cuts and changes

last night was great- we had rehearsal from 4-6, and it was good, helpful.  The show ran just a little over 1.30- that's good- much quicker.  Last night i was able to see some stuff I needed to cut and change and tweak and work on.  I got to bed late and i woke up early.  I did the cuts and e-mailed them to all.  I feel better.  I feel a sense of satisfaction at getting rid of the muck.  i know i have not answered all questions perhaps, but i feel closer.  my hope is that the cuts and changes will stream line things for the actors, (and audience!) so that scenes can run without that halting feeling of stop-start.  i made subtle changes and maybe i am being optimistic because i hope for big returns on small clarifications.  anyway, the good thing is- this development process allows me to do this- give it to the actors and director, have them implement it and see how it goes tonight.  i suspect there will be more as the show goes on.  have a good day, thank you for calling Parner, Moft and Gape.

well...

well... to blog or not when things don't go well.  i would not be being honest if i only blogged when i was gushing over how fabulous the actors are.  so although this is harder to put out there- I must say- i did not love the show last night.  not that there weren't many wonderful moments, scenes, but something was off.   it is so wild how theater does that- well b/c it is live- so there you have it.  it's like having a bad day, or losing your patience with you child when you've been the coolest mom for three days in a row, and then you ask yourself, who am I?  

Here are some thoughts:  It started off with stakes too low, the intensity of scene one was down. the audience was quiet and it wasn't a full house, and it was only their third night in front of an audience, they are still getting used to that, and i still feel they are waiting too long for some stuff, like stairs and entrances.  so not great- but still i didn't lose any hope- let's keep it in perspective- still only 13th rehearsal, so jeez what do we expect. best, r  

One performance in ... the playwright speaks

So, we dropped by Rebecca's kitchen yesterday, just before she was heading down to the theater for performance #2. She said,
"The show was ... "
"Puzzo and Liz in the bar afterward, and they were ... "
"It also makes me glad I'm not acting anymore ... "
Here's the video:

last night

last night was great- second night in - i think it was 4 or 5 minutes shorter, ahhh... this is a good thing; i imagine it will keep getting tighter each night. i hope for 4 minutes off tonight and then again on friday and again on sat. It ran 1.42, and it seems like a show that should be 1.30. but we are still working out cues etc. is faster always better? i suppose no, but a lot of times it helps- just to go. the actors again killed me- there is this one new silent bit with Dick- though i have to say that the actors told me last night at Acme Bar, that they can hear the only ones laughing at it are rubin and I- that sort of cracks me up. the director and playwright laughing at something in the play that the audience doesn't. we think they will eventually. but it is too priceless to cut. okay this is crazy: so you know how they had only 10 rehearsals- yes only ten and then a performance in front of an audience- well there is an office phone that rings a lot during the play, and the 3 performers/office workers take turns answering it- well puzzo and liz told me the first night that when the phone would ring, they would look at each other in terror b/c they really had no idea who was to answer the phone- i can't imagine that anxiety. did i mention i am happy not to be acting? watching this process, and what the actors do, just once again confirmed that i am calmer as a person writing- sitting on my arse, and writing, than performing, and rehearsing and memorizing- i remember loving it- but it also gave me anxiety. i imagine when my daughter is grown and i am older and calmer i will do it again. i think so. well, see you at the theater i hope. xo rebecca

rehearsals

rehearsals have gone extraordinarily well- so well i won't bore you with the blah blah blah of how well.  all i will say is my dreams of having fun in rehearsal have come true.  the actors, as i thought they would, crack me up- i am laughing the loudest at appropriate and inappropriate times.  this might seem conceited; "loud laughing playwright laughs hardest at own play"- i have a fear of this when the show goes up, will people say, gee the playwright really thinks she is so goddamn funny.  but i must say- it is truly b/c the actors are beyond funny, they slay me.  they have been so emotionally available and inventive, and John has so beautifully directed with clarity and space to allow them to do their thing, and discover, while shaping the play precisely.  there i did it, i bored you with the mushy gushyness of my feelings, i shall stop now. Julian told me yesterday that Harvey Korman died.  He was a great comic genius, and so lovely.  Goodbye Harvey, thank you.   

tweaking

tweaking this week, in order to get a final draft to the office to print for first rehearsal next tuesday. the cast and I and staff have been e-mailing back and forth, re: rehearsal schedule, usually or sometimes that can stress me out, wanting everyone to have their needs met, and mine, but i wasn't stressed this time, i knew it would be fine, and i was calm, i think this is me growing up, which feels so good. paula pizzi was the original director for this play in the earlier days of readings and workshops, she is now the dramaturg. she was very helpful with catching things i couldn't see or was too lazy to see. she suggested we meet once more, I was like, "no, it's fine." she said i think you might be missing an opportunity for the script to be really ready, and instead of being in denial mode or I'm not in the mood to be a perfectionist mode which is where i could have gone or have in the past, i got off my arse, and said okay, thanks, lets read it again, wow, it was really helpful. so now i've been tweaking; commas, changing too many mother fuc....to other exciting useful, expletives, but most importantly making sure that i am including small moments to connect the dots of everyone's individual storyline. i like when small changes make big differences. i have a lot of dishes to do, dishes never really stop, they just keep going like laundry- my relationship to dishes and laundry is usually indicative to my relationship with my life at the moment. right now i really don't want to do the dishes, but i am also fine with that it has to get done. and listening to bob dylan while doing dishes is actually really exciting, so that will help. i will have more coffee. peace, rebecca p.s. Obama 08!

coffee, the play and my daughter

next day, another glorious coffee morning, things might turn to shit later, but for now, ahh...

i meant to say yesterday that in addition to liz as carol Burnett, puzzo as Tim conway, Yetta Gottesman is my very own Vicky Lawrence, and Julian my Harvey Korman. I recently discovered that the carol burnett show is on you tube- go to youtube.com and punch in carol burnett, they have a lot of the best skits - her show was on from 1973-1977 I believe. anyway, if you see the show, you might not see the carol burnett influence, but it was just inspired by. It is also about loneliness, the choices we make for survival, and other things that I was struggling with at the time. I love working with John Rubin, the director, he is a man who does everything at 200%, I always feel so communicated with and fully responded to, he is also a bit manic and a bit of a genius. Manic is said in a good way, here. I am supposed to talk about process; the first scene came out pretty whole, I wrote the first scene then the last, and they have had very little editing, the middle is always the hardest for me. I have to get my child ready for school, if i don't say "brush hair, teeth, pick out clothes" in a very involved way, it doesn't happen, I can't say it here from the computer, she doesn't take me seriously. best, rebecca

May 15th

i don't particularly like this picture of me, not b/c of the picture, b/c I think Jinn Kim takes great photo's, but of course, b/c it's me, and how many people like a picture of themselves. One eye is sort of bulgy and I look forlorn. anyway, I just had to say that, but it does look like me, and I like Jinn's photos. I am very excited to have Penalties & Interest going up with my beloved theater co. Labyrinth at the Public (a magical place). It is 7:15 a.m. I am drinking coffee, this is my favorite time of day, when the world is quiet. My cats lay, licking themselves peacefully. This play was somewhat inspired by the Carol Burnett Show, i kept seeing Puzzo, and Liz (lab members) as a carol burnett/tim conway team. After many autobiographical pieces I was so enthused to write something beyond my usual fare of diabetes, divorce, depression. so what better escape and change than theater of the absurd, or theater of the absurdish. it has been nothing but fun writing this piece. and writing for specific actors, which i have never done before, was all the more joyful, as I can hear how they would say stuff. i feel like puzzo, yetta, liz, and then a bit later julian acosta and more recently Mums, have been happily spending time with me in my small upper-west side apartment, they make me laugh all the time. The cats don't mind when I talk to myself while writing, they really don't mind much. i always wanted to blog, b/c i like to write stream of consciousness- but i felt too old for myspace and facebook, ha! i am an old 39 in some ways, and young in others. maybe that is how everyone or many people feel. I did 3 units of insulin about an hour ago, so i need to get food in me quick before i up, up there it is, hand starts shaking. i'll be back. bowl of kashi cereal in almond milk, i know, i know, i am so crunchy! see you, rebecca