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.