What's the Name of This Blog?

That's right, loyal blog readers. I am officially off book for act one. I say officially because tonight I was able to run all of my scenes without having to call for a line. That is not saying I will never have to, but once I accomplish that first rehearsal of something without doing it, the odds of me needing to do so later on decrease a good deal.

Now I have never denied that I am less busy is act 1 than I am in act 2. Nor do I deny that at this moment I am still working on getting off book for act 2. But I try to celebrate every small victory in life, and this was one of them. I wasn't even required to be off book yet.

In fact, many of my cast mates are off book, or very nearly so. Every actor can tell you how much more fun, and productive rehearsals become once books start disappearing. We are not there 100% just yet, but based on tonight I have confidence we can be there by next week.

Being off book charged tonight's rehearsal. It never fails to do so. Maybe that is why other things started to fall into place. Not just with me, but the others as well. The blocking in most cases started to run smoother. Laugh lines are starting to liftoff into their proper timing, and an overall smoothness is beginning to shine through for act one. We did not have everyone here tonight, and we did do several things more than once, with some discussion between scenes. Yet, we covered all of act one in just over an hour of rehearsing. That is excellent pacing. It is made all the more pleasing by the fact that it is still in the earlier/intermediate sector of the rehearsal schedule. When all the rough edges are gone, it should be one slick machine!

Had an idea for a hand prop that I meant to ask the director about today, but forgot. I have a tiny travel Bible that I think would look good in the character's hand in a few scenes. I will ask the director about it next time. (Which will be Friday night.)

I also learned some people whose company I enjoy will be part of the tech crew, when we get closer to tech week. That will add some nice personality mixing.

Tomorrow is a night off, and I plan to really hone in on act 2 lines, especially my semi-long speech. If nothing else, I should be able to have that nailed by the time we convene on Friday.

Moving right along, are we.