Well it's coming along. It's weird. The set is practically finished. We are almost all off book (meaning our lines are learned and we no longer need the scripts in our hands). We still have to call for "Line" when we flub but that's expected as we are trying to get used to the set, props, our acting, exits and entrences on to the stage during each scene. It's a lot to know. Being in ANY theatre production is a lot more physically and emotionally exhausting than any non-actor would ever think. You definitely exert the mind, the body AND even the spirit so by the time the show ends you are so so spent. Books have documented that the stress levels an actor endures on an opening night performance is equivalant to a car accident victim. How's that for a fact!? That said: The way I feel now, a week before opening...considering the burden of the show in some ways falls in my hands, I'd say by opening night, it will feel like two 18 wheeler tractor trailers in a 120mph head-on-collision! If it all comes together, it should make for a very entertaining show. We had one of the best fight coreographers in the theater biz work out our "physical" scenes. This means we have a fight call everynight before performance, which means getting to the theater about 2 hours before curtain to run through each physical scene. The reason being, when you're on stage and your emotions start to run high, and your adrenaline starts pumping and you have a staged fight, you can forget about safety, get a little out of control, and someone will get hurt. So we have to go over it and over it so the "control" aspect stays engrained in our psyche. Even when your character is out of control, there is a method to controlling what appears to be uncontrolled actions to the audience. Does that make any sense?

Anyway, Saturday January 21, we have tech rehearsal from 10am to 11pm. This is a cue to cue. This is when you go through each moment or action in each scene so the lighting and sound designers can figure out where to aim each light and how to fade in and out of each scene. It is also a rehearsal for the stage hands to get a feel for changing the scenery/props/and furnature for each scene. It is tedious and it is when the cast bonds the most before the production due to lots of down time between light and scene changes. Also, we get real delerious and laughter spreads throughout the theater as well as agitation.

I do have a cute little bit of a "half" love scene with the great Heidi James. You'll see what I mean. It's amazing how coreographed love scenes are. My counterpart is very attractive so there is the potential "arousal" problem. But we are all professionals right? Heeeelll No!

I said to Heidi, "I apologize in advanced if I get aroused. I also apologize if I DON'T get aroused..."