Rehearsal Day 2, June 24th

"We are making art, friend." This is the comment Peter Oyloe (Maffio) said to me as the ensemble worked together with the creative team on the "salon sequence." That line could not have summed up today any better.

I can't lie -- today was hard. I suppose that is the great thing about Sheryl Kaller as our director -- she gets right to work. Day two and we were bouncing off ideas; debating what sounds, movements, lines worked; and struggling to create the exact style for which our show is aiming. I really began to see the process of working on a new musical today, because typically in another show that has been done, there is no cause to define style. The show has been done before. But with Dangerous Beauty, we are creating the entire world out of nothing. We have an empty palette and it is the physical people in the rehearsal space that will collaborate and create a whole piece of art.

Every one of our energies, if you will, have an effect on how things take shape. Choreography typically is taught to you -- the choreographer explains what moves are needed and you do them. Today we were asked to play, to experiment, to just "go with it" and see where it takes us. A few of us found ourselves asking, "well what do we do here" or "what is the count for this move" and the response we got back was "I don't know" or "don't worry about that right now." It was a little backwards for us Northwestern students, but soon we got the hang of it and realized we are creating with the team. The "solutions" will come in time, but to get there, we have to try many things. We are beginning to understand the possibilities are endless, which of course, is heaven for artists.

Sword fighting, rehearsal skirts, creating the wedding dance and a costume fitting are the pictures posted. Also, the costume fitting with incredible. Just the simple detail of the muslin pieces was impressive. The layers and layers of clothing started to really illuminate the time period and I said to Virgil Johnson (costume designer) as I tried on the huge orange war cape that I could understand why war was such an ordeal back then and so glorified -- I felt important with the breast plate and huge train behind me. It was, in a way, exhilarating. As my acting teacher would say, "store it up!" That feeling will be helpful for creating my character. - Jason Heymann