“Sometimes it’s the smallest things that are the hardest to do.” Natalya Baldyga

by Judith Jerome

Day four of rehearsals. Danny McCusker, the choreographer for the piece has arrived, and the ensemble has begun to develop a movement vocabulary; the chorus parts have been set; and blocking in the space has begun.

I walk into a run-through of the rapid-fire opening scene, which is full of movement around the still-only-imagined central set piece. It’s gorgeous and funny. So much gets said—in far more than language—established, in these opening moments. The cast takes a break and then they are on to the second scene, a relatively still moment up on the small stage of the Burnt Cove Church. Natalya sets some opening blocking, they try it, adjust, try it again, adjust, again, adjust. They are trying to figure out how to get the queen off the dias. Try it again, adjust. Ok, let’s leave it until we know a little more.

“Sometimes,” Natalya says, “it’s the smallest things that are the hardest to do.”

And the first of OHA's summer interns has arrived: Gwen Higgins, Directing Intern 2016! watching rehearsal. Gwen is from Stockton Springs and is in school at the University of New Hampshire