A day in the life; putting together a performance

We wanted to show you how we have found it is the best way to put together a performance. We have tried most everything. We have pulled up pre-written scripts and put on a performance in 2 weeks, but have also had tons of time to plan. In this blog we are going to explain what we have found to be our happy medium. This is a blog, that also has a vlog to go with it that you can see here.

When we put together a performance it takes a lot of work, but for ease of reading we have split it up into 2 categories; meetings and practices.

Meetings are times when the group sits down and everyone works together on getting the performance together. We have found that having 2 or 3 meetings works best for us so that the performance can be its best.

(from here on we will have a similar format to the video and then add in extra details.)

For each meeting and practice, we want to tell you what we mainly do during them, the names will give that away, the duration, when in approximation to the performance, what should happen, where it could happen, and what should be done before next time.

Meeting #1 : Planning

Duration: 1- 1.5 hours

When: Approx. 2-2.5 months before the performance date

What: During the first meeting you should choose a theme. Then work on thinking of ideas for skits that may work for that theme. With some skit ideas make a rough outline that can be worked on, it will likely be changed later but it’s a good starting point. This will help you to know where you are going with your performance and that's the main end goal of this first meeting.

Where: This can be virtual or in-person. We find it easier for us to do this one as a virtual meeting through facebook or skype so that we don’t have to find a time to get together. Do what works best for you and your group.

For next time: Do any research/ look things up if you have to and start writing scripts. This may include what others have done for skits, definitions, visual aids, or big bible ideas.

Meeting #2 : Scripts

Duration: 1 hour

When: Approx. 5-6 weeks before the performance date

What: Talk through specific skits and what each skit will entail. Also during this meeting, different ideas should be separated into different skits with different concepts, for instance, is it a mainly funny skit, or does it have a big point to get across? Then start the rough drafts of the skits.

Where: This can also be a virtual or in-person meeting.

For next time: Make sure to have skits mostly finished, or done. If they are done then you can skip meeting number 3 and go straight to practice 1, if they are very loose scripts than a 3 meeting might be necessary, it may also help to save some of the final edits until you have had your first practice… sometimes jokes will come to you when your in character that won’t when you are typing, again do what's best for you.

Meeting #3: (optional)

Duration: 30min.

When: Approx.  4 weeks before the performance date

What: This meeting is only needed if there are any last minute details that need to be worked out before you can start practicing. This may be finishing the filler part of scripts or whatever else you need.

Where: This can also be a virtual or in-person meeting.

For next time: Skits are completely finished and ready to start practicing.

Practices are the time where you are going through the skits and acting them out.

Practice #1: Tweaking and blocking

Duration: 1.5-2 hours

When: Approx. 3-4 weeks before the performance

What: Start finding out where you will stand on stage (blocking).During this first practice, you will also find out how you will move on stage and use your props. This is also a good time to find out if some things don’t make sense or need to be longer, so feel free to add or change things during this practice. During this practice, you will still use scripts.   

Where: This is an in-person practice that we do at one of our houses. We don’t have the scripts down enough to start working in the space quite yet.

For next time:  Start to memorize scripts. They don’t need to be memorized perfectly, just make sure that you know them well

Sometimes the where we put the camera to get the right shot gets a little interesting.

Practice #2: Know it well

Duration: 1- 1.5  hours

When: Approx. 1-2 weeks before the performance

What: Run through the whole performance 2-3 time to make sure that you know how everything works. Start by using scripts and work on being somewhat comfortable without scripts by the end of this practice.

Where: On the stage (if you can). We find it helpful for spacial awareness to be on the stage for this practice, or in our case on the floor of the basement.

For next time: You should have all the props and other things you need for the actual performance together.

Practice #3: Last touches

Duration: 0.5-1 hour

When: The day of the performance.

What: Make sure that you are ready to be on stage. If there is anything that you forgot from your last practice refresh yourself and make everything fresh in your mind. This is also the time to clean up any last minute details.

Next Time: You are on stage performing.

We hope that you found it helpful to know how we put our performance together. Just remember what works best for us may not work out as well for you, so always do what’s best for you and your troupe. Make sure over almost everything else that you and everyone else is comfortable throughout the process, and that you are all comfortable pointing out any problems that you may see or ask any questions you may have, we usually have a few minutes where we just talk before or after the meetings and practises, and that’s fine! Remember: this is clowning so have fun! If you have any question related to our performances or anything else we please leave a comment and we will answer it.

Something Silly Clowns

(Cupcake and Dizzy)

Two clowns trying to spread God's love to everyone