Monday's Bongani Reading

Hi to all of you out there.

I'm Justin, stage manager for Bongani.  On Monday night, I attended the latest semi-public reading of the show. I say "semi-public" because we had a very small, invited audience of friends and family-- about twenty people in total. It was pretty casual; we set up in a rehearsal studio in Midtown, with pizza and wine set up on a side table, and an air conditioner blasting throughout the evening.

I've been in contact by phone & email for the past month, but this was the first time I'd seen the show on its feet. It was also my first opportunity to meet Kate (our director) and Hannah (our production coordinator & liason to the festival) in person. And it was the first time I'd seen Gabrielle since we worked on Two Girls  last year.

There were no props and not costumes, and she had a script in her hand for all but one scene. The show itself is not tech-heavy by any means, but the bare-bones performance we saw that night put the focus squarely on the text & the performance. Gabrielle told us to come and go as we pleased. One or two latecomers slipped in after the the reading began, but I don't think anybody left the room until it was finished, an hour and fifty minutes later. It will be shorter by the time we open.

We followed the reading with feedback and a Q&A from the audience. I think the intimate setting (and the wine) helped to get open and constructive responses. The characters, most of them, are familiar from Two Girls,  but the story is new, and it is still being refined. So it was helpful to have a kind of 'peer review'. WE all appreciated the notes from Carol and Michael and everyone else (I do not know everybody's names).

I'm excited to help put together all the technical elements over the next two weeks, and to get this show ready for production. At the moment, I'm busy researching South African music and contacting local press. I will post again soon. And I promise that next time I will have pictures.

-Justin