January 15

January 15, 2015

Everyone	After you have read this post - look at the two blog posts at the end of this critique - Paige's, Maky's, Nathan's, and Austin's.  This is what we need - help to get better. Umbrellas were good. Crowd scenes are not believable. Be more enthusiastic. More emotion. Scene changes need to be more natural. Between scenes 2 and 3, we need to see the men greet each other and then sit down. Stay in character. Crowd, be careful that you are not louder than Willie’s speech. Ladies, cross feet at ankles. There are no relationships yet –Willie and Lucy; Mother and Jack; Anne and Jack; Sadie and Willie; Jack and Adam Crowd scenes are too spread out. LEVELS Watch profiling. WE NEED PEOPLE NOISES Strangers need to greet each other. Build up emotions before exploding. Enunciate – it is all in the script. React to lines. LISTEN so that you know how to react. Do not step back Touch more Don’t block faces with hands. Be interested in the action regardless of whether you have lines or not. Stage business. Do not talk to the floor. Crowd scenes are all awkward.  Do not be with the same people each time. Know what you are doing. Be ready for your cues. Jack says “I’m sorry” and the crowd moves in. Be quiet backstage. We have moved the scenes around. At the opening, everyone is frozen. Try to figure out where to add slow motion. Remember that the entire play is Jack’s memory. In the beginning, let’s try Jack walking through the umbrellas as you are saying first monologue. People noises in transitions. STEP ON LINES People noises during transitions. There must be purpose to the crowd when filtering through the scene.  This is like the harvest festival.  You are greeting old friends and meeting new ones.  Do not stand in straight lines.
Willie and Jack	Put emotion into your voices.  Feel what you are saying.  Change the tone, not necessarily the volume.
Anne and Jack	Flirtier. You have a history.
Willie and Sadie	Exiting, be flirtier so that we are building the groundwork for the relationship.
Willie and Lucy	You do not look married. When you are frozen, be in love.  Put your arms around each other, so that the audience knows there is a relationship at the beginning before words are spoken.
Editor	Lower voice in first scene.  Be more demanding and rude. You are great in the second one.  Duplicate it. Be more upset and dumbfounded when Jack quits.
Willlie	Drunk speech.  Change your gestures Improvement today Good people of Mason county – be sarcastic. Vary gestures. Look up evangelists – especially Pentecostal preachers You tube – look up Bill Clinton working the crowds before his election.
Jack	Scene 1, shake Local 1’s hand. Watch “happy feet” Emphasize I, thought, and writing in “I thought I was writing…” The tramp line is funny.
Sadie	You are over the top “business” and over the top jealous. You think you have “made” Willie and he owes you. Lower register.
Lucy	When Willie makes a bad joke, laugh awkwardly – try to support him.
Anne	Be with someone in the funeral scene. Be louder.  Deepen voice. Be offended that Jack thinks he knows best for  you.
Sugar Boy	Be sneaky.  Always alert to danger.
Tiny	You are obsequious.  Always a flatterer – a hanger on. Why does the sheriff chase you?
Tiny and Willie	How does Tiny know Willie is drunk?
Mother	Be more mature.  Lower voice. Look at the headmistress in the Little Princess Opening – remember your voice is the first one we hear.  We need more emotion. Show your disappointment in Jack.  Try to change his mind.
Scenes to work on	Jack/Mother scene. Men’s scenes All crowd scenes.
Lights	Focus the lights on what is happening.  Blue lights, but we need to see the difference between what is the focus and what is not.  Go through the script and write down time changes and make the lights change. Light on the editor.
To do	Music for scene transition to 13 Rest of music Copy CD for Teresa and get chords and music for Jacob Buy hazer liquid Paint the bottom of furniture. Broom Glasses Decanters Apron Telephones Yearbook or photo scrapbook Clipboard, pads, office supplies Name plates Thunder and lightning Ocean sound effects for all Burden Landing scenes. Sheets Towels The desk needs to be 27 inches. Sheet for signatures to oppose impeachment. Signs of impeachment Flasks Buttons for Willie Sign for Willie – banner.
Great posts -	Growth and character motivation is very important for this show, and it should change by the end of the play. For example at the beginning of the show the mason city schoolhouse is just another story for Jack, but as time goes on he realizes there is much more to the city and Willie. Whenever he gets involved with Willie, Jack starts to understand how power and money changed him. His life changed when he realized he didn't want the corruption Willie had in his life, and he then decided to remove himself from politics. This growth will really add to the show and make a wonderful story. -Paige
	Austin BlountJanuary 8, 2015 at 12:01 PM I think that our accents will be adequate. We just need to make sure that the people that are playing multiple characters make their voices unique to the different people.
	Nathan CaballeroJanuary 8, 2015 at 8:01 PM Here all of my critiques from our classroom rehearsals. Tristin sounds too rehearsed. Stage business. Andrew sounds to rehearsed. Watch straight lines. Slipping into a southern accents. Don't have audible people noises. Brodie is all profile. Don't speak so monotone. Louder- Woody. The judges will kill its off we only have southern accents some of the time. Keep interest in the scene even if you aren't talking. Have a purpose. Don't back up- Brodie- it weakens your character.
	From Maky   Depression-Era Louisiana As a mostly agricultural state in the Deep South, Louisiana was greatly affected by the slumping economy, especially as farm prices declined to unheard-of lows. Cotton, for instance, dropped to less than five cents a pound, sugar to less than four. The value of the state’s other leading commodities—timber, oil, and rice—experienced a similar erosion. Although the vast majority of the rural population already lived in grinding poverty, the worsening conditions of the Depression pushed even these people to extremes. Further, the calamitous 1927 Mississippi River floodand the 1930–31 drought had displaced tens of thousands of farm laborers and their families (and many more from neighboring states), most of whom had yet to find a settled place in Louisiana society.Yet rural distress hardly accounted for all of the suffering during the Depression years in Louisiana. The oil and natural gas industry, though more resilient than manufacturing, nonetheless endured a slowdown in production that necessitated cutbacks and layoffs. Still, the oil business proved a bulwark of sorts for the state’s economy throughout the 1930s, especially after a true recovery had gotten under way by 1934–35. Baton Rouge, home of the Standard Oil refinery and associated plants, continued to expand during the decade, as did Shreveport and Monroe, both nestled in the midst of vast petroleum fields
	You are all doing a great job.  We have to improve each rehearsal. I was pleasantly surprised tonight.  THANKS so much!