Producing Harriet's House 15: Our First Rehearsal

The entire cast and artistic team met this week for our first rehearsal of Harriet's House. Director Jocelyn Wickett took us through a reading of the script, a preliminary discussion of how each of the team members were responding to the script, and then did some team building and character building activities. It was fascinating for me as a playwright to sit and listen to the ways the actors described their characters' objectives in the play. Some were similar to the objectives I had in mind when I wrote the play, and some were articulated just a little differently than I would have articulated them and in their difference, layered the objectives in very interesting ways. It was also interesting to hear how each of the actors talked about what was standing in the way of their objectives.

While the cast continues rehearsing the design team is busy creating the set, costumes and lighting. A particular design challenge for set designer Esther Kim and lighting designer Wade Gamble is bringing the scenes staged in Colombia to life on the apron of the stage.

This week our application to become an official Affiliated Event with Toronto Pride was accepted which is great news for the production. Being part of a cultural festival will help get the word about Harriet's House out in new ways. Connected to our desire to to be part of the Toronto Pride Festival is our decision to advertise in the Pride Guide which will come out in early June. Like most independent theatres, Gailey Road had to make some careful decisions about where to put its advertising dollars for Harriet's House. Spending money on an ad in the Pride Guide, which is included in one of the June editions of Now Magazine, was a way to reach out to potential audience members who are looking for ways to celebrate Pride this year. We want people to celebrate Pride with us, at Harriet's House.

This coming week graphic designer Lisa Rupchand, photographer Jake Goldstein and I will be working to complete the press kits for Harriet's House and sending them off to various newspapers, radio stations, and blog sites in town. Since Harriet's House is only running for three performances, pre-peformance publicity will be very important to us.

If you have any suggestions about where we might send our e-press kits, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

All the best,
Tara