My rehearsal

No playwright can really capture what's happening anywhere else while she's waiting for her cast to be selected. There's just the one question on her mind - who did we get?

So the actor selection process is a blur to me. I do remember noticing again that people applaud the selections which I find supportive and sweet but kind of confusing. We don't know if the script is good - if the actor will fit what the director is looking for or what the playwright envisioned. We don't know. So why are we clapping? I don't know.

Andy Jensen picks his cast. We clap.

So does Alan Bryce. We clap.

It's announced that one of the scripts is a musical and they draw actor names. At this point, I understand the applause. Everyone is clapping because they didn't get selected.

Finally, we get to my script. Aimee chooses two women and two men out of the cans - Kate Parker, Khan Doan, Cory Herndon, and J.D. Lloyd. I'm excited that I don't know any of these actors. But that's also scary. Who are they? Will they get the story? Will they understand their characters?

We're rehearsing in Caution Zero's old office. It's cold and the sound from the band is coming though from upstairs but it's got west facing facing windows so it's light. It's a good place to rehearse, I think.

I meet the actors. Aimee has them read the script silently to themselves first. They laugh aloud as they're reading it. I love them for it.

Aimee has them read it outloud three separate times with a different combination of casting each time. The last one is good. And I'm really happy with these four people. They get it. They're funny. They're making adjustments. This will be good.

And suddenly - in a single moment - I am extraneous, unnecessary. The playwright has done her job and now needs to go home and take a nap. I wish them well - they're going to have a good time, I think.

On my way out, I see Alex Samuels and Annette Toutonghi putting cheese and meat on plates for later in the day. I see Khan going over her lines in the lounge. Michael Patten is yelling, "Look at you!" in the Lower Level while SP watches him. Dante moves quickly through the lounge with her clipboard. Loud voices are coming from the Nave. Shawn Belyea, Jason Harber, and Jodi-Paul Wooster-Brown are working in the back office.

It's naptime, if I'm lucky. If I'm not lucky, it's time to lie awake and fret. Maybe I'll go spend time with my daughter today and blow off the whole sleep concept.

Becky Hellyer - 14/48 writer