Daisy Journal: Hoke Speaks Out and Moves Us All

With Christmas behind us, we're back to rehearsing scenes for Daisy. Last Thursday and tonight we worked on what will be two of the most difficult scenes in the show. Last Thursday we blocked and worked the scene where Daisy tells Hoke he can't be excused to relieve himself and Hoke gives her a piece of his mind. Tonight, we worked the scene in which the bombing of the Jewish temple in Atlanta (a real historic event) affects Hoke deeply. The event leads him to tell Daisy a story from his childhood in which he saw his best friend's father after he'd been murdered and hung from a tree by racists.

Both Lynn (Baskin) and Eve (Connolly) did a wonderful job this evening. This is an especially difficult scene for Lynn to play as you can imagine. Deeply touching and emotionally draining. He reached down deep and found something tonight that I've not scene from many local actors lately. He had us all choked up. When it was over, I thanked Lynn for the great work he did tonight. Honestly, words can't express how much I appreciate what he's is doing for this role. It can't be easy for him. I just hope that enough people come to see it. Because if they do, I know they'll appreciate his contribution as much as I do.

Daisy Journal: Costume Changes

Wow, there sure are a lot of costume changes in Driving Miss Daisy. Diana and I finally sat down to figure out the costume plan. We walked through the script scene by scene. Not only to figure out what the actors will wear, but exactly when they'll get a chance to change into their various costumes. Daisy is performed without an intermission, the time between scenes is very brief, and there are only three actors in the cast so it's not like any one of them spends a lot of time off stage. We worked it out, though. And I think we were able to get a handle on the timing for the make-up changes as well.

Erin Penney is handling make-up and wigs for this show. She's working up three different looks for each of the characters. If the first is done during pre-show, that means we need to identify when each actor can have their make-up changed twice, so we can show them aging over the 25 years that pass during the show. It's going to be tight, but I'm sure we'll work it out.

Daisy Journal: Digital Magic

Once again, John has worked his digital magic. Here is a link to some easy to download publicity photos John did for Driving Miss Daisy. The high-rez pics are in the media relations section of our website. Not bad, huh.

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/MaurerPics

Daisy Journal: Picture Night

I just got back from rehearsal. It was picture night for the Driving Miss Daisy cast. We set up in room 107 of the Communications Building on the MCCC campus. As I think I've mentioned, my brother John is the photographer and digital magician of the company. The actors get into costume and he shoots the them in front of a green screen, inserting them in to a picture of the set, or marrying their images with location shots. Tonight we worked with all three actors. It's a little early for costumes, but Diana, our Stage Manager and Costumer, worked with the cast to piece together costumes. Then Erin Penney, our make-up specialist aged the actors, including a wig for Daisy actress Even Connolly. The results were stunning. I can't wait to see what the finished pics will look like. It took quite a while. We arrived at 6:30 pm and didn't finish the pictures until almost 9:30 PM. And then we stayed for a quick blocking rehearsal that lasted until just after 10pm. It was a little stressful trying to squeeze it all in, but everyone seems to have a good time. Lonnie McCullough, who plays Boolie, is a hoot. If you've ever had the opportunity to work with him you know he's a real pleasure. Not only is he a talented actor, but he loves to have fun. Tonight he was always trying to make the other actors laugh while they were trying to have their pictures taken. Soon it became a competition between the actors to see who could get who to laugh. It kept the atmosphere light and enjoyable.

The scene we photographed is set in 1958 and centers around Daisy and Hoke getting ready for their trip to Mobile. Boolie shows up to see them off. The actor's images will be combined with photos of a vintage Cadillac that we shot last summer. As it turned out, once the pics were finished, we went on to block that very same scene. The plan is to get the picture and a press release out by next week. That would mean we'd get our publicity pics out about 6 weeks before the show. Early enough to help generate interest from newspaper editors, I hope. I'll post some pics when they're ready.

Daisy Journal: Time for Publicity Photos

Things couldn't be going better with Driving Miss Daisy. We've had our read-through and a week of rehearsals and things are coming together very nicely. The cast is a collection of great people who just happend to be wonderfully talented actors: Eve Connolly as Daisy, Lynn Baskin as Hoke and Lonnie McCullough as Boolie. From day one I could see a chemistry beginning to form. Rehearsals are a lot of fun because all three actors share a common skill-- they listen to their fellow actors. It's amazing how great an impact that trait has on the quality of the acting.

Next week we've scheduled a publicity photo shoot. My brother John, one of Daisy's Producers, will take the pictures. He's already taken pictures of a classic Cadellac and pictures of the house at Sayen Gardens. The shoot was arranged with the help of Jeff Cantor, our Master Builder, who just happens to be a member of an antique car club. After shooting the actors in front of a green screen, John will marry the actors' images with the images of the car and it will look like he did the shoot on location with the car in the middle of the summer. Even as snow powders the landscape outside my window. Pretty neat, huh.

Contributing to the photo shoot will be Erin Penney, the production's make-up specialist, and Diana Gilman Maurer, the production's stage manager, costumer and one of its producers. Over the next week they'll pull together the period costumes, wigs and make-up for the shoot, which is set in 1958. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.