Rehearsals are over for the week. We had 2 more read throughs and slogged through all the costume preliminaries, bios, headshots and contact info business. That’s part of the process.
By the time we start putting the show on its feet next week, the Workshop which is now filled with the carcass remains of A Little Night Music will be cleared and we’ll start with the proverbial blank canvas.
This is a play where the set will be critical. Richard Sharkey who directed A Little Night Music has designed the set so we have a floorplan as to what it will look like. As I mentioned before it’s part farce so that requires multiple entrances and exits. (In a strict farce, there have to be at least 5 doors and preferably 7 and in any case it must be an odd number. Why? Because…well, because it does, that’s why. Don’t be difficult.)
Now comes the arduous task of learning lines. One of my favorite parts of the acting experience has always been when I receive my nice clean unmarked script and sit down with my yellow highlighter and mark my lines. It’s much like plowing your garden. It’s the first step in preparation. Then start gathering the tools.
As a young actor I would happily scan each page for my character’s name, highlighter in hand ready to strike, mildly disappointed when a page didn’t call for my services. As an older actor, however, I have become much less greedy. Much less greedy. With maturity, I have developed what I can only describe as Teflon brain --- meaning that the words go in just as easy as they used to but they have a tendency to slide back out again leaving you with an empty pan. Oh, I’ll get them, don’t worry. It’s my job to worry.
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