¡Hola amigos!

We are less than month away from opening night! Today was a busy but fun rehearsal. We pieced together the music, blocking, and choreography for 96,000, a.k.a. Mr. Howard's favorite number in the show. 96,000 is the centerpiece in the first act: Usnavi from the bodega announces to the neighborhood that someone won a lottery ticket worth 96,000 dollars. The people all started fantasizing what they would do with that much money and started rapping, singing, and dancing in the neighborhood. As much as the music very upbeat, it contains a bittersweet layer of reality's heavy burden mixed with the faraway hopes and dreams. "I find it very hard to get through the song without crying," Someone said during rehearsal. The cast try very hard to portray the situation and feel what the characters and feeling, and put the music and the ideas into their body, in their expressions.

We also started to design hair and makeup for the show today! Liz Wheeler, a local makeup artist who has done many shows with Berkshire Theater, came to help. Each one of the actors were called in to try on foundations and discuss their characters. Annie and Liz made a customized makeup kit for everyone, which consists of foundation, lip colors, blush, a pencil and a sponge. 

Lastly, please take a sneak peak of the video of the first band rehearsal from last week!

Video credit: Rafael Arredondo.

Yours truly,

Maggie​

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Dancing continues!

Tomorrow marks one month until opening and we are already working 24/7.  Organized rehearsals run from Monday-Saturday, but we also participate in a dance review each Sunday. While many of my friends are surprised that theater is so hardcore, I enjoy meeting on Sunday for the opportunity to review and get some exercise. 

Our dance Captain, Michelle, walked us through each of the dance numbers we have learned.  First we reviewed without music and in half-time, then we danced with increased speed, and finally we reviewed in full speed adding music.  

At this point we have learned dances for three out of six dance numbers. In my view the most thrilling and the most difficult of these numbers is “The Club Scene”- when the main characters spend a night out on the town. The dance is a mixture of hip-hop and Latin moves including jumping, spinning, sambaing, and a little merengue. Because there are many variations of the same moves, Sunday dance review is extremely important for cementing the steps so that we execute them properly on opening night. Besides Dance rehersals we also have music rehersals and lots of blocking rehersals. 

Hi theater-lovers, this is Maggie showing you a little sneak-peak of In the Heights! This Thursday was a set-build day: in addition to the basic platforms we built last time, we constructed more elaborate pieces that are specific to the show. One crew painted a giant load of foam bricks to decorate the backdrop, which featured a latte-brown shade that set the color tone for the neighborhood. The backdrop is made of big boards of wood, painted in the same color as the foam bricks. We used cutters to cut out the windows, which will all be found in the background. In the picture below, you can see a group of students working on a few pieces of planks painted white-- we were assembling the counter for Daniela's salon, which required some drilling and sanding of the surface. Along with the counter, the sign for the bodega was built and painted in bright blue, and a shelf for the bodega was also assembled. You can see in the second photo that most of the basic features of the neighborhood are already outlined. On the farthest stage right, you will find the Rosario's dispatch window. Immediately to the left is Abuela Claudia's stoop. The platforms in the middle are for singing and dancing, and to the left is Usnavi's bodega, from where everyone buys coffee and groceries. On the farthest stage left is Daniela's salon. The cast and crew are doing a great job, and the spirits are high. On Friday night, the band and the singers met for the first time to rehearse the music, and it is getting us all pumped up for the show in February!

Thanks,

Maggie

Dance Rehersal

"In The Heights” contains fast pace music and dance numbers to accompany

the intense scenes​. ​Recently we have just started choreographing for the song “96,000”; a number in which most of the cast is on stage dancing to a rapid tempo with a very significant

message in the play. Nicole, our choreographer came in last week to teach us

choreography to this song is much faster than the songs we had been working on so far, so the cast was very focused and determined to execute the moves correctly.

As always​,​we started with our active warmup to prepare our muscles for the dancing. Nicole starts by showing us a brief combination then breaking down each step​.​Once every could

nail that, she will continue to add on​.​As one can imagine, as we start to connect more and more

combinations in a proper order, it becomes more difficult. However, this cast was productive and maintained a positive mind set to continue trying. By the end of the rehearsal we were able to execute the dance thanks to everyone​’​s encouragement and Nicole’s incredible patience and

skill. This week we will continue to learn the rest of the choreography for this song along with continuing to practice the moves to other dances.

Introducing Michelle-interview

Hey all! Andrea from the Bio's crew here:

Just wanted to share my interview of Michelle, an awesome new member to our group and this shows Dance captain!

This is Michelle…

What is your role in “In the Heights?”

I am a member of the ensemble and the dance captain.

Can you tell me about your role as the dance captain?

Basically, I observe when people have troubles with the movement and I help them when they have struggles. I am looking forward to holding individual rehearsals. Also, I have to memorize everyone’s choreography and when Nicole (Choreographer) isn’t present, I might have to come up with something on the spot.

Is this your first time doing a Berkshire Theater production?

Yep, my first time and it is pretty exciting.

What inspired you to join, especially this season being the musical?

In musicals, there are both dancing and singing, which I love. I have a lot of friends who do theater and encouraged me to try out. It is a good opportunity for me to get outside of my comfort zone because I have been doing dance forever.

What has it been like transitioning from dance to theater? Similarities/Differences?

It feels really different because theater, especially the musical, there are many people. I feel like I get to know more people. In addition, the warm-up from theater is very different from dance. I think the warm-up is really interesting and it gets me into the mindset for rehearsal; I feel prepared and ready to go--it’s fun. I am also learning new terminology some we made up like “blockeography” (a term we use for a rehearsal involving blocking and choreography) and more traditional terms such as “blocking” and how to write it on my script. (Including abbreviations for notating blocking for directions like upstage, downstage, ect.)

What has been a challenge in the process so far?

Combining singing and acting at the same time.

Intro to Bios

Hello everyone! This is Andrea, Ana, and Loso.

And we are the tech crew of Bio's!!!!!!

Our role in the production is to interview other members of the cast in order to give insight to the greater community and to add another element to the blog this show. In addition, closer to the production time, we ask the cast/crew questions about themselves and their experience in "In the Heights." The bios are then displayed in the lobby where the audience can read a biography of the cast/crew during intermission or at the end of the show.

Let us introduce ourselves:

Hi I'm Ana!  I'm a Junior here at Berkshire and I am playing Vanessa in In the Heights, (and more importantly, a member of the bios tech crew).  I'm so stoked to be spending the winter season in the theatre with so many cool people.  Come out and see the show in February!

My name is Andrea and I am a Junior. I will be playing Nina Rosario, daughter of Kevin & Camila Rosario, freshman at Stanford University. This is my 6th production in Berkshire Theater and I am thrilled to be a part of "In the Heights!" 

Hi my name is Losseni and I play an artist named Graffiti Pete in the play "In The Heights." I am really enjoying this experience of being in such a remarkable and important musical to many people. I think that this will be a great and new play to present to Berkshire community. I am confident that this cast will do an amazing job.

Stay tuned to more from us and from the great Blog crew!!

ITH Line-run

What’s My Line?

How good is your memory? Do remember all your passwords? Can you remember what you wore last week? If someone asked you to recall every item you bought during a recent trip to the grocery store, could you do it?

Now consider the brainpower involved in memorizing an entire script for a play, especially a musical — and retaining it for months.

Learning lines is a basic part of our job as actors in In the Heights, a job that is largely reserved for winter break. Over the two weeks of winter holiday each member of the cast took time to memorize lines, cues, lyrics,choreography, and blocking. 

Yet, experience and a number of tricks make memorizing lines much easier than it looks.  Here are some of the basic tricks I’ve learned….

1.    Cues are just as important as lines. For those that don’t know, a cue is the technical term for the line directly before yours. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that actors only have to memorize their own lines, however without a cue it’s impossible to know when to say your lines. (It really doesn't matter much if you know your lines if you don't know when to say them.)

2.   It’s easier to memorize lyrics than lines. The structure of reciting lines to rhythm actually makes them easier to recite than if you freely memorize lines.

3.   Technology is your friend. There are so many ways that technology can help someone who needs to memorize lines. Over the break each member of the cast Skyped/Facetimed with a line buddy, the person who they’re in the most scenes with.  Many cast members chose to use extra technological help by using the recording apps pre-downloaded on most phones. It’s helpful because you can record all of your cues and then recite your lines as if you're practicing with someone else. (Dr. Wu and Dr. Davis also post recordings of the piano to the songs so we can learn our parts.)

In the end though, no matter what method you use to memorize your lines every member of the cast of  In the Heights is expected to have their parts down cold by the time we return to break.  

On the first day we return to rehearsal the whole cast gathers up on stage to run through the entire musical. There is a special type of pressure and self awareness that only this first line-run can provide. Not only is it the final test of your lines but is also a mildly menacing indicator that our show is coming together and won’t be long till we open house. The head stage manager says "Go" and we all go from beginning to end through the entire show, songs and all. 

Current countdown… 7 weeks!

Fortunately this line run went great! Lots more work to do to make the show ready but we are right where we should be. 

-Noah