Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Times: Boy Howdy!

Meanwhile, this is happening.

Noble Sissle and his Syncopated Sizzlers!

The Double Heart tour ventured to Fairview Park Library last night, and onto the Akron Public Library - NW Branch this afternoon. However, this does not mean I get a "night off", rather I will head back to Lakewood for my first experience seeing a complete run-through of These Are The Times.

Technical rehearsals begin for this Big Box show (as with every other Big Box show) on Sunday, four nights jam-packed with activity, incorporating video, lights and costumes into what is already a frenetic, wide-ranging piece. I haven't counted all of the different characters represented by these nine actors, but there are at least fifty.

I have no idea how long the play runs. That's part of what this entire shin-dig is about, having the opportunity to see what it is. Is the first act even close to one hour? No idea, there is just no idea to clock this thing without standing it up and moving it around. The decision not to include any additional sound cues at all is, I feel, a good one, because I want to be aware of every pause. Recorded music between moments would only serve to make things take more time.

Tomorrow will be the final rehearsal in the rehearsal space, before loading out for CPT. Of course, I will miss that, Double Heart will be playing the Nordonia Library. As playwright, I am haunted by the words of Sinclair Lewis:
I haven’t slept for weeks! Nobody can say I haven’t given everything to the Federal Theatre, now it is all terrible. Come to New York and postpone the play a week. It is all terrible. It is all a failure.
Whoa-ho-ho!

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