Hello Barnyard Friends!
Welcome to the second weekly behind-the-scenes look at Psyche.
The show has been fully blocked! Roughly, at least. We finished up the last scene on Monday before starting what we lovingly call a "stumble-through." Starting at the top of the show, we go scene by scene as slowly but surely as we can until we make it through the entire show. We did all of act one except the final scene on Monday then finished up on Tuesday.
Wednesday and Thursday were devoted to refining some of the scenes. We had Alison and Jason on Wednesday, and Maddie and Anthony on Thursday. We didn't make it through all their scenes, but the ones we did work are looking fantastic!
Wednesday also brought us a major development in the set construction: stairs! They even went to a landing, so they technically weren't stairs to nowhere. This weekend, Master Carpenter Hannah May and her hardworking crew started getting the second story up. I've been told it should be ready to use in the next two days or so. This is very exciting. The set is starting to look more like its final shape.
(View time lapse video of Saturday's set construction at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=438151346208066)
Probably the biggest news of the week is that on Wednesday (it was a big day for us), we finally nailed down a lighting design team. We're happy to welcome back Lighting Designer Chris Oca, who will be joined by Assistant Lighting Designers Myvanwy Morgan and Timothy Smith.
 Master Electrician Robert Schulz tests a lighting effect. Photo by Tiffany Michael. After rehearsal Thursday, we had a major tech meeting where we played with a special lighting effect, and worked on speaker placement. It was a lot of fun, and I'm starting to get super excited about some of the special effects we have in store.
Thursday's rehearsal had lots of silly moments as we experimented with noises. Psyche has several moments where she makes noises rather than speaking words, so we all got to contribute with various animal noises. I have to say, Miss Maddie Stone makes some amazing monkey noises (which will likely not make it to performances).
 Pigeons. Photo by Tiffany Michael. The resident male pigeon also had to have his time in the spotlight as he decided he would be playing the part of Eros. Steven had just given Maddie the direction to look at a specific point in the barn when giving one set of lines where she calls out to Eros. At just that time, the pigeon decided to fly there and start cooing. All hope of keeping a straight face was lost.
That's what's been going on this week. Next week we'll keep working on refining the blocking. Tuesday, we're running the show so that our designers can get a general feel for the flow of the play and what we're doing with blocking. Because Wednesday is a holiday, we have a short rehearsal week, only three days, but we're using that day well.
If you're in Davis, come by Community Park before the fireworks. We'll be there selling BBQ'ed corn and handing out postcards. We'll even have tickets available for purchase. Hope to see some of you Wednesday!
Until next week!
Tiffany Lynn Michael
Stage Manager, Psyche
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