[Menvi-discuss] Working with directors and staging

[Sarah J. Blake LaRose]

I would agree that she would be familiar with her own surroundings. 
Historically, blind people blind people navigated their own environments 
based on fairly complicated methods that they developed for themselves. 
Their families and friends often did not understand nad wanted to protect 
them, cure them, etc. (Some things never change, eh?)

-----Original Message----- 
From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2013 6:49 PM
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] Working with directors and staging

Hello Julie,
If she is in her garden, she knows every nook and cranny, so she will need
no guidance around. You may want to point that out to the director. She has
been stuck in that one place her whole life (16 years), so it is very much
her home. I urge you to call my mom and talk about this as blind children
are her specialty! I talked to her about it and just throwing out ideas and
observations with her would probably be very helpful in character
development.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs
-----Original Message----- 
From: Julie McGinnity
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2013 3:36 PM
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] Working with directors and staging

Thank you so much Kelby and Christina.

The tape thing was good and something I had forgotten about.  I asked
about adding extra tape on the floor where we are rehearsing today.
It's kind of a weird arrangement we have.  We don't even go on the
stage until the middle of next week(our scenes are performed the third
weekend in January), so I want to get accustomed to the layout before
we're even there.

I didn't think of the live music either, so don't worry.  Lol  I have
some vision and explained it a little to the director.  I was very
clear that it isn't reliable if the light isn't right, but I'm not
worried, since we'll be practicing enough for me to know how much I
can use it.

The problem is that I'm not sure how much navigating I will be able to
do on my own while on stage.  The director told me not to worry today
because of the nature of my character, I will be led around by others
for almost the entire scene.  I suppose I should wait and see what he
has in mind for my character and the blocking...  But is there
anything more I can do to show him that I can navigate a stage
independently?  I plan on telling him that I would like some
experience navigating a stage during a performance, and plus, my
character choices support this.  But I do not want to be seen as
arguing with the director and don't want to cause a problem.

I was planning on walking with my dog around the layout of the
stage--not on the platforms or around the dangerous parts.  She and I
would just get a general idea of where the more difficult spots are.
I did this a little last year, and it worked fine.  Of course, when it
came to blocking or climbing on things, my cane would definitely be
the better choice.  Lol I don't think my dog would enjoy being on
those platforms.

Thank you for helping...  And I hope this isn't too off topic for this list.

On 1/2/13, Cristina Jones <coloraturajones at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi there,
> I've been in a number of opera scenes, both while totally blind and
> with some light perception.
> I would not suggest using your dog to orient you onstage.  The stage
> can be a very dangerous place.  Although I trust my dog obviously, I
> don't think it would be useful for me to try and orient myself to the
> more interesting places on the stage.  Ask the assistant director or
> director to meet with you beforehand or whenever you need to to get
> yourself oriented.  Do not be afraid to ask.  Remember ...  You either
> be annoying and ask now, or you be really annoying and make them fill
> out paperwork later when you fall off the stage and hurt yourself.
> One thing, too, is depending on the  kind of scene you're doing, feel
> free to ask them if they can tape down either chord or some kind of
> tape you can feel with your foot that'll orient you.  I've worked on
> platforms before and have fallen off a platform.  Hence the advice and
> the voice of experience.  So they taped down something every several
> yards or whatever which let me know I was actually going straight, and
> if I wasn't, I wasn't discrete about what I was doing with my feet.
> Just have fun with it and make it part of your character, particularly
> since you're playing a blind character.  Type casting much?  Lol
> THe otehr thing, too, is if you have some vision, even light
> perception, the stage lights are ridiculously strong.  If you can see
> light, ask them to bring out a white rug or somehting to put on the
> ground, and you might be able to see the light bouncing off the white.
>  I did that with a rug, and I also did that with a sofa.  It happened
> to be white and I was able to see that at the time.
> Also, if you're working with people onstage and you need to walk
> toward them or something, they can either sniff, move their foot,
> stomp their foot, etc., either in character or discretely and you can
> orient yourself in that way.
> Use the live music as an orientation device.  That sounds obvious, but
> you'd be surprised how often I don't think about it.  I'm probably
> dumber than the average Joe, so that's not saying much.
> If it's in character, feel free to use props as a semi mobility tool.
> I was Despina from COsi Fan Tutte once, and she's ridiculously active.
>  I had to skip in figured eight patterns, run off stage, run back on,
> lunge at a character and pretend to throttle her, etc.  Depsine is a
> maid.  So I used a duster as a prop, and that's perfectly in
> character.  I used the duster to "dust" things aggressively.  Haha
> Also, always remember that if you do things discretely onstage, it's
> going to look weird and obvious to the audience.  If you do things
> with gusto and make it a part of your character, they don't know the
> difference.  For instance, I was Cunegonde from Candide and they
> wanted me to run in circles around a couch, skip around, etc.  The
> problem was that there was a platform right beside the couch and I
> would've--and did--smack my ankle on the corner of the step.  Ouch.
> So I decided that I needed to hug the couch more.  The director
> suggested I exuberantly trail the couch in multiple ways.  I did.  And
> we put jewels and stuff on the couch to make it work.
> If the director is a bit reluctant to let you do anything and tells
> you he or she doens't feel safe with you doing this, that and the
> other thing, pull them aside later and ask them honestly ...  "Are you
> uncomfortable with me doing this because you wouldn't be comfortable
> allowing anyone else dtodo this, or is it because I'm blind?"
> Hopefully, they'll think about it for a sec and be frank with you.
> Just tell them: "With all due respect, I'd like to ask that you give
> tme the chance to do this one or two more times.  If you're still
> uncomfortable with it, then we'll compromise.  As of now, however, I
> feel this is how I interpret this character's actions, and I feel to
> do otherwise would be untrue to the character.  I've been blind for
> some time now, and I feel like I've gotten really decent at being able
> to tell what I can or cannot do."  The director may or may not be open
> to it.  If they're not, it sucks, but there's only so much you can do.
>  They're the director, it's their show.  Just be open with them, and
> I'm sure they'll be appreciative of your candidness.
> Sorry.  I know this was ridiculously long.
> Cristina
>
> On 1/2/13, Kelby Carlson <kelbycarlson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I haven't been in any opera productions, but I have some
>> suggestions for a situation like this nonetheless.  Can you get
>> the guest director's e-mail or phone number? Calling in advance,
>> explaining who you are and what kind of adjustments you might
>> need is never a bad idea.  I like e-mailing because I can write a
>> "script" so to speak so tx doesn't come off the wrong way.  Are
>> there other faculty who are involved that know you in the
>> project? You might want to make sure they've got your back.  I'm
>> sure they probably do already, but letting them know can also
>> help.
>>
>> You might also be at an advantage based on your part.  Since
>> you're playing a blind character, you might actually be able to
>> bring some of your "tricks" onstage.  A guide dog or cane not
>> might work well, but what about people you're with onstage? I've
>> found even in parts where I'm not blind (which have been all of
>> them) you can do the equivalent of a sighted guide sometimes
>> without being obtrusive.  Will there be landmarks on the stage
>> you can use as reference? Setpieces, blocks, raised platforms, et
>> cetera? You can try orienting yourself around those.  I'm sure
>> there will be intensive blocking of the scenes as well, and in my
>> experience if you're really involved you end up getting a lot of
>> it into your muscle memory.
>>
>> I hope this helps!
>>
>> Kelby
>>
>>
>>
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Julie McGinnity <kaybaycar at gmail.com
>> To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
>> <menvi-discuss at menvi.org
>> Date sent: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 20:15:03 -0600
>> Subject: [Menvi-discuss] Working with directors and staging
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I hope you all had a nice new year.  Unfortunately, I have to be
>> back
>> at school tomorrow night because I have rehearsals for my opera
>> scenes.  That brings me to my questions.
>>
>> My university does opera scenes every year at this time.  This
>> year, I
>> have a lead in one of the scenes.  My situation is rather
>> complicated...  The opera is called Iolanta by Tchaikovsky.  It's
>> about a blind princess.  If you're curious, I'll give you a link
>> to a
>> description of the opera.  Here's the wikipedia article
>> describing the
>> plot:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iolanta
>>
>> This role has been a challenge for me on several levels.
>>
>> We have a guest director come in to direct the opera scenes.
>> This
>> year's director worked with us two years ago, but I was never
>> able to
>> work with him  individually.  He doesn't know me, and I don't
>> know
>> what to expect.  Do you all have any tips on how to work with
>> directors?  More specifically, relating to blindness...  Showing
>> them
>> what I can and can't do.  I don't want to contradict the person
>> who is
>> essentially my boss, but given the role, I feel it might come up.
>> Does anyone have experience with this?  Any suggestions?  Also,
>> any
>> suggestions on techniques for navigating a stage would be
>> appriciated.
>>  I plan to use my dog and/or cane to navigate the stage in the
>> beginning, but I can't bring either of them on stage for the
>> performances.  Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome.
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Julie McG
>>  Lindbergh High School class of 2009, National Federation of the
>> Blind
>> of Missouri recording secretary,
>> Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President,
>> and proud graduate of Guiding Eyes for the Blind
>>
>> "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
>> everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
>> life."
>> John 3:16
>>
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-- 
Julie McG
Lindbergh High School class of 2009, National Federation of the Blind
of Missouri recording secretary,
Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President,
and proud graduate of Guiding Eyes for the Blind

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life."
John 3:16

Thank you for subscribing to MENVI.  Should you wish to unsubscribe, change
your delivery, or set any other options available to you, please view the
list information page below.  Should you have any questions, please contact
the owner of the list.
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http://menvi.org/mailman/listinfo/menvi-discuss_menvi.org


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Sarah J. Blake LaRose, M.Div.
Personal email: sjblake at sarahjblake.com
http://www.sarahjblake.com

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