ch-ch-changes

It has been a little while since a blog update but that does not mean nothing has happened. After a lot of hemming and ha-ing about the schedule, we finally have a rehearsal schedule that is close enough to finalized to begin rehearsals. Rehearsals began on Monday and have been moving ever since. We're using these first few rehearsals to look closely at the scripts and start big rewrites. It is really inspiring what happens when you get your words into the hands of a passionate design team, a thoughtful director, and a very talented cast. Issues in the script appear that you've never seen before, lines become funny that were once just lines, and the rewriting process seems much more doable. It's hard to hear interpretation in your head as you write. Of course, I know exactly how everything would sound if I always read it but that is never the way an actor will take the words. And thank god for that.

I wish it were as easy to edit the solo piece. In the past three days I've been through four edits of the piece and have probably shaved 10 minutes from it's run time (roughly a page of words). That many edits in so few days is a bit excessive so as per Danielle's nudging, I'm going to sit on it for a few days. We'll block the piece tonight (or begin anyway) and I can focus on being an actor and developing a character rather than being a playwright rewriting a script. I thought it would be much easier to separate these dual roles but as it turns out, they work together very closely. It is a challenging area for me that I expect to work on very diligently.

What I'm running into now is the delicate balance in rewrites. I want to make the shows make more sense, to flush out ideas and dialogue and to still remain artistically happy. As we discuss interpretation and sticky spots in the process, I see where the weak spots of the script are; I know where plot points are vague. Now, I have to decide what is purposely vague, what is to be left up to audience interpretation and what really needs to be written to simply make a better script. I think the tendency for playwrights (especially young playwrights, like myself) is to take the input of everyone and try to implement every idea into the script. I find myself leaning towards this. However, in the end it has to be a script I am happy with, that I feel like is still my own.

Someone reminded me of the dates of our show the other day (March 4th and 5th) and I realized we are just about a month from performance. The process is moving very quickly. We still keep running into little obstacles, most of which are taken care of very quickly but sometimes not without a little heartache. For awhile, our big issue to be taken care of was the start times of our show. Apocalypse Plays is on the same weekend as two other shows. But after a little fanagling we have finalized start times that will hopefully work for everyone. The show on the 4th will begin at 9pm while the two shows on the 5th will be at 7:30pm and 10pm. I'm hoping the varying times will make it easier to get more people to the theatre.

Sleeping hours are few and far between these day. The mind of the artist never ceases.