Over hill and Under Study!

A too long hiatus between blogs. I blame the weather both the crappy
type from the week before and the sublime kind we have now. Plus, I¹ve been reading my co-blogger Jim Carpenter¹s co-blog (that sounds vaguely klingon) which is so insightful. You¹d think I wouldn¹t need to read it with the source-material sitting right across from me in our musky men¹s dressing room but I do! There¹s never enough Carpentry to go around.

There¹s loads I haven¹t brought up that might be interesting I say MIGHT.

One thing was that on the Wednesday of the second week I took part in a secret mid-day gathering that only a few selective people were privy to:

The Understudy Rehearsal!
(Okay that should look different. Try to imagine it with spooky Halloweeny font! Like Baskerville Semi-bold, or some-aught like that!)

Did you know that CalShakes had understudies? Those who read my blog last year would say “Yea!”. If you recall Juliet Strong actually went on during Merchant of Venice for the then sickly Jenny Bacon. Generally, the understudies are a few of the non-union cast members who second the main parts and a couple invaluable people like Juliet who aren¹t in the play most nights but memorize a major role in their own time.

The role of an understudy is kind of like a concealed firearm. Hopefully all will go well and you won¹t have to use it, but if you must you definitely want yours loaded and ready. (That sounds so weird. Understudies shouldn’t be “loaded”)

Sometimes the understudy gig can be a big frustration with all the work and none of the back-stage betties with programs for you to sign. And if on the odd occasion you are “called up to the majors” it is necessarily a nerve-wracking experience for everyone involved.

At CalShakes there is one singular opportunity for the understudies to actually rehearse their part – mainly for practical reasons; they have to know where to come on, when to go off and how to die in costume. One rehearsal for a 3 hour play might sound absurdly insufficient … and that’s because it is. But in the event an actual “downed actor” an emergency team would be scrambled to fully prepare them to go on. Still for the time being that one Wednesday rehearsal is our metaphoric “one bullet given to Barney Fife so’s he can feel like a deputy but not hurt nobody.”

To be continued …