This is the time where things start to get complete. And stressful. This is the time when the run-throughs start, and you start to get outside notes. This is the time where all the props and costumes show themselves. (Kudos to Jane Kelley for making, among other things, these amazing lunchboxes.) It's supposed to be a time of magic, where everything comes together, and all of the great parts of the play show their colors. They do. Unfortunately, so do the sub-par ones.There are many parts of the play that work out absolutely magnificently. The very end of the play always makes my heat skip a beat, and Natasha's unrestrained rage in the middle is beautiful. Watching Darius and Maddie converse on the side meanwhile, continues to make me smile. Gotta love friends. Gotta love emotion.
The thing is though, the best scenes are also the hardest to act, simply because they require so much emotion. The actors are so very enthusiastic already though, and it's hard to bring yourself to such an extreme point once, let alone repeatedly through rehearsals and six shows. Such a thing needs to be completely genuine in order to work. (Secret to great theater: drive your actors crazy.)
Direction certainly helps. Ideally, direction provides actors the tools and guidelines they need to get themselves to that point. This is especially essential in a play like this, where (apparently) understanding a single character is a group activity.
Let me put it out there that I am very possessive of 22 Stories. It's a natural side effect of my writing process. In order for me to finish something, I have to thoroughly immerse myself in its world and know all the characters like family. And while I try to be open for interpretation/etc, I know my pet peeve in staging: when people switch around sequences of events. This happens because this happens because this happens and on and on and on. If that gets scrambled, I get sour, no matter how much I may love you. Heads up to whoever works with me in the future.
Which is why talk between the playwright and the director is a Certified Good Thing. It's crucial that the two are on the same page for a play to make sense What's more, they are a lot of the time without realizing it. It helped a load for me to get to sit down and talk with Anna. I felt more at ease, and I got to see the rehearsal process through a different light altogether. People, your director has a really hard job. Treat her/him nicely. These talks also need to happen early, and frequently. Like cancer tests, so any problems are dealt with before they can get worse.
This doesn't mean, however, that these talks solve everything,. During the most recent run-through, there were still plenty of issues, as spectators so wonderfully pointed out. While it was good to have some of my views backed up, it was also time for me to follow my own advice and get lost in the play. While the directions help, and actor loses her/his soul if he/she spends too much time paying attention to what the director wants, the role is going to look stale. We've all seen performances like this. Good theater comes from within, regardless of all the nitpicky details. If the director pays attention to the details, he/she becomes a dictator. If a playwright does such, If I only focus on what's wrong, I forget to appreciate the play as a whole, and how far we've come.
This doesn't mean I can't make my voice heard, however. It is my play, after all. It just means that I have to pick and choose my battles. (Addendum: IT WORKED.) We do, after all, open in less than a weeks.
Speaking of which, have you bought your tickets yet? If not, you should! I can assure you, you're in for a great piece of theater.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=158089790933859
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