The final stretch

Directing two new plays in the Wedge with both playwrights present at the productions here was such a unique opportunity. New play process is always a different animal-dependent on the director/playwright collaboration, casting, the rewrite process, and production resources. It's inspiring to have seen two new plays grow so much in my brief but intensive rehearsal processes here at the Hangar, and to have worked with such brave, talented, enthusiastic collaborators. Every day brings a new possibility of deepening the work or throwing it all out and starting from scratch, and being humbled by the greater goal of serving the play in its current incarnation. The big questions arise-what do we want to experiment with in this rehearsal process that will unearth further development of this piece? What specific character arcs or events are we tracking, and are they functioning onstage differently than they function on the page? How will this cast of actors inform the future life of this text? Are there dramaturgical questions to tackle on our feet or to be tabled for the playwright to wrestle with alone? Do we want to "freeze" the script to see a polished staging on its feet, or do we want to privilege process over product, and keep the rewrites coming, even after opening? On Love in the Time of Channukah, Josh and I focused on further definining characters through focused rewrites and larger than life staging choices through choreography and montage work, so that the dna of each relationship was defined not only through the sharp, hilarious and often brutally honest language, but through every stage picture, sound cue, and lighting shift. The moments "in between" became just as expressly narrative as each plot-driven event in the script. We had a blast working on this piece with an amazing cast, in an extremely positive rehearsal room with an incredible amount of trust in each other's work throughout the process. As is always the case with comedy, so much was learned about the play after we opened and invited our audiences in. What reads? What doesn't? What did we think was funny that brought people to tears? What did we revere as serious that made audiences burst into laughter? Each night front-of-house gave the ok to pack in 20-30 standing room only folks from the waiting list and we were all thankful when the weather cooled down because 60+ bodies plus 90 degree summer heat is not exactly pleasant in the good old Wedge! The show ended up running 10 minutes longer on our closing night because of an incredibly vocal audience, and it was amazing to see how attuned the actors were to listening in the moment and truly honoring how incredibly present their audience was every step of the way, without ever sacrificing the integrity of the storytelling or the rhythms of the language as written on the page. There was a remarkable sense of liveness that was infectiously satisfying to both performers and audience members alike in the room. Needless to say, we had a really great time and were sad to strike the show and say goodbye to such a rewarding process.

My favorite part of rotation three actually had nothing to do with theater at all: It involved Channukah's cast beating the pants off of Armchair's cast in a kickball game replete with bleeding limbs, heckling, impromptu dance breaks and a random Scottish guy that showed up at the last minute and proved to be our secret weapon.

It's amazing that we are now launching into our final rotation of shows! Next up is Adventures of a Bear Called Paddington. At this point we've blocked half the play, and we go into spacing on Saturday. My how time flies! See you at kiddstuff!!