Well, having left the tough stuff to last on the read-through, we're blasting along through the most difficult scenes first on the blocking. Tonight we did the trial. It's particularly hard for Hermione, since she has to do so much without moving. However, we kept her for a while after letting everyone else go and coached her through her dialogue, and it was wonderful. The key is to get to the anxiety, sadness, and desperation under the calm, and I think we're on our way.
The scene itself went pretty well. There is some good movement going on -- there is a particularly nice bit where Paulina, in laying down the law to Leontes, stalks around the courtroom, simultaneously having an effect of drawing the noose tighter around Leontes AND implicating the other courtiers in his madness.
Probably one of the more difficult bits, physically speaking, is going to be getting Hermione off the stage. We figure with the two ladies, Emilia, and Paulina, it should be possible to carry her off. This is going to take practice, though.
We also had our meeting to discuss the set, much to the relief of the director and AD. Even though we've already developed the general layout of the set, we've got a designer who can work out the specifics for each piece and get the measurements nailed down, so that's taken care of!
The one, seemingly requisite bit of chaos for the night had to do with the rehearsal location. Due to some error on the part of the Powers That Be (which is to say, none of us can be blamed for it), Autry House was jam-packed with other people, and so we lost about half an hour first deciding where we were going to rehearse, and then waiting for the student government speeches in the Baker Commons to stop so we could rehearse peacefully in the outer commons. God willing, this sort of thing won't happen again...