Last night was the “Company Dinner” for the Stick Fly cast. McCarter’s artistic staff does this for every show - the entire cast is invited over to either Emily or Mara’s house for a relaxed evening and a yummy dinner. It is a chance for them to unwind, relax, and get to know us and each other in a non-rehearsal setting. It was great fun.

I ended up in a fantastic conversation with one of the actors, who was telling me about rehearsals for Stick Fly. One of the things that this actor was saying was how rare it was to be in a play as an African-American and not feel “put down.” So many of the roles for African-Americans on our nation’s stages are stereotypical, or portray poor African-Americans, or are all about race and oppression. This actor was commenting how rare it was to have a play written for African-American performers that is a powerful, human story, that isn’t necessarily about race, but is about family, trust, and things that affect everyone. And that portrays African-Americans in a positive light. In any case, the actor was absolutely thrilled with Lydia’s work and with what a rare experience this has been.

The rest of the dinner was absolutely fun as well. The actors were shocked at how quickly the rehearsals have been progressing - Shirley Jo has almost finished blocking the entire first act of the play! I haven’t been in rehearsal in forever (maybe I’ll stop by this weekend again), because I’ve been so busy trying to do other parts of my job. But everyone seems happy and excited.

Oh yeah, and I drove costume designer Karen Perry back to her hotel at the end of the night. She is so fun!!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre

This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 11:52 am and is filed under General. 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.