Tech, Opening, and Fighting On

Tech was upon us, and at that point, I was still feeling very overwhelmed and unsure about the fight. For one, the previous week I’d had a rehearsal scheduled that only three of my girls ended up attending because people were leaving for Fall Break. I was upset and so was Anjanette, mostly because there wasn’t a lot of notice, and we were in this last push to get everything put together for the final show. I was trying to resist calling extra rehearsals outside of tech, but I had to put in at least one because I needed to drill them as much as possible. The bright side was, the girls who did show up worked extremely hard trying to fix their issues, and I saw them both taking a lot of initiative to solve their problems themselves. Also, I’ve watched Natalie form into a great fight captain, and trusted her to run fight call when I couldn’t be there.

We came to Monday before tech, and it was the first time I saw the show in its entirety. We worked the spacing of my piece before and during the run, but for the most part, I sat back and watched everything that they had created come together. I have to say, it was an extremely emotional experience. The show had so many funny, moving, deep, cathartic moments, and I frequently found myself in tears. I shared with the cast my feelings after the run. As someone who started this process with them and then ended up getting further removed from it, it was so amazing to see what they created. Each and every one of them had their mark on the piece, and knowing that all of the words, movement, scenes, and emotions came from inside of them caused this cathartic experience. I knew that some of them had struggled in getting the show to the point it was, and they still had a long way to go, but I wanted them to know they had an effect. And were going to have one on everyone they would perform this piece for.

I crammed in a rehearsal to get the fight up to tempo and to work some traffic patterns and everything started to fall into place. Also, once we got in tech, they looped my section of music to make it longer, so the girls were able to take their time and it didn’t feel like the fight was being rushed over, which was a main concern of mine. I showed Dusten a video of the fight, and his reaction was very positive. He gave me a few tips, such as encouraging more vocals, that I passed onto the girls.

Opening night. I ran fight call, gave a few last corrections and tips, and then called the girls in for a huddle. I was so proud of them, and was thankful for the time they were able to put in in addition to all of the other elements of the production they had to work. I drilled them for a reason: I wanted everything to be safe, I wanted them to feel confident, and I wanted to make them look good. With one last hug, I sent them on their way. It was out of my hands.

The show started. Seeing it with all of the tech elements in place made it even more powerful. Eventually it came to my piece. The movement that Cleo, the assistant director and choreographer, had put together was very well-done, and I truly saw that I had served my purpose within the piece. Everything flowed nicely, and it was a very dynamic moment that elicited a lot of reaction from the audience. When the fight itself came, I sat up in my seat, ready for anything. It started, and I won’t lie, I started tearing up. They rocked it! All the intentions and targets were clear, no one went up on anything, the timing and spacing worked out, and overall, they sold that fight like pros. I turned to Cleo afterwards, and gave her hand a squeeze. I had done, they had done it, and the show was a success. I got through my first experience as a fight director, an experience that will definitely inform my work as  I continue on in this field.

The reaction after the show was very enthusiastic. Adam enjoyed the fight, Anjanette’s husband was a big fan, and a friend of mine with previous combat experience said she really appreciated the clean choreography. A video does exist out there, and I will try to post it when I get it. I gave all my girls big hugs, and everyone celebrated a job well-done. I wasn’t able to be at the next performance, so I left it in Natalie’s hands.

All my fighters, except Audrey, who left early.

Now, I’m still planning on putting something together for Testing Ground, so this project isn’t over yet. I have three or four girls that I plan on working with, and even with the limited time frame, I want to put something together. Sara said it can be two to three minutes of material for all she cares… it’s all about works in progress. My plan right now is to approach the piece by exploring the relationships between the characters I had in my fight: Sampson, Gregory, Abram, Mercutio, maybe even Benvolio. I will infuse the choreography sans weapons into the piece, and maybe utilize the shavasana exercise I had planned early on into how we begin creating movement. We shall see. Fight on babes J