Our production of Boleros for the Disenchanted is already deep into production and from the rehearsal studio come these notes from Assistant Director Verónika Nuñez:
When Tony Sonera invited me to be his assistant director in Boleros, I was immediately excited and delighted to be part of the process.
Two years ago I had the honor to be in one of Tony’s plays. I know his work and how much detail he puts into every single moment of the play. Being the assistant director would open a window to the mind of someone I deeply admire, and the vision to understand how to craft a story from the very beginning. And it began precisely with the sound of the coquis, this tiny, mysterious creature that provides the perfect background and rhythm to this love story. Literally, Tony played the coquis and let the sound be the first color on the canvas.
Next was reading the play as a group, and discovering for the first time the voices that would give life to these passionate characters. That’s right: passion is a word Tony had used many, many times throughout the rehearsal process, reminding us that these people, from this tiny island in the Caribbean live passionately. Their choices, their words, their actions, come from the heart, like they were crafted by the heat, the salt and the sand from Puerto Rico.
The first act is about the bigger forces: nature, God, magic, death, spells … love. Is the world where everything is possible. Second act is about compromise, sacrifice, devotion, vows, commitment. Is the world of reality and… deeper love.
I write and I listen, I sit and I learn, and within a few weeks I have started to understand a little more how to put together all the tiny pieces:• The play is constructed from the big picture to the small … not small, miniature moments.
• Let the actors play and discover. Often the discovery happens in the silence, in the pauses. Encourage them, push them, but create trust first. Don’t push too soon, or too late, find the right moment.
• Ask questions: What do you want? What’s the moment before? And the moment before that? Where does that word live? In what part of your body? Is it flowing? Is it solid? Is like a feather? Or like a rock?
• Everything is about the room temperature. What changes the temperature of the scene? Is it a word? Is someone’s entrance? Or someone leaving? The temperature changes constantly and that’s what makes the interactions interesting. Sometimes the difference is tiny, or huge, but everything is in the detail.• Encourage actors to play with rhythm, tone, to emphasize a word, and then to hit another word, play with pauses. Motivate them to take risks, to experiment. Rehearsal is their playground.
And, as I have discovered, it is my playground too … to let the imagination fly, to learn and to be part of the Enchantment.
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