Day off? Maybe

So I woke up thinking that maybe today I'd take a day off from learning lines, but I probably won't. It has been going so well that I think I should keep the ball rolling. Though I do have to say that I went over the twelve pages I am up to now (did I tell you? twelve of twenty two!) with Bette and I did find that I am paraphrasing a little too much in some places. It's mostly little stuff, and no one else would notice, but it does, sometimes, hurt the music of the language a bit . . . I just want to get the play down fairly solidly and then go back and buff it up. At the risk of redundancy though, this whole line learning thing, though a heck of a lot of work, is coming fairly easily. Speaks well for the health of what is left of my brain!

I had intended to write yesterday because we had a very good rehearsal on Thursday night. But first: I went to an audition at equity Thurs. afternoon. It was a three day call for You Can't Take It With You and there are multiple roles in my age range. Now EPAs (equity principal auditions) are notorious because often they are required whether or not they intend to cast from the call, but this one said that all roles are open; and we had happened upon the film on the tube the other day . . . two days later I find out about the audition . . . hmmm . . . sometimes I think I'm being led somewhere. Also, the play opens its pre-Bway tryout in Boston on Sept. 24, my birthday! Ok. I have to go. I was planning on Friday (line up early and wait for a slot)but as it happened my daughter and some friends had to go into the city so I gave them a ride, then went to Equity. Now the last two times I went late to EPAs, like at 2 pm or something (they usually start at 9 am) they have been full to capacity with wait lists, no way to get in. I know it's a long shot; for a play like this with this many widely varied roles. I get there are 3:30 and there are plenty of slots! I couldn't believe it. Oh, and I used a bit from Old Hickory as my comedy monologue, though de-hillbillied a bit. It went pretty well. I wasn't sure whether to use the 'seduced in the car' part of it, especially when I found out that the person I was auditioning for was a young lady, but I went for it . . . and just used a character that was as surprised at what happened to him as everyone else.

That night at rehearsal, Wallace asked a lot of good questions, stuff that I haven't been exploring much yet, but he got the wheels turning: who are these people; how'd they meet; what does he do for a living; what was their life together like . . . all stuff that forms the backbone for the character, not stuff that the audience ever finds out about, but stuff that makes the characters richer. And for the first time I started working sans script in hand. Boy did that feel good. We were able to start exploring physical life and really made progress. Sometimes rehearsing and learning lines and all that can be a real slog . . . but this isn't. Wallace is fun to work with, and we are very simpatico.

I just realized the other day, though that we only have about seven weeks or so until the performance date. It'll be here before you know it.