Feb. 27, 2006
My almost last day of rehearsal. This is the strange part - I'm only going to be here for the first part of the time! Tomorrow I go back to san Francisco, back for the Mime Troupe's yearly hash the finances out/plan the next year/air out grudges/plot the Revolution retreat. But right now, it feels like I only have so much time. I'm running out of time! The show looks good, but I have to leave it for two weeks!
Anyway, today I had a great time at rehearsal. It's like the fact that I have to leave is making me finally relax, and speak my mind, be myself, make rewrites quickly. Tim asked me to put in two little speeches about Big Brother in the second act, I grabbed a piece of paper, did three drafts, and read it to him. He was like "That's the fastest rewrite I've ever seen." It was good to finally feel like myself. Mainly today I just sat back and watched the actors get more comfortable with the character arcs. This is always the most frustrating part of rehearsal - everybody knows their lines well enough to no have to hold script, but not well enough to fully commit to the action. They are still remembering the lines, which makes directing very tough - I know Tim is waiting for the time they will all really start digging into what they have - and we can all see what works and what doesn't. right now I have to imagine timing, and predict what will make sense. And I'm leaving tomorrow!
Oh, I realized that I haven't really said anything about the rest of the cast - just Brent. So let me say first that Brian Finney, who plays First Party Member has the toughest job in the show. He has to play his character, and play his character playing Winston - and show how playing Winston influences him. Sorry about that, Brian. <br>Now, Keythe has the toughest job in the show. O'Brian is impossible to play - Trust me, I'm going to toture you, because you are important to me.
Yick.
Kylee, Second Party Member - Hate, love, compassion, distain... all at once. Toughest part in the... wait...
V.J.! V.J.is funny, scary - he's both the comic and threatening engines of the show. V.J. scares me, and I work with Ed Holmes! Holmes is crazy, but V.J. is scary.
And Steve Porter is, well, he has to play Fourth Party member, who plays everything from broad comedy to O'Brian! And not just O'Brian - he has to play Keythe playing O'Brian! These people must hate me.