It's Getting Busy Down Here

I left this morning at 7:30 on my bike for breakfast.

Once again meeting very intriguing people at Olga's. I had to tear myself away to make it in time for the Rotary meeting. This was followed by Improv comedy, which was followed by lunch with friends, then a rehearsal for music at the Valentines Day Dinner Party.....

I do like being busy!

We had our second rehearsal for the play last night. One of the primary reasons I started nibbling around acting was the director.

This guy was a pro in Hollywood for 30 years as an actor then he directed theater in Washington State for about 8 years.

So he is a pro and the plays he has directed here in Boquete have been over-the-top fantastic. He has taken actors that were marginal in other plays and elicited great performances from them.

I am as interested in how he does this as I am in acting in the play.

Good coaches are rare. When one shows up, I am interested.

The way he works is simple. We read a piece of the play. He stops us from time to time and tells us WHAT TO DO...not what not to do. He adds interpretations of the characters. At the end of the reading, he reviews his notes with us and we re-read small pieces of the play.

Then we do it again.

Now that is simple.

Deceptively simple. Because I am starting to learn how thoroughly he KNOWS the play. He actually knows what EACH word is for...how it is used...what is the intention behind it...where the character is coming from.

He slowly moves us toward the performance that he see and wants.

He has stated many times, this is a process, working the lines, a little by little, toward the final product.

Last night, I watched a 6'-5" bald guy, who is playing a women in drag, evolve into a hilarious character in 2 hours...falsetto and high giggles and all. The transformation was incredible!

I trust him. So it is his problem to get us in shape for the play. All we have to do is do the work.

The pressure is off. And, it is HIS problem to get me to the point where I know my lines. I will do the work but he can do the worrying..

Does this sound a little like wishful thinking? A little boy whistling in the dark to ward off the demons?

Well, the "I trust him" part is real. And I love watching him coach. We'll see about the "learning the lines" stuff.