I was recently involved in Playworks at the International Thespian Festival, and I fortunately got cast in "Almost Shooter"
Day 1- Tuesday (3:30-5)
We met our
Playwright Nick Pappas
Director Carolyn Greer
Stage Manager Blaine Barton
Within hours of being cast, we had our first rehearsal which obviously was a read through. That day we knew we were going to be apart of something huge due to the subject matter: School Shootings. We also learned that it is written in the style of many modern shows... There are various scenes of different witnesses featuring usually a monologue about that characters experience. It was tremendous.
Day 2- Wednesday (9-10:30)
We begin blocking the shooter scene where we meet the killers of various school shootings ( I was cast as Cho, who was the Virginia Tech shooter, so this was a big day for me). We spent all rehearsal blocking and getting this just right. With a couple of observers, it was great to have an audience.
Day 3- Thursday (1:30-4)
We begin blocking the opening scene and staging the monologues. This rehearsal was extended and our Director, Playwright, and Dramaturg all brought in food for us to eat. We were also informed on what costumes we would wear for performance. It was a big day, we were seeing the monologues and scenes the way they were going to be performed onstage the next day. We had many emotional performances that day, this was a very talented cast (you would expect if you're 1 of the 170 thespians who auditioned). We left with very good feelings about this show.
Day 5- Friday (8:30- performance)
PERFORMANCE DAY WAS HERE. We were all scrambling to work out spacing, add sound effects, and work out with our Stage Manager which stage directions he would read. It was very professional and very quick (which you find rarely in high school theatre programs). We got our own playbill and were set onstage to perform "Including Shooter" it was met with a full house and everyone talking about it the rest of the festival. We knew we did something great
Day 6- Saturday (Playworks Day)
We all knew each other and had emotional performances with each other so of course we hung out and met. We all decided to go to the Playworks Staged Reading and support them. Our director gave us all goody bags and kind words. Plus we may have taken a cast photo here and there. We left knowing that we were apart of something big, we all added each other on Facebook and continued talking even after Festival.
Thank you cast and crew of "Including Shooter"
Here's to hopeful publishing. :)