The first half (or so)

After two full days of rehearsals, we are just about halfway through blocking the show. Which means we've had all the fun of learning choreography based off a videotape of a previous production of this show. We also have former cast members helping us and teaching us the ropes, and their assistance has been invaluable. They can point out little tricks they learned using these puppets and props for almost a month, and they can clarify sections that seem to be fuzzy or washed out on the tape. The first day went very smoothly, learning how the Stepsisters can torture Cinderella. But on the second day after the Fairy Godmother appears, our group slowed down just a bit; the movement became much more complicated.

We've also been working hard with our puppets. The stepsister puppet is strapped to our shoulders, and one hand manipulates her head while the other hand is one of her hands. I've had to work on getting all of my sister to move independently. For instance, she should always look where she is going, so the head needs to point in a different direction than the body. Shifting the focus of the head always seems to be the hardest part, because I'm so focused on the rest of the body that I sometimes forget I have to move the head as well.

Also, for a minute or so at the end of the day, my other sister thought that she had lost her puppet. How someone can lose a five foot red puppet was beyond all of us, but we had a tense minute or two while we hunted for her. Turns out she was hiding underneath my puppet. I think she just didn't want to rehearse anymore.