January 30th, 1997
Spectacular
is how I felt after last night.
This week in rehearsal we have been putting together/structuring the 1st act.
Now that's a hard enough task as it is, but I also decided to add some scenes and
ideas that really weren't tested enough and had shaky contexts. It took two days
just to get through the 1st act (which had about 20 things in its running order alone).
Last night we put it in the show, with full knowledge that the 1st act alone would last
over an hour. It ended up being about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
It felt like 30 minutes.
Almost everything we wanted to achieve worked beautifully. I don't think, in all my years,
I have worked on a block of something in rehearsal and had it show up so well the first night
we tried it in front of an audience. It really went well. I was very proud of the cast and
Ruby and Craig and myself.
Chickens
Don't count them before they are hatched. Tonight it could suck.
Excited
Regardless, I am very excited.
We are exactly two weeks before opening and I feel good. All of the concerns
with too many people sitting are gone. Most of the concern about too many 2 person
scenes is gone. A lot of the concern of cast balance has been alleviated.
Now I'm going to pretend like we haven't even begun and make it all that much better.
Color Schemes
I didn't see the 1st half of the second act last night because I was talking about
color schemes. Talking about color schemes with Lyn. God, I love her.
What she brings to this process is invaluable, concepts that would never occur to me.
We were discussing the color scheme for the set, and not only the set but the
whole room. She wants to tie in the whole room with the set in a very subtle
way. Every wall, prop, costume, etc. will work as a complimentary color to
the set. We're also working with Craig to have the lights do the same thing.
Here's a real quick look at the shape of the set.
It's kinda sloppy but you get the
idea. It will be a dark gray on the back wall with progressively lighter grays
on the walls as you travel downstage. Each of the greys have a lean toward blue
or a tint of red that, according to Lyn, can be made vibrant or transform completely
through lighting.
Craig Taylor
Craig Taylor has been the stage manager at Second City for years. I trust his opinion
completely. He has seen more freeze tags, or switches, than any human being on the
planet. That alone would drive anyone crazy. But he's not crazy and far from it. Open to
anything, gentle, and effective. Not many people realize, especially in
improvisation, how much the person on the lights drives the show. His daughter Sam is
a wonderful kid of Second City. Craig Taylor's jokes are frightening.
Ruby Streak
When I first saw a show at Second City, Ruby was behind the piano. I remember
being intrigued by her then, never thinking in a million years I'd be working with her.
She's a classically trained musician and in the last show and this one we get to enjoy that.
In the scene NPR, she more or less improvises a beautiful new classical piece each night.
I'm sure the audiences think it's the same piece from night to night but it isn't. It's always
different. I think that even she takes her abilities for granted. Ruby Streak. What the fuck.
Ruby and Craig are a harmonious married couple who create for years or a moment in a Sartre comedy purgatory.
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