience.

Schoolgirls wander through the hallway.

How close can you get?

aw.

So there’s going to be this wall, a rolling wall, which is one of the highlights of the set.  It’s being built right now, but we’ve already been setting some scenes without it.  To try to get some idea of how the wall will be manipulated to change the space and obscure/reveal scenes (as well as be a projection surface) we used a very sad folding table in its stead.  Sad because the actual wall is supposed to be 12 or 13 feet wide and about 4 feet tall.  And the table is, well, a table.  It did make for a pretty fun/ny rehearsal though.

Beginning.

Laura is disgusted. (above)

Hana is late. There are three more people hiding behind the table there. Ha ha ha.

See?

Ivana Catanese came to rehearsal too, to assist with the Castellano porteños accent.

Calling all fabulous Asian actresses!! I am looking to fill the role of Cissy in the upcoming production of oph3lia. I am auditioning people THIS SUNDAY April 13 from 10am - 2pm. If interested please submit your headshot & resume. Character description: CISSY. Schoolgirl. Asian (preferably East Asian, but not Japanese or Filipina) Must have authentic Asian accent when speaking English, great physicality, and STRONG and unique singing voice. Must work well in ensemble.

Show is rehearsing NOW, and opens at HERE Arts Center June 11 - July 2.

Today was the second day of school girl rehearsals. I’ve been having the actors really invest in recalling what they were like at age 15, and also recalling pivotal events/times in their adolescence when they were taken out of context.

Today we had a more physical exploration of how they related to others and themselves at that age, which is where these photos are from:

Later we added “adult” characters to the mix — Dawn as the teacher and Jorge as the principal of the school. There was a moment during one of the physical sessions that I found really moving — I don’t really even know what the event was at that moment, but somehow I really started to see the actors as they might have been at 15, and that age of extreme vulnerability, excitement, self-consciousness, energy. It’s silly but amazing nonetheless to think about every person and the sequence of events that brought them into being in this world at this time, and all the things that happen to a person that shape who they are. It reminds me to take more care — something you do to someone else might be a forgettable event to you, but might affect the other person deeply. And vice versa of course.

Thank you to all friends and supporters who made it out to the staged reading of Frozen Beach. And mad props to the actors (Dawn, Banaue, Nancy, Magin & Maureen) and Jeanette for making it an amazing, wild evening! Though the reading ran a bit long, the feedback from audiences were extremely positive. And we got to splash around in the Japan Society indoor pond! Good times.

Here are some visual highlights.

Building and setting the journey through a day in New York, here is everyone waiting for the light to turn at a crosswalk, on their way to work.