Today’s Date: July 9

 

Show Title: Troilus and Cressida

Director: Mili Konceliik

Assistant Directors: Marielle Buxbaum and Austen Bell

Stage Manager: Amy Hartt

Dramaturg: A H. Poma

What we did

We, glumly, did not begin with Eastenders today. We jumped directly into the off-book run and that was rather successful considering that it was our first time being off-book. Once the run was finished, we moved on to blocking some of Act 5, and showed off that work to the rest of the cast to clarify the vibes of the battles. Then, Joan led us in a practice jam session for our show song.

After observing a rehearsal of The Importance of Being Earnest, and after having a piquant dinner, we felt revived and ready to begin more fight work. While Jake and Mili were working fights, everyone else was outside running lines and working on select scenes.

Quick and Quotable

  • From the Play
    • “The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows” – Cassandra

Cassandra snapping back at Hector wanting to go onto the field, despite everyone prophesying.

  • From the Director
    • “I have a list of excellent ‘buts’ in the canon.” – Lia, the camp director
    • “So vulnerable and yet so safe” – Joan, the music director
    • “Remember: Don’t chase the butt! It’ll lead you into danger.” – Jake, our fight director
    • “I’m gonna tell you this respectfully, shush.” – Mili, our director director
  • From the Cast
    • “Can I be the pasta?” – Max
    • “I’m Italian I deserve it!” – Pax
    • “Guys, what should I break?” – Delilah

Production Insights 

I only witnessed the non-fight between Achilles and Hector, but oh my, it is so intense already. That’s my only observation for the evening rehearsal. However, for the morning rehearsal, they had a very early off book date only having one singular week to memorize half of the play. Most of them were near perfect on lines, so it went very well. The excitement has still yet to die down, this entire cast keeps on discovering new things that Mili and I have not thought about happening, and wow us consistently with their creativity. The graveness of the show has finally fully set in as we’ve left the comedy in our show behind us and are gearing up for the tragedy we are about to become.