Bootleg!

First, an announcement: there are officially less than 300 seats remaining for Part One: Eric Bogosian's subUrbia. And, based on my very unscientific research, there are another 100 or so who have replied 'yes' to the Facebook invite who also have yet to reserve. You probably want to beat them to the punch, especially if you're looking to come on opening or industry night, which are each over 1/4 sold, or (somewhat randomly) February 27th, which is already half sold.

Bottom line? It's time to e-mail theninechicago@gmail.com and get you some tickets!

So, we're hot and heavy into rehearsals for Part One: subUrbia, and one of the big the biggest discoveries is how to deal with the reverse round staging we are using for the show. It wasn't until halfway through the first blocking rehearsal that I even stopped to consider that this idea might not have worked -- I've never used it anywhere before and honestly had no good reason to be so certain it was going to pan out. Luckily enough, it did, and we don't have anything to worry about in terms of our entire conceit falling through.

One of the things we've learned about putting up a reverse round show, however, is that staging comes first, character second (speaking solely from a directorial scheduling standpoint). That isn't to say that any less focus is being placed on the characters. What it is saying is that before we can allow time for the cast to settle into the skin of these characters, we have to shake them out of proscenium style movement and into this 360-degree world. It also means that my cast is packed full of tremendously wonderful actors for being game to be moved about like pinballs as we work out ways to ensure that all sides of the audience are played to as often as possible.

We finished the initial blocking for the entire show on Saturday. This week we get to start truly finessing the ground plans we've worked so to hard create. And I couldn't be more ready. There was a moment last week during which we inserted a two-person scene that we had already blocked into a larger group scene that it is a part of. Possibly more exciting than learning that the reverse round staging is going to work, what we discovered is that the scene, which was solid when we initially staged it, instantly grew emotional legs the second time around. Confident in the basic structure of the scene, they were newly able to explore the character intricacies of the scene without having to worry about which side of the audience may or may not be out of the line of sight.

And sometimes... well, sometimes it just clicks right away. The following video is from the initial blocking rehearsal for this scene. Granted, it was at the end of the night after we had worked it a while, but still -- first night this was on its feet. This is why I love my cast. What follows is rehearsal footage combined with in-show footage. An impromptu parking lot concert by Pony (Sam Quinn) is caught on tape by Buff (Greg Wenz). When you come see the show, keep this footage in mind -- this is what it looks like through the camera Buff is hauling around. Also appearing in the scene: Sooze (Emily Shain), Jeff (Alex Hugh Brown), Bee-Bee (Meghan Reardon), and Erica (Katie Genualdi). Enjoy! Enjoy and then reserve your seat!

Bries.