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APRIL 28, 2006
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 We closed out last week by finishing the rough blocking on the play, choosing where certain scenes would be staged and how the play would progress visually from moment to moment. We talked about what we wanted to happen light-wise to transition us from scene to scene, honoring the playwright’s vision and adapting it to our physical space, which hopefully are complementary.
Over the day off, however, our gains became setbacks as Matt De Caro (who replaced John Mahoney as Edward) went to the Emergency Room with angina like pains. He would stay there for tests till Thursday, as he needed to recuperate while they tried to determine what his issues were.
The play must go on and so Matt withdrew to get healthy and we contacted a friend of mine, Anderson Matthews who had done the role in
St. Louis
and who I was with at the Asolo. His girlfriend Carolyn Swift was a wonderful Lotty for me in Enchanted April there and I knew he had worked on the play before—so we were most fortunate that he was available.
Generous and gracious as well as talented, he leapt on a plane and by yesterday (Thursday) we had rough blocked the play again with Andy playing Edward. We have one and a half weeks till tech and luckily Chris Fitzgerald, our Production Manager, is done with the stage for the week. We get to use it all weekend so we should be back on track by next Tuesday!
Rondi and John love Andy and we are having a lot of laughs over this. Rondi refers to herself as Typhoid Rondi having gone through three husbands so far. Next the director goes to the slam!
Today we get to check out our stage space and I am excited to finally see what we have been envisioning downstairs in that windowless room with tape on the floor standing in for levels (of which there are many). This is great for us, though next week we will have to go through withdrawal as we return to the basement’s flatness for three days and continue beating up the scenes, getting off book, and building the dynamic of the play's emotional topography. A week from today we are back upstairs to begin tech. So in many ways this weekend is a leap forward for us as we learn a lot about what we would not otherwise have learned till tech.
It’s been an interesting journey so far, I have to say its been unusual, but I am proud of the way these pros are handling it, from Janet and Phil’s management of the contract adjustments and getting Andy here to the cast’s professionalism in taking it in stride. And with seven previews we will learn all we need to know about the play’s connection to our audience and our journey.
More anon…
Beej
Photos:
Anderson
Matthews, John Hoogenakker and Rondi Reed
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2006/07 SEASON
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2005/06 SEASON
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