dana's blog

So many people come up to me after seeing Copenhagen and can't say enough good things. They are simply blown away by the production and the play itself.  

It is an extremely humbling and gratifying thing. Sometimes, all the right elements (actors, designers, director, play, etc..) come together and something a little more special than usual is born.  

Copenhagen was by far the most challenging play I have ever worked on.  It also turned out to be one of the plays that I am by far most proud of.  It's an extraordinary show brought to life by three extraordinary actors.  In my 18 years of theatre (and counting), it is definitely in my Top Five.

Don't miss it...  Copenhagen runs through March 21. 

I am counting down the days to the first rehearsal for Copenhagen!!  I can't wait.  

I've been researching the history of the events in the play every available moment for the past 6 weeks.  It's a brilliant play about 3 brilliant people and some conversations between them that completely changed the way that we live today. Frankly, I'm honored to have the opportunity to direct it.

Those of you who have seen A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol will recall the amazing and beautiful pastels on exhibit in the lobby.

I'll be directing Copenhagen in the New Year.  Very excited about it.  I had a good turn out for auditions.  

Niels Bohr - Jerry Russell

Margrethe Bohr - Amber Devlin

Werner Heisenberg - Chamblee Ferguson

I can't wait to start rehearsals.  It is an amazing play and I am honored to get to direct it for our stage... 

Well, we've finally arrived at the last weekend of Dead Man's Cell Phone.  I can honestly say that I'm going to miss performing in it.  The whole company has been a lovely group to be around and audiences in general have loved the show.  Imagine my frustration when several reviews came out saying they didn't like the play.  They LOVED the performances but were confused and confounded by the play.  This left me confused and confounded.

This weekend, the ladies room began to explode with rich (debatable) conversation.  Until now, we'd all been buried in our scripts/focused on lines, characters.  Now confident in our performances, we're beginning to gab some.

The show opened last weekend.  We had jam-packed houses for most of it.  The feedback was fantastic.  Lots and lots of interesting commentary and complementary words for all of us actors.  

Frankly, i had no idea how it was going to be received.  It IS a bit of an odd show.  I've taken to thinking of it as a bizarre, hallucinatory, comedy-thriller-drama-romance written with fabulous dialogue that sometimes crosses into a poetic format.  

Tonight is the final dress rehearsal for Dead Man's Cell Phone.  I'm super excited to perform it for an audience tomorrow.  

This play contains way more silence than I've ever encountered with a play before.  The playwright calls for it.  It has taken sooo much to get used to that silence.  It's an interesting device.  So much of this play has to deal with the noise of cellphones...  that juxtaposed with silence is delicious.  I hope the audience feels the same way!!!

Well, we've made it to tech week.   It has been a good rehearsal process thus far.  The only choppiness has come from some actor scheduling-conflicts and sicknesses that could not be prevented which caused some absences...  My character is the link between all the other characters (well, me and the dead guy) and it's no exaggeration to say that I am desperately in need of a few solid runs of the show with everyone present and with lights illuminating our stage-world.

I get that wish granted this week.