Rehearsal
Everyone who works on Aeterno Elementum donates their time, and so when it comes time to rehearse for the show, much of the challenge came from trying to schedule them around people’s jobs, after all, souls taken from the damned don’t pay the rent. As it happened with the November shows, our only opportunity to rehearse with the entire cast present were the two days before the show started. If that wasn’t nerve-wracking enough, several new scenes had been added, as well as several changes to existing scenes. Additionally we had two new actors (the Assassin General, and the Archbishop), who were going to have to learn the show from scratch. There was no time to lose. The first rehearsal was started before we’d even finished constructing the set.
Rehearsals are a lot like that last night of studying before the big final. Except instead of staying up all night reading textbooks, and occasionally curling up into the fetal position and weeping hysterically (or was I the only one who did that?), you begin to run yourself ragged trying to memorize cues, speeches, music, and choreography. Also there are swords involved, and knives, and polearms, and shields, and kickass music.
Which makes it the most awesome cramming session ever.
Okay, so maybe it’s not at all like cramming for a quiz, aside from the stress that is. Putting on a production like Aeterno Elementum is a lot like trying to assemble a Rube Goldberg machine; it has so many moving pieces that it boggles the mind. For example, many of the cues are based on the music, such as when the lyrics “So Fight” are sung in the song “Conquered”, the Seattle Knights charged into another huge battle. Many of my cues, by contrast, were based on either the movements of the cast or specific pieces of dialogue spoken by the actors. I was mostly responsible for moving props on and off stage. Eve Cooper, who had graciously stepped in to be our Stage Manager, was coordinating the lighting effects with what was happening on stage. One of the biggest parts of this was making sure the lights blacked out at specific times, so I could remove props and bodies, without ruining the illusion for the audience. All of these pieces had to move together seamlessly, or the whole thing would fall apart.
Half the reason for rehearsals is to see where the machine breaks down and explodes in our faces. One of the biggest hitches we originally ran into was our Fire Gate. In Aeterno Elementum’s “Lure of the Flames” there is a scene in which a woman is burned alive in a theater; of course we don’t actually burn anyone alive (at least not intentionally). Instead we bring out the Fire Gate, which is a thin white sheet stretched out between two thick columns, and lighting effects are projected onto it to give the appearance of fire. During rehearsal we found that moving and storing the Fire Gate was a pain because it was so big and unwieldy. It also had to be brought on stage, and removed again, during a roughly 15 second blackout. The lighting fixtures were so low hanging, and the Fire Gate so tall, that the two responsible for moving it had to be squatting in order move it under the lights. Byron, a Seattle Knight and clad in 75 pounds of armor, and me had that honor. We ended up looking like a pair of Fiddler crabs trying to move a boulder, awkwardly sidling off, stage left. Thanks to our rehearsals, we were able to identify the problem with the Fire Gate, and perfect our Fiddler crab moving style. And that was the easy part, compared to what most of the actors had to go through.
I feel your pain, my brothers!
Aeterno Elementum has its fair share of battles, featuring Assassins, Demons, Vikings and Knights. The weapons that we use during the battles come courtesy of the Seattle Knights, and are actual weapons, not rubber or wooden props. While the weapons aren’t all that sharp, even a blunt sword can do a lot of damage if not wielded properly. Luckily, the Seattle Knights are all practiced professionals, and have choreographed dozens of these kinds of fights. Even though these fights are fake, they are still pretty rough, especially when wearing armor ranging from 75 to 200 pounds. Many of the knights get thrown to the ground several times, and have to drag themselves back up to continue the fighting. It was during the rehearsal that they discovered the final fight of Conquered was lasting slightly longer than the song itself, forcing the band to slow down. So some small changes were made to the fight to fit it into the allotted time. That’s what’s great about rehearsal, it allows you to figure out where things need to change, because what happens in the script doesn’t necessarily happen on the stage.
Earlier I mentioned that Aeterno Elementum was like a Rube Goldberg machine, but unlike a machine, it has the ability to adapt. It’s like a river, even if you throw a couple of boulders into it, the water will still find a way to get around them. And that’s what rehearsals are for, to see where those boulders are at, and find a way around them.