First Rehearsal

On Wednesday we had the first rehearsal for the New Works festival. Like most first rehearsals, it consisted of administrative stuff and a read-through of the script. In this case, "the script" is actually the six 15 to 20 page scripts that make up the show.

Presumably because one of my actors is out of town this week, there are no rehearsals for my play this week, but three next week: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

My role at rehearsals will be, mostly, to sit back and watch the process, and then give the director any notes I may have at the end. It's very important that an author not try to direct a play, so unless someone asks me a question or things go seriously off the rails, I'll just sit in the back quietly (and in the case of something going "seriously off the rails", figure out how to change the script so that it wouldn't happen if I was not there).

Of course, as a playwright, I do have one important power: the power to change the script at any time. The director and actors are then obligated to use my changes, whatever they may be.

This is a power best used sparingly.

At the reading, I noticed three spots where the dialog didn't work, so I made some minor changes and sent the new scripts off to everyone. At this point, I would envision making additional changes only if the actor and director ask, or if I notice the actor stumbling multiple times over a cumbersomly-worded line. The rule of thumb is: if an actor stumbles over a line once, it's his fault. If he stumbles over the same line again, it's my fault, and I should fix it.