Unfortunately, we only had four participants show up this week. Only one of the missing participants told us she would be absent, so it was concerning when we waited 15 minutes and no one else showed up. I know our participants have shown a high level of excitement and interest in the project in past weeks, so we are all hoping this week is a fluke (perhaps due to extended Thanksgiving travel plans) and that we will be back in business next week.

Fortunately, the actors who were present had two very important scenes together – the fight scene at the end and the first scene with Malcolm and Macduff. We were able to run through these scenes several times, giving the actors tips, refreshing their memory (the fight scene was a bit off the first time we tried it, but we reviewed the blocking and straightened things out), and discussing the meaning behind the scenes. We had a particularly long discussion about the emotions and intent of Malcolm and Macduff in the first scene. We ended rehearsal by running back through this scene, and I believe it is one of the strongest scenes in our part.

Next week is crunch time, and the final rehearsal before the show. I hope everyone is present so that we are fully prepared to put on the best show possible!

Nov 20, 2017

This week, we did not meet as a group due to our participants’ Thanksgiving travel plans.

In the meantime, our group is working on deciding what else we need to do in the short time after Thanksgiving we will have to finish rehearsing and touch everything up. I think it will be helpful to go through each scene from start to finish, so that the actors will understand the timing of where they need to be when, especially since we will have some additional props next week. I think constructive criticism and tips from us as well as fellow actors will be very important in the next two weeks, and I hope the participants will keep up their excitement and involvement.

Nov 13 2017

Today, we focused on blocking the fight scene between MacDuff and Macbeth. This was a new experience for everyone, so we took any and all suggestions and worked through the scene based on trial and error. I think it is coming along well, and the actors seem to be having fun with it!

I spent much of the rehearsal looking for sound bytes for several scenes in our part of the play that need sound effects. It was difficult to find free effects that were any good, but I searched through many sites to find ones that I think will work. I found a royal trumpet sound for scenes where the king enters, and an ominous “gong” sound for two other scenes. We will incorporate these sounds into rehearsal next time we meet.

We will not meet as a group next week, since many of our participants said they would not be able to make it due to Thanksgiving travel plans. We encouraged the actors to keep working on their lines and blocking!