Go Big, or...

We had our first rehearsals this past Saturday. And, for those of you playing along at home, let's review the schedule of the week that led up to Saturday:

Tuesday - Production/Design Presentation Meetings for Rotation 1
- Audience Services Meeting
- Actors Arrive!! (Finally!)
- Evening-long full company meet, greet, chat, relaying of information

Wednesday and Thursday - Master Classes with the Lab Actors and Assistant Directors. (We lead the company in a day of text based exercises focused of choral speaking and scene study, and a day of movement exercises focused on gesture, dance and Suzuki.)

Thursday Evening - Auditions

Friday - Production Meeting
- Casting for the Entire Season (In addition to casting 12 Lab shows and roles in 2 main stage productions, we had to ensure that each of the 26 actors were used in each of the four rotations, that each had a lead and a bit a role and that those roles were evenly distributed between Wedge and Kiddstuff shows. Now, not to brag.....But. We accomplished this task in record time, and all emerged in good spirits.)

Saturday - Casting Posted, and, a mere ninety minutes later, everyone is in their first rehearsal.

Okay, I'm tired from just typing all that, let alone doing it.
But, the excitement of finally getting into a rehearsal room, with actors, with the script I've been so painstakingly cutting and studying and pulling apart with the designers gave me plenty of adrenaline.

We spent the first day of rehearsal reading the script, getting an amazing presentation from the designers and talking. As the actors hadn't had a chance to read the script before rehearsal began, it wasn't just a first read. It was truly a cold read. So there was a lot to talk about.
But, the excitement was palpable. We were all here, together, finally doing the thing it is that we each love to do. As Claire Romano, sound designer, summed it up at the end of her presentation, "I love my job."

That being said, it is also easy to feel the pressures of the time crunch. In just a week, we'll be in tech. The process is so condensed, the speed so breakneck, there simply isn't time for questioning. Now is the time to jump, to leap, to trust your gut. As I told the LULU company at the top of our second rehearsal yesterday, W.H. Murray was on to something when he said, "Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

I can't wait to see where it leads us.