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.