Last Rehearsal in the City

Last night was the final rehearsal in the city. I'm very excited about working in Woodstock again; and though I won't be able to stay up there this time, the commute is just about the same, time-wise, as getting into Manhattan and when you're at Byrdcliffe everything just sort of tumbles off of you. It is a wonderful place to be. Wallace (for those of you not paying attention: Wallace Norman, producing artistic director of Woodstock Fringe and director of Old Hickory) has assembled his 'dream cast' (his words not mine) and it is a very very simpatico bunch of people. Victor Truro I know from the playwrights unit and he is a pro, been around a while and a sweet sweet man, Michael Bergen has been to the workshop a few times and I saw him in a play in last year's Fringe, he's doing wonderful work as well, and Alessandro Ciari, who plays my son is just a really deep young actor. He has a lot on his shoulders carrying this play but he's doing an excellent job. Bette and I play Alessandro's conflicted parents. Bette is a force of nature. Our scenes together with Alessandro (and later with Victor)call for a lot of colors and are very challenging, but being on stage with Bette is always special. We've worked together, three times I think, always memorable but being in the same play doesn't mean having scenes together necessarily but this time we do. We did a lot of scenes together in Ed Morehouse's class, which were always highlights (especially when Ed referred to us one time as the Lunts . . . that kind of praise does not come easily from him; I think that was a scene from Come Back Little Sheba). And I can't say enough about working with Wallace. An amazing person who wants nothing more than to make the experience of working in theater the deep pleasure it should be. He's a pro and he treats you like one (and is loving and funny to boot - he keeps thing tight and loose at the same time . . . no mean feat!) All he has to do is ask and I'm there. He is a lover of theater and of people in it . . . which is one of the things that makes us a 'dream cast' for him . . . we're all on the same page. Keeping the Fringe going for ten years is quite an accomplishment! I have to mention our two hard working interns as well . . . Clarisse and Stephanie. Can't be easy being an intern, but they seem to be having fun and they will both get acting credits out of this as well. So now a few days off and then we start intense work in Woodstock. I can't wait!