Fly!

So we've moved from our rehearsal space in Culver City to "Sacred Fools" where we are going to perform.  A lot has happened prior to this.  Lots of table work.  Tons of scene work.  And I learned how to fly.  So, it's been a busy month leading up to this.  And for me, it's been doubly busy as I was working on a show at Little Fish Theatre, but we had to have emergency surgery on our electrical system. So that show ("Dinner with Friends") has been tabled for a month. It will actually now open during the weekdays prior to our closing "Macbeth Revisited," and will overlap rehearsals for "Macbeth" and "Taming of the Shrew" at Shakespeare by the Sea.  So there will be one week there where I will be performing two different plays, and rehearsing two other different plays.  So, I guess what I'm saying is that a lot is going to continue to be happening.

On top of that, a lot is happening right now.  We've moved into Sacred Fools, which is the former home of The Elephant Theatre company, of which my wife was a member and I have a lot of memories from that time.  And when I first started working with Jack, somewhere just after the turn of the century, we had our Monday night classes in that space.  Also, I have a lot of friends who are Fools, and have done some "Serial Killers" with them.  So that building feels like a comfortable friend to me.  And because of all those connections, it is filled with ghosts.  Of all that I've seen there, and done there, and time I've spent there.  Which isn't the worst thing in the world when Revisiting Mackers. 

So far the process has been amazing for me.  Digging into Macduff, and finding that part of me who cares deeply about country, and standing up to tyranny...let's just say that I don't have to dig very deep to find that in my being.  That warrior who pays the ultimate price...I'm still working on what that means.  Plus, I always grow in my own work when I'm around Jack.  I remember the first time I took class with him.  I sat (in the theatre space on the other side of a wall from where we are doing this show) two rows behind him and over his right shoulder (where I sat every class) and watched so many wonderful actors put up work.  And since I am a director as well, my mind always goes to how to make the work better...well, scene after scene went up and not only would Jack identify the things I noticed, but a whole slew of other things.  So by the time I put up my first scene, I said to myself that if he is so right about everybody else, he must be right about me as well.  He earned my trust and admiration early on, and I came away with a way of working that has served me well over the years. 

Additionally, being a part of the New American Theatre has allowed me to work alongside some of the best artists this city has to offer.  And let me be clear, this city has the best artists in the world.  I'm so excited to have the chance to finally work with John Farmanesh-Bocca.  He is doing our movement and being another eye for Jack.  John directed two of the best things I've ever seen:  "Titus Redux" and "Tempest Redux."  I've admired his work for quite some time, and I was a bit intimidated during our stumble through and ended up in my head, the last place he'd want me to be, I'm sure.  I've since put the work back in my body.  At any rate, he's a genius.  And he taught me how to fly.  So...I'm forever grateful. 

I will go into some of the other brilliant artists with whom I get to share the stage in another blog. Before I knit up the raveled sleeve of care, though, I would like to say that being a part of a theatre company cuts through so much of the bullshit of performing a play.  It is simultaneously liberating and challenging, completely safe and therefore able to be much more dangerous than starting from scratch with new artists.  I love this, and have sought it out.  I primarily do work with the same groups because of it. We have history together.  We love one another.  Theatre companies across the world are dying out.  Los Angeles remains a holdout (at least until the other shoe drops from AEA--see my many other blogs to find my feelings about that union and what they are doing).  And because I share the stage with people that love and care for me, I can fly.  (are you curious?) 

More to come...