dana's blog

I had a good rehearsal tonight.  I think everyone did.  Things really began to take shape.  

....now, if only i can figure out what I did and repeat.  8 rehearsals left.

I'm 90% memorized...  that 90% is 50% shakey but I am 100% sure that I'll have the other 10% down soon.  I memorize in 3 main ways:

1. Repetition at rehearsal.  Even at auditions.  The more I run a scene, the better I know it.

Ahhhhhhhh.... week 2.  This is always the week when insecurities creep in and start to plague me.  They are a result of not quite being off-book but acting like I am.  This tends to result in a lot of "ACTING."  

I hate this week.  

It's not often that I read the back of a play script and think, "That's the perfect way to describe this play."  However, Charles Isherwood (New York Times) wrote the back jacket for this script and I do think it is perfect: 

Photo call last night.  I think we got some nice shots.

Afterwards, we started rehearsing at the top of the play.  This meant I'd finally get to do my first scene with an actor who hadn't been contracted to start rehearsals until last night.  What a delight!  Though the majority of the scene is on my shoulders (physically & vocaly), having him there made all the difference.  Before then it was a monologue with an imaginary scene partner, one of my LEAST favorite scenarios...  Once he arrived, the whole scene finally started to take shape.  

As you might guess, Dead Man's Cell Phone contains a 1/2 dozen or so scripted phone calls, all made by my character.  Sarah Ruhl provides the occasional clue as to what the person on the other end is saying but for the most part, it's up to me and Jim to decide.  

All last week I sounded like a broken record, "I have got to take some time and sit down to figure out what they are saying on the other end of the phone call...."  Finally on Sunday I had the chance.  This allowed for some good discovery and creativity.

Paper lanterns

Embossed invitations

A spoon, Salt, a cup.

Lipstick 

Meat.

Edward Hopper....   

Cell Phone

Sarah Ruhl is, at this moment, my favorite playwright.  

_____________ 

Last night's read-through felt completely bizarre.  It were as if i was only there for a one-night-only-play event.  I guess 13 months is a long time to go without doing a show.  Sure, I've gotten to do some work as a narrator (Stage West pairs with the FWSO to provide narrators for the orchestra's Neighborhood Arts Program) and I worked right up until I had Matilda with The StoryTime Theater, but this is the first time I've really been in a play since April 08.   Again, it just felt extremely temporary.  Standing the play up in rehearsals tonight nipped that in the bud.

There is a thing in this industry known as a theatre widow.  Or at least there should be if there isn't.  It would perfectly describe a situation in which a couple never get to see one another due to a crazy theatre rehearsal/performance schedule.  That's what my family is going through right now as Justin starts into tech rehearsals for the second of three shows in The Norman Conquests, in which he plays the title character.  Certainly no schedule could be crazier than the one associated with this(these) show(s).