Those Glorious and Grinding Final Program Days
June 30
Thursday
A week ago, I couldn’t hear most of them, despite the fact that I sat right in front of them. A handful of days ago, most of them had created action for their brief stories, but many were reluctant to speak much or at all. Earlier this week, one group suddenly blossomed with a great deal of excitement and focus. Today, on our first day to run all of the brief plays with groups sharing for each other, several of the participants suddenly improvised a number of new ideas, actions and dialogue. What a lovely transformation to witness.
The peer audience cheered as each group stepped forward to present. The genuine laughter overwhelmed some of the dialogue and action, though either performer or audience seemed to mind. The peer audience cheered as each group completed their run through and sat down to become audience. Once all of the groups had shared, there was a strong sense of joy in the room, mostly due to the fact that we agreed to shorten the day’s work if a solid and focused rehearsal was achieved. Each of the groups reflected on what they admired about the other groups. No matter the challenges any of the groups faced, their peers found something to celebrate.
Each group reflected on their own work and came up with short, but well-thought out challenges for themselves for the next days rehearsal. We’d only had eight days for three groups to each devise an original play and the groups were demonstrating they understood their challenge.
Friday
Eight students had yet to appear. Four students needed permission to leave early. Several were fighting to keep their eyes open, despite the fact that the previous day was a short one for the program. The air-conditioning clicked off. Broken. A couple of the missing students finally showed up, slightly oblivious to their lateness. The day was proving to be a hot one on the island and the air in the room grew heavy. It was our final rehearsal day and we were being squeezed in time, since several of the late ones actually had central roles in our devised plays. Although we had initially planned to do two run throughs that morning, that was no longer possible. A few more students showed up, ambling as if unaware that everyone in the room were waiting for them. One student still left to arrive. We set-up. We warmed-up. However, due to the AC problem, warming up was a tricky one, as it was going to be hot during the rehearsal and many of them were still fighting to fully ‘come to life.’
The groups each seemed aware of what they needed to accomplish that morning, which included adding a number of props and costume pieces previously unavailable due to the short duration of this program. (The final student showed up). And so, the final rehearsal began. And trudged along. And felt labored. The peer audience sat, as if tolerating the performances, but not seeming very interested or engaged. After the fairly painful rehearsal finished, the students seemed well aware of their new challenge: take control of their work. So, I issued a challenge for the moment: take control of your work. With just minutes left in the rehearsal, each group had to select and perform one part of their play to show they could turn their challenge to an asset. Fortunately, they each rallied their groups and made an appreciable change.
Saturday
Showtime. We had no idea how big an audience might arrive. We had no real idea when we might actually start the show. And when we finally gathered together (more than 30 minutes past our ‘required’ call time), there were several missing, one unexpectedly so. I began joking around with them, hoping to build a joyous atmosphere. There was a little tension as the one student did not appear and the group considered options. We set-up props and etc. And that student showed up. A great cheer went up. Despite the student being late, the joy of his arrival was actually a good shot in the arm. So, we played a couple of games and the attitude and fun continued to rise. We were less than half an hour from performance time and there were almost no audience members. And, amazingly enough, the room was a bit warmer than we hoped. But the students didn’t seem fazed. We packed them in a small room and waited, waited, waited for audience. And they arrived. A healthy-sized group, including the American Ambassador, a visiting Ambassador from India and the University president. So, we started. Despite the slight heat, and despite the fact that the lights kept overloading and going out, both audience and performer exhibited an infectious joy. Everyone was quite bubbly during the reception and the students seemed reluctant to leave, as they knew this was their final time together.
One final note. This maybe the only performance ever staged in which the performers were allowed, even encouraged, to dump trash all over an Ambassador.