Rehearsals--9 Days to go

A great day of 'trailing' Matt around backstage this afternoon...

The backstage set up for this production is fun and a bit complex at first:

Because the set consists of 6 towers that move on and off stage (3 on each side) the sight lines (where one can stand so as not to be seen by the audience) when standing off-stage vary greatly depending on the towers' location. So, unlike in most other shows, where once you're off-stage you are "in the wings" and sight lines are clearly marked on the floor, for The Light in the Piazza, there are no set sight lines. (The first time I trailed Matt I mistakenly walked backstage in clear view of the audience. AH!)

As such, the traffic of actors backstage is designed to keep everyone who's not supposed to be seen, not seen :) Sometimes this means walking from the dressing room underneath the house (where the audience sits) to the wings of the other side of the stage, behind an offstage curtain, & up and around to the upstage part of the wing (instead of simply walking into the wing and upstage). It's only confusing until it becomes habit.

So I prefer to get these moves in my body and my mind now, along with noting the quick changes (running off after a scene down under the house into a stairwell to meet my dresser for a 'quick-costume-change' into the next scene, for example) so as not to have to deal with them stressfully when i go on in 9 days!

Then this evening during the show, I rehearsed in a downstairs rehearsal room with our director Bart and actors Laura, Diane, and Chris (my soon to be Papa). It was a fantastic rehearsal focused on moving slowly throught the play and making things specific. Specificity is key for me. I feel happy I was able to get through the understudy rehearsal last Friday, but I also knew that my work was a bit general. Tonight, I was really able to start adding layers to the scenes by being specific moment to moment. So much is happening with Fabrizio early on that I want to build, that each moment has to be clear or the whole thing becomes a bit messy and general. I left feeling that things had clicked a bit. I am getting excited.

My concern is that time is waning, but that offen leads me to rush the process. I just can't help but think that this cast had 5 weeks of rehearsal together (some more in the Seattle and Chicago productions) and I'm getting a day or two total with the principal cast! So I do feel a slight pressure to make every moment of rehearsal count. But Bart reassured me we have time and we just need to take it slowly. Amen brother. We do have time and will continue to have time even after I go on. Who knows where i'll be in my process by next Friday, but I'm going to allow myself to continue to rehearse and explore this play and this character moment to moment for weeks and months to come. No pressure to get this right by next Friday night (well I feel it, but i have to keep telling myself there's not :)

Let's hope for a restful sleep tonight--shut the mind off.