Doing the work

Yesterday was very intense for me. We finished blocking the show and ran the second act. During the morning (blocking sections of the middle and the end of the second act) we got to a section of the story where Ann, our leading lady, does something very naughty, downright despicable actually. Prior to yesterday, that action happened off-stage, so we needed to, in the next scene, use little tricks of dialogue and intention to let the audience know what had been done. This ultimately bothered us because it felt like exactly what we were doing, which is avoiding dealing with the issue as writers.

It's a very tricky moment though, balancing exactly how she comes to do this deed. As an audience, we HATE that she does it, but we understand why she does it and know that we very likely would do the same thing.

So Andrew and I had come up with this concept for what amounted to a dream sequence that showed images in Ann's head that, we thought, added up to an explanation of the emotions that drive her to do this thing (I know I'm being cryptic, but you gotta come see the show to really see what I'm talking about...) Andrew sketched out music and it looked very compelling on paper.

Then we all got into the room and it didn't feel right. I won't bore you with all the details of why, but I do want to share what happened next, which was rare in my experience. We all just stood around and talked it through: Andrew and I, Eric and Karma, our wonderful smart actors, we stood there in the rehearsal hall for an hour and just talked through what everyone was seeing and feeling at this moment in the show: what came before it, what comes after, who these people are, the theatrical tone that has been set, and on and on.

Now this may sound like what you'd expect to happen on the first day of rehearsal as we all sit around in our turtlenecks and sip Italian coffees, but not so much. These are the talks, I'm finding, that are impossible to schedule and can only come about when enough groundwork has been laid that the story's arc is hanging out there in the room for everyone to see. This is something that you just cannot see on the page or hear in a table read. This is theatre in 3 dimensions and I truly believe that that hour was the first time that I really understood what everyone means when they speak of theatre as the most collaborative of art forms.

Honestly, it was an excruciating hour for me. It's tough for me to look someone in the face and say "Nope, I don't agree with that and here's why." or to throw a bizarre image out into the group that I know I don't understand but that's been sticking in my head. It's the kind of hour that can only happen when a level of trust and respect has been built in the room upon which real dialogue and collaboration can occur. It was a wonderful, magical hour I will never forget.

Man, I hope we're not all wrong.