But when it goes well...

I'm trying to remember what i told you in my last post. I think i was all stressed out because of people leaving the play, but i had yet to come up with a solution, right? Well i spent all of yesterday in the crepe cafe on campus (yes, my university has a crepe cafe, it's amazing), re-reading the script for the five millionth time and trying to figure out a way to keep all the lines without adding anyone new to the cast, and guess what?

I BLOODY WELL DID!

Basically I'm splitting the lines of the characters who dropped out among other similar characters, so Susanna Walcott's lines are now split between Betty and Mercy, Marshall Herrick's lines all go to Cheever, and Judge Hawthorne's lines mostly go to Judge Danforth. The proof will be in the reading of the second half on Monday, but i think it'll work.

Even after that piece of good news, i still woke up this morning feeling behind schedule and worried that week 2 was almost over and we had yet to have a proper rehearsal, so i text my Proctor and my Abigail and asked them if they wanted to do a scene. I booked a last minute rehearsal room for one hour and we set to work. The scene that we were looking at is a very small but very important one, since it's the only time you see Proctor and Abigail alone. Both of the actors had read the scene in their respective auditions, but it was their first time reading it together. I told them to look over the scene again before they came in so that they were familiar with it.

I'm always nervous at the beginning of the rehearsal process, especially when working with people i haven't directed before, and i think the actors could sense that, but once we got going everything went spectacularly well. Both of them had learned their lines (on their first rehearsal! My mind was officially blown!) and were willing to play with the scene. We only had an hour, and were in a weird rehearsal room, so rather than trying to block the scene we just fiddled around with characterization and motivation, and i think we got some really beautiful stuff.

I came away from that one hour feeling like the week had been a positive one, which, all things considered, is rather remarkable.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful father, who reads all of my blog posts and who, after reading the previous post and the comment about the boots, sent me a lovely email telling me to keep my chin up, and to buy the boots at his expense. He is a lovely man, and I'm sure my cast will thank him for saving their director from a nervous breakdown.

I love you.