Days 3 and 4

Monday is our first meeting with the actors and our dramaturg, Celise Kalke, who arrived the evening before.  It was a somewhat emotional experience as cast members got to see other actors that they had worked with before and one of the assistant dramaturgs had worked with one of the actors a decade before doing summer stock.  It was like a huge family meeting for the first time and yet it felt like old times.  After we all introduced ourselves, we got right down to work.  I was blown away.  Right out of the gates the acting was breathe taking.  The life they brought to each moment even on the first read through was mind blowing.  It was incredibly humbling working with people that take such care in their craft. We worked at the table for awhile discussing characters, circumstances and revising some lines.  This was my first experience working actively with a playwright, dramaturgs, directors, and actors all in the same room. The level of care and thought that everyone took in discovering and working through the play was inspiring.  It is definitely something I wish to continue on doing in my career regardless of my position.  Just being in the room as a world is being created and written is something I wish to continue.  After playing for awhile we discussed the needs of the play and what the playwright would like.  One thing in particular was bikes.  Gregg, being the man that he was made that happen.  We had for bikes that were available to us that day and we discussed what the expectations were and how we would use them and then...we mounted them.  We didn't have enough time to run through the whole play with them, we are only given 4 hours to work until Thursday when we perform it as we were the first of the plays to be presented, but we certainly did some damage.  After rehearsal, I headed back to Thurston with the assistant dramaturg and talked about what we were doing that evening. Myself and some of the guys had gotten tickets to see the Studio Theatre's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.  It was a pretty awesome performance.  It was a small black box that maybe sit 75 people which was just perfect as we all felt a part of the action.  We were quite close to the playing area and we were in a place where the actors would play at times.  After the show we discussed the 2 actors, the leads, that were Equity.  We got into a fairly lengthy discussion over the pros and cons of being Equity, the system, and what our plans were...at the bar of course.  It is interesting listening to how different regions of the country operate and teach theatre and their perspectives on how it all fits, or doesn't, together.

Tuesday was a strong work day.  We made progress in the specificity of the world we are creating.  I also went to sit in on other workshops throughout the week and on Tuesday, it was She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange.  It was exciting observing how this artistic team worked differently than ours, but it was still a strong, productive dynamic.  One of the actors working on this show was also working on Bike America and it was astounding watching her develop and be a part of a completely different world.  That evening, Gregg managed to procure 2 $20 tickets to see The Addams Family which was playing in the Opera House at the Kennedy Center, which was just a magical experience to see the Opera House itself.  I actually enjoyed the performance for what it was.  It had it's flaws but I enjoyed the experience regardless and had the added enjoyment of the amazing people I was sitting with during the performance.