final edits due: tomorrow, february 12, 2010.
I was going to work on edits now before I head off to see The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill here at good ole Western Washington University, but I think I need more time to sit on them. I feeling pretty confident about the rewrites now but of course they need more work. (Rewrites always always happen.) I'm surprised how important the little things are to me. I spend hours agonizing over ellipsis and whether I should use "and" or "but" in a particular line of dialogue. From rehearsal to rehearsal, what I want goes back and forth. It is the little things that make the dialogue sound the way I want them too. One word often changes the tone of the line, the scene, and sometimes the play.
We haven't been in rehearsal for a couple of days so I'm trying to think back as to how everything sounds. It is time to be done with major rewrites and let the actors go to town with the work. They are already making some amazing discoveries. Of course, not everything goes how you expect it will but what ever does? I'm just trying to absorb all I can.
Danielle met with the boys from Regarding Eden on Tuesday and it was probably one of the most enlightenin
g rehearsals we've had the entire process. She focused on character work interview style. This is something I always do as an actor and rarely do as a writer: ask every question I can possibly think about. Danielle had them all, all of the right questions to make me smile, to make me learn how my work comes out in other people's heads. I think the greatest moment of the night was between Danielle (DP) and Brian Toews (BT) who plays Devin:
DP: Based on that [all previous questions], do you think Devin believes in God?
BT: (after a moment) I don't think he knows.
I just hope I can do this whole process justice. With rewrites almost completed I step into ultra-silent mode. No more rewrites means just absorption. Of course, I also step into actor shoes. It's been awhile and since the writing is my baby, I expect a bit of struggle. But I'm still a performer. Everyone needs to know that. I still perform and will always.
Because you don't have to be just one thing.
We haven't been in rehearsal for a couple of days so I'm trying to think back as to how everything sounds. It is time to be done with major rewrites and let the actors go to town with the work. They are already making some amazing discoveries. Of course, not everything goes how you expect it will but what ever does? I'm just trying to absorb all I can.
Danielle met with the boys from Regarding Eden on Tuesday and it was probably one of the most enlightenin
g rehearsals we've had the entire process. She focused on character work interview style. This is something I always do as an actor and rarely do as a writer: ask every question I can possibly think about. Danielle had them all, all of the right questions to make me smile, to make me learn how my work comes out in other people's heads. I think the greatest moment of the night was between Danielle (DP) and Brian Toews (BT) who plays Devin:DP: Based on that [all previous questions], do you think Devin believes in God?
BT: (after a moment) I don't think he knows.
THAT'S IT! Director helping actor learn character. Acto
r learning character. Actor helping writer learn what she has written. Writer learning about what she thinks.
r learning character. Actor helping writer learn what she has written. Writer learning about what she thinks.I just hope I can do this whole process justice. With rewrites almost completed I step into ultra-silent mode. No more rewrites means just absorption. Of course, I also step into actor shoes. It's been awhile and since the writing is my baby, I expect a bit of struggle. But I'm still a performer. Everyone needs to know that. I still perform and will always.
Because you don't have to be just one thing.
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