The campers working on Act 1 Scene 1 with Austen 

Today’s Date: July 15th, 2025

Show Title: Richard III

Director: Austen Bell

Staff Crew: RDAs D. Scarlett Darling and Sara Bateman (Assistant Directors), Alexa Palena and Allison Monfalcone (Production Interns)

What we did……………………………………………………………………………..

Today was our first time having double rehearsal blocks! Our morning rehearsal consisted of; finishing blocking and running through the full show. The show is now entirely blocked and the campers did a full “stumble through.” A stumble through is typically one of the first full runs of a show. Stumble throughs tend to be a little rough and less polished as it is the first time everything is happening in sequential order. This is a perfect time to figure out transitions, timing of costume changes, and prop details. Being able to have a stumble through almost two weeks before the show is really beneficial! Austen closed out the first rehearsal a bit early with a circle of reinforcement and a clap out. 

Our second rehearsal, in the afternoon, began with detailed work on the opening monologue. Austen brought in some new and unique ideas for Richard III’s first monologue. We played around with the blocking of Scene 1 and disbursement of lines. Austen continued detailed work on the first two scenes of the show. During the second half of rehearsal, one of our Team Captain RDAs, Jake Raiter, began teaching the campers some combat and fight choreography. During this time, Scarlett worked on intimacy with campers in another room. 

Quick and Quotable…………………………………………………………………

• From the play: “Now is the winter of our discontent…” -Richard 

• From the director: “It doesn’t hurt my feelings if this death is a little silly.” -Austen 
• From the director: “I am very portable.” -Ezra

Production Insights…………………………………………………………………

Stage combat can be a bit intimidating at first, but is ultimately so rewarding. Watching the behind the scenes of the many fights and deaths in this show feels like learning that the tooth fairy isn’t real. Theatre magic makes a fake punch seem so realistic that it sometimes scares the audience. I am so thrilled to see this fight choreography with full props and costumes as we continue to progress this week!