Tuesday 24th November 2015 - First Run Through Of WSS

Today was our first run through of WSS being off book, overall I think that as a class we did really well. There wasn't many prompts that were needed to be given, meaning that most of the time we were able to run through fluidly. This was good as we were able to have our first feel of what the play is going to be like, because now we know the way that each scene runs we are able to work out different timings like quick changes and when we need to be ready side stage. I personally think that because we were working through the whole play and not jus little bits I found it easier to characterise my part, although I still need to work a lot on this I feel as though I have improved from previous rehearsals.

The prologue was good, we built up the energy and atmosphere well. This works well with the context of the play as it gradually introduces the characters and the idea of gang rivalry to the audience. If everyone came in all at once the audience wouldn't be aware of the tension between the gangs, it would just look as though they were fighting for no reason. even thought he beginning bit is quite slow I feel like I need to have more energy with each movement that I do, this is to make sure that the overall energy of the scene doesn't get dragged down. This is important because it is the opening scene to the play and this is the first opportunity we have to draw in the audience and engage them into the rest of the show.


In the gym dance scene I thought our dancing went well, although we had not had the opportunity to rehearse this for a while, in spite of this our timing was good with both the music and each other. As I looked around I was in time with everyone else, this is a big improvement from our first few rehearsal of this. However I think that we need to have more background acting and noise, this is to keep up the energy and the audience engaged. As well as this we need to have more of a reaction to the character of Glad Hand, he is trying to get everyone to be nice to each other and make friends, however we want to stay in two separate groups, therefore we need to show this through our reactions that we don't want to listen to him. To make this scene better we also need to make the traditions between section smoother and cheer Bernardo and Anita on more when they are dancing their duet. This is almost as if there is a completion between the two gangs as to who is the better dancer as well as who can cheer the loudest. At the end of the scene when Tony and Maria first meet we need to have more of a reaction to this to also emphasis the rivalry between the two gangs.


When going through America we decided that we should come in from the other side, this makes sense as we were currently coming on from the Jet side, as well as this we collide with Tony as he comes off from the previous scene. In the next few rehearsals we need to work through the space more so that everywhere is filled, as well as this we need to make sure that everyone in the audience has a good view. In the sections between the dance breaks we need to use our characterisation more so that we have more background acting and noise, as a part of this we need to use more Latin, over the top movements to keep the energy up. We also need to work on the rivalry between the girls and the boys, this is different to the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks because there is less hat and it is more friendly towards each other and more jokey, less serious and no one's life is in danger.


When running the Quintet we realised how much we need to work on this song, personally I feel as though this was the weakest part of the run through, although it is a challenging song, I think if we work hard on it in the next few rehearsals we will be able to bring it up to performance ready. As well as the singing we need to work on the movement of the whole scene, this songs shows the audience each character, and what they want. Because of this we need to make sure that our characterisation is really strong in this so we can build it up more.

Monday 23rd November 2015 - Theatre Hire Costs

How successful were your phone calls in gaining information and quotes?




When I phoned different venues I found that most people were happy to tell me information, however there was some restricted information for some venues. For example the Connaught wasn't able to give out some information, however they were happy to answer my questions.

Did you learn anything from the first call that helped you in the 2nd or for future research contact?


After my first call I decided to look more at smaller venues as the bigger ones had much higher costs. Because this is a small scale tour we will not be able to afford these prices as our budgets are too low. If we keep in smaller venues we will be able to keep in our budget, as well as this we may even be able to make a small profit.

How is your small scale theatre tour planning changing or adapting in response to the research you have done?


Upon finding out information about the hire costs of the Connaught studio I have decided to change the venue to another one. I made this decision because my theatre company is very small scale and therefore we do not have a large budget. They have 250 seats. so even though they are quite a large venue, we do not need a venue this big. I came to this conclusion because when phoning them they said that because of the size of the company we would only be likely to sell 60% of the seats. This means that only 135 seats will be filled, if these were sold at £10 for adults and £6 concessions, total ticket sales would only be about £1210. Because the cost of hiring this venue out is £2940 we wouldn't even sell enough tickets to cover this cost and this is without costume, set or any other costs like marketing.

Monday 23rd November 2015 - America (4th Rehearsal)

In this rehearsal me and Amber finished the choreography for America, however everyone in this number doesn't know the spacing or choreography as they have not been at rehearsals to learn the material. Personally I think that before we can work through this and make sure that each section is clean we need to have everyone who is in this so that we can accurately work out the spacing and make sure that everyone in the audience will have a good view of the dance.



We started this by running through everything that we already had, this was part of our warm up and also allowed us to get ideas of things we had previously done that can be repeated. We then decided to change the order of the end sections, this is so the boys have a second dance break after the girls one. We wanted to do this to show the that there is a clear argument between the girls and the boys, we wanted the dance breaks to also portray this to the audience. Me and Amber worked together to choreograph this, we used new ideas and movements as well as watching videos of other versions of this number to influence this section.


We then help the girls down and the run on, we then use the unison phrase that Kat had helped us with in the last rehearsal, however we have slightly changed the spacing on one group is facing on way and the other is facing the opposite. This Is also to make sure that everyone in the audience can see but also to change the way that the dance is facing to create more movements I different places to keep the energy up.


After this we choreographed a clapping section, we worked out a clapping sequence that would fit with foot movements, these travel up and down stage but the boys and girls are separated into two groups next to each other. We decided to stage it so that when the boys are facing one side of the audience the girls are facing the other, this is so everyone gets a good view of what is happening in the scene. The boys then run through the girls and we switch what side we are on, we wanted to put this in so that there is a lot of movement happening on stage as it is a fast pace song. The girls are going to run with their arms up and the boys are running through slightly crouched down we then leap out of it.


After this there is a big unison phrase with turning and jumping, this is the climax of the whole song and therefore is fast and very dynamic, after this we run to our partners and end with the girls sitting on the boys knees. We decided to do this because we could then show a difference in hierarchy between Bernardo and the other gang members.

Friday 13th November 2015 - Somewhere

In this lesson we started to look at the somewhere dream sequence, this is when Maria and Tony are singing together, whilst this is happening they are imagining what a perfect world would look like. For the both of them, their perfect work would be where no one was killed and there isn't two gangs that are against each other constantly, they wish that they could be together happily without the opposition of the two gangs. We enter this scene after Riff and Bernardo, they are lying on the floor, when we enter we have to smoothly lie down around our gang leaders, this is so that we are physically connected to them, this is a visual representation of the friendship and hierarchy of the gangs that is clearly conveyed to the audience. Every action and movement in this scene is extremely slow and smooth, this is because it is very dream-like, therefore it would have a tense atmosphere as in Tony and Maria's dream world everyone would be friendly and calm. We then have to slowly stand up as if we are finding our feet, and walk out a little bit, the both gangs turn in to face each other, this is a held "friendly" look. This is to represent the dream-world that everyone is friends, when the gang leaders get up they also make friends, they shake hands and walk round each other. Then to emphasis the dream world the gang leaders fall back into the opposite gangs arms, for example Riff falls into the Sharks. We then push them back up gently and then walk off with a member of the opposite gang, this means that I go off with Rosie who is Action and is a member of the Jets, I am a member of the Sharks.

Tuesday 17th November 2015 - America (3rd Rehearsal)

In this rehearsal we started to look at the movement whilst we are singing the lyrics. This is because in previous rehearsals we had just focused on the dance breaks, we decided to do this because these are the sections that we are able to show off more of our dancing skills. We tried to incorporate elements of physical theatre in this, to gain ideas we looked at videos and other versions of this song that other people had done. For example for the line "free to wait tables and shoes" some of the guys walk around miming waiting table, whereas I got down to mime shine Max's shoes. l need to work on this a lot as I feel that I need to further establish a clear character especially in this number as I find that I am not showing this through my movements yet. I am really finding my characterisation difficult as I do not find it natural to move around like a man, I feel like I look really out of place with the other shark boys, so I need to work on making sure I move differently so I that I fit in visually with the others.

We then started to work on the end dance break, i started improvising movements that would fit for a second dance break for the boys, i tried just experimenting with simple movements put together to make a short phrase. Even though these movements are simple, they fit very well with the music so that each part is sharp and in exact time with each beat in the phrase. When the music changes the boys run to get the girls to go  into the centre of the space. This is where we choreographed a motif where the boys travel downstage whilst the girls travel upstage. We struggled at first with the timing of this however after trying a few different variations, we found a timing that worked well with the music and with each other. After practising this phrase a few times we were able to perform this section well, whilst being in perfect time with each other. For the next section we wanted to have a clapping/travel section after watching different videos for inspiration we decided that this was an important part of the choreography as it is typical of spanish/latin dance. We also found it hard to come up with a beat that fit with the movement and the music, we wanted to change it slightly from the clapping that we had previously done as it was coming up to the climax of the song. When we found one we wanted to have a different in the way the girls and the boys move, therefore to show the difference between the two we decided that the girls should swish their skirts as they turn while the boys stamp their feet. This shows how the girls are more graceful than the boys, however even though the boys move easily in the rest of the dance they still show their masculinity. After the clapping section they boys and girls run through the girls to switch places on the stage so the boys are now upstage whilst the girls are downstage, this part is a big jump scene, for this section we used inspiration from the movie scene, we chose this because it is fast and energetic enough to be the climax of the whole number, we timed this so that everybody is jumping round together, like the second boys dance break this is is choreographed with simple effective movements that are able to catch the audiences attention. For the end of the number we run to meet our partners to create an ending position, we decided as a group that the ending position would be Bernardo and Anita holding a big lift in the centre of the stage, with the other four couples around them at each corner point of the stage holding a lower lift. This is because Bernardo is the leader of the Sharks, with him being in the centre and visibly higher, it further exagerates his importance in the rest of the gangs eyes.

Monday 16th November 2015 - Annie the Musical Performance Rights

Author - Thomas Meehan
Music - Charles Strouse
Lyrics - Martin Charnin

The musical is based on a little girl named Annie who lives in an orphanage in New York City, where she was abandoned as a baby. She is determined to find her parents after wearing a locket that was given to her by them her whole life. The orphanage is run by Miss Hannigan who is a cruel bitter woman who has no love or empathy for any of the children. She gets adopted for Christmas by a Mr Oliver Warbucks where she finds a new family with him, his secretary Grace Farrell and his dog named Sandy.

Cast size - Over 20
Cast type - Young girl lead, children chorus, male principle, 2 female principles, adult chorus.
The cost of performance rights for this musical has one of two options. One is either 16% of the total ticket sales or £100 per performance shown, however the second is only available if the first option is less.

The cost for the rehearsal material is £265, this is for 30 libretto vocal books and 2 piano conductor scores.

The Logo pack is an extra £100, however I am not going to use this I am going to design my own logo for the use in the programme and advertising and marketing.                   
               

Monday 16th November 2015 - My Theatre Company - need to finish

Theatre company name?

The Castle Company.

What play/musical/production is going to be toured?

Annie the Musical.

Who's involved?

Musical Theatre, Dance, Drama and Music students who wish to gain more performance experience, and are committed and enjoy performing. Around 20 performers plus a live band.

Where to tour and how many venues?

This is going to be toured around small venues in the local area. These are The barn Theatre, The Sealight theatre and Northbrook theatre.

Starting budget?

Monday 16th November 2015 - Reseaching Costs

Things to research the cost of when putting on a production.

• Performance rights (Copyright) + hire of scripts, scores or band parts.
• Set and set materials
• Furniture hire
• Lighting (gel, gaffer tape etc.)
• Props
• Publicity and photographs
• Sound hire
• Costume hire and materials
• Rehearsal Space
• Marketing
• Transports to and from the venue
• Special effects
• Performance Space - venue hire costs
• Contingency (10%)

Budget Making Rules

• Overestimate rather than underestimate costs.
• Making deals ( Exchanging space in the programme with a company for particular things you may need to hire).
• Shop around, don't accept the first offer.
• Choosing reliable investors.
• Trying to source as much income as possible (From ticket sales, Ad sales and merchandise).
• Choose a show that has a reasonable price for the performance rights.
• Prepare an accurate cash flow forecast.

Monday 9th November 2015 - America (2nd Rehearsal)

In this lesson we continued to choreograph parts of America. For the guy section me and Kat worked on the section where the boys are mimicking the girls, this is done behind the girls when they are dancing their main section. We had to change some of the movements when we put it to music, this is because the music is faster than we originally thought, therefore we had to change it to smaller movements to make sure that we had perfect timing. I focused on this whilst Amber and the other girls were working on their section of the dance.

We then worked on fitting the sections together that we had, when doing this we realised that we had more than I originally thought. As well as this it all flowed together well, this meant that we didn't have to spend too much extra time on transitions as we naturally had good transitions. I am really happy about how this number is coming on as we have already choreographed some of the dance breaks, therefore now we can use the material that we currently have and use variations of this. We are going to do this by using choreographic devices such as retrograde, levels and dynamics. Next lesson we are going to work on the final dance break where everyone is dancing together, this is built up to the very end and is made up of fast jumps, turns and claps.  

Monday 9th November 2015 - Production Roles

Costume Designer

What the job entails?
This is the person that designs the costumes for a production, their responsibilities include designing appropriate costumes that relate to the themes and concepts of the play. It is important that they help the audience understand what is going on on stage as they can picture a realistic situation. 

Who they work with and report to?
They report to the artistic director as they have an overview of what the production looks like as a whole, therefore the artistic director has an idea of what they want the costumes to look like. They also work with the costume constructor, this is because they need to come up with reasonable ways that the costume can be fixed together and appropriate materials to use that will be endurable enough to last the performances.

Why would you be personally suitable for this role?
When doing a production i really appreciate the costumes used, as well as this i enjoy having the opportunity of being able to contribute to these. I think it is a really important part of putting on a production as for me it helps picture what is happening on stage. I enjoy coming up with things that may include hidden meanings that relate to the play or other characters.

Set Designer

What the job entails?
This person is responsible for all of the aspects of set that is needed for the production being shown. This includes making sure that all of the scenes have appropriate set that relates to what is happening. This is all backdrops, furniture and bigger objects that have to be moved on and off stage.

Who they work with and report to?

They report to the artistic director as they have an overview of what the production looks like as a whole, therefore the artistic director has an idea of what they want the set to look like. They also work with the set constructor/maker, this is because they need to come up with reasonable ways that the set can be moved on and off stage and appropriate materials to use that will be endurable enough to last the performances.

Why would you be personally suitable for this role?

I really enjoy some of the artistic aspects of a production and therefore i think i would be suitable for this because I think i could be really creative with the way that i portray things to the audience. I also think that i can come up with ideas that be be more unconventional than usual ideas, for example just using backdrops to set the scene.

Choreographer

What the job entails?

This person is responsible for choreographing all of the dancing and movement for a production. They have to make sure that all of the movement used is appropriate for the particular production that the choreographer has been hired for. They also have to take into account whether or not the performers are going to be singing whilst dancing or not, this is to make sure that the choreography does not include things like leaps and jumps as the performers may not be able to sing at the same time as doing this.

Who they work with and report to?

They report to the artistic director as they have an overview of what the production looks like as a whole, therefore the artistic director has an idea of what they want the choreography to look like. They also report to the musical director, this is because this person knows exactly what the music sounds like, and therefore the choreography can then feature all of the accents that are featured in it, they can then choreograph movements that fit directly with the music being used.

Why would you be personally suitable for this role?

I have studied GCSE, BTEC and AS dance so I have had experience choreographing dances with different themes. This means that I can use movement and knowledge from previous projects be able to finalise numbers, that will be ready to perform.