character building

It’s blocked! Holy cow. 2 weeks into rehearsals and the play has taken shape on the stage. Now we know where to sit, stand and move, and where all the performances will happen. Now we start working on what it’s all about.

Kim Hoff is our assistant director, she’s been a huge help to me, first in making a transition back to stage directing from film, (can you say... different?!!) and second by using her unerring comic instinct to tell us what works and what doesn’t. She has also been preparing warmups for us, helping us spend the first 20 minutes or so every night stretching out the physical kinks and letting go of the mental ones.... making sure we are ready to forget everything outside of this room and this work, and are in tune with each other. She’s asked for extra time today to do some character work. Just hearing her say that gave me a little bit of a chill.

Writing for yourself is hard. 3 years of soul searching and hard questions... but playing yourself! To step back, suddenly, and think of yourself as a character... to an audience that knows nothing about you except what you are about to reveal.... are you layered? grounded? motivated? exposed? scared? shattered?

triumphant?

Yes. and determined. Stay tuned...