So now it’s down to the nitty-gritty.
Questions to be answered, with some thoughts on answering them. Discuss.
Performances
- When shall we do this? I’m thinking the last two Saturdays in October, the 18th and 25th. How about Sundays as well?
- Where shall we do this? The new city park is actually not a bad performance space. Marc and I tested out the acoustics back in May, and while the last audience row cannot hear because of traffic noise, the rest of the seating is good. I am emailing Cleatus Phillips to see if we can get the space. What time of day should we do it? I don’t know that the park has lights for evening performances.
- I offered our services to NCTC for a benefit performance or two, but their October is full. Should we offer a November performance for them?
Rehearsals
- When do we rehearse? This is the sticky question, isn’t it? I am going to propose a 2-hour rehearsal on Wednesday nights, and a 4-hour rehearsal on Saturdays, maybe 10-2 with a working lunch break in there. Given that we’re trying to use John Russell Brown’s “Free Shakespeare” concept and not over-work the play, this might be the ideal amount of time. Other ideas?
- Where do we rehearse? My back yard is always available. How about the Newnan School of Dance? Wesley Woods has actually offered us a space.
- I hope everyone is planning on this being a collaborative piece. I am not intending to “direct” this. Why should I, when we have so many incredible talents working on it?
Casting
- It has not escaped my notice that no one has claimed the three of the four biggie roles. Be giving some thought to this.
- Should we have auditions? I’m thinking we may not need them. So far, our company consists of
- Dale
- Marc
- Jeff
- Kevin
- People who have said yes: Craig Humphrey, Matthew Bailey, Greg Lee (although that was last spring)
- People who have said they’re interested: Jobie Johnson, Jeff Allen, John Caldwell
- People I’ve contacted who haven’t said no: Dave Dorrell, Dan Coleman
- Others: two young actors from NCTC that Jeff said would be good who are too young to be in Odd Couple and who want to do something this fall
- Anyone else?
Costuming
- We’ve already talked about this: olive drab cargo pants, black and/or gray t-shirts, work/combat boots. Accessorize for individuation.
Set
- Keep it simple: some trestles, a couple of big pieces of plywood, maybe some big-ass pieces of fabric to wave around.
Combat
- We need swords, and a fight trainer.
Getting started
- We need to get everyone who’s interested together and swear an oath to accomplish this, plus hammer out some details. We need to do this fairly soon, because we will run out of time if we don’t.
Did I leave anything out?