So everyone is here. The actors arrived at the theater this morning and are inside the rehearsal hall conducting equity business. Actors’ Equity is the union of actors and stage managers, and they gotta do private union stuff at the beginning of every rehearsal hall. Voting on rehearsal hours, breaks, etc. Everyone else is gathering outside the hall, milling about, shaking hands, and waiting to come in for the “meet and greet.”

I’ve already seen Felix (set designer) and Karen (costume designer). I can’t wait to say hi to Monette (we had a really fun dinner over the summer) and meet all the other actors. At the Meet and Greet, Emily will say a few words, Shirley Jo will say a few words, the designs will be presented, and then most of the theater’s staff will leave so that the cast can read through the script for the first time together. I can’t decide whether or not to stay for the read-through. On the one hand, I’d like to hear Lydia’s new draft read out-loud. On the other hand, I have lots of work to do, and I have this persistent cough which might be annoying/distracting to the actors. So I’m back and forth, and I guess I’ll make a decision at the last minute.

It’s funny - cause in some ways first rehearsals feel like beginnings, and in other ways they feel like ends. This is the beginning of the rehearsal process, but the end of the casting process, the end of pre-production, the end of a certain type of design work (now they have to start building stuff, and it is harder to make changes) and the end of a certain type of re-writing (now, Lydia’s re-writes will be in response to what she hears in the rehearsal room). Suddenly, this production that everyone has been thinking about and working on for months and months and months is in the actors’ hands, and it is now traveling inescapably and inexorably toward a production. Everything up till now has been in preparation for today.

So I also want to clarify something. I’ve been talking a lot about how many days there are till opening (35!!). That may seem like a ton, but its important to understand that opening comes after many many preview performances. So as of today, there are only 28 days until the first public performance.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 10:58 am and is filed under Get Connected, Stick Fly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.