Never Finished
Posted by Jon Michael Hill on 10/08/2008
We’ve done it. We’ve opened. What does that necessarily mean for actors? At this point in my career getting past opening means now having a firm blueprint for my character’s path in the play that I no longer have to worry about changing. It also means that now I can continue to get more and more comfortable with the complexities of the technical elements of the show, in this one there are many, and focus even more closely on deepening each moment I have in the play. With time and repetition come confidence and the freedom to play and find even more effective ways of telling the story. An actor’s work is truly never finished.
The process of moving from the rehearsal room and onto the stage for the beginning of technical work on the show continues to be a painful peeling off of everything you’ve come to trust in the rehearsal. It is always an exhilarating experience to move into the space in which you share the story and stand on the stage that has held the weight of so many before you. Hold onto the image of both of those things to keep you grounded, because you are about to be uprooted and displaced by a whirlwind of lights and sound and left twisted and confused. That’s really dramatic but literally I would say 70 to 75 percent of my blocking changed before we finally reached opening. This may sound silly after all it is “just blocking.” But after you have spent a month finding the organic way of moving through this dream world, and motivating to the best of your ability the path your character takes, it may be a little devastating to start from scratch in a time when rehearsal is no longer designed to give you time to work your new journey.
But there is trust. You trust that as you go along transitions will tighten. You trust the director to paint pictures for the audience that you could not possibly grasp onstage. You trust the lighting designer to make those pictures glow. You trust the composers and sound designers to enhance and accentuate the musicality of the world you’ve all created. You trust the stage managers and folks backstage to make sure scenery comes in props are available, and god knows they are good at what they do. You trust the other actors to hold each other up and forge ahead with their eyes fixed beyond the opening and their appetites ever growing deeper. I feel that I am growing into myself finally, and have no intention of resting until the closing performance.