Heartwood updates!

Hey all. Heartwood Circus rehearsals are in full swing! A lot has happened since my last entry, so here's a quick run-down...

The Friday before spring break I hosted my students in a field trip to the MSU Auditorium where they had an opportunity to see first-hand how a theatre works. We took a tour of 3 theatres in the building, where students were able to stand on stage like other performers. In the Arena Theatre (my favorite theatre here at MSU) some even were daring enough to do some dancing and singing. After the tours, students met MSU graduate students who took them through the costume shop, scene shop, craft room, and lighting lab. They then worked in the scene shop to paint set and prop pieces for the Circus and experimented with clown make up in the make up lab.

We've finished recording the text for the Circus and did some work with the Kids (4 actors playing the kids running away to the circus) on acting that recorded text. Yesterday was the first day working with the entire group and we were able to block the entire opening number within the hour and a half that we were working. I am thrilled with the speed and efficiency we are showing right now. It all points to enthusiasm and excitement about the performance.

Personally, I have been working a lot with the set, carnival games, and tshirts. Last Friday I went to Heartwood strictly to work on set and carnival pieces. We are using large sheets of cardboard for these items so I spent time cutting the cardboard and then assigning painting jobs to students. We got a lot accomplished! I'm planning on doing a lot of this type of work on my own next week while my students are on spring break. I've also designed a logo for our tshirts and found a company to print them. Each performance group will have a different color tshirt, which will not only be helpful to the teachers and parapros helping direct the students during the show, but will also create the bright look of the circus.

In the next 2 weeks of rehearsal I'll be working with the smaller performance groups starting with the acrobats this Friday. They have longer songs to perform, but since the groups are smaller, it should be easy to direct. After the performance groups, we have a large group number to close the show, followed by learning how to operate the food and games for the carnival. Our show goes up in exactly one month!