Well it’s over now. How crazy is it that I auditioned for this thing about a year ago? Possibly exactly a year ago…I’m pretty sure it was right before finals. Regardless it has been quite the experience.
Tempting though it may be to sentimentalize and glorify the process in the relief of its conclusion, I’m not going to say it was the most amazing experience of my life. The show was good, but it could have been better. I had very high expectations of professionalism and quality that were not met in some aspects of the show. I met with disorganization and ineffectiveness far more often then I would have preferred, and I also don’t believe that the middle of the process was given the necessary breathing room and attention to create an absolutely outstanding final project.
Despite these complaints, there were many positive aspects as well. The collaborative nature of this show lent itself to much greater interaction with new people. I did really appreciate that I was able to work toward the same goal with a broader range of people. It was nice to have a 120 person team rather than a 40 person team, which made it much easier to focus on my job as an actor rather than trying to collaboratively micromanage other aspects of production. I also really enjoyed the new resources we had with regards to the more technical aspects of the show. After working with so little in Hoof ‘n’ Horn it was great to finally have the sky as the limit as far as time, money, and dedication to these aspects. I think the shows biggest successes can be attributed to the collaborative nature of the process.
In summation I suppose I leave the process conflicted. There were many things that were more frustrating than other shows, but there were also pleasant episodes of relief and satisfaction. My biggest disappointment on a personal level is how little I learned technically that is applicable outside of the specifics of this show. I was looking forward to this opportunity to really make positive progress in acting, singing, and dance. However, I find it difficult even now to think of something that I can take away from this to apply to the next performance I am involved with whether on or off the stage… That being said I definitely picked up a few things, good and bad, on a personal level that I hope I can learn from.
Overall I am thankful for the people I’ve met and proud of the work I’ve done. I enjoyed the show itself despite minor complaints, and I am glad I did it. But, the journey was made rougher and less rewarding by some of the unnecessary speed bumps we met along the way. It is possible that these things came out of my (admittedly high) expectations for this particular group, but I don’t think that I was unreasonable in my hopes. However, the problems I encountered are fixable. I think many people learned from their mistakes, and were we to start over, the path would be exponentially smoother. It just would have been nice to be in that enlightened position from the start.
I suppose my parting thought would be a reminder that, while what we did was great, it could have been better. We all know what could have been done to improve the show and the process, and it is important that we remember those things in the future. Hopefully we can all leave this experience content but not complacent in the things we need to improve upon.
As I said earlier it has been quite the experience.
Robert
Obligatory shop work mention: I tabled for about 3-4 hours. I also walked for light cues for about 5 hours one day and then I helped strike the set until the end, including handling almost every individual piece of wood from the stage as I unceremoniously (but strategically) shoved them all into a dumpster. And there is video proof! Ha!
I agree with you on so many levels, Robert. This show could have been amazing, and I think you were right to pinpoint the lack of clarity and organization in the middle of the rehearsal process. It is totally fine to spend the first part of a rehearsal process for a musical skipping a lot of the acting and little bits so that the blocking and choreography can be taught. The difference is that we never came back to these things. We never filled in the things we “sketched” at the beginning of the process. There were so many times I found myself on stage without having any clue what I should be doing. It’s easy to fill time on stage by using the background I have created for my character, but that can only take you so far when you actually have nothing to do. The other part of this rehearsal process that was frustrating was never knowing the songs. I don’t think having music rehearsals only every Wednesday worked. In my experiences, it has worked much better to teach all of the music before any blocking or choreo in a musical. It’s so difficult to connect choreo to a song when you have no idea what you should be singing. A more solid background in the music from the very beginning would have made this rehearsal process move much more smoothly.
Younger Brother, you were always a perceptive one. That’s why you joined the revolution, after all. I agree that the breathing space was tight, and that we would have benefited from some more in-depth exploration into characters.
However, I was impressed at how quickly people picked up on the music. I know you feel you didn’t leave the show with a sense of advancement, I think that many natural talents were put to good use. I agree that leaving the show without the blinkers will be one way to make this a forward-moving process.
I agree with Robert as well! And I want to elaborate on his mention of the size of this collaboration. I feel as if Hoof’n’Horn and the Theater Department are always at an odds. I, for one, am graduating so soon and had never even been to the theater department offices before! It took me half an hour to find the mailboxes… Maybe that’s not really a telling example and more of an embarrassing one? But oh well. I just know that so many of us wanted an experience with finally working with the Theater Department where everyone involved would come away wanting to do it again and again and start another show right now! But I think there were a lot of tensions that were never resolved. Sometimes they were exacerbated! So I’m not sure when the students of Duke will have an opportunity like this again.
My little brother who is so super talented was just accepted to Duke. He came down to see Ragtime and asked me how I could have any reservations about him coming here to study theater. I told him it was difficult to explain, but that however impressive this show was, there was an impressive amount of discontent backstage at times. Hopefully if he comes here, this will not just be a step in the right direction but the first of many more that come quick and steady. We made some progress, but need to make much more.
Thanks Robert.