Just before Romeo and Juliet was over, I started a job as the prompter and assistant stage manager for the American Shakespeare Center's (ASC) production of Henry VI, part 3. Here at the ASC, we're in the middle of the Actor's Renaissance Season (ARS). This means that there are no directors and the actors put together the shows themselves. Since I moved to Staunton, I have been continually amazed at the performances that come out of the ARS. The polish of performance put together in a mere matter of days (or only a couple weeks) is astounding. I had thought it would lose a little of it's magic being on the inside, but I think I'm more amazed now than I was before I started work on 3 Henry VI.
This group can work through complicated scenes collectively in less time than it took me as a solo director to chess piece actors around the stage. They are super efficient even when they are not like-minded and can always come to consensus even if it means trying a piece of a scene several ways before they set the blocking or tone.
I know I'm using the word "amazed" a lot in this first post and perhaps in later posts I won't so much, but I am amazed as how much thought even goes in characters that only speak but once. The actor that plays Somerset had his characters motivations thought out for the whole play, so when asked today in rehearsal, "Why are you in Edward's court if the Yorks killed your father?" He was ready with an answer about not being powerful enough to walk away on his own. So, he bided his time until both Clarence and Warwick walked and then took the opportunity to go with them. He's for Henry only because he is against York. That amount of thought for a one line character gave me pause about how much thought I give to characters who have far more lines than that.
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