Greetings from Heatwave 2010: July Edition:
WIPE AWAY is, a single line change aside, frozen. My work as the playwright is pretty much complete. It is an odd feeling – living and breathing these characters for weeks and months (and in this case, YEARS), and now becoming much more of an observer in the process. But Jessica and Thomas are creating a Gina and Travis all their own at this point, and it’s exciting to swoop in every other day or so and see how the play is growing in their performances. What I am most surprised by is how much I’ve discovered about the two shadow characters in the play, Dustin and Ray. Each set of actors must create these unseen characters in their interactions with each other onstage, and I’ve learned some surprising new twists about them by watching these actors.
Re our director, Nick – I marvel at how artfully he is able to communicate with the actors. It’s a tricky business, directing plays. You can’t give away all the secrets you’ve discovered in the script, yet you must be open to what the actors bring to the table and flexible to allow change. It’s all about change, and Nick is able to roll with those much more gracefully than I. Thank God I have the pages of my script to clutch!
Heading into more rehearsals/run-throughs and no more rewrites! I can’t wait to see the mailboxes – rusted or otherwise.