Wrokshop/rehearsal report, Week #4

We had a great workshop today. We worked on falls and takedowns, and then we did more cooperative choreography work.

We had a bunch of new wrestlers from New Era Wrestling join us,a nd they proved to be very good, able to pick up techniques fast and having some great physical skills of their own. The beginners in the cast made great strides and show real potential. There were a couple of folks from the auditions we were not too sure of to start with, but they have all shown marked improvement

At the end of the rehearsal, thanked everyone for all the hard work they had done for the past four weeks. I had the cast applaud themselves, and I was actually surprised by the length and passion of the applause. I really think that they are beliving in this project. Then I pointed out that they had been working hard but I hadn;t done much but watch them. Then I aske dwho was wondering when I would get into the action, and who wanted a piece of the Captain.

Then I ran a gauntlet, wrestling each and every member of the cast for 30 seconds or to submission or tag out. It was good to finally get some action after spending 4 weeks simply watching everybody (as a director must do). I realized after that that I need some more moves in my vocabulary, more physical strength, and better conditioning.

But it felt great to do it, and the entire cast was into it. At the end everybody was cheering and chanting my name. I shouted "Who wants to be in my movie!" and everybody enthusiastically replied in the affirmative. It is moment like these that truly make me believe that this can be done.

Also this week, I had a new person hold the camera, A. Afendi. I will be posting his footage soon.

After the workshop, I met with Sammy, Lee, and Willis Cruz, Jr. We discussed how pleased we were with how things were going, and we proposed a few potential matches for the movie. As soon as they are confirmed, I will be posting them here.