Act 1, we're just about there... kinda

This last week we continued rehearsing the first act of our school play. We finished drafting all of the four scenes, and began to retouch and improve them. During class we concentrated on working again on exploring our characters, as well as finally setting up the scenery. As for my production area, i met with Mr. Boxes, who showed me the colors and materials he bought for the costumes.

Personally, i think the rehearsals are going pretty well, i do feel that the scenes have taken shape, and they are going great, of course i don't doubt for a second that we still need to work on them. Still, im pretty confident on the work we are building, which is good. The problem is that, i feel that some actors are loosing motivation, and that's a pain in the ***(this is a school blog, sorry), because they are not making an effort, or are just being lazy about it, and that breaks the dynamic of a group creation. We've already had a couple of people with whom we had problems because they are not giving their best in the rehearsals, and so it became harder to move forward with the scenes. On the other hand, i am very happy with some people whom i see working hard every rehearsal, and i see their enthusiams, which i think is great because it provides that extra energy to create the scenes.
Im still very mad a one of the actresses, who is still stubborn about her role, she does like it, but she thinks she needs minimal effort to fullfil the part, and so she doesn't try hard enough. Personally, i think her character is one of the best, and she keeps on messing with the dynamic of this character because she is not trying hard enough! Now im not saying she is a terrible actress, but this role requires a lot of effort, and i feel like she is not putting enough.
As for my production area, i think that the costumes are coming up pretty well. We are still in very early stages of the production, but i think we are doing great. However, one thing that really bothers me is the lack of communication between Mr. Boxes and me. Not because we don't speak or anything, but because whenever he talks to me about colors and types of fabric, it sounds like rocket science to me, and i really don't understand him. I try really hard to specify what colors i want, and he does get it, but when it's the other way round, it becomes a bit hard for me. Nonetheless, i still think we are working very well together.

Last week i reflected upon the departure of a couple of our actors, and how it could affect us. Now this week, i began seeing the effect it had on our play. We had to rearrange some parts of the first scene, and unscript her character. As for the other actor, we had to recast his character, and find a new actor to give his positive energy to the group.
I've been thinking a lot about the collective creation process, and how we applied it to our school play. Sure there is an outline of the scene, and the director sets a lot of the ideas, but it mostly comes from the actors themselves and their improvisations. Scene 1 began as an impro, and then it was polished and edited. So i began to wonder about the different approaches each actor gives to their character, and how they are used to build the scene. When laying the bases of the scenes, the actors analyze how their character reacts to the actions and problems according to what they propose. So i guess that some ideas come up from the reactions, and so on and so forth. But what if an actor has a wrong approach to the character? As in, having one that does not make sense with its determined actions and role in the play itself. Or what if the actor changes his approach after creating the scene? Does he adapt his actions or do we need to re draft the scene? How could a wrong approach affect the scene, and thus the rest of the play?
Also, due to the lack of motivation and the stubborness i began to see in the scenes, i've been wondering; how does the mood of the actor affect the collective creation? I saw that there were some actors who were tired or not feeling like working, and the scene played out pretty badly. There is also the stubborn actors who are not putting enough effort. I even saw a scene which was previously improved, much worse than the first one because one actor was not feeling well. So i began to reflect, how can the actor suppress his mood to avoid affecting the scene? Is this part of the character transformation? I guess that one of the main ideals and skills for an actor, if not the most important, is to break your real self, and become the character in its entirety. Some of the actors in the play don't have that skill yet, but how is it taught? Can it be taught? Or is it a skill each actor develops on his own?