Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to music and eating a few Halloween candies, since I only had a sandwich earlier in the day. What that has to do with the price of ball peen hammer is anyone’s guess. Actually, a ball peen hammer is anyone’s guess. Actually, this paragraph, thus far, is anyone’s guess. And now, before I continue these here notes, may I just say, Ladies and Gentlemen? There, I said it. Do you know why? Because saying “ladies” has become the latest in the PC nonsense. Apparently, saying ladies and gentlemen might trigger someone who doesn’t like gender stereotypes. Can you believe I am even typing this, but it’s been all over the Internet because British Equity has abolished the use of the term in its theaters. Well, sorry, that triggers ME. Soon, there will be no words we can say without offending someone somewhere on the planet. I can’t keep track of all the words that are no longer acceptable, and I don’t care to keep track of them. It’s gotten completely ridiculous, if you ask me. I has spoken.
Yesterday, I said “ladies” about four hundred times, and not once did I feel triggered. But I did feel triggered by the word triggered. Go know. I got about eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, did a little work at the piano, and then I went and had a chicken salad sandwich for the meal o’ the day. It was yummilicious. Then I went and picked up a couple of packages, came home, and relaxed. I listened to music, had a few telephonic conversations, shaved, and then it was time to mosey on over to the theater for our first rehearsal of the week, and our fourth rehearsal. I decided to finish blocking the three pages left of act two (act two has one of the great funny curtain lines ever written – Miss Preen says it), and then move directly into act three. And I did all of act three save for two pages, so that was a good night’s work. Barry Pearl joined us as Banjo, and I knew we’d have fun figuring out his stuff, and boy did we. But the biggest comic thing of the entire evening happened because I asked a question about Miss Preen and Kay and I got the idea at the same time, and I think the resulting comic business that it led to will get some pretty big laughs. We came up with funny stuff for Barry, too. It’s all fun and I think everyone is having a good time. I’m pretty much leaving the actors alone at this point, save for the blocking, but starting on Wednesday, we’ll begin getting into the energy I need from the characters, which, in this kind of play, is absolutely key. Anyway, everyone’s having a good time, I think.
After that, I came right home, relaxed, listened to more music and had a long telephonic call.
Today, I can sleep in a bit, then I’ll do the usual morning stuff, I’ll eat something light but fun, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then do some work at the piano and at the computer until it’s time to be on my way to this evening’s rehearsal. The plan is to finish the last two pages of act three, then go back and review act two in its entirety, followed by a review of all of act three. That should take the entire evening.
Tomorrow, I have a meeting at one, then a lunch meeting directly afterwards, then we have our rehearsal. The plan is to assemble the play, as I like to call it. That means starting at the top and going through each act, stopping to clean up and tighten blocking. But by the end of the evening, we’ll have finished doing that, at least that’s the hope. Thursday, I have a meeting at noon, and then rehearsal in the evening. I think I’ll run each act but doing detail work as we do. We’re off on Friday. Then on Saturday we’ll have our first real run-through and from then on we do run-throughs at every rehearsal, followed by detail and clean-up work. I’m not sure whether we’ll rehearse on Sunday or not – it’s up to me, actually, but it might not be a bad idea to at least run the show, which would only take a couple of hours.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in a bit, do morning stuff, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, work at the piano and the computer, and then rehearse. Today’s topic of discussion: What are the new PC things that you absolutely loathe and think are completely ridiculous? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, ladies and gentlemen, happy to have gotten act three blocked.