Happy World Down Syndrome Day! Today (3/21), and everyday, we celebrate our ensemble and remind the world that people with Down syndrome are more than just one thing. We are so proud to see them diving into Twelfth Night and having fun with these classic characters and crazy story! Read on to find out about Week Four of Rehearsals and remember to visit our Facebook page for more rehearsal photos and other content...
Monday Recap (by Sean Okerberg)
Tonight’s Focus was to review Twelfth Night’s characters and to continue to explore the story. Dance party started with a little Black-Eyed Peas as everyone arrived and ended with an energetic "Greased Lightning".
Alanna led warm ups which included Lemon & Lion (a taste sensation and a good face warm-up to practice going from puckered little faces to big roars).
We checked in with each other with the question, “What is the craziest thing to wear?” as an homage to Malvolio’s attempt to win Olivia through wardrobe. We heard lots of crazy stuff - Hannah said she knew a guy who wore an umbrella hat, and Colleen said a rainbow wig would be the craziest thing someone could wear.
After checking in Katie led us in Stage Pictures. We created different objects on stage with each actor taking on a part of it. Fletcher was the trunk to our car and Sam was the teeth of our lion. For our final stage picture Colleen came up with a great suggestion - we made a stage picture of the characters of Twelfth Night.
This led perfectly into our next game Musical Squares (led by yours truly!). For this game, we lay out a circle of carpet squares and each square has a different character costume piece on it. We move around the circle to music and when the music stops, you adopt the character of the square you're standing on. As Hannah landed on the Antonio square she struck a strong pirate pose and Ben showed us how funny Feste could be.
Next it was time for the Act 3 Play Plot narrated by Lawrence with Alanna dropping in. This is an action packed act with Andrew as SIR Andrew and Rachel as Sir Toby squared off against both Viola and Sebastian. Their plot with Maria and Feste against Malvolio came to fruition. Colleen looked terrified with her imaginary yellow stockings. And Emily expressed Olivia’s love for Cesario.
Before wrapping up we moved to the musical potion of the evening. I was delighted to see how much everyone remembered of the choreography for “The Wind and the Rain.” We learned more as Sam and I do-si-doed. We checked in with one another again while talking about our favorite characters so far. Sam checked off this last item and then lead us in I Take from the Heavens. A very productive and energized class!
Friday Recap (also by Sean Okerberg)
This Friday, we got to find out what happens at the end of Twelfth Night.
Katie got us started with a dance party and warmed up our voices as we passed a “hello” around the circle. Kendra checked us in and got our minds working with the question, “When was a time you have been away from home and how did it feel?” We talked about how hard it can be to be away from your family even if the destination is exciting.
After going through the schedule Lindsay lead us in an ensemble game - Pass the Face. This time we didn’t pass around a greeting but an emotion. It started with an angry face but when we got to happy Sam showed us how much easier it is to communicate emotion with our whole body which segued perfectly into learning one of our new vocabulary terms: Body Language.
Next up, to get the creative juices flowing. Kendra lead us in Make a Scene. Together we created tableaux of different places: the zoo, the beach, and a wedding. Marissa started the zoo scene with a snake followed by Emily’s elephant. Quincy’s marriage to Jack was only slightly interrupted by the attendance of Sam’s wedding werewolf.
Peter led us in a review of acts one through three which led right into Kendra narrating the Act 4 Play Plot. We saw Alena as Maria and Lucas as Feste bring their plan to fruition as Sam F’s Malvolio finds the letter and is embarrassed in front of Natalia’s Olivia. Natalia marries Sam P’s Sebastian which leads to him being reunited with Viola who is married to Marissa’s Orsino. Happy End for all, (except maybe Malvolio) At the end of the play, Peter introduced our big finale song. We matched choreography to the wind and the rain with a hey and a ho. With such a full class we barely had time for I Take from the Heavens before retrieving our shoes and heading out to start spring break!
