Well, rehearsals for Dixie Swim Club are going, well, swimmingly! I began this blog four years ago to keep my friends here in Homewood up to date as I navigated my way through college. It has turned into a creative outlet for me and I have thousands of readers! In college I often had stories I felt I couldn’t share because they would not make sense to anyone who wasn’t there and because a lot of our classes were “studios” where we could say or do anything, knowing it would not be shared away from class. I sort of feel that way about rehearsals. We become a family and you keep some things that happen private. It also comes back to the “You had to be there” idea a lot of times.
To me, being a part of a production “family” is what makes doing a play extra special. I have talked about that before. Sometimes you make a friend or two, other times the whole cast gels. Sometimes you don’t like anyone and just do your part and go home, usually a bit frustrated. Fortunately, I have found at least one person to bond with in each show. I have told you many times that to date, my favorite theatre experience was doing The Bacchae in college. It was weird and difficult, but that is what I loved about it. However, I did not bond much with the cast. My character was kind of an outsider in many ways. I was not one of the Bacchae and although many of those girls became some of my best friends at school later on, during that process we did not bond much. I was so concerned about doing my first college production “right” that I didn’t really make too many friends. After the show was over and we had that shared experience, then we became friends!
The Dixie Swim Club is all about friendship. And although at first we talked and shared about ourselves as a group, everyone seemed to know each other and have worked together before, so I felt a bit out of the loop. I tried to really focus on the character and not worry too much about the rest. After all, when I did my flash cards I realized I spoke over 130 times! I was very unsure I could learn that many lines! I decided I needed to concentrate and not worry about socializing. After all, I am an actress (at least that is what my sweet friend Lisa tells me! She even introduced me that way at a party a week or so back!) so I can just act like we are all friends.
Then a weird thing happened. Everyone started talking to me, sharing their histories, asking about mine. One girl even told me that making friends during a show was her favorite part of theatre. She loves meeting new people, just like me! And so bonds have begun to form. I think it will help the play immensely!
Last night we shot a promotional video. I have never done that before. We took quick direction to modify some scenes for visual action. It was fast moving in ways and slow moving in others (doing the same thing over and over for the camera.) But overall, I felt like it was a fun time and a great bonding experience. We laughed, cut up, and kidded.
Part of the business I had to do over and over was eat a cracker with mashed Lima bean paste on it. I have had worse tasting things in my mouth, but not recently! The first time another character had to pop one in my mouth, I got to spit it out as part of the scene. The next one I had to swallow and my scene partner decided to pick the largest mound of green goo on a cracker to stuff in my mouth. I nearly choked and it became a joke for the rest of the night. With so many takes, I ended up eating way more of that stuff than I wanted, but I felt I needed to practice with the actual stuff in my mouth. Each time I felt like I had green goo all in my teeth and around my mouth.
Each night before rehearsal and performances I have a ritual. I do two things- I brush my teeth and I pray. I like to know my mouth is fresh for me and my fellow actors and I know I need help from above to overcome my horrific stage fright and to keep my lines in my feeble brain. I am thinking with this green paste I have to eat that I will need to brush my teeth again at intermission during this show! (And with so many lines I probably should pray again, too!!)
All in all, I am having a great experience, the other girls are sweet and very talented (as usual, I feel like the weak link!) and I am enjoying the process. I keep trying to remember that this is supposed to be fun. They always told us in school that it is called a play, so PLAY!! I am trying! And although I am excited to perform for an audience, I do not want to rush. The final product is not the whole experience- it is merely a small part of the whole. I try to enjoy the entire process, so I don’t want to rush to performance time. I want to savor each step, misstep, and triumph along the way. And although I am a perfectionist, I am learning to not beat myself up when I am not “perfect” on every line, every rehearsal! I am learning to take it as it comes and give myself a break. I am beginning to think that that is the greatest gift I have gotten from theatre- to do my best, but not judge myself so harshly like I do with everything else. In bookkeeping it HAS to be perfect, but in theatre it never will be. That doesn’t mean you don’t try, but I have learned to laugh it off when it isn’t. ( Well, not completely, but I am getting there!)
So, on I go, two more weeks till we open! I will take it one day at a time, working to be better each rehearsal, playing the whole time!
