Day 11

Talking is good.

Saturday night we had a fundraiser for the show. Big Ben Raskin, an old friend of mine from the food service industry, owns an establishment called The Woodshed and threw us a shindig. A great band named Hot Reagan played. Eighties covers. Very cool. Many theatre friends came out, much fun was had. I danced like crazy.

Come 11:30, I was ready for home. I, and I alone. The rest of the crew shut down the place. I left. I arrived home, called my stepmother, and talked. And talked. And... well, you know.

My point: Talking is becoming a lost art. The art of conversation is one, like the art of theatre, that is slowly drifting away from us. In this go-go world, interest is paid to what is fast and shiny. The internet, hi-def t.v., the robots from outer space (They're going to make us their slaves!!! Dont' tell them I said that), these are the things that grab our attention. Little mind is paid to the simple act of sitting down and talking.

Tonight, halfway through the rehearsal process, we talked. In our chairs. With scripts in hand. Just talked. And you know what? It might have been the best rehearsal yet. We didn't even make it through the script. No point was insignificant. No thought ignored. Nothing was off limits!

I've blogged about the limits of the show before. The fact of the matter is the limits that Jeffrey Hatcher put on us with this adaptation are the very limits that allow us to be free. Free from props. Free from costume. Free from everything that doesn't directly serve the story and the characters.

Talking is a freedom. There is no discovery of a script without talking. It sounds simple, I know, but I'm not meaning to be smug. It is something that is often taken for granted. I have a friend who sets aside social nights dedicated to nothing but conversation. Mostly in German, but it's easiest if it's in the language you're most comfortable with. A script must be discussed at length.

Sometimes I wonder whether we forget that others can talk, too. Others want to talk. They have something to say, something to add. Something that might affect you. I told Jeremy and Cassie tonight that in a show like this, talking is everything. Any, every, discovery made by one character directly affects the other, and vice versa. It all counts.

Thanks for reading my blog.