Eighteen chairs are standing on the stage in two rows in a semi-circle. There is a yellow post-it with a name on each chair. Most of the cast, director, choreographer, stage manager, assistant stage manager, and the pianist are inside. Someone brought snacks and refreshments. Actors are late. Queen is late.
Giggles, voices, whispers, humming fill the theater/classroom. AC, NL and a few others form a small circle on the side. They hum, resonate, and gradually raise and lower their hands to guide their voices.
AR comes up to a group of girls. He kisses the hand of one, then whispers something into the ear of another. Girls smile. ED winks at him from across the room. ED is sitting alone. He looks around for a scapegoat.
Andre is arranging a new song from the show. A few actors stand next to the piano learning the melody.
The music stops. Little packs of people break apart. AS stops studying for her test. BS puts down her book.
“New exercise everyone!”
The voice warm-up. Andre starts the tune. As actors hum they walk in different directions around the space. Their eyes begin to wonder. They occasionally run into each other and hug, kiss, poke. They send air messages across the room. Some notice me for the first time. AR winks at me, as always. KE sends a kiss. Some look annoyed. I wonder why they think I’m here.
AM comes in late. No one turns in his direction. He looks for his name on the seat. Found it. What is going on? He reaches out to NL, pushes her. She finally turns around and gives him a hug. Smile.
Quick announcement. Director gives directions, an overview of today’s rehearsal, a few words to the latecomers.
“Oh, and Kateryna will be doing a project on the show. Carry on.”
That’s it?! Great intro.
The boys gather around the piano to work on their group number. The rest quickly break-up into groups or go back to their previous activities.
KE runs up to me: “Who are you understudying?” Her eyes full of hope. No one, I really am doing a documentary project on the cast. They all know how much I wanted to be in the show. “You found a way to be in it after all” their eyes say.
NP has no one to talk to, she is very interested in my project and the class. She poses for pictures.
In the middle of the commotion CV and AC whisper to each other. Both giggle. AC looks down at the floor. CV hides his face behind his binder. They move even closer to each other.
AV and Andre finally get a chance to say hello. They hug. He whispers something in her ear. She pushes him away with a smile. He catches her hands as they slide down his chest.
A remark makes CR scream: “Erik imma continue to love ya if I don’t kill ya first!”
CV studies his lines. I take pictures. AS jumps next to him: “Make me look smart.”
Director comes back to the theater.
Nothing changes.
Someone sends a look towards the singers: “You just totally sang the wrong note. That hurt my ears, dude!”
I love you Lacy!
I love you ChiChi!
AR is Lacy, the bartender. “I’m on stage almost the whole show, I need something to do!” RU comes up with a trick from his bartending days. He takes a bottle, throws it up and across his back with one hand. The bottle flies across his shoulders. He catches it over the opposite shoulder with the same hand and hands it over to Lacy, whose mouth is still half-open. AR takes the bottle, throws it with one hand behind his back. The sound of broken glass makes people turn towards the opposite corner.
“I want to be as tall as you, Kateryna!”
You are the perfect height KE.
NL draws a heart with her name on the chalk board.
I capture DN smiling.
“Ewwww nesss!”
“No, I think it’s so pretty”
“Chris, this is hideous but thanks”
“OMG, she smiles…. And her smile is pretty…. Ewwwwww”
NL: “Matos, don’t forget my chicken leg! I want to be eating a chicken leg!”
FR: “My cheeks look blown-up because I was trying to hide the fact that I was eating”
Sonja comes up to the pianist. “I walked all the way here just to give you a kiss”
Erik: “It’s pronounced pee-anist”
“No, it’s pianist”
Erik: “No, it’s pee-anist. Think of the movie! It’s pee-anist right? It’s pee-anist do you know?”
AS: “I need to pass this test and then I can hang out all my life”
RT, the queen of our own, is playing a macho. He sings. “I love how the real voice came out”, says Alex. “Stop saying sorry!”
JM stops the song in the middle, Jojo retreats, repeating his steps backwards.
JM: “Would you shake his hand?”
Lou: No
JM: “Would you even touch his hand?”
Lou: No
JM: “Is he even visible?”
Lou: No.
JM: “Not bad. Not… not great”
Andre sits on the couch across from me. His fingers mimic the piano on his thigh. AR needs practice. “I am way over my head with these guys.” He sings his solo again and again and again.
KE: “I look mad tall! I love it!”
Lets dance.
NL: “ooo!!! Check her legs out! And her arm! Go girl!!! Mad straight! Effortless! Fierce!”
Lacy: “god damn girl! You fine! Sit on my knee, sit on my knee!”
Tracy: “Why don’t they leave us working girls alone!”
DN: “I just noticed Alex is in it. Memphis, stop trying to be a hoe!”
KE: “aww, Memphis 1 and 2 are both wearing red”
AC: “I forgot I did this, that’s right it’s Memphis and Little Memphis”
CV: “those pants are disturbing, can you burn them for me?”
As girls practice the dance in one room, the boys sing in the other.
AC: “I always knew Duran”
ED: “na Alex in yo dreams brotha”
Some wait for their turn backstage. Memphis leans on the door. Mary chats with Fleetwood. Frenchie watches.
ChiChi: “Probably talking s***”
NL: “I look pregnant! I can’t eat no more!!! O no!”
RT: “Do you have any more pictures of me?”
Lacy leans deeper into his chair, puts one foot on the other knee, places his arm on the chair next to him.
Caught in the moment Queen places her hand on CR’s thigh, her best friend, confidant, and savior.
Girls’ group number comes on. No one sits anymore. Each one walks the street, eyeing the men and sizing up the competition.
The red hills come out, lace, fish nets, small tops, bright nail polish, fake eyelashes, suits, silk shirts, gold chains – the transformation is complete.
NL: “I’m so fat! Geez! I should carry this picture everywhere and look at it every time I want to eat!”
AC: “I can hit that note too!”
FR: “If I don’t see people I can become anyone I want!”
DN: “awww I love you motherf*****s”
It’s time to say goodbye. But the show that swept the campus will forever have a special place in their heart. The feuds between characters are slowly forgotten and their now their memory brings the actors closer together. They shared something that no one else did.
From 4 to 8 hours a day, at least 5 days a week, two wonderful months they spent together. They teased and comforted, helped and inspired each other.
NP, the one who played the Queen: “I miss Life, I miss the cast, I miss Queen…”
Your essay gives us a sort of day-in-the-life (rehearsal) of the cast –very much an insider’s view. But the essay would have benefited from deeper analysis: who are these actors and why are they drawn to theater? What, if anything, makes them a community rather than a group –drawn together by a common activity.
Your photos were quite strong –many of them capturing the dramatic moments of the play.
Really nice photos – this is the beginning of a nice documentary on this play. Each of the characters you’ve captured with a camera lens seems to exude their regular personality offstage, and a mildly or wildly affected personality onstage.
I want to see some of those b&w images in color too.
Also, it was a bit difficult for me to follow the skit in your essay, but I did gather a lot about the relationships and personalities from your presentation.
You have lots of enthusiasm for the theater life – run with it. Best, Yaphet
Your photos are strong and really seem to capture whatever dramatic moment the actors are enacting. I like your range of color and black and white shots. It’s definitely interesting to see the pictures from both aspects and matches your subject considering you’re capturing a community that is acts as something else. Over all I think this was a tough community to capture and you did it well.
The photos are very good, very striking. The writing is also very lively and you capture dialogue well, however, the essay reads more like expanded captions. You need to step back and help us understand this group as a community so that we can gain a deeper perspective and appreciation.
It is great that you took your time to write this post; it’s stimulating to see another’s opinion. I appreciate your work on this post, and I’ll return for more reading.
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