This week, we started staging. Thankfully, the majority of the platforms have already been built and put into place. Ah, the blessings of an amazing design team. So far, mapping this show has gone smoothly.

My staging process goes something like this; first, I have the cast read through the scene once. Here, I just want them to get a sense of the story in each scene. Then, we discuss the scene's physical demands and given information. From there, I sketch out my ideas for the scene. Usually, I have a particular picture in my head that I'm working towards, or I have an idea of how I want the main action of the scene to take place. Following this, we begin working our way through the scene.

It’s important for me to carefully sculpt the key moments, but I don’t want to sculpt the life out of the scene. To this end, this systematic approach works really well. The actors know where they have to be at certain points, but the movement in between those points is up in the air. The sculpted moments work like waypoints with the rest of the action hinging around them.