OPEN SPACE IN REHEARSAL D and D 2025

OPEN SPACE IN REHEARSAL -

EXPERIENCES, FEARS, IDEAS

Wanting to know more about how it worked in practice in the rehearsal room.

Somewhere between 5 and 10 people having the conversation. Didn’t keep track of who was there.

General fear about actors not wanting to buy in - seeing it as a waste of time?

How would it work in a tech rehearsal?

Would producers see it as a waste of time?

Could use it if devising but how would it work on a classic script?

Tried to use it in a play but could not get the actors to buy in. They just wanted to rehearse and leave. Had a general fear of improvising. Had a general fear of taking responsibility and agency. Felt like it was pushing people away.

How do you audition people to find the actors who are willing?

Phelim answered that Improbable tries to scare people a bit in the audition process. Tells them that they will not have a script, that they will be improvising, that it won’t be a normal process. That they are looking for people that are playful.

No such thing as a safe space. A space is fine until it isn’t. Hurtful to put up laws about it or declares it because it sets up an expectation and a hierarchy about decisions.

Everyone has to take responsibility

Everyone has to act with their own agency

Law of Mobility - allows people to judge where they can be in relationship to their limits or to the edge

Sense of play is an indicator of when things are safe

Important to have a check in every morning

Must all be present when in the rehearsal room

Always keep Actor’s choices open. They don’t have to show up for check in if they don’t want to. Better to have the people who want to be there

One has to hold the space as being truly open.

Experience on Totoro:

Interacting - people can play other’s parts if they are not there or even for fun.

Bring in understudies from the start so that they are part of the process.

Put all scenes that you have on as wall - everyone can decide which one to work on. Take the scene and put it on the Hot Wall. Finished with the scene put it on the Done wall or back on the first wall.

Stage managers potentially have difficulty with this but noticed that everything got worked on

Can bring investors into Open Space. Did it on Addams Family and they felt involved in a way that they never had.

Experience on The Hours at the Met

3 Divas at top of hierarchy but very one was included, including the

dancers who are the lowest. And designers and backstage people.

Everyone had a chance to give their ideas and opinions and learned from each other.

Everyone thinks that it is a waste of time but in the end it is more efficient, even during Tech.

It doesn’t have to be a long check in.

The practice is about having the time

In the beginning you have to Talk about Open Space Principles

Don’t program everything, let it be fluid.

Also do a Check out

You find that you have to hold space within yourself, even if you can’t get things done in a straightforward way.

It is a practice about always holding the space within yourself.

Allow yourself to be surprised.

It was a robust conversation and, I think, brought up many questions.

(How would it work in the regional theater in America?)

It could fail and anything worthwhile must have that possibility

Could you include audience members from the beginning - could you do this with artists and subscribers? A way to build audience? Local actor’s and designers.

Please add your experiences and ideas!!