Day Fourteen

I'm happy to say that today wasn't quite as hard to get through.  That's not to say that the material we tackled today was any easier - we actually hit the two hardest-to-watch scenes - but I at least got to wear my writer hat a little more than I have recently.  After a few hours of music review to start the day, we staged two more scenes in Act Two.

I am still reveling in the seven actors in our show.  Their willingness to follow these characters into the crazy depths of the story is amazing to watch.  Early on in the process, Joe said (I'm knowingly paraphrasing) that it may be hard for them to understand the logic of why these girls (and boys) choose to do what they do, but understanding and committing to the emotional journey can illuminate who the girls (and boys) are.  And what I saw them giving today (and yesterday, when the reckoning in the story began) was pure emotion.  All raw and ugly and injured and happy and pained.  It's just so rewarding to see the game of my story raised consistently.

Speaking of raising the game of this show, I don't know if I've ever quite adequately covered just what incredible work Joe is doing.  As I wrote the show, I didn't force myself to set limits when it comes to production. There's no unit set (we skip around to various locations throughout), there are some feats of staging to accomplish in a few songs, there's a male actors playing different characters (sometimes within the same scene [in a "realistic" tone])...  But Joe has not only taken everything in stride and made it work, he's taken it to a new level of theatricality and ease and intelligence.  He's finding all the beauty and the love and the humanity in the world of the show to convey everything we've written in ways we never imagined.  We trust him so wholly with our work, and it's clear in the rehearsal room (and in my rehearsal reports) just how wholly the actors trust him with theirs.

And once you make your way to Weston to see the show, you'll know just what I'm talking about!

(Sometimes I wish it wasn't late at night by the time I write these, but with a 12-8pm rehearsal schedule I always find myself trying to be coherent while battling end-of-day exhaustion.  Imagine how much gushing I could do with full brain power!)