Week 2, Part 1

Christmas is over. Suitably sated, the cast arrived for our first read-thorough. A strange situation. After auditioning, and call-backing (is that a word? I think maybe it should be) I had my ensemble but no parts assigned. So began a night of swapping and experimentation. No, not like that. God bless the cast. “You have a part but, in effect, you need to audition and audition again until I decide which one(s) you are best for.” Not an ideal beginning but necessary.

Interesting arisings from the first meeting:

1)     Scenes that are written to be very funny are not as strong as you think they are going to be.

2)     Scenes that are not, are.

3)     No matter how many times you re-write (and re-read) something, there will always be typos. And grammatical errors.

4)     Actors will read whatever words they think are on the page, not what is actually on the page.

5)     Sometimes this will result in a better line and should be taken on board.

6)     Sometimes the actor needs to try harder.

So far, so good…