Hey it’s Kiley giving a Blood Brothers update:

I rushed to get to school after visiting Medaille, I was on a tight schedule, and I had to get to rehearsal. I got there a little early, to my relief. Scenes were blocked and rehearsed. The deal is you can look at the script when blocking, but after that it must be stone cold memorized with appropriate inner subtext. I am glad Norm, an English professor, here at GCC, is burning the cast a dialect cds because dialect is something I have struggled with. Our group as a whole has a lot of work to do sooner rather than later.

Working on a show, if not careful can drain and discourage, but one must motive themselves and support others in order to have the best show. Maryanne Arena, our director, is tough on her actors sometimes, but this is because she wants the best. To get the best sometimes you have to push it out of people. Being in a couple of her shows I have learned to trust her judgment and her passionate tactics to get her actors to take two steps forward instead of two steps back.

This was the first full rehearsal, with her, and she made a cast member cry. I’ve noticed in each show I’ve done there’s always that one person that breaks down. Having a director that will be honest and motivate their cast is ideal. It shows they really care and wants what’s best for the show. This was a hard night, but I’m using the constructive criticism to push me to greater heights.

“When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his heart no man much respects himself.”  —Mark Twain