Week 2 DAY 7 MAY 31st

Ok, so that first post was a doozy and now I'd like to post on a day to day basis, covering in detail what went on in rehearsal.
We hit the ground running this morning, it was awesome. I picked up some large newsprint before arriving at Meg's, we had a cup of coffee then got right to work.
We spent an hour or so going through our masks. This warm up is incredibly effective to get into the mindset of not only our characters, but also the world they live in. It's funny, I don't discover something new with each mask (even though I really want to) but I definitely find new emotional connections, character connections and plot ideas every time I put them on. It also allows your impulses to start flying and be heard. This is invaluable once we sat down to start working things out. What are your thoughts Meggie?

Once we both took enough time with our masks, we rolled out the newsprint and began plotting out the plot of the story. Meg was really good at pulling out the key points of action. We knew where we were starting, and we knew where we wanted to end up, but there was still a ton of grey in the middle. So we began to discuss ideas we had had the week before and slowly by process of trial and error began to discuss what was working and what wasn't. Which characters made sense and which did not.

For example, we had a neighbour whom we named Blow Job Betty that comes by to ask for a cup of sugar. Although we both liked the idea of her, we were in agreement that there was something a little too obvious, a little too trashy. Neither of us want this to come across as a judgement on people who actually live in the real world that our surreal world is based on. We don't want to slum it, we want to get to the heart of the lives of Phyllis and LeSucre and all the people who surround them. Long story short, we scrapped her, and replaced her with ShyBlush, a character we were previously having trouble fitting into the arc of the play. Exciting!

We somehow managed to work through the entire outline of the play, solving almost all of the problems we came across last week. It is amazing what a little space and rest can do! So looking at our plot map, we each picked an area that really spoke to us to write about.

This is where a big challenge presents itself to me: I am really good on my feet, but do not have much experience writing things down. So I did what I could, and as soon as I became stuck, I did another God poem. It is amazing- they take a lot of time and energy, and by the end of my poem there was only one image that I really liked. But I think that image will help my scene immensely. Not only by helping me move it forward, but by adding some weird richness that was missing before. John talked last summer about how with your masks and with God poems you never have an excuse for writers block. I really believe he is right.

Week 1

Ok, so I know we are already on our second week, but I'd like to recap week one just so we can be aware of how the process started, then keep journaling from there. Can I use the term 'journal' when writing on a blog? Who cares, right? So week 1 started off really well.

DAY 1 MAY 25th
I arrived in Calgary in the am and we more or less got right to work. Meg, being amazingly practical and straightforward, sat down and asked some pretty tough/heavy/important questions about the project before we started. Meg, please add to this if I am forgetting any of them!

Why do we want to do this project?
What are our goals/aims?
How do we make sure that working together does not affect our friendship in a negative way?
What strengths are we bringing to this project?

I really appreciated this talk, because it shed light on issues I was concerned with and forced us to have an open dialogue right off the bat. Straight off the bat? What is the proper expression?? Oh well, you hopefully get what I mean!

For me the most important thing to come out of the discussion was an agreement to approach this project with professionalism in our work ethic in hopes of preserving our friendship. Also, our conversation of why we want to do this in the first place was incredibly exciting, reminding me of how much I love this idea, love Pochinko clown, and love working with my good buddy Meg. I feel that putting all of our thoughts and concerns on the table right away will also help maintain a flow of dialogue when we do start to run into problems.

Following the discussion we decided on a daily schedule of 10am-5pm with an hour for lunch. We also gave ourselves homework to come back the next morning with God poems. Am I forgetting anything Meg?


DAY 2 MAY 26th
We had an incredible day where ideas were flowing out non stop. We dove right into our God poems and generated a ton of material. Slowly the outline of our story began to take shape. We read what we had down as far as script...and...I just remember being incredibly pumped. Sorry I can't elaborate any further!

DAY 3 MAY 27th
Did we start mask work here? Oh yeah! I started mask work, while Meg worked on the script. It was the beginning of incorporating the Pochinko method into our writing process. I went through 3 masks.
Before putting on the masks, I put them aside and but Phyllis through my body. I treated her like a mask, so once I breathed her in, I walked through my world, waved good bye to my love, and found my impulse 6 situation for both experience and innocence. Once I felt like I had a firm grasp on her, I revisited each mask individually. I put the mask's experience and innocence through my body, familiarizing myself with their sounds and gestures. I then asked the mask how Phyllis would feel the same emotions, sounds and gestures. I asked where in her world, in what situation (weather Meg and I had created it already or not) the emotions from the mask's experience and innocence would affect her. It not only helped to better understand Phyllis, it also generated a ton of ideas and solutions.

DAY 4 MAY 28th
mmmmm...I went through my last 3 masks the same way as the day before. Then I am pretty sure I guided Meg through her first two. It was amazing to watch from the outside while she went through the same process as detailed above. By the end of the day, I'd say we were pretty exhausted. We had generated a ton A TON of ideas, but were beginning to recognize that there were some pretty massive holes in the arc of the story. We brain stormed for a while, and decided it was best not to force things. It was really hard to not feel a bit of anxiety- knowing that there are problems and not being able to solve them right away is a difficult thing to walk away from. I am really glad we did looking back, but at the time it made things feel a bit stressful. At times I really feel our deadline looming over our heads, but I have to say we've been really good at reminding ourselves that we are working on a draft and not a polished finished piece.

DAY 5 MAY 29th
So because we were beginning to feel as if we were coming up against a wall, we decided it would be best to allow our minds to rest and take the day off. Good call!

DAY 6 MAY 30th
I think we were both feeling on the same page that day, because we didn't push or force anything. We had a good discussion in the morning, but didn't go too deep or push too hard. In the afternoon Meg went through the last of her masks and I went through mine at the same time. It felt great to get into my body and trust that the mask work can generate a lot of ideas. I also made a God poem. I think Meg did too, but she didn't read it to me, so I am not positive if she did or not.
We also recognized that our initial schedule needed to be revised, so we did that and set out a plan for the next few days to come. I think we were feeling better, but there was still a bit of anxiety in the air. That being said, it was really great to have an open dialogue when ever either of us began to worry. Lots of support, lots of good ideas.


That recaps week 1. Meg please add/go into detail on anything you want.