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August 28, 2008

Yesterday began kind of tired and groggy. I had a 10:00 meeting. Usually I'm up and ready for the day by then, but I was just tired. I had a fitful night of sleep. I knew why, but only after I’d sloshed around in bed for about four or five hours before I finally fell asleep. It was the work of the evening before. Two of the main characters in the show have a really interesting relationship, and we’re exploring some really strange/spooky/difficult territory. These characters have several scenes together, three of them emotionally intense. It was those scenes we worked through together, and I was really trying to get the language and the story to read perfectly. When we started, the scenes were very close to being “there”. So we worked them until we really had them right. All of the actors, the doubles, are really invested in this story, so we read through, rehearsed, read through some more. I really had to go into the place of Margaret, the crone character, who is also a sort of “seer”. In her youth, she often tried to warn people about the things she saw, so she could change them and help them, but she was soon ostracized, because people didn’t see her as trying to help, they saw her as calling down these events upon them. There was even talk of burning down her home, but people were too afraid she might do something to them. So, they decide to do something else. They leave her alone. Completely.

In this piece, we really explore the idea of what it is to be human, what it is to be monster, what it is to be both, depending on how people see you. Margaret tells Grace about another character who unnerved Grace by his difference: “that person is a human or a monster, depending on how you see him. And so am I. The monsters in this world are our own making.”

August 26, 2008

It was an ordinary evening of rehearsal last night. Ordinary for the past week in Colquitt, I guess, with Fay coming back, leaving, coming back again. Every once in a while, the sound of driving rain or crack of thunder would cause our heads to raise up and look at the theater roof, making sure it was still there, I guess. Then about 8:45 or so, as we were coming up on the last of our table work scenes. Various cast members started receiving text messages. The Tornado watch we'd been under all day has now become a warning. So, we decide to move to a better location in the building. Truth told, Cotton Hall is the safest building in Miller COunty, so it's a far better situation than I was in last year during the tornadoes, when I was alone in our little yellow prefab house with no closets or central rooms. And this time, I've got a fireman with us at rehearsal. He's also an actor, who plays the part of the father of a young girl who has secretly eloped. We all move to a place we call "the tunnel", and pass out flashlights, just in case. We read through the scene, making script changes to fit the words more easily into the mouths of the actors. We also talk over characterizations and motivations, you know, the usual table work we do with any script. We look at each other for reassurance when a heavy gust of wind hits the building, or the thunder moves louder and closer. We finish up with the scene, and a few people go home, but Richard and I stay to talk with Debbie, the music director, about solidifying the music in the show, which has not been done yet. We get to looking at the second song, The fireman's walkie talkie goes off about a few seconds before the tornado siren starts blaring, followed by a voice on the loudspeaker: "Seek shelter immediately. Do not delay." OK, this is interesting.