Forbidden Phoenix - Edmonton Day 3
Apologies for the lateness on this one. I was up until 1:00 am revising the Iron Dragon scene. The scene that Ron cobbled together was a combination of two older Iron Dragon scenes, taking the best from both and smashing them together. I had to piece together the pieces so that they flowed together rather than stuttered to an end. I think I have something decent. I'm sure it will get honed today as the cast sorts out the blocking. If this play were just a straight text show, I'd be more protective about the words, but because movement is as much a part of the storytelling, I have to strike a balance between what the words are doing and what the choreography is doing. In a lot of ways, this process has been like working on a film or TV script, where you tell the story on page, but then also have to tell the story on screen.
My only concern right now is the what the Iron Dragon will look like. In the staged reading, it will just be the actors in a congo line, but for the production we'll have a full on dragon costume that looks like a train. At one point, the villain Horne gets on the beast. I'm worried that may look silly and I voiced my concerns so that Ron knows to avoid the embarrassing version of the scene.
Today, I've got another speaking engagement and then I jump into rehearsals as the narrator. Am I nervous? You bet!