Summary of the Week

Friday, July 25, 2014


I have not been keeping up on blogging, mainly because we were so busy!  But now, I am going to blog away!  This week has been absolutely amazing.  Meeting different people who have traveled to JTF and performed the same shows as you, meeting the directors, and everything else in between has been such a fun experience.  One of the techniques that our music director (Rick) had used I liked a lot.  He would play out the melody and harmony once or twice, sing it for us, then tell us to sing it, then we would just tweak the trouble parts.  I really liked using this method because I feel like I learned the music quicker this way and was able to learn my harmonies easier and I was confident on them.  I also liked how we would rough block a scene and then we would go back and fix any bumps in the road.  Our director (Marty) really helped us get into character and help us stay in character.  Even though I did not have a lead role in this production, I felt almost as if I did. I may have had only one line but I sang in almost every song and did something in almost every scene.  Ensemble roles may not have the most solos or the most lines but ensemble roles help a lot with telling the story.  There were 53 named roles in Madagascar Jr so everyone felt as if their part was important.  For example, we had a scene where all the ensemble roles were scenery or dancing birds or a pond.  They helped us give the audience a visual of what "paradise" looked like, without using scenery or props. 




We learned some new games to play called Statues in the Museum and Bang.  The first day of workshops we broke the ice by getting into different groups based on what the director called out, such as what state we were from, how many pet we had, etc.  Abby, Ethan and I were the only ones from Wisconsin.  There were people from Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Georgia, New Jersey, but only 2 out of the 48 kids were from New York.  Some of the other kids had been in other iTheatrics workshops, but most kids were newcomers like us.  The first few hours of the workshop consisted of learning some songs and then auditioning and by 2:00 that afternoon they had the show cast.  I was a lioness, Abby a lemur and Ethan was a lemur and a penguin.  We had a lot of fun with our roles.


The rest of the week we worked a lot with music, blocking and dance.  We only had one run through of the show before putting on 2 performances on Friday.  One crazy thing was Friday morning before the show the director Marty decided he wanted to change some things about the scenes, which he can do since the show is not set in stone yet.  After Friday's first performance, he changed some other things before the second performance.  He said it would take 2 or 3 years before Madagascar Jr. would be ready to come out for theatre groups to perform.  We got to keep our scripts though so that is cool. 


One thing that impressed me was a lot of the kids were off book for our performances, even though we technically only had 24 hours total of rehearsal time.  Only a few kids felt the need to keep their scripts in hand for most of the show, otherwise everyone was either off book or only grabbed it for scenes they weren't as confident with.


On Friday we were told that out of the 48 kids that were part of Madagascar Jr, 43 were All Stars, and the remaining 5 submitted video auditions and got in that way.  I thought that was a cool tidbit of information.  Also on Monday, I had a girl come up to me and told me I played the Sour Kangaroo in Suessical.  Since I was wearing my Suessical cast shirt, I thought she was referring to that until I realized that she recognized me from JTF and I recognized her, so we got to catch up, which was really fun.




Overall, this week has been amazing and I've learned a heck of a lot in just 5 days time.  So thank you iTheatrics, MTI, DreamWorks, and anyone else who helped make this workshop possible and letting me experience this once in a lifetime opportunity!

Halfway home

Wow- it has been a long week.  We had our first rehearsal on Monday and I made a lot of new friends.  We learned new game and I found out I was going to be a lemur and a penguin.  Monday night we went to the 9/11 Memorial.  On Tuesday my favorite part of rehearsal was singing - but my favorite part of the day was getting to see my first Broadway show!!! I really loved the Genie and how he popped out of the ground. After a late night we got up really early to get on the Today show and wish Allyson a Happy Birthday. At rehearsal we finished the script and worked on acting, singing, and dancing.  I really like singing and get to sing the high part.  We stopped at a few places tonight, but now we are back early so we can get some sleep.

Ethan

Break a leg!!

We dropped off the kids this morning at the 52nd street project (then moved all of the luggage by ourselves).  Can't wait to hear the stories... I'll make sure the post tonight.

Crazy Day

Ok...I will try to give the Reader's Digest version of everything that happened today.  In it's simplest form it was No apartment...lots of luggage...finding Jen...5 Shades of Summer...trying to ditch luggage...MoMa is a no go...Hilton helps out...wrong way subway...right way subway...voice lessons times three...finally time to eat...long walk through a peaceful protest...pick up at Hilton...short walk to different Hilton...15 minutes of rest...checking out the venue...CVS grocery stop...time to rest.

Now to expand on some of the more interesting points.  The trip to MKE, boarding, take off, and landing all went well (kids picked the wrong side of the airplane as Cathy and I had the view of the Manhattan skyline coming in, and the Statue of Liberty.  As we landed Cathy turned her phone back on, and had an e-mail cancelling our apartment (no explanation).  We immediately contacted Airbnb, and they were very helpful.  It took a while to sort things out, but when all was said and done - they put us up in a hotel for the night, and we will be moving into a different apartment for the rest of the week starting tomorrow.

When we finally found a place to check our baggage for a few hours- we knew we were on a time crunch to get to the voice lessons - we made things even tighter with a with a two stop trip the wrong direction on the subway.  The voice lessons went well - I'm hoping the kids will talk about what they took away from the experience when they post tomorrow.  We checked out the walk over to the 52nd street project so that we are ready to go tomorrow.  Now the kids are all getting some much needed rest so they are re-fueled for tomorrow.

On our way...

Cindy Ripley

I completely enjoyed my time this week with this amazing group of people!  All such wonderful artists and humans!  Especially the 'Talented Cindy Ripley' !  I haves been changed for the better:)

King and I week has come to an end.

What a fantastic week!  The kids were wonderful, but the directorial staff even better!

On Thursday we all moved into an Off-Broadway Theater on 43rd called West End Theater.  It was a perfect space for this workshop.  And the kids were super excited to be there.  There was still not a complete run-thru at this point.  Side note - most of these kids were really pushed to bring their best work.  Some were pushed to the line, and they are all leaving with a better understanding of the whole Acting/Singing process.

On Friday, aside from the parents, there were quite a few people in attendance. Some people from the Roger's and Hammerstein Estate (licensing agency), the music editor for the piece, Bayork Lee, and friends and co-workers of the staff.  The kids did a wonderful job!

First day of rehearsals! Whoop whoop!

Such a nice cool morning to wake up to! We has a nice rain cooling us down overnight. Nice Birthday weather - thank you!!!

I arrived at the space early and was met with a small crowd of parents and kids and some of the iTheatrics/MTI team.  What a great assembly of talent yet to come .  These kids are absolutely wonderful!  (Second to our Treehouse kids - of course!).  The morning was a process of auditions without a traditional audition process.  Ms. Cindy Ripley taught a song and then one by one people were asked to 'popcorn up' to sing about 8 measures of that song.  3-4 songs later into that process the team knew who they would want to read.  (Note to Cassie, Abby and Ethan - Wear your name tag up close to your neck). By noon the casting process was done.  

What an amazing team!  Cindy, Tim, Marty and Tiffany have done this so often their conversations are quick, low key and easy, sometimes finishing each other's sentences.

The day was ended with a circle-up and reflect time.  It was super useful to all, I think.  Deanne - kudos - you already have this process down so well!

I would like to thank all those kids for my wonderful birthday song!  Wow what a treat!

Tomorrow the 'meat and potatoes' of the rehearsal happens.

Cannot wait!

Oh! Almost forgot!  The Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is tomorrow too!!!!!!

MTI rehearsal location

In the Big Apple

I arrived in NYC last night where I used a bus, a train and a taxi to get to my location up on the heights (192nd st).  I was reminded of the warmer weather and the need for a body that can handle exertion.  Hmmmm.  Little adjustment needed.  

This morning I woke up refreshed and ready to go!  When I walked out my door and across the street to the A train station- they were doing weekend work on the tracks- the station was closed, so I would need to take a bus to the train to the city.  Ok.  Interesting group on the weekend bus.  Older Dominican and Russian couples mostly and I imagined they were going to meet up with other family members for their Sunday.  

When I arrived at the 42nd street stop I went straight to the rehearsal location (since it changed) to scope it out.  I had lunch at a great Italian restaurant outdoors.

  

Yum!

I am now sated and waiting in a line in sweltering heat with sweat dripping down my back, but happy as a clam - because..... I'M ABOUT TO SEE IDINA MENZEL!!!!!!!!!!  Whoop whoop!  

Yeah Idina!!!!

On my way!

Hello!  Jennifer Kasten here - Artistic Director for Treehouse Theater.  I am so excited to share this part of Treehouse's journey with you!  I am currently still in WI at the Milwaukee Airport waiting for the plane - but not in this state for long. :)  

For those of you who are unaware of why I am going to NYC - 4 people out of 16 who put in their applications with MTI (Music Theater International) were awarded a Teacher Observership.  I am so super excited to be one of those 4!  MTI takes Broadway shows and re-works them to be appropriate for young kids both musically and dramatically.  They also take the 2-3 hour shows and shrink them to 60-90 minutes for the JR shows and 30 minutes for the KIDS shows.  MTI uses the summers to Workshop new KIDS and JR shows.  Workshopping a show is when the writers of the show gather a cast and have the cast perform the show without stage, costumes or set. It is performed for the writers, producers and a small audience to see what works, what doesn't and what needs to be changed - if anything.  In this case the MTI kids put together the show Monday-Thursday and perform on Friday. I will be observing one of the four  week-long workshops. The show is The King and I. Both Cindy Ripley and Marty Johnson will be among those I am observing.  I cannot wait to bring home new ideas to share!!!

More to come!  Tune in later :). Gosh, anyone remember tuning in a radio station!  (Eeek, I do)

24 hours

In just 24 hours our first Treehouse member will be heading off to NYC to be an Observing Teacher for King and I week. 

Get ready...

Cassie, Abby, and Ethan take a quick break from 101 Dalmatians to pose for a pre New York picture.  The trio will travel to New York on July 20th to participate in iTheatrics workshop of Madagascar Jr.  Follow their adventures here!