Tony,
Glad you read the play and hear what you have to think. Valid VALID concerns about the play....luckily, we've started addressing all of them!
RE: Relationships. Yes, most crucial part of the play. There's only two characters and it's definitely "man vs. man" conflict. Why these two can't get together....and perhaps the biggest conflict that the play hinges on, Kayleen's "powers." Does she have them or doesn't she? Does Doug think she does? Does Kayleen believe it? Lots to discuss. I've talked to them each individually and they both have their verdict...but I didn't let them tell the other person. I was reminded of Cherry Jones in Doubt...she said through 500 performances, she never knew if the male actor in the play "did it"...i.e. Inappropriately touched the boy. The director had talked with the actor and they made up their mind, but never told Cherry. Thought that was nice:)
But yes, relationship is key. We've done a lot of backstory work with the etudes and improvisations. We also played a game last night called "Remember When?" peter and kelly sit back to back and one of them starts "Remember when..." and they make a statement about the characters' past. The other actor says, "Yes, I do..." then elaborates on the invented memory. Nice way to create a backstory and voice things out loud. Blair had us do it in shows he directed.
RE: Scene changes. Big concern with that. I really think it'll work...even with the chalk. The set will be 6 boxes that they actors can move around. Within the boxes are all their makeup, chalk, clothes, everything. All their changes are done onstage. I'm thinking ballpark 3 minutes for each scene change. If that holds true, we're still looking at under 90 minutes, which I'm fine with. We're still experimenting with order of operations within scene changes. For each scene there's 1) Moving blocks 2) Changing Costumes 3) Applying Makeup 4) Draw with chalk. Adding the chalk might end up being too much (though I don't think it will)....so if it does, we cut it and we haven't lost much.
RE: Time passage between scenes. Good question that we're still answering. Before each scene, I always ask, "Why didn't you guys see each other?" "How could you not FIND the other person...you had 5 years!" We're just starting to answer those questions for ourselves. Mining the script, I don't know if he really gives answers to them. He gives clues, but not definitive answers. Honestly, that's what i LOVE about this script. There are several different interpretations to the characters/play/scenes that we could choose. There's clues to justify the choices. Example: Why does Kayleen have stomach problems that lead her to vomiting? Bulimic? Maybe, but we didn't find a lot of support for that...i.e. no mention of how she hates eating. I had posed a question to Kelly: Has Kayleen ever been molested by her father? Kelly did some research with "molestation" + "vomiting".....BOOM. TONS of information and links! So Kelly discovered that the vomiting/stomach issues were born from her father molesting her. Then we had to test that against the script and we found that it really REALLY worked. Kayleen's mom left when Kayleen was 11...we've decided that she left because she knew about the molesting but was jealous and left. Her dad then kept molesting her because he missed his wife, Kayleen's mom, and Kayleen looks an awful lot like her. So it survived the test and it's really explains a lot...the cutting, the inability to be intimate with a guy....inability to trust most anyone...how she builds walls to protect herself.
I think I could be better about leaving some moments alone. I'm trying to be diligent and go over everything, but there are moments that are already working and I need to be better about leaving those be. Still "fishing" myself when it comes to this whole directing thing...I'm sure I'll look back on this one day and see mistake after mistake...that's just what happens. But I feel good about where things are and where things are going.
The ONLY big thing I'm worried about is the chalk. Mainly because it's something i'm COMPLETELY putting on the show...it doesn't call for it in the script. But it's also the thing I'm most excited about. I think I can justify it via the fact that kids play with chalk....I don't know if you noticed, but in the stage directions at the start of each scene, Rajiv Joseph writes "The kids are now ___." KIDS. Not characters. So I'm kind of running with that. I will OF COURSE need to know you're opinion about it...if it just doesn't work. Warning though, we'll still have another couple of weeks to work on it....we're still learning about the chalk and what works and what doesn't work.
Let's go with Thursday for the run, ok? We rehearse at Park Bar, 2040 Park Ave in Detroit...right behind the FOX. We can find you a spot for your car right in front. And yes, I would definitely like to talk to you 1 on 1 after. Hopefully we can do it right after the run, but if nothing else, then maybe we can meet for dinner or something like we talked.
So glad you got a chance to read it. I've been excited to hear what you think...and I'll be excited to hear what you think about our run on Thursday:)
Sorry about the novel,
jordan
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