It's Just Too Silly!

"It's just too silly!" as Violet says.

Silly me, I've been forgetting to write to you, oh breaders! So sorry.
We opened. Went fabulously. Tho too chilly. Too, too silly and too, too chilly. But the play has been holding its own through any version of weather. Even a bit of rain in "hell" the other night. Interesting, eh? The last few nights have been gorgeous. It's supposed to just get nicer all through the weekend. So come on out!

The day before opening, my yoga teacher read this poem to us. It made me think of "Man and Superman", particularly the end, when Ann tells Jack to "go on talking". "Talking!?" he says, then everyone on stage laughs. What else can one do, but laugh?

It's from the 14th century, translated from the writer Hafiz:

Someone Should Start Laughing

I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
How are you?

I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
What is God?

If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,

If you think that the Sun and the Ocean

Can pass through the tiny opening
Called the mouth,

O someone should start laughing!

Someone should start wildly Laughing –
Now!

Other People's Children

"I don't know why it is that other people's children are so nice to me, and that my own have so little consideration for me."
Mrs. Whitefield to Jack Tanner

Yes, dear Breaders, I am a breeder. I, too, have two daughters just as Mrs. Whitefield does. And I must say that I sympathize with this phenomenon.

But "don't be silly and twist what I say into something I don't mean." I do love the darlings...and when they get past these teenage years I suspect they'll realize they feel the same towards me...

First Preview tomorrow night, 4th of July! If you see fireworks in the sky, it'll be the sparks of crackling wit, brilliance, and ignitable romance from the Bruns Amphitheatre in the Orinda hills.

lights, sound, moon, passion, and good tunes

Hello from Sunday of tech week. We've NEARLY teched through the whole show, meaning all the light cues and sound cues and (oooh) "special effects" have been at least touched on. Except for the last few minutes of the play. Which happen to be the ones I'm most in...Ah well...Tonight we attempt our first dress rehearsal run-through of the whole shebang.

Men were getting haircuts (and some color -- see if you can tell who had a little help from their hairdresser), there were "quick change rehearsals" - repetition practice of fast costume changes. One takes just 4 seconds! See if you can spot that one when you're here. Speaking of which, when exactly are you coming to see our little skit?

Oh, here's a classic tale of an actor at a tech rehearsal. For those of you who don't know, it's a tediously slow but necessary time for the designers to work on their light and sound cues, etc., for the actors to find there way around on the set safely and smoothly, to time entrances and exits, costume changes, etc. So we all come to expect that we may well be sitting around waiting for long stretches of time. Last night our rehearsal was scheduled to go until 12:30 - that's midnight-thirty. I was ready in my costume and wig for some hours. I finally made my entrance at 12:27!? Better late than never, eh?

By the way, the evenings have been quite lovely out here. The moon was full last night, (or the night before?). Not a bad way to work. Grown-up summer camp! (That includes some ants and mosquitos, oh well)

Quotation time:

Jack Tanner discusses the birth of moral passion, to which Ann declares that it is our moral sense which controls passions. Jack objects and declares that our moral sense is the mightiest of the passions and quips:

"Is the devil to have all the passions as well as all the good tunes?"