earlier this week, i got home, flopped down on my bed, and actually said out loud, “now THAT’S what rehearsal is supposed to feel like.” i’m so happy to have everyone back in the room, to be staging so much of the show every day, to see the pieces start to click into place.
that thing happened where i’m so deep in making something that i barely had time to put anything in a section that wasn’t “making.” honestly, it’s a beautiful problem to have. anyway, scroll down for the good stuff.
reading.
finished vintage contemporaries by dan kois. made me want to read more laurie colwin. (most of the book actually has nothing to do with theater directing, but the below excerpts really nailed it.)
started mothers: an essay on love and cruelty by jacqueline rose.
also started tradition!: the highly improbably, ultimately triumphant broadway-to-hollywood story of fiddler on the roof, the world’s most beloved musical by barbara isenberg.
you’ve probably noticed at this point that i’m addicted to conversations between creative people. this week, i read four.
this one between annie baker and helen shaw about baker’s new film, janet planet. read it on the subway, marched into rehearsal, and immediately quoted the bit below.
this one between paula vogel and tina landau about the making of mother play. it brings me great joy to think of tina landau guiding jessica lange through viewpoints.
this one between sarah pidgeon and juliana canfield and jeremy o. harris about stereophonic, with a healthy dose of yale sidebarring from juliana and jeremy.
and this one between eli gelb and idina menzel, also about stereophonic, but especially about working with director daniel aukin and feeling like an underdog.
outside the conversation format, i also read this piece honoring elinor fuchs. i’ve written before about how much her “visit to a small planet” essay impacted me, but this piece reminded me i need to dive into the rest of her writing.
seeing.
leave if no response by abby fisher, directed by sarah shapiro and isabelle chirls at the tank. i am obsessed with queer love stories set in orthodox communities!
sophie, saawan, and i visited the morgan library to catch their beatrix potter exhibit before it closed.
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it absolutely rocks seeing stars like jon hamm, matt bomer, and david oyelowo talk about how great and useful intimacy directors are.
the “jonathan groff gets emotional and thus makes everyone else get emotional” world tour continues.
sex and the city continues to be the balm my brain needs after a full day.
went up on the roof with my roommates and watched the sun set.
hearing.
making.
we are — thank goodness — so back in cunnicularii rehearsals. we’ve got the whole team in the room again, we’re able to unmask, and we’re off to the races. i’m doing my best to pack two weeks of rehearsal into one in the hopes of getting back on track by saturday. so far, there’s hope of making it. (and my rabbit hand shadow puppets are getting really good!)
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on tuesday, we dove in headfirst. i got there early and set up the room myself. (usually i arrive at the same time as other folks and we do it together, but i actually find it very meditative to do it on my own sometimes.) willow, our extraordinary movement director, started introducing some choreography and intimacy exercises. we semi-staged a couple of scenes.
on wednesday, we staged some more new scenes and plugged camille into a few that we started last week.
on thursday, we tackled one of the biggest movement sequences, plus more scene work, then ended the day experimenting with some stage blood. tomorrow (the day that this email goes out), we’ll try to stumble through the whole show. ahhhhh! this will put us…. basically back on track with the schedule i had created before we lost most of last week! huge victory.
also — in case you didn’t catch it from the hints above, i’m giggling and kicking my heels because i get to announce a job that recently got solidified: i’m going to be associate directing a new production of fiddler on the roof starring jason alexander and directed by lonny price in los angeles this fall! i’m so happy to be getting to work with lonny again, especially on a show that means so much to both of us. if you’ve got any la recs, i want to know.
this week, i had a meeting with lonny and scenic designer anna louizos (who i know from scotland, pa and have admired since i saw in the heights as a kid). it was such a gift to sit in anna’s gorgeous studio and pore over her binders of research images. and obviously, i listened to the original broadway cast recording of fiddler on the subway beforehand and cried.
Thrilling all around. Pls teach me the hand puppets