What to do tonight so everybody feel better about opening next week?
October 23, 2013 9:27 AM Subscribe
We're in the final week of rehearsal for a play that opens next week -- public dress rehearsal is on Thursday (unless it's cancelled due to lack of interest because Halloween) -- Real opening night is November 1. Most of us are in over our heads, line-wise.
It's truly a bear of a show, a classic of American theatre and a daunting number of lines for all concerned. We only got our scripts at the start of the month and so it's tempting to say, whatta ya want after three weeks. Well, what we want is to be in a good place considering we open in 8 days! Most of us are underwater on our lines, some worse than others.
Last night was a pretty rough run-through of Act I off book -- with line calls it took us 2 hours.
Tonight is a rehearsal scheduled to "run lines." I don't know what activities the director has planned but he's pretty inexperienced and I wondered if anybody here knows of good activities for a one-night deal like this (we're "running the show" every time we get together for the next week, so this is nominally our only chance for other line-enhancing experiences.) I have the lead and I feel confident that I can have my part memorized sometime this weekend, with or without this party. But I want to be there and learn and be a resource for others if possible.
So does anybody have any experience with this kind of late-in-the-game line-running activity? Something that might be more likely to bear fruit than something else? Something I can bring to my director in a spirit of cooperation and non-judgemental stepping-up of the game?
I'm so not into chatfilter about what my director or the theatre should have done. We all know we signed up to put on a huge show in the space of one month. I don't question anybody's dedication or effort -- it's community theatre, we all have day jobs, yeah, maybe we're in over our heads, but we're also determined to make something amazing happen. Can you help us?
It's truly a bear of a show, a classic of American theatre and a daunting number of lines for all concerned. We only got our scripts at the start of the month and so it's tempting to say, whatta ya want after three weeks. Well, what we want is to be in a good place considering we open in 8 days! Most of us are underwater on our lines, some worse than others.
Last night was a pretty rough run-through of Act I off book -- with line calls it took us 2 hours.
Tonight is a rehearsal scheduled to "run lines." I don't know what activities the director has planned but he's pretty inexperienced and I wondered if anybody here knows of good activities for a one-night deal like this (we're "running the show" every time we get together for the next week, so this is nominally our only chance for other line-enhancing experiences.) I have the lead and I feel confident that I can have my part memorized sometime this weekend, with or without this party. But I want to be there and learn and be a resource for others if possible.
So does anybody have any experience with this kind of late-in-the-game line-running activity? Something that might be more likely to bear fruit than something else? Something I can bring to my director in a spirit of cooperation and non-judgemental stepping-up of the game?
I'm so not into chatfilter about what my director or the theatre should have done. We all know we signed up to put on a huge show in the space of one month. I don't question anybody's dedication or effort -- it's community theatre, we all have day jobs, yeah, maybe we're in over our heads, but we're also determined to make something amazing happen. Can you help us?
If it's a classic, there must be some recordings of it. Get one and listen to it over and over and over. Here's, for example, a copy of The Crucible (all-star cast!) you can throw on your iPod and listen to all day.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:55 AM on October 23, 2013
posted by Sys Rq at 9:55 AM on October 23, 2013
Oh, and another comforting statement in general -
Every single show I have ever worked on is a hot mess one week before opening night. There has only been one time in a ten year career when I told a director we had one week to open and he said "really? Oh, that's plenty of time."
Usually a week before the show opens everyone has a panic attack because the rehearsal sucks and there's too much to do and how the hell are we going to get this done and oh my god someone help we are going to look like idiots, but it always resolves itself. So even though I spanked you a bit, "it took us two hours to run act one and we open in a week" is a situation I have been in puh-LENTY of times, and they all improved within a few days.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:56 AM on October 23, 2013 [8 favorites]
Every single show I have ever worked on is a hot mess one week before opening night. There has only been one time in a ten year career when I told a director we had one week to open and he said "really? Oh, that's plenty of time."
Usually a week before the show opens everyone has a panic attack because the rehearsal sucks and there's too much to do and how the hell are we going to get this done and oh my god someone help we are going to look like idiots, but it always resolves itself. So even though I spanked you a bit, "it took us two hours to run act one and we open in a week" is a situation I have been in puh-LENTY of times, and they all improved within a few days.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:56 AM on October 23, 2013 [8 favorites]
I used to have a director who would clap her hands and/or tapdance in front of us and whatever speed she chose to use was the speed we had to hit our lines with.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 9:58 AM on October 23, 2013
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 9:58 AM on October 23, 2013
Best answer: I think line memorization is probably more on the individual actor than on the group, and everyone learns lines differently. That said, some ideas for the group:
- Speed runs (or as a director I know used to call them, "German runs"). Tell everyone to run the lines as fast as possible without putting any feeling at all into the lines, and try to pick up the cues as quickly as possible, leaving no room between actors speaking. If you run into any particularly problematic areas, just loop them over and over again until you've got 'em. It lets you run more times, and helps get it to be a muscle memory.
- Start at the end and move backwards. In other words: run the last scene for lines first, and work your way up to the beginning of the show. This can be helpful because often the beginning of the show gets rehearsed a whole lot more than the end if you're running out of time.
- Anyone who is not on stage at any time should be running lines with a stage manager, assistant director, or scene partner.
- You could try audio-recording a line run-through. The cast can load it up onto iPods/phones/whatever, and listen to it over and over and over again.
- For individual learning: each cast member can retype (or hand-write) their own lines, then laminate the sheet and put it in the shower. It's time-consuming, but it really helps.
I would definitely recommend that after your line run tonight, everybody should just put down the scripts, stop calling for lines, and learn to ad-lib. Everyone can (and should) continue working lines in their own time, but during rehearsal, the focus should be on building up a performance that more or less sticks together. It's rough, but it can become sort of a fun nihilistic bonding experience when done in a spirit of togetherness. Everybody gets really good at ad-libbing, covering their own and others' slips, skipping ahead in the scene past trouble areas, and doing the ultra-dramatic pause -- often accompanied by "thoughtfully stroke imaginary beard" or "rub forehead wearily" maneuvers -- while while trying to remember lines. Sometimes this is just the best you can do, and it turns out to be ok.
In the worst-case scenario -- if, for instance, y'all are a community theater group and the cast truly doesn't have any time outside of their jobs/families/etc. to memorize lines and this is truly, truly becoming an absolute clusterfuck -- you could always propose doing the show as a "staged reading." In this case, everybody keeps their scripts with them during the performances, and refers to them as necessary (which generally ends up being not as much as you think it'll be). In this case, the director will want to get up on stage before the show and explain to the audience that this will be a staged reading, so the actors will have their scripts in hand. This is not an uncommon way to stage community theater, and usually the audience quickly forgets about the scripts and starts paying attention to the actors. It will also free you guys up to act, rather than just trying to remember lines.
Good luck!
posted by ourobouros at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2013 [4 favorites]
- Speed runs (or as a director I know used to call them, "German runs"). Tell everyone to run the lines as fast as possible without putting any feeling at all into the lines, and try to pick up the cues as quickly as possible, leaving no room between actors speaking. If you run into any particularly problematic areas, just loop them over and over again until you've got 'em. It lets you run more times, and helps get it to be a muscle memory.
- Start at the end and move backwards. In other words: run the last scene for lines first, and work your way up to the beginning of the show. This can be helpful because often the beginning of the show gets rehearsed a whole lot more than the end if you're running out of time.
- Anyone who is not on stage at any time should be running lines with a stage manager, assistant director, or scene partner.
- You could try audio-recording a line run-through. The cast can load it up onto iPods/phones/whatever, and listen to it over and over and over again.
- For individual learning: each cast member can retype (or hand-write) their own lines, then laminate the sheet and put it in the shower. It's time-consuming, but it really helps.
I would definitely recommend that after your line run tonight, everybody should just put down the scripts, stop calling for lines, and learn to ad-lib. Everyone can (and should) continue working lines in their own time, but during rehearsal, the focus should be on building up a performance that more or less sticks together. It's rough, but it can become sort of a fun nihilistic bonding experience when done in a spirit of togetherness. Everybody gets really good at ad-libbing, covering their own and others' slips, skipping ahead in the scene past trouble areas, and doing the ultra-dramatic pause -- often accompanied by "thoughtfully stroke imaginary beard" or "rub forehead wearily" maneuvers -- while while trying to remember lines. Sometimes this is just the best you can do, and it turns out to be ok.
In the worst-case scenario -- if, for instance, y'all are a community theater group and the cast truly doesn't have any time outside of their jobs/families/etc. to memorize lines and this is truly, truly becoming an absolute clusterfuck -- you could always propose doing the show as a "staged reading." In this case, everybody keeps their scripts with them during the performances, and refers to them as necessary (which generally ends up being not as much as you think it'll be). In this case, the director will want to get up on stage before the show and explain to the audience that this will be a staged reading, so the actors will have their scripts in hand. This is not an uncommon way to stage community theater, and usually the audience quickly forgets about the scripts and starts paying attention to the actors. It will also free you guys up to act, rather than just trying to remember lines.
Good luck!
posted by ourobouros at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2013 [4 favorites]
A director I once worked with introduced something he called "The Italian Run-Through." This is when you run through a scene at like three times the speed - you do all the lines and make all the movements and do all the blocking, you're just really sped up.
I've always heard this referred to as the "speedthrough" (play on "readthrough") and it's what I came here to suggest. I've always found it very helpful at this stage in the game. Just blast though and don't stop unless you absolutely have to.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2013
I've always heard this referred to as the "speedthrough" (play on "readthrough") and it's what I came here to suggest. I've always found it very helpful at this stage in the game. Just blast though and don't stop unless you absolutely have to.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2013
Also, ditto on the run your lines away from rehearsal constantly. You'll know when you're done when you have something happen to you that your character responds to faster than you would.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2013
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2013
I'd suggest pairing actors up to run lines with each other. This would be outside of rehearsals. Weekends, evenings, lunches, on the phone. Wherever you can make it happen. Each actor takes turns so first one person does it off script, with the other person reading the other lines and prompting when necessary. The switch.
Long speaches are great to do while cooking or exercising or commuting. I used to memorize my oratories while slicing tomatoes at the Jack-in-the-Box. Also, who says you can't memorize the other actors line, just memorize whole passages.
The other thing is, if you know the gist, but not the exact line, just say what it MEANS.
For example, if the line is "Sky Masterson's in town" and you blank, substitute "Sky's in town." Don't, as my father did in a production of Guy's and Dolls at the Pitt Playhouse, say, "Sky Masterson's DEAD!"
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:14 AM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
Long speaches are great to do while cooking or exercising or commuting. I used to memorize my oratories while slicing tomatoes at the Jack-in-the-Box. Also, who says you can't memorize the other actors line, just memorize whole passages.
The other thing is, if you know the gist, but not the exact line, just say what it MEANS.
For example, if the line is "Sky Masterson's in town" and you blank, substitute "Sky's in town." Don't, as my father did in a production of Guy's and Dolls at the Pitt Playhouse, say, "Sky Masterson's DEAD!"
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:14 AM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
nthing the speed-through/speed run/<ethnicity strangely associated with talking fast> runs suggested above.
Beyond that, I've seen a version of ourobouro's suggestion work well. Set and announce a date in the very near future, possibly tomorrow or the day after, where there will be no more prompting of lines, just like in a real performance. In addition to forcing everyone to learn to ad-lib and cover for each other and otherwise operate under performance conditions where the show doesn't stop (except for those memorable occasions when the fire alarm goes off, or that time a dolt of a stage manager forgot to call the cast to places after intermission, or the flying fairy got stuck in mid-air [actually, come to think of it we dragged a ladder out and cut her down without stopping the show], or the time when...). This also tends to put some real fear into actors who don't know their lines, as they know they'll be left holding the bag next rehearsal, and motives them into putting in the hours to practice. The rule can be relaxed a little in implementation--it often makes sense to give a shout if the cast has decided to skip ahead three pages or is suddenly performing an entirely different play--since the main point is to get people to learn their lines, not make a mess out of your remaining rehearsal time.
Like EmpressCallipygos says, it doesn't sound like you're really in such bad shape. Yes, there's a lot of work to be done, but it's always amazing how much everyone and everything comes together in the last week (and you've got a little more than a week). Have a great show.
posted by zachlipton at 10:27 AM on October 23, 2013
Beyond that, I've seen a version of ourobouro's suggestion work well. Set and announce a date in the very near future, possibly tomorrow or the day after, where there will be no more prompting of lines, just like in a real performance. In addition to forcing everyone to learn to ad-lib and cover for each other and otherwise operate under performance conditions where the show doesn't stop (except for those memorable occasions when the fire alarm goes off, or that time a dolt of a stage manager forgot to call the cast to places after intermission, or the flying fairy got stuck in mid-air [actually, come to think of it we dragged a ladder out and cut her down without stopping the show], or the time when...). This also tends to put some real fear into actors who don't know their lines, as they know they'll be left holding the bag next rehearsal, and motives them into putting in the hours to practice. The rule can be relaxed a little in implementation--it often makes sense to give a shout if the cast has decided to skip ahead three pages or is suddenly performing an entirely different play--since the main point is to get people to learn their lines, not make a mess out of your remaining rehearsal time.
Like EmpressCallipygos says, it doesn't sound like you're really in such bad shape. Yes, there's a lot of work to be done, but it's always amazing how much everyone and everything comes together in the last week (and you've got a little more than a week). Have a great show.
posted by zachlipton at 10:27 AM on October 23, 2013
nthing speed-throughs. Very helpful.
Encourage actors to help each other out too. If A's line is "I had better go, I need to get to my meeting" and A blanks on her line, B could check her watch and say "Don't you have that meeting in 20 minutes?"
posted by craven_morhead at 10:32 AM on October 23, 2013
Encourage actors to help each other out too. If A's line is "I had better go, I need to get to my meeting" and A blanks on her line, B could check her watch and say "Don't you have that meeting in 20 minutes?"
posted by craven_morhead at 10:32 AM on October 23, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks to all for a lot of good, helpful advice. Yesh, my mystification as to what to do tonight proceeds from the fact that, in 15 years of doing theatre, this is the first ever rehearsal I've attended that is supposedly aimed at addressing memorization issues. :) I think and intend for it to be productive.
I had an idea: assuming we're doing a line-through, I'm going to ask the stage manager to call out the page number whenever someone fumbles a line, and the actor can just write down that. Then at home we can focus on the pages that are giving us problems.
In my case, that's likely 75-100.
posted by Infinity_8 at 10:54 AM on October 23, 2013
I had an idea: assuming we're doing a line-through, I'm going to ask the stage manager to call out the page number whenever someone fumbles a line, and the actor can just write down that. Then at home we can focus on the pages that are giving us problems.
In my case, that's likely 75-100.
posted by Infinity_8 at 10:54 AM on October 23, 2013
Speed-through as a rehearsal technique, definitely. When not on stage, people should be running lines with each other. Not chatting, taking smoke breaks, tweeting, texting or anything else. Running lines. If you want to be a resource during rehearsal then do what you can to make that happen. And get comfortable saying "Again."
Also, people need to suck it up and cold-memorize their lines at home. It's daunting at first, but it's part of the job and if your production is in crisis it's the single most helpful thing the actors can do, period. It gets easier with practice.
There are many techniques. Like, they can hold a piece of paper over the script page and move it downward to reveal the lines of the other character(s), then try to say their own line when the time comes without revealing it on the page. Or, they can record everyone else's lines, leaving a pause for where their lines go, and put it on their iPod and run it over and over. Or have a friend or family member run lines with them. Another technique is to do a slow-read and really consider the meaning of the line rather than just the words that comprise it.
I've been involved with a number of productions where actors felt that rehearsal was the appropriate and natural place to be memorizing their lines. Many even went so far as to rationalize that cold memorization was harmful to their craft. That is selfish and lazy. I'm not saying your cast members feel this way, but if no one counters that idea then it's easy for people who don't act regularly to come to believe that it's appropriate to rely on rehearsal for learning their lines. There's a difference between practice and rehearsal. Some actors claim they can't learn lines that way. That's a crock - it means they don't want to try.
If things are as dire as you say (and I don't doubt that they are), then the actors need to take responsibility for learning their lines. The director can help, but I'm sure there are a whole host of things the director would like to be working on besides line memorization.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 11:04 AM on October 23, 2013
Also, people need to suck it up and cold-memorize their lines at home. It's daunting at first, but it's part of the job and if your production is in crisis it's the single most helpful thing the actors can do, period. It gets easier with practice.
There are many techniques. Like, they can hold a piece of paper over the script page and move it downward to reveal the lines of the other character(s), then try to say their own line when the time comes without revealing it on the page. Or, they can record everyone else's lines, leaving a pause for where their lines go, and put it on their iPod and run it over and over. Or have a friend or family member run lines with them. Another technique is to do a slow-read and really consider the meaning of the line rather than just the words that comprise it.
I've been involved with a number of productions where actors felt that rehearsal was the appropriate and natural place to be memorizing their lines. Many even went so far as to rationalize that cold memorization was harmful to their craft. That is selfish and lazy. I'm not saying your cast members feel this way, but if no one counters that idea then it's easy for people who don't act regularly to come to believe that it's appropriate to rely on rehearsal for learning their lines. There's a difference between practice and rehearsal. Some actors claim they can't learn lines that way. That's a crock - it means they don't want to try.
If things are as dire as you say (and I don't doubt that they are), then the actors need to take responsibility for learning their lines. The director can help, but I'm sure there are a whole host of things the director would like to be working on besides line memorization.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 11:04 AM on October 23, 2013
Encourage actors to help each other out too. If A's line is "I had better go, I need to get to my meeting" and A blanks on her line, B could check her watch and say "Don't you have that meeting in 20 minutes?"
Perhaps. I've always been told to save this for the performance and have the rehearsals focus on getting things right. People fuck up lines on stage all the time and there are ways to get out of it, but an actor should be able to call out "line" during a rehearsal. As long as no one is still carrying a script, you're good. But that's just my two cents, and I'm sure different directors do things differently.
A lot can change in a week. I'm in a show that opened this past weekend, and it's longer than two hours, we had six weeks of rehearsal, and the blocking is a bear and includes dance numbers. And everyone had day jobs, and we were all off book well within a month. You know that the lines are your homework. Other than one speed-run-through, rehearsals have nothing to do with line memorization. My cast was all off-book within a month, but that doesn't mean that people didn't flub lines here and there during rehearsal up until the night before we opened.
Expect a higher level of professionalism from yourself and your fellow actors. If you have a union deputy or someone similar in the cast, they may need to send out a few "Come to Jesus" emails. Our union deputy did and we don't hate him for it, and I think it helped.
But again, a lot can change in a week. It will get a lot better! And opening night is never perfect, and if it helps you to think of it this way, the opening night audience will probably be friends and family who will laugh in the right places and applaud like crazy. The show will get better in the next week, and it will get better of the course of it's run. Don't freak out. Theater is a lot of work, and I am still physically and mentally recovering from this last show's tech week. Hang in there.
posted by ablazingsaddle at 11:09 AM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
Perhaps. I've always been told to save this for the performance and have the rehearsals focus on getting things right. People fuck up lines on stage all the time and there are ways to get out of it, but an actor should be able to call out "line" during a rehearsal. As long as no one is still carrying a script, you're good. But that's just my two cents, and I'm sure different directors do things differently.
A lot can change in a week. I'm in a show that opened this past weekend, and it's longer than two hours, we had six weeks of rehearsal, and the blocking is a bear and includes dance numbers. And everyone had day jobs, and we were all off book well within a month. You know that the lines are your homework. Other than one speed-run-through, rehearsals have nothing to do with line memorization. My cast was all off-book within a month, but that doesn't mean that people didn't flub lines here and there during rehearsal up until the night before we opened.
Expect a higher level of professionalism from yourself and your fellow actors. If you have a union deputy or someone similar in the cast, they may need to send out a few "Come to Jesus" emails. Our union deputy did and we don't hate him for it, and I think it helped.
But again, a lot can change in a week. It will get a lot better! And opening night is never perfect, and if it helps you to think of it this way, the opening night audience will probably be friends and family who will laugh in the right places and applaud like crazy. The show will get better in the next week, and it will get better of the course of it's run. Don't freak out. Theater is a lot of work, and I am still physically and mentally recovering from this last show's tech week. Hang in there.
posted by ablazingsaddle at 11:09 AM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
If you have a union deputy or someone similar in the cast, they may need to send out a few "Come to Jesus" emails. Our union deputy did and we don't hate him for it, and I think it helped.
Reminding everyone that this is a community theater production, so a union deputy probably wouldn't be present. However, there may be someone who's generally regarded as a "role model" among everyone, so maybe if someone from the cast sent everyone else a "just between us in the cast...." email that may not be a bad idea. It may come across as pushy, though, so your mileage may vary.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:58 AM on October 23, 2013
Reminding everyone that this is a community theater production, so a union deputy probably wouldn't be present. However, there may be someone who's generally regarded as a "role model" among everyone, so maybe if someone from the cast sent everyone else a "just between us in the cast...." email that may not be a bad idea. It may come across as pushy, though, so your mileage may vary.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:58 AM on October 23, 2013
Oh, and one more idea! Instead of having the Stage Manager call out a page number during rehearsal, would it be possible to have them email line notes instead? Or meet with each actor during a break and go over line notes? It's more work for them, but less disruptive during rehearsals.
posted by ablazingsaddle at 12:21 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ablazingsaddle at 12:21 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I had an idea: assuming we're doing a line-through, I'm going to ask the stage manager to call out the page number whenever someone fumbles a line, and the actor can just write down that. Then at home we can focus on the pages that are giving us problems.
If they have time for it, which - if you open in a week - may be unlikely.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:37 PM on October 23, 2013
If they have time for it, which - if you open in a week - may be unlikely.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:37 PM on October 23, 2013
Response by poster: Yeah, we wound up just breaking into pods and running scenes over and over while others worked on the set. It was fine. Thanks again!
posted by Infinity_8 at 5:35 AM on October 24, 2013
posted by Infinity_8 at 5:35 AM on October 24, 2013
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One months' time is exactly how long your average off-off-Broadway show rehearses. And I don't mean that it's the average amount of time - I mean that that is how long the actors' union dictates that an off-off-Broadway show can rehearse. Actors and directors are not allowed to rehearse for more than a month. And as for everyone in the cast having day jobs? Well, yeah, so do most actors in off-off-Broadway. So the amount of time you've been given, and the personal constraints, aren't all that restrictive.
Also, memorizing lines isn't a rehearsal thing anyway - that is the job of the actor in between rehearsals. That is when the line memorization happens, so you can spend the rehearsal time working on other things. So the fact that you're asking about line-memorization activities to do during rehearsal has me wondering why you're using rehearsal time for that.
The good news (before it sounds like I'm scolding you to death) is that I have still seen a lot of actors who are in exactly the same degree of at-sea with lines at this same stage in the game - where it's a week before you open and you're calling for lines every fifth line, and it takes you two hours to get through act one....but some kind of weird miracle happens (well, actually, what happens is that some of the cast gets Scared Straight and does some between-rehearsal homework) and things improve dramatically in a couple days and it works out. So it is actually not that uncommon for things to be as rough as you had them either.
But you asked about How To Utilize Rehearsals. There are two things I've seen have positive results, and only one of them need involve the director -
1. Whenever you don't have to do anything onstage for a while, grab a bunch of other people who also have a while between scenes, go somewhere out of the way and run the shit out of all y'alls lines with each other. Over and over and over, until you're about to run mad. (Make sure you let the stage manager know where you are, though, in case the director decides to go back and do something and needs to find you.)
2. A director I once worked with introduced something he called "The Italian Run-Through." This is when you run through a scene at like three times the speed - you do all the lines and make all the movements and do all the blocking, you're just really sped up. He had a different goal in mind, but it proved to work really well with our casts for getting the lines and blocking into rote memory because you're thinking so much about "doitfastdoitfastdoitfast" that you end up dropping all the Emoting people may be trying to do, that may be hampering them from getting the lines right.
So yeah, that's something to do in rehearsal, but - the cast has gotta do some of the lifting in between rehearsals too. But the good news is, it is possible to pull this off with this little time left, because I have personally seen it happen with people who have exactly the same amount of time constraints you all have.
Good luck.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:48 AM on October 23, 2013 [23 favorites]