Follow up

So, OP4P closed nearly 2 weeks ago, and I'm only just getting around to my post mortem. But, come on! I'm pregnant, fat(ter) and lazy. I'm allowed to slack a little.

All in all, I was pleased with Prime. It was a fast-paced, naturalistic, relatable show that elicited laughter and honest emotion. That's what I wanted. The stage manager's mother - who had lost her sister recently - offered the comment that the scene in the ladies room between sisters Steph and Sierra, when they discuss Steph's failing health, really struck a chord with her and felt very real. I can't ask for a better review than that.

If I had any complaints, it would be these two things. First, as the run went on, there was some line sloppiness from the cast. Not that they were changing or altering any important lines, just that with all the natural interplay and improv that developed between the scripted lines, it occasionally got a little muddled. And it got even more vulgar. Now, I'll admit there are swears a-plenty in the script, but the looseness and improv the cast developed led to a sharp increase in f-bombs. It was just a little too much for what I wanted.

Secondly, the pr. Fourth Wall is a smaller theater than CPT with a lot less resources, but I still felt like we could have gotten the word out there better. More listings. Send a photo to Scene. Really court reviewers into coming. Update the website more frequently and make it easier for people to learn about the show. I ended up creating and running the Facebook event listing myself. I wonder if we could have - had I been more energetic and proactive in suggesting these things -  done some kind of cross promotion with Big Fun or some other cartoon/comic friendly place. The final two shows had good-sized crowds, but the first two weekends were sparsely attended. It was a bit frustrating, because the show was good and needed to be seen.

The question is what do I do now? I'm taking the summer off from theater to be pregnant, with the exception of directing my playwriting buddy Steve's workshop reading in June. So, I'll have downtime at home to focus on the scripts. Because Unethical only ran one weekend, I've gotten a lot of inquiries about when it will be mounted again from people who missed it or who wanted to send someone they know to see it. I need to contact CPT and see if there's any interest at all in doing it there again. They've supported it so far, so I'd like to give them first crack. Plus, we sold great there, so CPT's audience is clearly interested. (Or else my audience is clearly more interested in going there than Fourth Wall.) But, if not, I think I need to do some rewrites to de-clunkify some parts and start sending it out to festivals and contests. Several people think I should send it to Humana. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head if that happened!

Prime won't require nearly as much rewriting, but it's a different style of script and topic. The cast seemed to feel it would be a good fit at fringe festivals. I guess I should start researching those. Josh and Sarah want me to apply to Edinburgh. Yes, the one in Scotland. Sigh...

And I've been excited to get back to Danger Road. I want to finish it by the end of the summer so I can submit it to Little Box in the fall. (Not that I'll be able to even attend my own show with a several week old baby, but dare to dream. That's what in-town grandparents are for, right?)

The research, rewrites, applications, new script. This is a lot of potential work for an ever more tired and increasingly rounder lady who can't stop eating M&Ms. Plus we're working on the nursery, the garden and other house stuff we've been putting off. But I feel like I absolutely have to buckle down and do it. After the baby's born, I'll be so busy with that, I can't imagine I'll have any time to write, even with my very generous 13-week paid maternity leave. So, if I don't do it now, my work will languish. And I can't abide that. It's time to be stronger and more focused than my natural and hormone-induced laziness.

What next?

Prime closes on Saturday, and I will then run out of things to blog about, I imagine. The whole point of this was to track the production of my two shows. Once they're over, what will I write about?

Maybe if I decide to blog about my progress on my new script, it will force me to actually make progress on it.

Weekend two is done

We are down to our last two performances of OP4P - Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5. Come see it if you haven't yet.

I've been concerned about lack of advertising leading to small crowds. I didn't go to the show this past Fri.-Sun., but I hear crowds were OK, still on the small side. I'm told Saturday had amazing energy in the first half and then became a tear-stained emotion fest at the end. After all that burned off, I'm told Sunday was an off night. It happens. Kind of wish I'd seen the super-charged Saturday show.

However, I did attend last night's special free beer Monday night show. Since most theaters are dark on Monday (stemming from an Equity rule), the idea is to have a night open to working actors who otherwise wouldn't be able to come. It was a surprisingly good-sized crowd, and a receptive crowd. It was fun for me to see the show again after a week off. It's definitely gotten looser over time. That's not to say that it's sloppy (well, a few parts were on Monday), but it feels very natural and almost like improv at this point, which is good. It should feel like that, because that's how real conversations are. Also, the spilled beer moment was the grandest it's ever been, with the beer bottle actually flying halfway across the stage and hitting the wall. I always like when the audience thinks it's a legitimate accident at first.

The cool thing is ... we got reviewed! I didn't think any reviewers were coming to our small venue, but we did get one, and the review was absolutely glowing. Read it here. You might have to scroll down a bit.

My hope for the actors is that this review pumps up the crowds for the last weekend. Their good work deserves to be seen. They deserve to go out with a bang.

Open for business

Prime opened on Friday night. I attended both Friday and Saturday's performances, but skipped the Sunday show in favor of walking the dog then collapsing in the absolute and utterly pathetic fatigue that comes from pregnancy.

Did I mention I announced to the world that I'm pregnant after the opening? More on that later.

Both Fri. and Sat.'s shows were very well performed, but sparsely attended. Which I assume is a function of not a ton of advertising. Which is a little frustrating because the cast is doing such a phenomenal job, I want people to see them. The comments I got after the show were mostly variations on this: "I thought it was just going to be funny. I didn't know it was going to be so sad."

But I also heard many really insightful comments about the development of the characters, the flow of the dialogue, and the architecture of the whole play that showed me people were really engaged and paying very close attention. And pretty much all of those comments were positive, which of course made me happy.

I has great fun buying Transformers comic books for the cast before opening night, too. Apparently, Sarah's comic, titled "Game over, Optimus Prime," is one of the most popular.

And then I told everyone I was all knocked up. About 12 weeks along, due October 8. Kelly cried a little, Marian was emotional, and both offered to knit things. Sarah actually said that while most babies disgust her, she is certain ours will not look like an alien, which is high praise. When Josh complained that the guys in the bar were referred to as "boys," Matt reminded him that we now all have proof he's a man.

The next night Jay gave us a card saying our news made him so happy, he was even inclined to like the French, a group he usually abhors with fiery passion. So that's a big deal!

Talking 'bout my generation

Last night was what I guess you would call final dress. There's no rehearsal tonight to give all the sick, tired, overworked actors a break, and tomorrow is preview. Whatever you call it, rehearsal is over, and it's time for show.

After the run last night (which finished at a tight, fast hour fifteen), Jenna said she felt ready to open, even noting that she just wouldn't know what to do with another week of rehearsal if we had it. The actors all seemed to agree. Josh noted that it was the first run in which he didn't worry about "what was going to come out of my mouth." Aubrey made the comment that she only had one beer for the whole show, whereas usually her character has time to go back to the bar for a second beer. I found that to be a very telling comment whether she realized it or not: she was too focused and too busy being Steph and dealing with Steph's issues to need the crutch of the prop beer or to fill space with a trip to the bar. You can see a sharper rhythm and very natural flow in a lot of scenes that used to feel choppier - Sierra, Matt and Steph at the bar pops to mind. They're overlapping and intercutting their lines without losing the intent or the clarity, which is how I was hoping it would end up.

I really think Jenna's right. They're ready.

At this point, my only concern would be some tech stuff, and honestly, I'm actually not even that worried. Justin is finishing the set dressing tonight while we're gone, and there were a few minor cue snafus last night, but I'm not feeling much in the way of angst about either of those things. I just kind of want to open!

Last night after rehearsal, the topic of "who will get this play" came up again. It's always been one of my biggest concerns and the issue I focused on most at the talkback after the Little Box reading. OP4P is clearly a generational play. It appeals to our narrow little cohort of ... I don't know what you call us ... geeks who grew up in 80s? At readings to date, older audience members have said that it was still relatable for them because the fact that this character likes X-Men and that character references Thundercats doesn't matter to the core story. People have told me that the characters' reasons for why they reference certain cartoons or hide behind certain geek jokes are what matter, and that's clear, they say, whether you get all the references or not. (Plus, people reminded me, all ages get Batman and Superman.)

But last night, they brought up something I'd never worried about before ... are people younger than us going to get it. As we all shared stories of 20-year-old siblings, coworkers or friends who have never seen the Original Holy Trilogy or Indiana Jones and who grew up with childhood cartoons like Rugrats, I wondered if they might be harder pressed to find a connection than people our parents' age and older. Not only will they have a disconnect with some of the references, they might not care about the issues the characters are facing because they haven't yet faced enough of post-college world themselves to realize how hard is to make new friends, find your niche and maintain who you are. 

We shall see.

Good questions

I swung by OP4P rehearsal last night just in time to catch the full run of the show with costumes, props and tech. (Before I got there, they were working certain scenes and cues.) It's fun to see the set almost all together; it's just missing a little bit of set dressing. Lighting cues are all programmed, just now need the timing honed. There was music, chicken wings ... everything you need for a real show.

The top half is still flowing with more ease than the bottom half, but it's obvious Jenna has been working with the actors on certain key serious scenes (Steph and Sierra in the bathroom, Steph and Matt at the bar) because they've grown by leaps and bounds as far as energy and intent.

Last night Stuart (the actor) brought the cast lollipops ... because his character Matt, a pediatrician, talks several times about giving young patients lollipops. I love that.

Another thing I love ... while onstage but not in focus, Josh, Sarah and Shawn have developed a massive debate for their semi-pantomimed conversation. The topic: who would win in a fight between vampire ninjas (Vampjas) and werewolf cyborgs (Wereborgs). Now, there's a debate that could truly go either way.

I've been very tickled throughout the process by the questions the cast has asked me about the script. Some of them I have no answer to (like why Steph dismisses Superman as being ineligible for president for being an alien when Prime is an alien too. Which is true. He is an alien, but in my head, that's his least prominent identity after robot and truck.).

Among my favorites: Aubrey asked me about Kevin and Steph's past and relationship prior to the play, particularly their break up. The weird thing is, I've never specifically outlined what that was, I've just always sort of known or had a sense of what it was without scripting it. So, when I tried to offer a brief, general response, I ended up with paragraphs and paragraphs on my "guesses" as to what their relationship was like. 

Aubrey also asked me what kind of beer Steph would drink, and truthfully, I'd never thought about it. In the script, we know Stuey drinks Eliot Ness and Killian's at different points and that Sierra is ridiculed for drinking Coors. I never thought about Steph's beer preferences. Together, we figured, it would probably be something from Great Lakes. Like I told Aubrey, I totally see Steph as that girl who returned to college after spring break with a case of Great Lakes beer, Peterson's peanuts, Malley's chocolates, and Bertman's Stadium mustard. Because she's a Cleveland girl.

Josh astutely noticed that Kevin rarely drops the F-bomb, only if he really wants to piss people off. Rather, he often says "frickin'" as a substitute.  Josh asked if that was intentional, which it is. I just don't have a reason for it. In the very first draft, it was just my natural instinct to have Kevin use the word a lot ... and no one else. Once I noticed that inclination, I intentionally cultivated it, but there's no deep reason behind it. It's just how Kevin sounds to me. Josh thought he might devise for himself a reason.

And of course Sarah asked me why Sierra is only character that doesn't have a "What I want to be when I grow up" monologue as themselves at age 9. I get that question a lot. And there are two reasons. One: she does have a monologue. She tells Matt she wanted to be an astronaut, and tells him why. It's just that she says it within dialogue in the here and now, not in the past and alone in light delivered to the audience. Two: the reason Sierra can deliver her childhood dream in real conversation rather than in nostalgic fantasy is that she doesn't cling to her childhood like the others. She's very comfortable with herself as an adult; she's not afraid of letting go of some of that past to move forward. The others would all go back to being kids in a second if they could, pain, awkwardness and all. She would not. Thus, no monologue ... at least not in the traditional sense.

OP4P rehearsal: Awards

Presenting the winners of OP4P's Wednesday night rehearsal awards.

The award for Best Comedic Moment (planned) goes to ... Nate!

We all fully expect Nate's virtuoso solo dance performance to "SexyBack" to be one of the show's funniest moments. But it became even funnier Wed. night when Jenna asked him to (after his full-body opening flourish) tone it down and just find some sort of crotch-focused repetitive movement he could do in Josh's face until driving Josh to shout "Will you stop that, you freak!" Somehow his subtle groin grinding was unbelievably hysterical and even funnier than much wilder dances he's tried in the past. I suppose this award could also go to Jenna for wisely making the call for restraint.

The award for Best Comedic Moment (unplanned) goes to ... Robby!

Our hardworking stage manager Robby has the difficult task of calling cues from on stage. The board will be behind the bar on set, and Robby doubles as both stage manager and bartender. Generally, he doesn't interact much with the cast other than handing them beers, but in a fabulous moment in rehearsal, he made Josh and I laugh so hard we almost fell out of our chairs. As Stuart, Nate has to complain about how long it's taking the bar to make and serve the wings he ordered. (Spicy garlic wings to be exact, a reference in homage to the cast of "The Gulf" at Dobama's Night Kitchen in 2001.) So, naturally, now that he has a bartender on stage with him, Nate directed his anger toward Robby, who looked up from his script with great disdain and gave Nate a slightly annoyed, shrugging, "what?" gesture. Perfect.

The award for Cutest "Awwwwww" Moment goes to ... Shawnikins and Joshikins!

After the failed fight scene between Jeremy (Shawn) and Kevin (Josh), the two best friends sort of resolve their differences and return to the bar. At Wednesday's rehearsal when Josh asked Shawn "Are you still going to be my best man?" Shawn responded with such adorable sincerity and handed Josh his baseball cap, which had come off in the fight. They exited together with such tentative sweetness (the way only guys who are trying to be manly when they want to be sensitive can be) that Jenna actually turned around to look at me, and we totally cooed "Awwwww!" at each other. Precious.

The Award for Best Use of Bar Props goes to ... Stuart!

The entire cast has become quite comfortable gesturing and interacting with beer bottles in hand (because they never do that in real life). But Stuart gets props (hah!) for embracing all props including plastic forks, bar peanuts (which he tossed into Nate's mouth with great expertise), and napkins, which he turned into a shroud for Sierra's dead beer. Classic.

The award for Best Line Flub goes to ... Sarah!

She asked Stuart H., "Are you and your kids thinking of having wives?" Now, that's an entirely different play! Strike that; reverse it.

Everyone was in partial costume Wednesday night too, which was great fun to see. The top half of the show is pretty sharp, but it's clear they haven't spent as much time working the back half. It was slower and there was more hesitation with lines. But the whole shape is there. Last night, Jenna was planning on working some of the more serious moments, and this weekend tech begins. We're getting close.

OP4P rehearsal: Smurfy?

I forgot to write a blog post on Tuesday about Monday's rehearsal because I was all busy and tired and cranky. Forgive me.

Anyway - real quick because I've got to get to tonight's rehearsal - Monday was off-book with line calling working the first several sections of the show: the opening discussion/ Sierra's entrance/ beer spilling, Matt's monologue, the start of the presidential debate/ Kevin offends everyone, and ending at the beginning of Jeremy's monologue.

It's very encouraging to see how natural everyone is. I've said it before, but if the dialogue isn't conversational, the whole play doesn't work. There was so much natural humor in the presidential debate section. Great moments of improv with Josh burping in Sarah's face and Shawn blowing into his empty beer bottle. When Steph announces her idea of Optimus Prime for president, since it is the title after all, it has to stand out. I really enjoyed what Aubrey and the boys did with it. They had, at this point, totally isolated Sarah on stage right as punishment for her character (Sierra)'s blatant faux pas of daring to bring up the Smurfs. They were in their own world, their own element, talking in a way that made you feel like this group of friends always talks this way, and then she confidently dropped the bomb on them, knowing her idea was best. It really worked.

I really haven't gotten to see anyone do their monologues yet, except for Stuart doing Matt's monologue once on Monday. I'd really like to see them. Maybe tonight depending on what Jenna's got planned. I know she wants to start by taking some pictures of us all, so I better get moving. More soon ...

Op4P rehearsal: You were doing it too, jackass!

It's been more than a week since I went to OP4P rehearsal. It was fun to get back there last night. Jenna had the cast work the opening scene through Stuart (the character) "killing" Sierra's beer over and over, setting more specific blocking along the way. Many of the cast are off-book or close to it. The six of them seem to have really gelled (not like several of them weren't friends or hadn't worked together before ... but it's nice to see them all functioning as a unit.)

There's definitely illness in the air. Stuart (the actor) is struggling with a coldy/fluey thing and did seem less energetic than he usually is on stage last night. Sarah has virtually no voice, so she was doing her lines very quietly and very high-pitched, which I guess was the only way she could get any sound out. At times it was quite funny to hear, and I'll admit I laughed at my Sarah Pants, but then I felt really bad and just wanted her to go home and get in bed and sleep in luxurious comfy covers for days with Nate bringing her hot tea and pie until she was better.

But back to the show ... this is the first time I've ever seen any of it off-book, since all other productions have been on-book readings. And it was really cool. I was actually shocked at how close to word-perfect the off-bookers were. Really shocked. I guess I just assume that with a writer as wordy and talky as me, actors are bound to paraphrase a lot. We all do it. But they were very true to the words, which makes me wonder did I somehow find that magic alchemy of dialogue that sticks and makes sense so it's easy to memorize or are they just really thorough about their memorization (or both)?

Josh has really keyed into the right stuff as Kevin. I bring him up specifically even though I was really happy with everyone's work last night because Kevin is a character I worry about. The wrong actor would play Kevin as dick and not look for anything deeper there. But both Josh and Jenna understand that Kevin protects himself with dickishness and trying to be the leader. But people like Steph and Stuey wouldn't stick around if he didn't care for his friends underneath it (Jeremy might). Last night, Josh's Kevin was appealing and displayed flashes of warmth. His dickishness and surly self-importance was just how he rolled, it wasn't overstated or in anybody's face. In the blocking Josh frequently occupies the same chair, and Jenna noted that she now feels very protective that that's Kevin's chair and no one else should sit in it. (She also said she's got a bit of a crush on Kevin. But of course, girls like bad boys.)

Another thing Jenna's found that I like is with the Stuey character. She and Nate (the actor, not Sarah's real-life boyfriend, too many same names!) have developed a bunch of little moments where tension starts to creep up between characters, usually involving Steph, and Stuart breaks it up with a joke. Now that's in the script, sure. But they've added some nice touches where after he breaks the tension, you can see on his face that he's worried, that he's intervened with humor intentionally, and that he knows everything's not OK. It's great. It's so perfect for the character, and it's very true to what people like us do. We don't air the laundry, we cover up the smell with the Febreeze of humor until it goes away. (Horribly awful metaphor, isn't it? I love it.)

Tonight, Jenna's working just with Sarah, Aubrey and Stuart on their more intimate, serious scenes and Aubrey's monologue. I probably won't be back to rehearsal til Monday. Very excited to see how things progress.

My first OP4P rehearsal

I'm still coming down from the excessive praise people are heaping on me over UnE. I can't believe people liked it so much. It's awesome.

Last night was my first OP4P rehearsal. Not theirs. They've been at it two weeks already while I've been off Unethicalling. It has created this kind of surreal disconnect. Prime is (so far) the script that means the most to me of anything I've ever written. It's very personal to me and several of the characters are stand-ins for me at different points in my life. But, because I've been so focused on my other show and I missed the initial read-through and a ton of rehearsals, I felt kind of like a stranger walking in last night. A feeling only intensified by the fact that I didn't even know when they started rehearsals because no one sent me a final schedule until yesterday. It's weird for me. I mean, in real life, most playwrights never or rarely show up to rehearsals of their work. And really, they're not supposed to be too involved. It's the director's play at this point, not the writer's. But as I am not a nationally published or performed playwright and have to date been integrally involved in the rehearsals of all my work, it's an adjustment.

Of course, if I'm honest with myself, I really don't want to be there everyday like I was for UnE or for past readings of my stuff. This is a longer, more involved rehearsal process, and I'm sure Jenna has it well in hand. I have enough faith in the script and the cast (many of whom are OP4P alumni and good friends anyway) to trust it will all turn out fine. Plus, I'm really freaking tired! It's just difficult to let go and take the appropriate step back. It's like my firstborn kid, you know?

Anyway, the cast seemed to be in a relatively good rhythm despite the fact that Stuart (who plays Matt) is out of town and the sm was reading in for him. The cadences, intentions, and attitudes all felt really natural and comfortable. This play, more than anything else I've ever written, needs to feel natural and conversational, and they definitely get that.

The other cool thing is that the actor originally cast as Stuey dropped out, so Jenna replaced him with Nate who played Reed in Unethical. How cool is that? I never saw the other guy work, I'm sure he was fine, but I'm happy to have someone I know and trust picking up the role mid-process. Stuey's got to be kind of loud and zany, and Nate just jumped right in and found the rhythm easily last night. He had no fear about just getting up and dancing to SexyBack and giving Josh a lap dance, which is a necessity for Stuey.

I won't be back at OP4P rehearsals til March 5 - I'm only missing two rehearsals during which a couple actors will be absent. I can't wait to see the whole ensemble together and in rhythm. I have high hopes for this one. All the elements are there so far for it to be a sharp, tight show. Now, I just have to take a step back and wait and see.

P.S. I mentioned this before, but ... I thoroughly encourage all interested parties to listen to the album "Everything in Transit" by Jack's Mannequin. It was my soundtrack for writing recent drafts of OP4P. It feels like the songs were written for these characters.

We did it!

It was a great weekend.

Unethical opened Friday and closed Sunday, and I couldn't have been happier with the run. We sold out both Friday and Saturday nights and had around 50 people on Sunday. Any local actor can tell you, 50 people on a Sunday is amazing. I'd have been over the moon about 20 showing up.

The cast (and I) were pretty drained after tech week, with Kristy, who's been fighting various infections all year, probably struggling the most. But once it was show time, everything seemed fine. We knew in advance we had sold out Friday, so everyone was excited going into it. The show ran smoothly, and the large crowd (which included many of my coworkers) seemed to really get it. After the show, I had so many people coming up to me and venting about the horrible things that have happened at their offices, or how they've been asked to rat out their coworkers for misbehaving. It obviously struck a chord. 

The other cool thing about Friday was that there was a party of about 35 people who attended - CPT board members and their guests. The board member who chose my show as the one she would host a gathering around was very complimentary and seemed to like the production. That's pretty awesome, having the board show up in force to my opening night.

I missed Saturday night's show because I was at a wedding, but I had family there and of course Lisa reported back for me. My family felt the show was more energetic, more animated than Friday night. Lisa felt it was a little slower, because the actors were anticipating pausing for laughs more, and Allen confessed he thought he was pushing it a bit that night. Either way, I did not expect Saturday to sell out. And everyone who was there who Facebooked or emailed me had nothing but good things to say about it. The comments I'm hearing the most have to do with the play having a good balance of humor and seriousness and that it presented an important contemporary issue in a relatable way. I really can't ask for better compliments than that.

Sunday was a very strong show - the closest to word perfect with strong energy and intent. And with a decent-sized audience, there was enough noise to keep the actors from having the usual Sunday let down. We struck fast, and I went home and absolutely crashed. Long week. Long 2009.

I'm definitely eager to rewrite UnE again, tweak a few things, streamline some clunky dialogue, etc. But the run was great. I couldn't be more pleased. A few people asked when we'd do it again so they could bring others to see it. Hopefully we can someday. (Hey CPT friends, what do you think?)

Thanks to everyone who was a part of it, from the cast and crew to those of you in the audience!

Tech continues

Ugh, I've been so remiss in posting. I've got other things on my mind. (This would be the perfect spot for some preciously smiling or winking emoticon, if I were into that sort of thing.)

So, UnE opens tomorrow. And the amazing thing is, I'm not feeling at all crazed. Part of that is because Lisa and our "admin assistants" Michael and Diana have taken care of so many details I just expected to be on my plate, making my life so much easier. Another part of that is Dan jumping in and hitting the ground running so competently when it comes to our lights and sound. There's also the whole actors totally getting it thing. I'm sure the nerves will kick in tomorrow night around in right before house opens. Dan advises doing a shot before the show, but I'm sure I'll face the anxiety totally sober.

Last night's run was incredibly encouraging. It was a little slower in terms of pace and energy than we'd hope the performances would be. But in the slower pace, the intentions and reactions were really coming through. I saw new approaches to moments from everyone, particularly Kristy and Laurel, that really worked. (I even heard Lisa make "ah!" noises every so often when actors found new tactics and intentions on certain lines.)

The scene changes are going smoothly, and the light and sound cues were mostly right on. After the run we futzed with a few things, but Dan seems to have it well in hand. When we were done last night, he said, "It looks like a show." And really, who can ask for more than that?

We're still a few props short, and a few lines that I really want heard were dropped. And while the minor "fight" Kelly Elliott choreographed for us looks good, it could be a bit sharper. But we've got one more night to polish everything a bit more and add the most important prop: cake.

I just found out that we're almost sold out for Friday. Wow. Hopefully, a few people actually show up on Sat. and Sun. too!

Tech week, or why we love Curtis

UnE went into tech last night. Very exciting, mostly because it went so well and I feel so not-nervous about the whole endeavor.

So, why do we love Curtis, CPT's tech director? Because he's awesome. Not only did he save me from having to eat rotten bananas on stage in a show I did there in 2007, he proved to be so extraordinarily helpful last night. Lisa was down at the theater in the afternoon setting up the set (office furniture was delivered by my dad's guys in the morning) and lights. Lisa had all kinds of lists and drawings and plans of how she wanted the set configured, but once she got there, Curtis's eye and advice proved invaluable. He even built a little piece for us, because he's awesome. And he seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the project. With just some office furniture on wheels we've managed to put together and pretty decent and easily shiftable set.

Curtis and Lisa also managed to set and record all the light cues. Tonight when Dan our stage manager joins us, we'll work on actually running the light and sound cues.

Another cool thing about last night: our new admin assistants Michael and Diana. They will be shifting the set and setting up props in the transitions. All they had to do was be instructed in the shifts once by Lisa, and they took notes, worked it out and ran them solidly when we finally got to the run-through.

While Lisa and Curtis were setting the shifts and lights, the cast was onstage practicing their entrances to scenes. They would run the scenes as far they could get until Lisa was ready to jump to the next cue or shift. The cool thing was, they were sort of half-assing it or joking around and being really big, focusing more on lines and being comfortable in the space than intentions. Yet, they found some things in the exaggerated run that were really kind of cool. Of course, when we did the actual run in real time with real intentions, a lot of that silly energy and those big choices disappeared. But there might be some moments worth revisiting from what they did during the shift rehearsal.

Laurel gets a special mention for doing the best quick changes ever. Seriously. The girl changes her clothes, like, seven times in this show, and never missed a entrance. AND always looked impeccable. How does she do that? We mere mortals may never know.

UnE rehearsal: I'm just doing what you told me

Lisa is sick with a bad cold, so last night's rehearsal was sans director. But, she left me instructions, so we proceeded anyway.

Ran the whole show off book, calling for lines. It's definitely coming along, but Team ESP is pretty antsy to get into the space. Right now a lot of the cast seems to feel like they're spinning their wheels until we can solidify blocking on the set and start using props and such. Monday will be a big day. They seem very solid on character and intention, though there were a few throwaway moments and character breaks last night when lines got in the way. They all know what they're doing, and I'm not concerned.

I just got off the phone with Lisa, and she won't be at tonight's rehearsal either. But we're going to do another run. Then we're on break until tech week begins so the actors can focus on memorization over the weekend, since there will be no line calling on Monday, I imagine.

I've got to finish the program insert and settle some logistical issues before Monday. Lisa's working on props and music. It's all coming together, but it's starting to occur to em just how short the time is to pull all these little things non-writing, non-acting things together. 

Warehouse party

Last night, Lisa and I went with my dad out to his warehouse in Independence to "shop" for office furniture to use as the UnE set. We were hoping to find some stuff on wheels, and the rest we'd mount on platforms with casters. But to our surprise, we found everything we needed all already on wheels.

The coolest find was a full cubicle on wheels. It's a whole desk made of compressed sunflower parts - it's an organic desk! It has panels attached to it to wall it off, some of the panels have bulletin boards on them, and one has a white dry-erase board. So the desk side of the cubicle will be Nora and Reed's desks. But when we flip it around, we have instant background panels, including a dry-erase board. It has a little matching file cabinet/chest on wheels we're going to roll around and use as various things. We also found a perfect small, round kitchen table on wheels and two possibilities for a conference table on wheels. 

Of course, we needed 5 rolling desk chairs, which we knew would be easy to find. The great thing is, my dad found us 5 chairs that fit the personalities of the 5 characters. We have a big, professional looking black arm chair for Reed; a slightly smaller, less imposing black armchair for Nora; a flower patterned armchair for Tracey, a bright blue-green chair with short arms for Zach; and a tiny, armless, beat-up-looking, plaid, crappy chair for Barry.

My dad's even arranging for the furniture to be delivered to CPT for us on Feb. 16. It's our whole set, pretty much, and it's taken care of!

Lisa has contracted one of her interns (and is working on one more) to be admin assistants in the show - basically, furniture movers in costume. Things are coming together.

UnE rehearsal: it pained me to have to do this

At left, Team ESP has a lively discussion about the script and what it really means.

Last night's rehearsal at my house was, again, very productive. I continue to marvel at the fact that, with so few rehearsals and with blocking unable to be set until we're in the space, so much progress continues to be made. Each night, Lisa and the actors read over, discuss, and work on one or two scenes. Laurel remarked that when she sits down to memorize, she's suprised how much she already has in her memory just from going over the scenes in rehearsal. They're all progressing substantially on memorization and characterization. As an actor, I think, "Duh! Of course they are." As a nervous playwright, I am, for some reason, amazed.

Last night we covered scene 6 (Nora and Reed's semi-confrontation) and scene 8 (the final staff meeting and ending). At Allen's request, we also went back over scene 2 (the original staff meeting), so that he and Nate could find the right connections in that early scene to better reflect where they end up in relation to each other in the final scene. I read in for Kristy, who was at grad school auditions.

Interesting note: we discovered that when Brian delivers his lines directly to my dog, it freaks her the hell out.

Scene 6 hit home for Laurel, who admitted she had recently experience something very similar at her real-life day job. "I am Nora!" she lamented. In the scene, Reed confronts Nora about her supposed violations of the ethics policy. He wrestles with his desire to be the tough boss while still wanting her to like him. Nate worked the scene off-book, and it was pretty good. But once Lisa had him up and moving and sitting and standing and leaning and threatening and backing away while Laurel sat perfectly still in her chair, the scene really came to life for both of them, and he hardly struggled to remember lines. They worked in my dining room, while Allen, Brian and I watched from the kitchen and living room doors. It was like having my own little home theater viewable only through a rectangular opening.

Revisiting scene 2 was definitely worth it. It flowed better and had sharper intention. In looking at scene 8, Allen realized that he can bounce back and forth between being the real Barry and being what Barry has become (a new version of Reed). He found places in the dialogue where he was corporate versus where he was authentic, and delivered those lines in different rhythms. I like it a lot. It will be interesting to see it play out.

The rest of the week is memorization. Next week is speed-throughs and working scenes. After that, we're in tech. It is so close.

OP4P is cast!

Jenna announced the cast for Prime on Friday. It contains many familiar faces, but in different roles than before.

Cast in order of appearance:

Steph: Aubrey Fisher

Kevin: Josh Brown

Matt: Stuart Hoffman

Jeremy: Shawn Galligan

Stuey: Andrew Goldsworth

Sierra: Sarah Kunchik

Teacher/ Bar tender (and stage manager): Robert Daniels

The last role listed is something a little different my Fourth Wall friends came up that I'm very excited about. The off-stage voice of the teacher has always been read by the stage manager in every past production. But since the show's never been fully staged before, we've never dealt with how the characters will get their food and drink. So, for this production, the sm's booth is going to be on the floor, not up above the seats. It will double as the bar, and the sm will have the food back there with him, so actors can just walk up to the bar and grab it. I think it will be very cool.

I'm looking forward to rehearsals starting for OP4P, but right now the focus for me stays on UnE. We've lost several days due to weather, so I'm hoping we can get back on track soon. If I were an actor in the show, I don't think I'd be that nervous about canceled rehearsals. I'd feel like I could still do my work and pull it off. But as the playwright/ producer, every day we lose weighs on my mind.

What next?

The important thing, Ronna tells me, is to breathe and remain calm. It's not an insurmountable workload if I stay ahead of it, assign stories early, and stay organized.

This is all sound advice. But why am I still shaking and swallowing back tears of dread? It's not the work. I mean, it is. They are expecting me and Janet to each handle the workload of three editors, plus they want us to keep writing. That's too much work, but if I have to, I'll find a way to do it. Quality just won't be as high, but that's the bed the paper's managers made for themselves. So fuck 'em.

What I really worry about is this. This right here. My REAL work. How am I supposed to keep writing my plays and how am I supposed to survive the rehearsal processes for UnE and OP4P when my day job is becoming an ever-expanding, energy-sucking parasite? I have a rule to never bring work from the paper home on the weekends or at night unless I absolutely have to with no alternative. So, I don't. And I can't start. And I won't start. My life outside of the paper has to remain sacred. I have to carve out time for the theater, or I'm not actually me anymore. Am I?

It is better to be overworked and under appreciated than to be downsized. I know that. But what a shame that my plays and all the goodness associated with these projects is getting tarnished by this horrible stress and fear. So much for 2009 being my year.

Maybe I should write a sequel to UnE about The Company falling on hard financial timesand down-sizing all the remaining characters because it blew too much of its reserve savings on the ethics project. Art imitates life again.

UnE rehearsal: is that your dad?

Chekhov stood in for Nora's father last night as we tried not to ruin GLTF's touring show rehearsal space last night. No Nate (he's auditioning for grad schools) so we only did scenes without Reed - scenes 4, 5 and 7.

Scene 4 is where you start to see both Tracey and Barry's wheels turning as to what they will ultimately do to attempt to save their jobs. Kristy's back from bronchitis leave, and as they went over the scene, she was developing a good faux-friendly gossip vibe with Nora. I also enjoyed this little moment pictured, in which Tracey and Zach start getting in each other's faces while poor, unsuspecting Nora is trying to work. As Nora, Laurel suffers so much abuse and betrayal in this play. When Brian exited this scene and delivered Zach's parting line with a bit more dickishness toward her than he intended, she looked so sad. (Even though the rest of us laughed.) It's just Laurel's lot to end up sad and alone in every one of my plays she does.

Scene 5 is my favorite in the show: Nora and Barry's heart-to-heart about work vs. one's love life. It's pivotal because it's where Nora starts to let her guard down and express anti-Company angst and Barry starts to really formulate his plan. Allen and Laurel are quite funny in this scene, particularly when discussing chiseled abs and how they're not the same age. Lisa discussed the addition of props - particularly edible ones - to this scene. I wonder how much Bundt cake we'll all have consumed when this is over.

Scene 7: Nora and Tracey's confrontation followed by Zach and Nora's sad moment. (I don't want to give too much away.) I really like where this is going. Kristy is finding the right sense of matter-of-factness. Tracey is not being a bitch in her mind, she's being practical. And Brian is tapping into the right kind of earnest conflicted attitude. He's not being a jerk here, he's legitimately confused and trying to do what's best. That countered with Laurel's anger and hurt, and I think it's working. At least, I hope it's working. What do I know? I'm just a writer.

Best moment of the night: Laurel going full-on after Kristy in scene 7, forcing Brian to really, really mean his line "Calm down!" as he tried to keep them apart and Laurel angrily batted his script out of his hand.

David, yay! Benjamin, boo!

I made it out to Big[BOX] this weekend to see the two solo performances: Jeff Grover's "Claus for a Moment" and David Hansen's "And Then You Die." I really enjoyed them both for very different reasons.

I've worked with David a bunch of times and seen his work as an audience member even more frequently, so I was mostly there to support him. (Plus, he performed our wedding, so ...) His piece was very polished and high energy with a great flow to it.  I've never really thought about writing a solo performance piece. I guess if something occurred in my life that I felt like I could only express through using my actual self as a character, I might try it. But it's a very daunting prospect to me, which just makes me respect David's work even more.

&TYD was about David's training to run and eventual completion of the NYC marathon. He intercuts scenes of the big race with scenes from his life (childhood-the present) that somehow illuminate why he runs or moments when running was important to him. To me, the challenge is in selecting only the "flashbacks" that matter and splicing them in with the "present" in a way that flows and makes sense. As a writer it strikes me as extremely challenging to map out a story line and then edit down your life in the same way you would a fictional piece. And I applaud David for really honing his down from earlier bits I heard and finding a good, brisk flow.

But just as my writer self was all happy about seeing good plays, the SAG Awards had to go and piss me off as much as the Globes and Oscar noms. I mean, I admit I'm a big geek (OP4P as a prime example, no pun intended), but I know what makes good cinema. The ongoing shaft of The Dark Knight is making me so mad. Especially because I loathed Benjamin Button with the kind of  fiery vengeance only a writer can feel for a bad movie. And this pile of dog turd got nominated for best screenplay and best film, people. What am I not getting here?

Reasons I despise Ben Butt:

1. The aging backwards concept has almost no bearing on the story. No one is surprised, questioning or afraid of this phenomenon throughout the film. Butt never struggles with it internally.

2. Brad Pitt phones his performance in ... but he got nominated!

3. It's long and boring and not at all moving.

4. Butt meets several "colorful" minor supporting characters throughout his life a la Forrest Gump. But none of them change him or his life at all. He learns no lesson from any of them, and remains plain, dull and even-keeled no matter what happens to them or how they treat him.

5. The prologue has not one shred of connection to the core story. If Butt had been the blind clockmaker's son and the backwards clock had been the thing that created his aging issue, now that would have been a way to do it.

6. In the end, there was nothing heroic about Butt. He just floated blandly through life and ended up nothing more than a deadbeat dad who missed his mom's funeral. Who the hell cares!

Eric Roth, you should apologize to the people who actually did good work in the WGA this year for fooling critics and Academy voters so utterly with your crap.

UnE rehearsal: in absentia

So, Lisa emailed me a glowing report about the rehearsal I missed on Wednesday. She, Laurel and Brian worked the opening scene that establishes Zach and Nora's couplehood, and then they went over all of the other scenes they have together to track the arc of their relationship. Lisa says Laurel and Brian have found a cute dynamic, and the opening flirty scene sounds like it's going to be charming. Yay!

In her email, Lisa described the process and/or the actors as "great," "nice" and "fabulous." (All good words for a somewhat nervous playwright and somewhat frustrated Margi to hear. It lifted me temporarily out of my stomach-twisted-in-knots irritable mood yesterday.) And a special gold star to Brian for already being off-book for scene 1!

If anyone out there reading this can't wait 4 weeks for Unethical to open, you should go down to CPT this weekend and see David Hansen's solo performance piece "...And Then You Die." Matt and I will be there Saturday. Read all about it here.

Margi's thoughts on acting

Now, I know I'm far, far, far from the best actress to ever tread the boards, and I certainly don't have any Boleslavsky, Hagen or Chekhov level of insight into the craft. But I just wanted to give the young actors of the world a few words of advice:

1. Your voice does not need to go up at the end of every sentence to prove you are inflecting and emoting. Not every line of dialogue is a question, my children.

2. Shaking/gyrating your head as you speak or squinting does not necessarily indicate emotional connection with or concern for the other character in your scene. Try to indicate concern ... by actually feeling concern!

3. Ladies, try not to always thrust your hips out to either side while standing on stage. I know, I'm guilty of doing this too, especially with book in hand before a character has really been developed. But not every character you read is - uh muh gaw - the type to stand like she's at a bar in her fabulously tight jeans and sexy boots.

4. Gentlemen, if you're gay and you're reading for a straight role, for god's sake, butch it up! If you're straight and reading for a gay role, play it exactly as you would any other part.

5. Have energy, and remember that, most likely, every character you play actually has a personality.

Thank you. And good luck in your careers.

OP4P auditions: "I've got stuff."

First round of Prime auditions were last night. I won't reveal too much about who was there or what I thought of them (because a. it's work product, b. it could potentially be mean, and c. it's Jenna's decision who we cast, not mine), but I will say this: it was very different than casting the CPT reading in '07.

When we auditioned for the reading, everyone was either 100% perfect for the show or 100% wrong for the show. There was nobody of whom I felt unsure. Last night, nearly everyone who read had me thinking maybe yes, maybe no, maybe this part, maybe that part. After tonight's auditions, we'll see what Jenna thinks. I'm guessing she'll need callbacks, because the kicker will be putting these potentials together in groups of 6 and figuring out who's the right ensemble.

Tonight (in addition to missing Idol, Top Chef and the Lost premiere), I will be missing Unethical rehearsal to be at Prime auditions, and beginning in Feb., the two schedules will start overlapping a lot. Of course, Unethical has priority right now, I'm only going to miss it for major Prime things like auditions, callbacks, first read-through. I'll start hanging around Prime full time when Unethical closes.

What I'm missing tonight at UnE is what I affectionately like to call a "breath mint rehearsal," or the first time two actors really work on a scene involving kissing or physical intimacy. Having been involved in breath mint rehearsals as both a director and actor, I can say it's probably for the best that my nosy playwright self is not there tonight. The less people, the better. Of course, all they have to do is "smoochy smoochy" a little, as Barry would say. Maybe in my next play, I'll write something more involved, creative and unusual requiring a breath mint rehearsal ...

UnE rehearsal: the merits of holding ourselves to a higher ethical standard

Last night's rehearsal was sans Kristy, who's sick. So, I read her part.

We read over and talked through scenes 2 & 3 because they're the longest and have the most information in them. Scene 2 is actually where the ethics policy is revealed to the employees and explained. The fascinating thing for me was how different the scene read sitting on couches in my living room versus standing it up and actually sitting around a conference table (my dining room). Entering the scene, relating to each other in the moment, with a realistic amount of physical proximity or distance between the different people you're dealing with ... it was a faster, sharper, much more natural scene. I always worry about scene 2 because there's so much explanation and corporate speak in it. But it's working.

My favorite part of the evening was the first exercise, in which Lisa had the cast write their characters' resumes. It was fun for me to hear what they came up with, almost like someone writing fan fiction based on my work (or something geeky like that). I learned that Nora considers Excel a hobby as well as a special skill. Reed (who is the fourth Reed in his family's line) was voted employee of the year at his old job for several years in a row. Zach worked his way up from the mail room, and Barry apparently worked at a lot of hotels (and can say the alphabet backwards).

In other news, if you attend the Bang and Clatter show opening this weekend, you should know that nowhere in the stage directions does it ever call for Allen's character to "skedaddle."

Big grin

Today my husband told me he was proud of me and bragging to everyone about my plays being produced. That makes me feel so happy!

UnE rehearsal: (Beat.)

Last night's rehearsal with Laurel and Brian was canceled due to snow, hellish traffic, and the general post-apocalyptic horror of downtown Cleveland in January. Sigh. Sniff. Sniff.

So, I have nothing to report. 

(Crickets ... crickets ... tumbleweed ...)

Day One: "You're smart!"

Last night was the first official "Unethical" rehearsal, and I'm so happy with how it went. I don't think it's arrogant to say that Lisa and I are true geniuses when it comes to casting. Seriously, Team ESP (the cast) rocks.

Allen (who plays Barry the IT guy) couldn't be there because he's teching another show, so I read his lines. Let's just say, he makes a better Barry than me.

We began with me and Lisa talking about the process of putting together a semi-nomadic show like this. We belong to CPT in a way, but we're on our own as far as finding rehearsal space until our tech week, so it looks like we're going to be squatting in any vacant room we can find large enough to hold us. Monday's rehearsal will be in my living room. Cotton is already looking forward to jumping on, snuggling with and playing fetch with the cast. She has no idea she's going to be banished to the upstairs with her daddy.

Team ESP has been assembled from a variety of places. Laurel (Nora from accounting) and Allen both read their parts in earlier drafts of the script when I was still developing it. It started over a year ago at the Dark Room play reading group, and then I had a private reading with friends and trusted colleagues at my house this past October. So, picking them was a no-brainer for the two of us. 

Kristy Lee (Tracey from marketing) and Nathan (Reed the boss) are Great Lakes Theater Festival actor-teachers who Lisa has worked with extensively. She thought of both them immediately, and as I'd never met either one, I trusted her instinct. Brian (Zach from sales) and I did a show together a few years ago, and he used to be Lisa's student when he was in high school. Blog followers will remember that he was the hardest to cast simply because I couldn't figure out what kind of actor I wanted for Zach. Then, in one of those fabulous theater coincidences, I had three people suggest him to me in the course of a day, and then I unexpectedly saw him the next night and realized, "Yeah, that's the guy."

So, even with all of that, I still didn't know how this whole groovy gang would coalesce. When they read through the script together last night, it was clear that this was absolutely the right group. Brian is keying in to the important balance in Zach - making him the funny, personable guy you want to hang around with, but recognizing the tone shift when he gets into his pouty moods and, eventually, the dissolution of his relationship with Nora. Kristy Lee totally understood Tracey's Hills-generation cadences and is honing in on the self-serving coldness that needs to be there. And Nathan ... oh, my. Reed was so much funnier last night than he'd even been in my head. Making him a little puppy dog underneath his threatening boss exterior is a really good instinct, and it's going to make audiences feel for Reed a little.

Very cool! Can't wait for the next rehearsal of Wednesday.

And so it begins...

We are officially underway on all fronts.

Big[BOX] series opens tonight at CPT: the first of seven weekends of new original works, and I am week seven. Rehearsals for "Unethical" begin Monday.

And I just got asked to give an interview on "Unethical"... to my own paper. Which is so weird. Usually I make the theater-related assignments. But this time, my editor assigned our reviewer, Fran, to interview me. Fran joked that it will be like meeting each other for the first time. She requested a copy of the script and my bio so she could be prepared. It's so weird to be on this side of the process. Part of me feels like it's kind of insider-y and possibly inappropriate (dare I say, unethical?). But then I think, if I received a story pitch from a playwright just like me who was writing this play for this series, I'd think it was story-worthy and assign it to someone. I guess, what's the point of working at a newspaper if you can't occasionally use it to promote yourself and your friends?

Also - "Optimus Prime for President" will be auditioning Jan. 20 and Jan. 21 from 7-9:30 with rehearsals starting in February. So in a few weeks, I'll have two plays cast and in rehearsal at the same time. Craziness.

And I received a request to submit another piece to another showcase that would take place this summer. (No details until I know for sure it's something that I'm really going to do. So, mind your own business!) I dusted off an old children's play I wrote several years ago called "Quench." (It's so old, it's on a PC disc in Word, before I became eternally devoted to Macs and Final Draft.) It was meant to be a short play, so it feels rushed to squeeze it into the 10-minute time frame, but it's not bad. So, I'm trying to fix it up a little and expand it so it can breathe and unfold at a more natural pace. If it works, I finish it in time, and it gets accepted, I might actually pull off a playwriting hat trick this year. I wonder if I can finish "Danger Road" in time for Little Box in October/November ... that would make me tetra-fast and quadro-furious. Take that Sholiton and Coble! You aren't the only games in town anymore, suckers!

If you want to audition for Prime, contact Justin at 216-258-1318 or justin@fourthwallproductions.com. Auditions are cold readings at the Fourth Wall theater, 540 E. 105th St. in Cleveland.

Prime reference #4

In "Prime," the characters argue extensively about which cartoon characters would make the best president. The five friends - Steph, Kevin, Jeremy, Matt and Stuart - take this discussion very seriously. For Steph's sister Sierra, who is hanging out with the gang for the first time tonight, this is ridiculous. She's not a geek, and doesn't really know or care about the intricate details of Batman or X-Men mythology. The following is her attempt to join the conversation:

SIERRA

Hey, what about Papa Smurf?

Pause. The others all stare at SIERRA.

KEVIN

I give up. What about Papa Smurf?

SIERRA

What about him for president? He's a kindly leader type. He runs the entire Smurf village, and they all seem so content and ... and ...

STUART

Smurfy?

SIERRA

So, what? You think my idea is stupid?

STUART

Yes.

KEVIN

Papa frickin' Smurf? Are you high? In addition to being one of the lamest things ever drawn, he's a god damned communist, Sierra!

SIERRA

You are out of your mind.

STEPH

Actually, Sierra, Kevin is kind of right.

SIERRA

Whatever.

STEPH

Seriously! Smurfs were a communal society of equals. They all looked the same, dressed the same, lived in identical mushroom houses. There was no currency or property of higher barter value. Each Smurf had his assigned task – Greedy was the baker, Handy the carpenter, etcetera – and no one was given more accolades for fulfilling his duties than anyone else. They were communists. And Papa Smurf was Lenin.

Beat.

SIERRA

Shut up!