May 22 2010
Peggy Sue Got Married – Rehearsal
Ellen, Ari, and I had a rehearsal yesterday to prep for the Director’s Hour on Monday. (original post here) Ellen and Ari are delightful to work with.
We started by reading through the scene, then making sure the actors were caught up on the scenario and going over any relevant facts about the characters.
We spent quite a bit of time going over blocking because it was a bit of a challenge to allow the two characters to walk down the street when there really wasn’t enough room to do so. But after doing an improv that took place in a lab at school, we decided to start the scene in the lab, then have the two characters walk outside. I never would have thought of that option if we hadn’t done that improv.
Speaking of improvs…here’s what we did:
- Peggy Sue coming to the lab to see Richard and telling him that she’s travelled back in time. (Loved the moment during the improv when Peggy said she’s 42, and Richard said something like, “Whoa, that’s old!”)
- Richard approaches Peggy Sue (as a true 17 year old, prior to time-travel-event), at her locker to tell her that he won’t be able to tutor her after all because he’s decided to concentrate on writing his book (This was to help establish their previous relationship). Then we did the first improv again, briefly, of Peggy Sue telling Richard she’s travelled back in time, then we did the scene. Then another improv:
- Richard approaches Peggy Sue at graduation and realizes that she’s back to being a 17 year old. (This was interesting because I felt it could inform the end of the scene when Richard says, “What if you’re not here tomorrow?”)
We also did an exercise where we went through the scene as though Peggy Sue really was 17 and was just playing a joke on Richard. (I liked the way it shook up the scene a bit. I thought it might be a way to find some moments for Peggy Sue when she really does kind of revert to being 17).
A few of the other things we talked about / worked on during rehearsal: Peggy Sue as an Adult vs. 17 year old vs. being a mother with a son who is about Richard’s age. Peggy Sue’s beliefs about God (we may go into that further on Monday); what Richard is talking about when he says “molecule in chaos” and “discontinuous aberration.” Richard trying to comfort Peggy Sue; Richard realizing the consequences if Peggy Sue had been run over by the truck.
Overall, I’m happy with the work we’ve done so far. On Monday, the plan is to work on specifics and polish the scene.