10:am sure seemed early to me! But our trusty staff had coffee ready, and off we went. Today was what is called a "straight 6." Equity allows us 34 rehearsal hours a week. We use 20 from Tues-Fri and the other 14 on Sat and Sun. 7 a day, right? But, Equity says that if you have a 7 hour rehearsal you have to have a one-hour break - so, the Equity actors and stage manager take a vote as to whether they'd rather do a "straight 6", with a 20 min. break (in addition to regular required breaks) - A "straight 6" counts as 7 hours to Equity.
Clear? It really means that we all get to be away from home for 6 hours rather than 8.
But, it can be grueling. Especially when there are only 2 actors. I try to keep an extra eye on their stamina and their voices.
We made great headway today. Got through another 15-17 pages. The actors are off book this far as well. We worked a lot of the physical movement - they need to be natural and comfortable, but still move around in certain areas for the sake of the audience. So we need to find a reason the character would move - does he need to get something - does she want to get away from him - etc. Their motivation. We're working very collaboratively - the way I love to work. Everyone seems comfortable in making suggestions, and we try it various ways. And the actors are also great at taking direction - so man, I'm a happy camper!
I brought in my old clock-radio telephone as a phone prop. Not one person there had ever seen one before! Okay, so it was a bar mitzvah git to my now 36-yr-old son, but still! They were doubly shocked to find I had just replaced it last week.
About 3:30 you could just see the actors fade....so we wrapped up a little early.
I came home and took a 3 hour nap.
And so it goes
Janet
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