LINES

Oh, the SCRIPT.

I love reading it, I love discussing it with Misha, talking about where Georgia & Leona are coming from, when they are lying to themselves, when they are saying things out loud for the first time and when they are telling stories the same way they've told them countless times before. I can picture it now--I'm building the set in my head and starting to imagine the way Georgia & Leona move through their respective spaces.

But now... the words need to be memorized. 21 pages for me of double-spaced type. 10.5 pages of single spaced words. I generally have a good memory for this sort of thing, but we open in just over a month. So, it's not that I'm worried about memorizing the words, it's more that I'm terrified of forgetting them on stage. And I won't be able to say "Ah f@#k, I screwed up, can we do another take?" Thus, the glorious difference (one of many) between the stage and the screen. And this difference is the one that I'm dreaming about at night. (And not in a good way.)

So, what's the lesson here? STOP BLOGGING LV, AND GO LEARN YOUR LINES, that's what.

Recording !

Misha and I have recorded a coupla snippets from the play, to be used as radio promos. (Hear that CBC?) The lovely men over at Bruce Peninsula HQ set us up in their basement studio so all we had to do was press the record button.

Here's mb pressing the record button.



After this, I'm going to RIP on the drums. JUST WATCH ME.


Lv... dude... you, uh... you can't be in the band.

Line drop.

Jaqui and Jacob came over tonight. Since we're such a small staff at this stage, Lara made handouts for our get together tonight. Stage management stuff, front of house stuff, tech stuff... I love Lv, you know? "Mostly copy and paste" she says. I know better...

Lara and I just did a reading. If this was an episode of CSI Miami and I was Horatio Caine, I would put on my sunglasses and say something like, "It's done. Which means now it's time to begin..." But since...well, since a lot of things, eh? What I'm trying to say is that the script is done. Revising was a real pleasure this time around and a real success. At this point, there's just no substitute for Lv's excitement, and her telling me we're there.

LV: I'd be surprised if David Caruso was like that in real life.
DC: Well then get ready...to be surprised.

*I'm sorry! The script is done and I just feel...mischievous!* -mb

Time at Lv's place.

Lv's is in her new place and after five glorious minutes of being alone I moved in on her, colonized the couch and the kitchen table... But it' s good. We're well practiced at living in the same space. And we're relieved to be getting up together, working together, eating together and being alone. Together.

Right now I'm performing on the script something I've been calling 'the squeeze'. Lv and I read it a few times, talked about things, crossed things out, special ordered some minor changes - Georgia is solid. Leona is three quarters digested and needs, we feel, one more go-through. So she's the one I'm spending the time with. And it's a squeeze because the changes you make up top have to be carried down and down and down until you come out the other side of her story.

Before I fell asleep last night I was thinking about all the places this script has been and all the personalities it has been tested through - at the three readings we did with friends who offered their attention and feedback. As a storytelling piece, G & L had many authors from the start. By now though, I think its bibliography is about as long as the piece itself. You know what I mean? If the guy sleeping in the lobby at the Days Inn outside of Chicago was a playwright, I'd be out of business!

Direct quote from MB

"We've got enough quinoa here to start an ancient civilization"

--Misha, on how much quinoa is currently in my kitchen.

MacMill's

Indy. Helpful for finding sticks and chasing squirrels.


Misha at work.

A box of letters we found on MacMill's porch which will be
incorporated into the show as Carl's letters,
some of which were written to Leona.

Leona was raised a good Christian.

On the set of the photo shoot.


Misha in costume (on the right).


Indy is also helpful for holding up cardboard to block light on set.

We only spent one night at MacMill's house (which, admittedly, is a bit ridiculous after a 4.5 hour drive) but it felt like much longer. Our time was completely dedicated to Georgia & Leona, on the page and bringing them to life. Soon after we arrived, we did a photo shoot for our promo photos, and Jacqui took some fantastic shots of us in costume in our environments. I will post them once we have the finished product.

I read the new version of the script and I cried. Three times. Misha and I read the script to MacMill and Jacqui and got some great notes and some direction on what to work on for the next (and hopefully fairly final) draft. We spent the 4.5 hour drive home talking about Georgia & Leona... & Carl & Barry & Clyde & Donna. We talked about their parents, where they grew up, what happened in the years before the script, what jobs they did and currently work at, how they look in a pair of jeans (Clyde = dynamite, by the way), their social insecurities, everything. Once we started building the history of our characters it just flowed and they became more and more clear to us. After a while it felt like we were gossiping about people we know, and it's the essence of that feeling that we are now trying to inject into the script.

It's getting good, guys. Real good.

Off to the Ottawa Valley.

Misha, Jacqui (our stage manager), and I are heading off to the Ottawa Valley early tomorrow morning for two days of intensive work on Georgia & Leona. We will be staying with MacMill, our high school drama teacher and mentor. (Her name is actually Ann, but we've always been into nicknames and once we find a good one, it's hard to let it go.)

MacMill has a beautiful old house in the country that has belonged to her family for generations which she has now turned into an artist's retreat. We're hoping to use the time there to do some promo photos for the show and also to read through what is hopefully the (mostly) final draft of the play. Misha has been touring with Bruce Peninsula for the last five days in the U.S. with her trusty laptop by her side (or on her lap?). Somehow, in the midst of being in a rock band on tour, she is going to transform the script from this...


...into something that I can read too.

It's getting good, guys. I can't wait to read the latest draft and see how the play has evolved. I feel like I'm going to see a family member I haven't seen for years and years and I'm curious to see how they've changed... you know?