Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Fight Call

Before every performance of a show, actors will engage in a practice known as "fight call." This nightly ritual gives the actors a chance to rehearse all the physical moves and combat in the show, only hours before they are supposed to go onstage and do it for real. The idea is to just get it fresh in the body so that everyone remembers what they are supposed to do, and that there are no new surprises during each performance.

During my time with Chad Deity, fight call was a group bonding moment. All of us had some sort of combat in the wrestling ring, whether it be extensive or just incidental. It was great to have all the actors gathered round, watching what we would do. Donte and I would know how our fight was going based on nothing but the reactions during fight call, and it was always satisfying to hear our friends go "ooo!!!" (even when they knew what happened in the show). And Donte and I would be great judges on our own about the fights, able to talk to each other and discuss what had gone well and what we should improve on. Plus we felt like the coolest kids in school when we got to show off for the various women in the room, and the male-bonding that went into the fight call translated really well into the male camaraderie of the wrestling world that our show was portraying.

I'm sitting here watching the fight call for 12N, slightly glad that I do no fighting in this show. The fighters have been struggling with finding the correct speed for their combat, often running through things much too quickly for the director and the fight captain. Because of this, fight calls seem like full-on "actual" rehearsals instead of just a fresh reminder of something that they already have in their bodies.

I've had this moment in the past, and I'm feeling it again now. I miss being powerbombed... Here is a picture, right before I hit the mat hard.



1 comment:

Unknown said...

nice pix! aw, reminiscing.

Is it too much to say I miss seeing you get power-bombed? ;)