Like a Sack of Potatoes - the saga continues

We're in a good place with rehearsals. It's work but as my character says in the piece 'work never scared me none'. In fact, there is not much I'd rather be doing. Now, if you asked me if I would rather had more time to get the piece together so we could go about it at a more leisurely pace, the answer would be a resounding yes. But you take the hand you're dealt.

I really think the performance on Sunday has the potential to be phenomenal. It is a very good story and when I hit it on all cylinders it should be funny/chilling in just the right way. I alway think in terms of 'the story of Jerry and the dog' from the Zoo Story, or even the entire play the Zoo Story. It sets you up with humor, yeah the guy's an unknown quantity but there are a lot of laughs at the beginning, and then the screw starts to turn and the intensity level goes up and by the time the play is over . . .wham! It has smacked you upside the head. At least that's how it was for me the first time I read it, and it's how if felt when I performed it on stage. Anyway, the story of Jerry and the dog is quite an amazing monologue and it takes the audience on a funny/dark journey into the mind of an amazing person. Had I never performed that piece I don't think I would have had the guts to start with the solo work . . . maybe . . . but we'll never know. Up to the time I started doing solo pieces it was absolutely the one and only time that I have had the pleasure of working an audience in quite that way . . . you can feel them start to change . . .

At any rate, Like a Sack of Potatoes, has the potential to be a real knock out. All I have to do is nail it! Rehearsals are good prep for that, you lay the foundation and if that foundation is solid . . . you're ready for anything.

Under three weeks to learn and rehearse a twelve page piece is a bit more of a cram than I might have liked, but I felt like the focus had to be on Old Hickory until it was over and then I could transition to the next one. And then after this Sunday I can focus on the reading in late April which, thankfully, gives me plenty of time to work on the script.

So exciting stuff. I went to a Self-Production Boot Camp at the Dramatists Guild last weekend. A very good program. Most of the people weren't doing solo pieces so the money they were talking about was a bit more than it would take me if I decide to go that route, but it is one more step in the process of wrapping my head around what exactly it takes to put up a show . . . there is a lot to consider.

I'd write more but guess what . . . I have to go work on my lines while I can!