Down To The Wire

It's Sunday at 2 pm and James just handed me a Martini; three days before All That You Can't Leave Behind is to be performed for the first time on stage. Stacy is here too, she's the other lead actor, and without her the play wouldn't be possible. It's a first for many things today. We have our first table reading and decide that it was good, but it'd be better to take it into the gallery where the play will be performed. After a cocktail or two and some experimentation the dialogue loosens and the chemistry is becoming evident. This is going to be good!-- but there's one catch. The acoustics of the gallery are not the best. The actor's voices are being swallowed up. And to make things more complicated, the play requires a good degree of dynamic range in its vocal delivery. So Gary and myself, sitting far back where the audience will be seated, bring this issue to Stacy and James' attention. They agree a mic'd stage is not a very good option, since actors move about and dealing with a sound mix in such a situation can be tricky, if not obnoxious. Eventually the volume issue is dealt with and resolved to a certain degree, but the day is not finished.

It's about 5 pm and my mother has shown up with some air brush make-up and all her accessories to work on Stacy and James. She's going to do a trial to see how her make-ups work with their skin tones and textures. The good thing is that they don't require much for the style of play we're doing and the trial is over before I even knew it began. After spending some time with the parents, they're soon on their way back home and I'm talking with a fellow resident about recording the play on a camcorder. It would be nice to "tape" the play on an HD camera but it's looking like a futile effort, as Donald's camcorder is just that: A camcorder, and an old one at that. Then comes the hammering of nails from the storage room. And that reminds me that the stage isn't complete yet. Because Tom is still building it, the two remaining "quadrants" of the stage still have to be constructed. But there's no need to worry, because Tom works at light speed and by the time it takes me to sum up this blog, he'd be done and moving onto dinner. But there's more than just the construction of the stage to deal with. The tops of the stage sections, all six of them, have to be carpeted, carpeted by the rug that was so generously donated to me by Frank Loria of Loria's 112 Carpet Center in Medford (the wood for the stage was graciously supplied by Sachem Building Supply, so a thank you to them as well). To make a long story short, we carpet one of the sections and realize we might just need more time to do this than we thought, so that will have to be pushed off until tomorrow night. That and the curtains. Ah! The curtains. I knew I forgot something. That we can take care of on Tuesday, one day before the play, and in the meantime, we'll be rehearsing every night. We're going to make this play sizzle and we're going to make it be heard, even if we have to get a sound system. There's still much to do, but for now, there's no telling what kind of curve ball will be thrown our way. I just hope it's not thrown so fast.

A Productive Meeting

So living in a building full of artists with different talents is not such a bad thing. Being that this is the case I'm in, I have requested the services of a neighbor upstairs (let us call him Gary), who manages other talents, especially actors and models. This is very helpful for someone writing a stage play, someone like myself.

Well, the other night Gary had over a few of his talents-- two of which are playing the leads in my play-- for dinner. I went by Gary's after they had their eats to meet up with the actors I would be working with. Not only was there left over food and cake-- both picturesque and mightily delicious (thanks to Gary's other talent)-- but the actors were equally pleasant. We had plentiful conversation and the chemistry seemed to be flowing between the three of us, who had never met before. One of the lead actors (aka: Jason) actually flew into NYC from Charlotte, NC to be in this play, so I was very grateful that he pulled through, and I must admit, he was worth holding out for. It was a pleasant night, and we even set a date for a rehearsal, which the two leads agreed would be better if they improvised rather than be on book. I couldn't be happier with that. Freedom to move about creates fantastic moments. Looks like the actors are a check on the checklist: First priority!

 Next up: A mad rush to secure donated lumber to build a stage, taking time off work, rushing to Home Depot to rent a truck and the man who is helping us build the perfect stage.

Things Get Complicated

So the original plan never turns out to be the final plan, well not always, not in my case.

The stage play that I wrote and am looking forward to directing was originally scheduled to go off at the end of the month on a Saturday night. That seems questionable now. We are taking steps to build a stage, create a sliding curtain, and secure the props necessary to make the play go off, but without a secure date, it's hard to instill confidence in the actors who will lead this play. That is key. You need actors who are confident not only in the material, but the way things will function. It appears to be best practice to have a back up for everything, so if you have four people moving props, find another four who can be there at the same time, just in case. It's all about contingency. And that goes for the actors and lighting. You never know if somebody's car will break down or they might have a personal crisis: A family member who ends up in the E.R. Who knows? Anything can happen, but despite this, it's important to solidify a date. You can't ask a woman out to dinner and say, "Well, I can pick you up on Tuesday, or maybe Friday instead-- no, Tuesday!"

Just like that hot date, a stage play needs a concrete date. Actors have to be notified. The lighting person. The press has to be notified. Friends. Family. Plans need to be made and as of right now, those plans are shifting every few hours.

The script is finalized, the props and stage are being worked on, but what about that date? My stage play's characters have enough dubious situations in their lives, the actors playing those characters don't need to relive the same thing. Save the drama for the stage. Save a date.

Next up, what will come of all this? We have two nights that keep shifting back and forth. It could be Wednesday, it could be Saturday. The actors are coming for a meeting in two days. I have never met them before and I am very excited to do so. But I might just be more excited about squaring away a time of day I can call home: Home for a play.

And the drama continues...