Student Blog: The Tempest: Revisited

Today in the Leah blogverse we are going to be structuring things a little differently. Yes there will be witty colloquialisms, yes there will be hope and whimsy, but nonetheless we are taking a technological field trip. This single post shall follow me and my cast through the last eleven days leading up to and including opening night for SUNY Oneonta’s The Tempest!

Day One: November 4th, 10 days till show…

Today is one of my days off! Given the nature of working with Shakespeare material our director makes sure to give us days between larger chunks of grouped rehearsal time so we can digest the notes from previous runs and apply them to our text. Even though it's a dark rehearsal day I still have oh so much to do. Dark days are perfect for catching up on coursework, sleep and laundry. Though we are performers and theater makers we are people first! And this person (me) definitely needs to work on remembering they are not just one thing, I contain multitudes goshdarnit. 

Day Two: November 5th, 9 days till show...

Another off day before we go into tech! Took the time to knock out assignments that will be due closest to show and started prepping my tech bag. Separated all my show makeup from every day so I didn’t have to go into my tech bag until the first dress. I know the next two days will be rough so I’m really leaning on my theater community to get through it. Pushing through to do my show is going to keep me from burning out. 

Day Three: November 6th, 8 days left till show…

It was a rough day. I spent my day in the Fine Arts building, working in our scene shop keeping busy and finishing our gorgeous set. Being part of a common mission gives me a purpose, keeps me moving and pushing forward.We had our crew watch today and doing the show in front of an audience definitely led me to discover new ways to deliver some of my dialogue and a few directions to play blocking in. Before every run my director takes us on stage and has the whole cast stand in a circle together. One by one we go around the circle and say how we are feeling before the run starts. Today, we came up with one relatively common answer: I want to do this run for you [everyone else in the cast]. We knew the importance of staying strong and staying together. I am grateful for my cast, crew and director, and my theater family. They got me through today. 

Day Four: November 7th, 7 days left till show (that’s a week! wow!)

 Status Log, November 2024, Cadet Leah reporting. We have been wandering this planet for what feels like 40 years, still no signs of human intelligence or life…..Sometimes getting through tech week is just like colonizing Mars. You’re walking the same ground over and over, trying to mine it for all that it's worth, and every day you find something new. Even though it's more or less the final version of the show, I don’t think a production ever changes as much as it does in those last few trying moments. You do feel like you’re on another planet the week before a show. The adrenaline constantly pumping through your veins is a rather alien sensation. And imagine explaining a cue-to-cue to anyone that’s not a theater person! It truly does not get anymore extraterrestrial than that. Cue to cue’s test your patience and your endurance, but you have to remember it’s for the good of the show. Approaching technical problem solving from a place of dedication and commitment helps a show grow, we learn more about our planet and in turn the planet shows us how we can create life on its surface. After a cue to cue Mars isn’t so scary anymore, in fact we may have become martians ourselves. 

Day Five: November 8th, 6 days left till show (that’s less than a week…wow!)

It’s marathon time! Today will be our first tech run! Cue-to-cue taught us a lot and now it’s time to put it all into action. (mid run commentary) Oh cue-to-cue your wonders know no bounds! I think I finally got a piece of dialogue that has been giving me agita for the longest time. Got our first tech run under our belts and feeling fine the Tempest is on the up and up! 

Day Six: November 9th, 5 days left till show 

We did a soap opera speed run today! We ran through the show the most up tempo we could and as dramatically as we could, things got wild! Sometimes you forget how ridiculous and silly Shakespeare is because you’re all caught up in getting it right. Today's run was a refreshing reminder that performing Shakespeare isn’t just some intellectual prosaic recitation, it’s also a vehicle for creativity and adaptation. We got dramatic and silly, we tried to get each other to laugh which in turn made us all laugh, it was a delight to say the least. At the end of the day actors, professional or not, are all those same kids who would make up plays to perform at family gatherings, would break into song whenever so moved during recess, and dance like no one is watching even if everyone is. Letting that inner child run free onstage is a gift and it makes your performance that much better. 

Day Seven: November 10th, 4 days until show 

Today is first dress! It’s time to play the music, it's time to light the lights (put on several layers of Neopolitan garb, a battalion of bobby pins and a surprisingly percussive pair of boots), it’s time to meet the cast of the Tempest in full costume and makeup! Nothing brings out your inner theatrical child quite like putting on costumes and makeup, it’s like Halloween, Spirit Week, and The Best Day Ever™, all rolled into one very patience requiring time consuming process! Tech week amalgamates so many areas of theater that have been working since before even auditions to build their designs and bring them to life. They are brought together so quickly that sometimes it can feel like you don’t even recognize your show any more. But that’s the beauty of it. It’s not just your show, you are a single valuable thread in an expansive, intricate, grandiose beautiful tapestry. Sometimes being a small fish in a big pond can be scary, but for right now it’s wonderfully overwhelming in all the ways that remind me why I do what I do. I question why I’m at rehearsals till 11pm, why I don’t do my homework on time, and why I stress over auditions. But I never ever question why I do theater. Onwards and upwards, less than five days to go!!!

Day Eight: November 11th, 3 days until show

A well deserved last day off! Today was a day of major league rest and rejuvenation. I took the day slowly as I could and desperately tried to savor my last 24 hours off before our show kicks into its highest gear. I took the time today to listen to music and read a book for fun, I reviewed all my notes from our previous runs and did a much needed dive back into my script. You sometimes have to briefly look backwards to see where you used to be in order to properly respect and honor the work you did to get you to where you are now. I first held my script in my hands on September 17th, over 55 days ago, and yet it feels like yesterday. But in reality I have fundamentally changed as an actor in those 55 days. I have struggled with my craft, and the material, and you know what I won! Me and Shakespeare are not on the best of terms we’ve ever been but he is still my homeboy forever. 

Day Nine: November 12th, 2 days until show 

Second dress here we are! I’ve been told to think of every single dress rehearsal as a legitimate show and to think of opening night as a first preview. And if that’s true then we haven’t even hit the homestretch yet. I’ve also been told in my life to “be so delusional.” Now there’s a doctrine I can get behind! I’m choosing to play in so much delusion because as it stands everythings getting a bit overwhelming. My delusions of the day involve invoking a lot of obsessive optimism, things will be okay, I will get to the other side of tech week, I will experience a whole night of unanxiety riddled sleep! I invite everyone who is currently in the midst of a stressful time in their lives to exercise oh so much delusion about it. Post Rehearsal Bonus Thoughts: I am content. Even though it is late, as I'm walking home the stars are out and I can feel the crisp autumn air start to turn to winter freshness. Life is good. 

Day Ten: November 13th, ONE DAY UNTIL SHOW!!!!

I have the worst record for successful final dress rehearsals. Never ever have I made more onstage line mistakes this late in the game than at a final dress. But rather than beat myself up about it I realized that mistakes are just part of the process. In those mistakes I realized where I need to pivot and change things up before opening night. Making mistakes also takes the stress out of most things in life. It’s like roller/ice skating, the second you have your first fall you stop being scared of it. Whatever concept you have in your head of what it is like to fall or make a mistake, will always be infinitely worse than what it is like in real life. That evil voice in your head is like a villainous playwright, it makes up the worst case scenarios and bumps the dramatic value up to infinity. Shove that little gremlin out of the way and have fun making mistakes! After a while it isn’t so scary anymore, it’s just a part of the process.  

Day Eleven: November 14th, OPENING NIGHT

OMIGOD YOU GUYS! I apologize for the abrupt Legally Blonde reference but it stands and it’s apt!! This will be a night we’ll never forget, the night of our nightmares and night of our dreams, and any other reference-y aphorism I am forgetting. This is the game we’ve been training for. Opening night is always marked with an intense amount of love and support from everyone in your show and in your life. Throughout the run of the Tempest countless friends, and family members will make the pilgrimage from all over the Northeast and beyond to our fair Oneonta Goodrich Theater. Opening Night is what puts theater back into a realistic and non-fatalistic perspective. You remember exactly why you do what you do, and especially who you do it for. I found so much joy in applauding audience members for their courage in trying to understand Shakespeare. Love the love, all the love, theater runs on love and positivity. 

This show challenged me in every way possible. I've learned so much about myself as an actor and theater maker. We can do difficult things and not lose our minds! It is possible, and sometimes it truly does take getting through it to be able to see that you can do it. Those 61 days of fittings, line memorization, Shakespeare and more really reaffirmed how much I want to do all of this for the rest of my life. It reaffirmed that this is a choice I make and will continue to make forever. No matter how tired I got, or how much work I had to do, the magic never waned. 

“Now my charms are all o’erthrown,  And what strength I have ’s mine own….As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free.” Adieu Adieu to The Tempest and onto the next!