Tension Builds

Tensions are high in the Heyokah cast, and not just because Jim is making us do dances with ropes.  As we approach our opening night, rehearsals have become less about playing and experimenting and more about staging, rehearsing, and finalizing the show.  Because I am about to plunge into my personal feelings, I must issue this disclaimer: the following views are not necessarily representative of all members of the Heyokah cast.

In the early rehearsal process, rehearsal was basically playtime.  We spent hours finding cool things to do with shadows, writing goofy stories, and drawing pictures.  Any suggestion given by a member of the cast was embraced and explored.  There was little pressure to produce something "good" and a lot of drive to create something interesting.  It was basically creative bliss.

Now, because of deadlines (I think...), we are beginning to feel pressured to do things "right," to make a "good" show.  Suddenly we no longer have time to explore every idea, and so we have to fight to make our ideas heard.  Because we are fighting, we are no longer listening, and our creativity is evaporating as a result.  For example, today we worked on the opening piece; the story of the clown at the church (see the post "A Real-Life Heyokah Story").  Jim told us to spread ourselves out onstage and begin eiffeling (a mime term that involves leaning the body in different directions).  This seems like a simple direction, but it took us FOREVER to actually begin doing so because each person (myself included) had to give his or her input about where to stand and how to lean and what everyone else should be doing.  That which might have been a 3 minute "try out this idea" session became a 2 hour "listen to why my idea is better than yours" session.

I know that this seems to be a negative evaluation of rehearsal, and it is, but I think that rehearsals like these are part of the devising process; growth is difficult without pain.