One of the largest challenges of Mad Forest, in my opinion, is reproducing something that was originally devised by an ensemble. The volume of subtext! nuanced and layered, because the words we're reading were formed in accompaniment to these actors' specific gestures, personalities, culture, and insight to the revolution. We've been probing and investigating almost every piece of the puzzle, and still we're discovering something new each time.
It has been thrilling, to enter a rehearsal thinking, "ok, we've already figured something out, let's see how we can make it better"; only to discover an hour later, that our choices can be turned around 180 degrees. Which gives the actor so much to play with...
And then we put act 1 together, and we're pleasantly surprised by the result. How the pieces seem to fit without worrying too much about how they should be put together, how the play develops from scene to scene, and how our characters, given their diverse scenarios, are fleshing out quite nicely. Not that we've considered the act solved, but at least we're feeling more secure with what we've discovered so far; that we're doing fine performing from moment to moment. And in the end, we hope to present a piece that does justice to those who have been repressed by a governmental regime, blind to its people's needs; and the sore after-effect when so much has been held back for too long.
Now on to act 3...
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