jeffbarryfilms

I spent the day running around picking up gear from vendors and friends who are calling in favors for us. Making How We Got Away With It on the budget we did was insane, but understandable. This one is straight masochistic. You can’t make a film like this without the help and support of friends. And there are many who have come through on this for me. I can only hope to return the favor in the future. And to deliver a great film that we can all enjoy and see how the hard work pays off.

Mano loading up part of our G&E kit.

The schedule has worked out really well. Tomorrow is our first day of shooting and it’s our lightest day. Always nice on the first day: set the tone and get the kinks out. It worked out the same way for HWGAWI. After that, we’ll have a load in day and then we will hit it hard for the next three days. We are covering an very high page count per day, and to make that happen, we will be rolling hard from start to finish.

Not much has changed since I first conceived this plan and wrote about it four months ago. We’re shooting RED and shooting single camera. But other than that, the plan is in tact. There’s been a lot of hard work between then and now: we rehearsed the play for a month while Victor rewrote it. Ran the play for a month. I went to Virginia and did another play for a couple months. I wrote the adaptation to the screen. And spent a lot of time visualizing this film.

So, needles to say, though it was a stressful day, it was a rewarding one. I had to remind myself that, like with HWGAWI, the pain and stress of making a movie is temporary, but the reward and memories are forever.

Organizing and staging some of the G&E kit.

Traditionally, for me, second shows are where everyone else in the cast feels “odd” about the show and I feel great about it. Not sure why that is. Maybe because I settle in to the second show or because I don’t get amped up for the first show.

Either way, the show met my expectations. I felt great and the rest of the cast felt it was a little wonky.

I’m very happy with the path that I have created for the show, from a purely physical point of view. It’s a show that requires naturalism and a natural set. In the million dollar production maybe we would have a full two story house with all of the set pieces a house has. But as it stands, we have a naturalistic show in a space that never lets you, the audience, forget that we’re in a theatre. Personally, I like that. And that has certainly become part of the Miscreant aesthetic. The down side is that on a traditional kitchen sink drama set, the actors would have a full gamut of set dressing to play with. Those things on the set, bookshelves, cupboards, light switches, provide destination for the actors which is very important in having a reason to move around the space. We are limited in what we have, so we have to be very creative about finding destination. Which is what I meant when I said I was happy with the physical path I have created.

Aside from that, My friend Justin Adams, who I worked with at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, came to the show tonight. He’s on the verge of starting to produce for himself and was keen to see what we have been up to.

After the show we went to his garden plot in the Houston/2nd avenue gardens and had a few beers and built a fire. Great night all around.

Big night, big moon.

Victor and friends around the fire pit.

Justin mans the flame

Today was touchup day. Final fixes on lights, costumes and a little painting to be done.

I thought our postcards would be in by this point but the holiday has really delayed shipment which is a bit frustrating.

Aside from the tech stuff we ran the show twice. The first run felt pretty good for me. It had all the excitement of a new space and the pending audience to come tomorrow. Overall it was a good stab at it. A great place to be considering that we had an evening run to come.

The second run was a bit of a disappointment. I felt like we were all lagging behind a bit. This was the run to drop the hammer and open this baby up. But, for whatever reason, we didn’t quite get there. I’m sure fatigue is playing a role for all of us. I can only hope that tomorrow’s adrenaline overcomes that.

What’s that old saying? A poor final dress run makes for a great first run with audience?

We shall see.