Look Back: Rebecca Love

Wowie.

What a time.

Rebecca Love will forever go down in the history books as the most fun I’ve ever had working on a show. Sometimes, you really do just strike gold. In this case, it was the perfect group of exceptional people.

6 incredible actors turned dancers! Layla Ainsley, Steven Hao, Claudia Nigro, Tavaree D. Simms, Sienna Singh and Ben Yoganathan. Each one with a unique voice and personality to bring to each rehearsal and character. They were a unit and yet somehow managed to create these amazingly layered cats, who had their own opinions, style and voice. They really were the backbone of the show.

2 actors! Maddy Hodges as Rebecca, bringing her usual brilliance and out of this world dance moves to the show. It was so amazing to watch her work in rehearsal and figure out how fantasy Rebecca was different from real Rebecca. And Emma Fiorante, the perfect clown. I originally wrote this part for myself and at the last second decided to ask Emma to play it. I’m so glad I did. No one could play this part better than Emma. Timed to perfection, she was constantly coming up with new bits, no two shows were the same. as a director that can be really scary, but I never had to worry because Emma had just the most incredible instincts and she really managed to drive the show with her comedy.

3 musicians! Led by Ben Kopp with Izzi Nagel and Quinlan Shearer making up the incredible band who seemed to be ready for anything in rehearsals. When I would get an idea on the fly and throw 3 or 4 different songs at them, they would have an arrangement ready in minutes that would blow us all away. In the process of writing this show, the music came before the text and in performance that really showed, like the music was a character in and of itself.

2 designers! Alessia Urbani designing costumes and Sam Skynner designing the lights. Alessia just immediately got the essence of the show and came back to me with sequins, velvet and faux fur and I can honestly say the costumes were perfect. Absolutely would not change A THING. And Sam!! Who designed the lights for a piece of DANCE THEATRE happening in a bar! She discovered on tech day that you couldn’t program cues into the board. Manually lit that show and knocked it out of the freaking park!

And finally, 1, incredible, out of this world, beyond compare Stage Manager. The one who kept me sane through it all. Taylor Young. They would send me emails with lists of questions that I hadn’t even considered (or even realized I had to consider). They kept this show on track and they’re just the best person to work with in the whole world. Could not be more grateful.

This feels like a bit of an Oscar’s speech, and I imagine this is where the music would start to drown me out. I’l just close off by saying, Rebecca Love was so much fun. If you came to see the show and enjoyed it, let us know! We love to hear from our audiences and only hope to grow the piece from here. Thank you to everyone who supported our kickstarter, shared our facebook event, came to see the show, told others to come see the show! We’re so grateful for each and every one of you

Margot