Baby's first blog!!!

OK--- finally figured this thing out!!! Goodness I sure know how to get behind the 8-ball. Well.... now I shall blog. My first blog!!!
Day 1- Since childhood, I have had this thing with meeting people for the first time and being really nervous about it. The more theater I participate in the more I realize how stupid this is for a production situation because we wouldn't all BE here if we didn't have something in common... kind of like already being friends without even meeting each other!! This being the first real production I've ever been in where I didn't know anyone made it that much more interesting. Granted, I am much older and more experienced than my earliest experiences of meeting people for the first time, which helps a lot, but after the third day of working with everybody, I can tell it's just the great attitudes everyone already has that have made STC so enjoyable so far. Everyone was very easy to get to know and I can tell this cast is going to be really friendly and supportive which is SOOOOOOO wonderful!!!
We started the day with some great exercises. I've been in situations where the teacher sometimes does exercises that are almost detrimental to those participating and Ian's are neither too exhausting nor silly and pointless. They are the perfect mix to get the mind and voice warmed up, but not tired, before the day's work. I'm just coming off of a wonderful 2 weeks of voice rest and I feel like this is getting me back in shape in just the right way.
I particularly enjoyed the activity where we had to make one of the objects the most important thing. I'd never been assigned such a visual task before and it was so amazing to see that yes, indeed, that DID make the blue folder important!! I've always loved viewpoints activities. Finding the space is an exciting process wherein the actors are no longer people but almost mathematical properties. Emotions are allowed somewhat, but elementary and singular. There are no underlying meanings to your actions because you don't know who you are yet. It's an interesting study of stage positions.
Then came the first read-through. I LOVE everyone's voices. They're all unique, healthy and expressive and together they are a force to be reckoned with. It was also nice actually hearing the script. Though a witty script to begin with, there's nothing like real vocal expression to make a joke genuinely funny.
Day 2- Pretty much the same warm-up with the added Gilbert & Sullivan lines. I like this because there's something familiar at the beginning of each day, but you feel like you always have something to improve upon- papapa bababa..... I'm still working on that one :-)
We used the Shel Silverstein poem to work on using punctuation to help with the delivery. We learned about walking the text which I got more on the third day... so hold on I'll talk about it more later.
The second read-through was just as successful and all the laughs remained. We blocked the really cool prologue that distinguishes the genders in this play because it is VERY CONFUSING.
Ok, Day 3...today!!! I still died on "Proper Copper Coffee Pot"..... but again, just one more thing to work towards!!!! So today we were supposed to bring in some text that means something to us. I'm a big U2 fan, mostly cuz of the lyrics and I've got a lot of them already memorized and "Electrical Storm" is one of the songs I just can't get enough of tune AND lyrics-wise. Just like day 2 we had to get our partner to stand up and walk to us. Reba had a very cool text that was very moving and she did a great job putting the emphasis on the right words.
WE BLOCKED TODAY!!!!!!!!! Woooooo-hooooooooo!!!!!! I think we got to where Ian had said he wanted to, so yay!!!! It's good to be on schedule :-) I think the audience will get a good taste of the court without being bowled over by a wave of banality- there's energy in the balcony usage.
And that's my blog for today, and as tomorrow's will be timely, so will it be shorter and easier to read :-)
See you guys tomorrow!!