Away for a few days

Visiting the folks for a few days so I figured I should bring the blog up-to-date, before I go. We had a good rehearsal last night. We're all the way up to the Catfish scene, which is good because the multiple personality aspect of this is the most daunting. But it is going well. We're finding the beats and figuring things out . . . it never ceases to amaze me, when looking at this piece through actor's eyes, what is there that I didn't even realize was there. Or what can be brought out with characterization that is suggested in the script. I know this sounds elementary, and maybe it's because I haven't worked with this kind of focus for so long, but it's like chipping mud off a rock and finding a diamond inside! Very rewarding to say the least.

Wallace continues to work his magic. He makes suggestions, and doesn't try to sell them too hard . . . he asked me after if I felt 'bullied'. Please! Yes he's insightful and has sometimes provocative ideas, but it's always done with respect and a real desire to make the piece the most it can be. I have been bullied by directors before, and it ain't fun. Specifically, when we did the 'reading' of 'The Grass Eats the Horse', based on the life and writings of a poet whose name escapes me right now, and written by Eric Blau, of Jacque Brel is Alive and Well fame; I got involved because Bette is a friend of Eric's wife (Elly Stone, if I may be permitted to name drop), and they wanted her in the piece, so they asked me as well. Then the director, whose name I forget, but it's just as well . . . anyway a Julliard grad who wanted his buddies in the piece . . . he liked Bette, but he tried everything he could to make me quit . . . of course, that just brought out the West Virginia in me and I held fast, no matter what he dished out. It was a good time (except for the asswipe director); Roger Serbagi was in it, a real sweetheart and a wonderful actor. Nice audiences. We did it at St. Marks Church in the Bowery, which also made it special. I thought I did a credible job and Bette and I got some scenes together, and that was nice. But the director . . . so I know from bullying directors, and Wallace ain't even close. I don't think abuse is even in his vocabulary . . . every single one of our rehearsals seems like it's over before it begins . . . I'm having a blast!!!