"Half" Assed

Remember a few weeks ago I posted an entry that started with a reminder that you can still respect something, even when it makes you angry?

A good notion to bear in mind this time.

Last night was supposed to have been a pick-up rehearsal for the whole show. What it ended up being was, quite honestly, a waste of most people's time.

For those who do not know theatrem a pick-up rehearsal happens between weekends of a show. Also known as a brush-up, it's purpose is exactly as it sounds...to reaquaint the cast with the show...and make sure any rusty gears get a little oil before you perform the second weekend.

At least that is the technical purpose of a pick-up.

In alot of theatres, a pick-up rehearsal tends to be somewhat less serious than rehearsals leading up to opening night. It is a looser feel, as a weekend of performing has already been completed, and the cast is now confident they have what it takes to do a second weekend. This being the case, sometimes things go slightly goofy at a pick up. How much they get goofy depends on the cast, director, and theatre it's taking place in.

I do not mind a bit of that. If a castmate wants to walk on with a funny looking hat, or give the intermittant odd face on stage, so be it. It's in good fun.

But when it becomes so goofy, off the wall, beyond the script, and just plain pointless as it did last night, a line is crossed.

I imagine it was crossed for our director as well. After we finished act one, (what was left of it), he called of the rehearsal. He stated that the entire thing was "denegrating" into something he didn't want it to be. Given that we had already proven our creative juices were still in tact, he found no reason to continue.

This decision inspired much celebration in some. It inspired less than that in me.

I hadhoped to go over act 2 specifically before I had to play for an audience the second weekend. I have made no major blunders on stage, and in all probability will not make any this weekend. But most of my "heavier" my challenging stuff is in act 2, and I would be lying if I denied feeling a bit cheated by the early end to rehearsal.

Yes, I was lighter in mood when I was rehearsing act one, but that was in large part due to the fact that everything around me was taken on a lunatic tone. Playing it all straight would have been hard, even for me. But neither that, nor the fact that I am able to do well this evening without a pick up rehearsal removes my right to have had one.

So I am a bit bothered going into tonight as opposed to uplifted and roaring to go. I am sure that feeling will lift, but it's difficult sometimes to not feel insigificant to the show when such things happen.

Not that i was the only one who was trying to take it somewhat more seriously. A few people did not even know anything had happened, because they were going about their normal routine of preparing whenmost of it was going down. yet I am sure I am the only one who was this bothered by it all. I don't apologize for that, I just acknowledge this sort of thing is bothersome to me, even if not to anyone else.

Though it may have been, who knows?

So, hereis hoping tonight goes as well as it should have, regardless of last night.