Reflection 1

JERRIE  “Mother says girls shouldn’t be pilots.”

JACKIE  “She ain’t the one sleeping in your skin--”

This is my favorite line of the show right now.  And, to be honest, that’s about all I’ve got.  We picked the show.  I love the way the kids sound reading it and I’m really excited about it, but I don’t have the faintest idea where to start or what the show should look like.  This is not new.  I felt THE EXACT SAME WAY about last year’s One Act and it turned out beautifully.  I think what I’ve learned in being a director for this long is that (a) it is okay to not have all the answers and (b) it would be impossible for me to make every single decision for every show every single time.  One of the things that is amazing about working with students is that they have no real concept of limits:  budgetary, talent, skill sets.  They will recommend ANYTHING and then I get to figure out how to make that work in the constrains of our department.  I can’t ever seem to get past what I know is possible and I appreciate having them to be whimsical and dream for me when I can’t see the forrest for the trees.

So, here is the plan.  After auditions, we will have a week of tablework rehearsals.  I prefer to have two weeks, but we are starting late this year and I can’t budget that much time right now, especially if the weather from last year is any indication.  We seem to have a snow week every year now.  But I did schedule another week of table work after our last clinic because I’ve found it very helpful to use that time to review our notes and remind ourselves of our research and talk about new discoveries.  We will spend the first week of tablework researching our characters and finding a photo.  I will laminate those photos and actors will pin those pictures inside their costumes starting with the first clinic.  At the end of the tablework week, we will pull out the mini UIL unit sets and I will have students (in groups) create a set design.  Each group will present their design before moving to another group’s design and making some changes and presenting those changes and justifying them. I’m really really hoping that I will get some ideas from this exercise.

I’ve found that recently blocking ideas come to me in the moment way easier than to sit and plan out for the future, so we will organically block this show.  I’m looking for a very smooth flow from one scene to the next.  I’m hoping to find some places for projections to help us define our scenes.  I’m envisioning a lot of color:  washes and focused LEDs.  We are a small group, so I might need some actors to do some tech work when they aren’t onstage.

I am the most concerned right now about the isolation tank.  I have a few ideas, but I’m not in love with any one of them right now.  I’m considering an LED focused on a 4x4 platform center stage.  I also thought about side lighting the isolation tank to create some intense shadows.  I’ve thought about covering a hula hoop with LED light strips and hanging it from pylons over Jerrie’s head.  I’m sure any one of these will work, but I’m not sure yet.

There are a lot of settings in this show:  a cornfield, a laboratory, in planes, isolation tank, etc.  I’m looking at some way to represent all these spaces abstractly.  I think it will be helpful that Jerrie hallucinates some of the situations of the play and we may be able to do some sort of “in her mind” lighting or projections to place us in each place.

Costume-wise, I’m floating around the idea of jumpsuits for everyone who flies.  I think that it is a feminine way to hint at the idea of flightsuits.  I know that I want Jackie to look very tailored while Jerrie hangs onto the “tomboy” vibes.  I know I want all the women in pants except for Helena.  She’ll be in a traditional housedress and apron.  Overalls for Harvey?

I know I want a lot of sound in this show.  I’ve gotten the note before that my soundscapes are more like movie underscoring and I don’t intend to stop that now.  I’m thinking more sounds than music though.  I want to hear the wind through the corn, maybe fuzzy or muffled sounds in the isolation tank and airplane sounds.  I am really concerned about creating these airplane scenes onstage.  I’m really hoping the students have a good idea.

I’ve tossed around the idea of found objects.  Creating everything out of “junk” that might be found lying around.  Maybe Jerrie is in the cornfield and has found items that become a flighthelmet or the steering wheel for the plane?  Maybe the plane nose is made out of a metal wash bucket and a colander?  Does Jerrie put the colander on her head and then return it to the plane nose for the next scene?  I’m looking to pull apart some electronics for the computer in Lovelace’s lab.

I’m at a loss, but I know it will come together.  I have a really smart group of kids and I’ll turn their ideas into something that works for the show as a whole.  I just don’t know what that will look like yet.  -January 2023