The Maids Research and Rehearsal Reports

7/28/2019 The Maids Research and Rehearsal Reports

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The Maidsby Jean Genet

Directed by Brenda HugginsApril 15, 2008

Semel Theatre, Emerson CollegeBoston, MA


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The Maids

By Jean Genet

Directed by Brenda Huggins

Spring, 2008

Table of Contents

1.Rehearsal Schedule.

2. Example Rehearsal Reports and Rehearsal Journal

3.Research and Inspirational Images.

Tech Rehearsal, April 14th 2008


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The MaidsBy Jean Genet

Directed by Brenda Huggins

Spring, 2008

UPDATED MARCH 21st

Rehearsal Schedule:

Date: Time: Space:

Sun, 3/16 3:00pm to 5:00pm C304/ CANCELLED

Mon, 3/17 8:00pm to 10:00pm P-Row, 117/ CANCELLED

Sun, 3/23 3:00pm to 5:00pmish C304 (Colonial)-Claire Only

Mon, 3/24 8:00pm to 10:00pmish P-Row, 232-Solange Only

Sat, 3/29 4:30pm to 6:30pm P-Row, 232-MAKE UP

Sun, 3/30 3:00pm to 5:00pm C304 (Colonial Building).

Mon, 3/31 8:00pm to 10:00pm P-Row, 117.

Sun, 4/16 3:00pm to 5:00pm C304 (Colonial Building).

Mon, 4/17 8:00pm to 10:00pm OFF BOOK/P-Row, 117

Sun, 4/13 3:00pm to 5:00pm FULL DRESS/ C304 Colonial.

Mon, 4/14 6:00pm GO TIME TECH/DRESS in the Semel

Theatre.

Tues, 4/15 7:00 to 9:00pm PERFORMANCE/ Semel

Theatre.

*Please notice that there is a slight change in the tech/ performance times. The Tuesday

evening performances begin at 7:00pm, and we are the last play of the evening. Also, ourtech begins at 6:00pm on Monday, so call will be at 5:30 (in costume). I am thinking a

6:30 call for Tuesday, but we can discuss what works best for you.


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Directed by Brenda HugginsSpring, 2008

Rehearsal Report#7Called: Claire and Solange

Date: April 6th Time: 3:00 to 5:00pm Location: Colonial Building

Rehearsal Objectives:

-Work the Last section of the play from where we left of last time, Thatll do intoSolanges turn.

-Work the piece OFF BOOK.-Get a feel for the length of the piece.

Rehearsal Notes:-The first exercise of the rehearsal was a mirror exercise in which the actors took turns

leading and following each other in the space. The next coaching added the element ofthe color imagery that we have been working with. Each time the leader switched, they

had to choose a new color, and communicate that color through their body movement andwith out words.

-For the next exercise, I wanted to again incorporate music into the work, so I chose aninstrumental piece by Miles Davis. Playing with the idea of power and control, each of

the actors took turns molding each other to the music. The clay had their eyesclosed, and the molder with give them physical touch cues for which body part to move

and when through the space. This was not a stationary clay molding exercise, but oneof control, trust, and rhythm as the pair move around in space in almost a dance. When

the impulse calls, the clay will become the molder. To add another layer to this exercise,I asked the actors to explore the text of The Maids during the work, and notice how thepower, control element of the movement influenced the text.

-We started OFF BOOK for the first time, starting from the ending section where we leftoff from last week. After working Solanges turn, we began working the play from

beginning to end, off book. We made it through the piece two times from beginning toend, off book.

-(The lovely Lialia was available to be on book for me, so I could take notes and not havemy nose in my script.

Journal Entry:

It is becoming very challenging to come up with new, fun, and relevant exerciseswith out being to repetitive, but I am enjoying the challenge! So far, the exercises that we

worked with today have been my favorite! The work with music and rhythm has beenfantastic, and it is exciting to see the actors really respond to them. With the leading and

molding in this one exercise, especially when we added in the text from the play, therewas a magical connection to not literal body movement and voice that had a freedom and


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expression not yet seen in our rehearsals. Something that really drew me to this play,besides Genets brilliant text, is the absurdist quality to the piece. I have never directed

or acted in an absurdist piece, so I had no idea how to really approach the piece. Withtodays exercise, I think that I have found that starting point. Its just too bad that I made

this discovery after everything has been blocked and the performance goes up next week!

With this having been said, I do not feel that the work we have done is worthless,on the other hand, I feel that every decision we have made and continue to make are trueto the text, but also to the over all vision of the piece. After todays exercise however, I

am inspired to someday direct the entire play, and use these types of exercises as astarting point in discovering the play through space. All though there are certainly

absurdist qualities to the work that we have done in terms of the props/lack of props, theidea of space, as well as the idea of time and setting, as well as some stylistic body

movement, I am inspired by todays work to take these shapes and images a step furtherin their expression of Genets text.

I am finding my self on the cusp of an artistic epiphany in my development as adirector, but the answers havent quite made their way to the surface of my brain yet. In

choosing this play for this project, I knew that I was going beyond the immediate realmof my experience as a theatre artist, and I am now realizing through the process of

directing the piece, I have truly opened doors to a new understanding of what theatre isand can be. My infatuation with Genets play began with the richly layered text, and is

now culminating into the realization that the expression or communication of that text isonly limited by my own imagination. I am also in awe of the collaborative process that

has been the keystone in the organic realization of the play. It was been extremelyrewarding as a facilitator of impulse and directing force for the process of this work.

On a final note, I was blown away by the work of my actors today in terms oftheir memorization and handling of the text. Having Lialia on book for us was essential

to the success of the rehearsal, but the work that Charlotte and Lisa completed since lastweek in working with the text and memorization was above and beyond my expectations.

Although there were maybe moments that didnt seem to quite click together as thedominoes so to speak continued to miss each other by centimeters as the actors worked

off book for the first time, we were able to make it through the piece at least two times. Ifeel as though we are right on track for the next two rehearsals. One more rehearsal left,

and then we have our dress rehearsal. I think that we will be ready!


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Rehearsal Report#8Called: Claire and Solange

Date: April 7th Time: 8:00 to 10:00pm Location: Piano Row


-Continue to work OFF BOOK-Reconnect the Dominoes in the OFF BOOK stage of the process

-TIME PIECE-Talk about costumes and Entrance/Exits

Rehearsal Notes:-We began rehearsal with a quick vocal warm-up, incorporating Linklater exercisesfollowed by diction exercises.

-We continued to work the play off book, reconnecting the Dominoes, and fixing a fewpoints that are still not working such as the Limits Madame section, as well as

changing the transition from the boa chase section into the maids room section.-In reworking the Limits Madame section, we found a new motivation for Solange, and

experimented with new places for her to explore in the space in this mini-monologue. Assoon as we found blocking that made sense for Solange, Claires blocking changing in

order to respond and react to Solanges new motivations and tactics for the section. Whatwe have now flows much better.

-We changed the transition into the maids room section, so that it begins a little earlier.This gives Solange and Claire more time to interact with each other in this section, and it

works much better. In continuing the scene with the new changes, it was interesting todiscover how this change affected another point of the play later on. In giving Clairemore time to speak of the Garret, it makes her mention of the Garret even more cruel

when she is role-playing as the Madame soon after in the scene.-TIME: 18mins

-Costumes: An actors neutral attire. Black. White arpons. The use of a red boa replacesand red or white dress.

-I decided that the actors with make the scene change in their actor neutral state, and

then transform into the maids as the lights go up to begin the scene.

Journal Entry:

Something that I have been struggling with this piece from day one is the idea oftime and setting. When I directed Mozarts The Impressario last spring, it was the time

period that drove the vision for the play, but with this piece, there was nothing that reallycalled out to me in terms of time or setting. My first thought was, well, we will just work


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through the piece, and then something will come to me. Well, I find myself only weeksbefore the end of the project, and I am elbow deep in a script with layers and layers of

socio-political images and themes, but no time. No specific space. My final thoughts orconclusion about this issue is, well, then the time and space is now and in the Semel

theatre. Inspired by a kind of Brechtian understanding of theatre and the importance of

letting the audience know that what they are about to see is not real, I decided tominimalize the costumes to simple white aprons, and the time and place is here and now.I never really understood what that meant until now, directing this piece.

All of the blocking and beat changes made during todays rehearsal feel great. Ihave had a wonderful time working with Charlotte and Lisa and their understanding that

it is their motivations and objectives that are driving actions, and not my brain movingpuppets around the stage. When there were a couple of small moments that werent quite

flowing right, it was a consensus felt by all of us that something needed to change, andwe discovered collaboratively to find what those changes needed to be. Awesome. I love

this kind of process, and having the privilege to work with actors who truly understandwhat that means.

I had a dream last night that for as an impulse exercise, I have each of the girlsplastic forks, and as they go through the text, they would pull out their forks to literally

jab the other in parallel to the text that is achieving the same effect in a non physical way.I dont know why, but this image of the poking fork has really stuck with me in the piece,

and perhaps it is something that I could incorporate into a production of the entire play, ifI ever have the chance. Claire is constantly using the milkman to keep Solange into the

ritual, and Solange motivates Claire to go there due to her lack of interest in the ritual, orthe fact that she does not take the ritually as seriously as Claire in the beginning.


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Rehearsal Report#9DRESS REHEARSAL

Called: Claire and Solange

Date: April 13th Time: 3:00 to 5:00pm Location: Colonial Building


-Discuss technical cues such as music and timer ringing.-Run through the piece three times.

Rehearsal Notes:-I began the dress rehearsal with a dance, impulse exercise that allowed the actors toexplore the music in the beginning of the piece. Lisa was super creeped out by the music,

which was perfect, because that is somewhat the desired effect. I found a midi clip thathas a very circular melody and thematic quality that is almost childlike, but some how

creepy at the same time. I thought this would be a good way to begin the piece. Theactors worked through the space taking and giving power to the other with the use of the

red boa connecting them. I took some pictures of this work, and will put it in mydirectors book.

-We made it through the play three times, the first two I watched and took notes, and thelast time, I took pictures.

-The piece is consistently running at about 18mins. With a two minuet or so set up, thewho piece should be about 20mins long.

Journal Entry:I feel very ready for the tech and performances tomorrow. The costumes look

great (in concept, I thought it would work, but it was very exciting to really see all of thesimple elements jell together during this dress rehearsal.) I wanted to incorporate Nina

Simones Ne me quitte pas, but the song didnt really set the right mood for the piece ifplayed during the beginning, and or leave the audience with the right feeling to end with

the song. So, I decided that the Simone song could play while the actors are setting up

the stage, and then transition into the creepy candyman music. After the music playsfor about 35 seconds or so, and the actors have made their transition into the maids, andare setting up the space for the ritual, the candyman music fades into a ticking sound of

the timer clock. We worked the ending of the piece a couple of times to find the rightmoment for the underscoring of the outro music, and discovered that it is Solanges Is

that whats killing us Claire felt like the right transitional point into the end of the piece.The more I think about the costuming of the show, the more and more happy and

confident I feel in my decision. I feel as though adding the element of role playing in


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these are actors playing the maids playing in their role playing, we are connecting in away to Genets desire for the maids to be played by men. I also really like the idea of the

actors wearing pants in their actors neutral because they dont need to be wearingskirts in order to show their femininity. There is something so inherently feminine about

theses woman playing the roles, no matter what they are wearing, it is apparent that they

are woman.This is our last rehearsal, and I am so excited and proud about the work that wehave done! This has been a hugely life changing experience for me as a director and as an

artist, but I feel as though it is only the beginning. I am so glad that I chose this piece,because it really challenged me to think outside of my comfort zone and experience new

planes of theatre arts. Hey, it was wicked fun too. A part of me is worried that peoplewont get it, but I am confident in all of the decisions I have made in the artistic vision

for the piece. Even if all of the subtleties of the piece are missed by the audience, I amsure that the power struggle, playfulness, and sadness of the piece will touch the audience

in someway, and they can at least take that with them.


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'Maids x 2,' Contrasting Two Styles of JeanGenet

Photographs by Elizabeth Bick

Left, Leah Loftin and Alejandra Cejudo in the all-female "Maids x 2." Right, Kevin V. Smith and J.

J. Brennan star in the male version.

It may be the oddest dinner theater of the season.

Readers OpinionsForum: Theater

"The Maids," Jean Genet's 1947 play about two maids who

simultaneously love and loathe their mistress, is strange to begin with,

but the EgoPo/Cocteau ensemble ramps things up considerably with"The Maids x 2" by staging it twice in the same evening: once with the

three characters played by women, and once with them played, as Genet

specified, by men. In between comes the world's longest intermission,

long enough that dinner is served in the Bouwerie Lane Theater's

downstairs cafe while the set is struck and replaced a necessity
http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/arts/theater/index.html?page=recenthttp://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/arts/theater/index.html?page=recenthttp://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/arts/theater/index.html?page=recent


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because the versions envisioned by Lane Savadove, the director, are so

radically different.

It's a lot to ask of the audience: at the first preview performance, the

show cracked the three-and-a-half-hour mark, though the running timewill no doubt shrink considerably as the set-change crew works out the

bugs. But Mr. Savadove is not just being self-indulgent; the

juxtaposition of the two versions is starkly illuminating, if you can stand

the wait.

The female version (Leah Loftin and Alejandra Cejudo as Solange and

Claire, the maids; Taylor Wilcox as Madame) is fairly straightforward, if

such a word can be applied to Genet's play: the maids are in Madame's

lavish bedroom, enacting a bizarre role-playing ritual until Madamecomes home. It's only when the men take over (Kevin V. Smith and J. J.

Brennan as Solange and Claire; Nick Lopez as Madame) that you realize

how comparatively normal the female version was: the whole tale

becomes a homoerotic nightmare.

The male version is staged in the round (thus the long intermission) and

also, eventually, in the raw. The nudity is unnecessarily distracting,

because Mr. Savadove has your attention without it. The male maids are

in a prison cell, and "Madame" is a guard who interrupts their mutual

abuse to do some abusing of his own. How radically different are these

versions? In the female one, the flowers that are repeatedly referred to

are, in fact, flowers; in the male version, they are dirty underpants. It's

as if the female version were how the sick men in the male version might

see themselves in their deluded fantasies.

The actors in both halves, but especially the male, are fearless, slapping

and throwing one another around like stunt doubles; if someone doesn'tend up in a cast before the run is over, it will be a small miracle. The

production is the first in the new collaboration between EgoPo, out of

New Orleans, and the Jean Cocteau Repertory. While it is certainly not

for everybody, it makes a clear statement that the Bouwerie Lane may be

in for some lively fare.


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"The Maids x 2" continues through April 23 at the Bouwerie Lane

Theater, 300 Bowery, at Bond Street, East Village; (212) 677-0060.

More Articles in Theater
http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.htmlhttp://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.htmlhttp://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.html


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The MaidsBy Genet. Directed by Jess Burkle. Loeb Experimental Theater, Cambridge. May 2006.


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Documents

The Maids Research and Rehearsal Reports