It begins…

We’re about to begin rehearsals which always feels like lighting a fuse and then trying to make a 50 person human pyramid all signing Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring in the round before the bomb strapped to your heart explodes.  It’s like Speed.  You know, except the villain has stranger demands and is a real Bach fan.  Well, we’re about to light that fuse, kids, so put on your safety goggles, hug yourselves around your legs, and count to 100 cause that’s about how long we have to rehearse this beast.  Just remember what Peter Brook said, and what Grotowski said, and Eugene O’Neill… just remember what all of them said cause we don’t have time to go over it now.  We’ve got to get to the emotional heart of this play before we all die! 

Which would be a great idea for an movie.  A villain forces a diverse and random selection of people to mount and stage Long Days Journey Into Night to rave reviews in only four days or he’ll blow up Hawaii. 

“By God, we’ve got to get off book!!!”       
“If I don’t find my objective in the next fifteen minutes Hawaii will be nothing but a smoldering pile of molten rock!” 
Keanu Reeves:  “Looks like we’ve got some sense memory to do… and fast.”

        Side note:  I just watched 2012 where, just like nearly every action movie, the characters yell out what they need to do to move the plot forward.  “We’ve got to get to the other side of the freeway!”  “We’ve got to get this plane off the ground!”  “I’ve got to make an emotional connection with my estranged son!” 

Anyway, beginnings of rehearsal processes are great because everybody’s excited and feeling like they’re all about to make art.  By about the third day it feels more like a cafeteria line.  Here’s to art!