Nothing in the Dark

When setting up a rehearsal schedule, the primary question in my mind is usually "is this enough time to get this show ready?" In the case of "Nothing in the Dark", the 22 minute Twilight Zone adaptation I'm doing for the Darkroom Theatre, the answer has been "yes, and then some." It's a strange thing to be able to cancel rehearsals and know that it's not going to hurt the project at all. Once again, my actors have brought it to the table with a speed and skill that causes me to marvel. Granted, it's not a long piece, but 5 to 6 weeks for a two hour show is standard, so 2 weeks (and only 4 days a week) for a half hour piece seems about right. As it is, I cancelled one night of rehearsal, and let them go home early on Saturday.

Mayuko watched rehearsal on Saturday and was especially impressed with Marilyn Kamelgarn, our lead. She's taken the character into a more frightening and eerie place than the original episode suggested. This has been the joy of this project. The original episode was brilliant, but working with these performers and Hal Hughes' deeply disturbing fiddle score has really allowed us to explore the script in a way that I'm sure the original cast and crew were unable to. The original "Wanda" was sad and fragile and sweet, and the meditative aspect of the script dominated the episode. In ours, the fiddle leads us to reflection, to be sure, but also to the madness and despair that fills the dilapidated and condemned little basement apartment where this woman has barricaded herself for years. Shades of "Misery" have creeped in, and I hope that the audience has as much fear and concern for the well being of "Harold Beldin", the injured police officer who lies incapacitated and bleeding on her bed, as for the old woman with fits of paranoia and terror who is keeping him essentially prisoner.

We tech Wed, and open Friday. It's only three shows, which is a shame, but I think that the fortunate few who make it will be in for a lot of fun.

There's a lot of good stuff out right now, actually. Mayu and I caught "Nathan the Wise" with TheatreFirst and Ripe Theatre's "Hardly Breathing" and really enjoyed both shows. What really grabbed me, though, was SF Playhouse's production of "Jesus Hopped the A Train", which was mind bogglingly powerful.

In totally unrelated news, I saw on the controller for my PS2 last week. This resulted in my ass pulling on the cable that leads up to the PS2 itself, up on the shelf above my couch. This resulted in the PS2 being yanked off the shelf and making a 2 point landing on my head. Fortunately, the flat part of the unit made contact, so I got off with a sizable lump on my head and a bruise on my knee where it finally landed after bouncing off my head. Amazingly the unit wasn't damaged, although the game inside was pretty badly scuffed.

I've been considering getting an XBox 360 for a while, since my crew are all on that platform anyway, and this pretty much decided me. I need wireless controllers at the very least!