Andrew McCarty=My Idea Twin
It’s fitting that as I am logging on to jot out a quick post, Andrew has already beaten me with a “pre-Week Two” update.
So, once again, Andrew is my idea twin. As if design concepts and pre-show staging weren’t enough.
Fancy that.
The promotional image is locked down, and is off for mass-production. I’m not sure exactly how many of these postcards will be created, but as long as they put 50 butts in seats per performance, I’ll be happy. Then again, L.A., as I have learned, has over 1000 theatre companies of varied quality vying for those same butts. Hopefully we win. The butts. And maybe an L.A. Weekly award or two. And massive deals for my cast and I….
Or, rather than that, maybe, just maybe, we’ll have a good show on our hands. Which I think we will, if the last week has been any indication.
This play is a tricky one…one with numerous “traps”. It’s absurdist, realistic, and a language play all in one fast, tight package. The themes are weighty—the nature of genius, the abuse of said genius, the optimism for the future of art and science, etc. However, I keep reminding myself that in order to navigate, to find the balance between the three styles while honoring the play’s message, we must keep having fun. The writing can be heady, which is where I tend to live, yet a beat later there is a dick joke peppered in for good measure. So, in that regard, the play definitely helps.
So. Keep it fun. Keep it light. Seems to be working so far.
Find the comedy in the pathos and the pathos in the comedy, right?
Balance.
And, I’m also beyond the dread first blocking rehearsal, where no decision I make I’m comfortable with. I always feel like a novice painter just picking up a gallon of Sherwin Williams and chucking it against a pristine wall of white, ruining the beautiful simplicity that is a blank canvass. Fortunately my cast were all wearing ponchos when I did this, so they escaped stain-free.
Now, it’s on to Week Two, finishing staging, and then a week to play and find the nuance before we break for the commercial holidays.
It’s going to be over with before I realize it began…better keep it fun in order to hold on to a memory or two.
~Justin Gordon
