Today was our second to last rehearsal. It is crazy that next week we will be doing the performance! Our OSHER participants have worked so hard and it is evident in their delivery and knowledge of their blocking. Today, we only had three people show up. This was a little bit of a surprise because the other participants had not communicated to me that they would not be there. We were hoping to be able to do a complete run through of our part but this was not possible due to people not showing up.

Due to low numbers of people, we practiced the scenes with the characters we had present. Since we had the time, we really went in depth with the scenes and made sure the participants were acting with emotion and completing their blocking. We tweaked a little bit of the blocking today to make sure they face the audience and are in the right position at the right time. We also talked about our opening scene and the emotions behind what Malcom and Macduff are saying. We had a conversation about the motives behind the words and how the lines should be delivered. Suggestions were made that the participants look up from their script when they are not speaking to stay engaged in the scene.

Next week, our hope to be able to do a complete run through of our part!

This week we were unable to meet because of Thanksgiving break. This allowed us more time to prepare for our meeting today with the scholars. We will be grouping the kids and assigning their roles today. I am hoping that the children are cooperative as we have a good amount to get done before December 8th. Once the children are assigned their roles, we will start practicing in smaller groups so that the children can hopefully be more attentive. This also allowed Carolina, Bridget and I to better grasp a section of our part of the script. I went through my “part” of the script and wrote down a summarized version of lines that may be confusing. Hopefully the children have a good enough background on Macbeth (though our previous sessions) that they will understand the context of what is going on. Us three are really working on ways to get the children engaged and focused for this session.

This week we did not have rehearsal because of Thanksgiving. I am becoming very anxious with the little rehearsal time we have left. At this point, making up rehearsals on Tuesdays or Thursdays with the group might be necessary. With the many rehearsals we have had cancelled, the scholars will struggle with the script, but I know they will work hard!

I think the plan Bridget, Jessie and I have come up with to break into smaller groups will be very effective with the little time we have left. It will allow us to maintain control over the group, but also give individualized attention to the scholars to help them not only read the text aloud, but understand it as well. We are very organized and determined going into this week. I think the few rehearsals we have between today and the show will be very productive. To do this we must keep the scholars focussed and not allow them to distract each other. I’m really looking forward to rehearsal this week and the final stretch before the show!