Somewhere over the Atlantic...
All told, I've had a tremendous time this week. I went into this project with some big questions. Can we assemble a show with three days of rehearsal? Can we do it with the vast majority of our performers being foreign to us? Can we teach those performers clown technique sufficiently enough that the play can be performed in nose? Can I create a design that quickly? Can I perform it by myself? Can I still maintain significant levels of improvisation and spontaneity when performing the design? Did the preparation and programming I did in CA pay off in the end? All of the answers to these questions are, more or less, 'yes.' We used this project to conduct some very interesting theatrical experiments, and we're already talking about the next stage of these experiments.
In addition, I had a great time hanging with the UCI folk and meeting the international folk. The bulk of our clown troupe came from Trinity College of Dublin, and we were blessed to have such a strong group of well-trained and cohesive folk to work with. The fact that they had spent so much time training together meant that they already worked well as a team, and they were able to use that to help keep the entire troupe working as one organism. And, as you might imagine, they are a tremendously friendly and wonderful bunch of people and they know how to spend time at the bar (it's their fault that I only got two hours of sleep last night). So, cheers to them, our Italian, Hungarian, and American clowns, the staff & crew at the Festival & the Academie, and everyone else who put in the long hours to create such an incredible experience!
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