This Phantasmagoria rehearsal was held at a dance studio in Winter Park. Walking in the back door, Phantasmagoria founder John DiDonna instantly made me feel right at home. In the front dance studio, actresses from the Tampa acting company were getting fitted for costumes. The rehearsal proper however was in the back dance studio. John had generously set up a chair in the corner of the dance studio for me.
Phantasmagoria is a Victorian Steampunk Horror storytelling group stationed right here in Central Florida. What I appreciated from the start was the love and respect every member in this company showed for each other, because everyone wore masks for the duration of the rehearsal. Things started off with dance rehearsals.At times members of the cast were almost in my lap since the room must have been a bit smaller that the stage they were preparing to perform on. Though this rehearsal was the first time all the numbers were being performed in order, the dances in particular seemed to flow effortlessly. At the end of the evening I learned that there had been nine rehearsal prior to this one. Then fight sequences were rehearsed to be sure everyone stayed safe for the darker and more violent scenes in the show.
What followed next was a full run through of the show. Actors were still, “on script” meaning they could hold the script to be sure they could see, and if needed read, their lines. John had described this rehearsal as the “Stumble through” but it went amazingly smoothly. The only time things stopped was when the many actors had to re-position themselves on the stage.
After the rehearsal, everyone sat on the stage floor for notes and a discussion. The show rehearsal had run amazingly close to the desired run time. Every actor and actress could bring up concerns to be addressed in future rehearsals. This was a true democracy with every member having a say about how things could run more smoothly.